Topic generation of successful researchers

Abstract

There are increasing pressures on tertiary institutions and academics to provide research. New Zealand tertiary institutions are partially funded by the government through new funding schemes referred to as the PBRF. Those institutions that are accredited by the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants of New Zealand (NZICA) are also required to provide research output. There are various textbooks that indicate how research should be initiated and conducted. Fewer research textbooks indicate how subjects, topics, and research questions should be formulated prior to research. There appears to be little discussion of how researchers went about their initial publications and whether this agrees with what the textbook topic selection methods describe. Few of these articles indicate why the researchers themselves, personally chose the topic and research questions. This research paper investigates how successful researchers choose their initial subjects, and the process of narrowing the subject choice into a topic and question that led to publication. Successful researchers were interviewed and the results analysed. Successful researchers were found to generate topic ideas and select their topic ideas from two types of sources. Those two types of sources are Professional Capacity and Individual Motivators. While Professional Capacity sources can be used once established as a researcher, the most valuable Individual Motivator is to read. The process is achieved through the practice of reading, attending conferences, submitting articles and resubmitting articles for review and publication. To achieve research and publication success, make research part of your routine and read, attend, submit, and persevere. The question this research raises is whether the results consistent with non-academic researchers and other successful researchers in different environments.