Gathering preliminary information helps to increase your knowledge of the topic and can help refine your research topic and make it easier to formulate a research question.
What You Know About Your Topic
Experiential knowledge
Effective research begins by formulating a relevant question, often the most challenging step. Understanding the background of your topic is crucial. Start by examining your own experiential and intuitive knowledge critically, considering broader historical, economic, social, cultural, and political contexts. This involves questioning routine knowledge and assumptions.
What Others Know About Your Topic
Colleagues
Gathering preliminary information is as much about querying what we know as it is about learning new facts. Collaborating with colleagues offers diverse perspectives and strategies, potentially highlighting different aspects of your topic and its feasibility.
Remain open to feedback, using it to critically reassess your beliefs and knowledge, deepening your understanding of your research’s context.
