Think of research as a puzzle. To be able to do the puzzle, you need to understand the meanings of the different pieces of the puzzle. You also need to find out which puzzle pieces fit together and which ones don't.
Research is a process and each part of the process needs to be understood. In other words, each part of the process is one of the pieces of the puzzle. You need to understand and know the names of the pieces of the puzzle in order to apply it to your research topic. You need to understand the meaning of each ‘puzzle piece’ to see how they fit together.
So before you dive straight into the process of trying to identify is suitable topic, take a step back and get a ‘big-picture’ view of the research process. This process is outlined in textbooks as a series of steps. The problem with that, especially at the early stages of research, is that those steps and non-linear and quite ‘messy’. The first stages in the research process, to conceptualise a viable topic and research question are arguably the hardest.
