Guidelines for Choosing a Good Research Topic in Education

defined educational research as ‘the systematic approach employed by researchers; students in education to identify problems, investigate the problems and based on the findings offer suggestion as how to solve the problems’. Travers in Ajoku (2006) defined educational research as an activity directed toward the development of an organized body of scientific knowledge about the events with which educators are concerned. Also, Ary, Jacobs, Razavieh in Ajoku (2002) defined educational research as the way in which one acquires dependable and useful information about the educative process. In the same vein, Ahiakwo (2003) explained educational research as a diligent and systematic attempt to provide plausible answers to educational problems by the process of logically designed operations or steps. Anusiem (1992) sees educational research as an organized and systematic activity towards identification and solution of education problems aimed at extending the frontiers of knowledge. Ndagi in Ausiem (1992:16) defined educational research as ‘a scientific method of controlled enquiry involving a systematic and intensive process of verifying knowledge that will help educationalists achieve their goals’. Such goals according to Traverse in Ausiem (1992), are discovery of laws or generalizations about behaviour which can be used to make predictions and control events within the educational situations. Educational research provides the framework within which the process and the product of our educational system could be brought under critical questioning and critical justification. The American Educational Research Association (2017) defined education (educational) research ‘as the scientific field of study that examines education and Abstract: Research plays prominent roles in the lives of individuals, organizations, or society in general. Every now and then, research breaks new grounds which help to bring about development and progress in every field of human endeavor. Effective research activities and efforts begin with choosing good research topics. This paper addresses the guidelines that will make for choosing good topics in education. The meaning, characteristic, types of research, the research process and ethical issues in research were also considered. The paper posited that identifying a problem, understanding the magnitude and dimension of the problem, feasibility, acceptability, etc. should be considered in choosing research topics.

learning processes and the human attributes, interactions, organizations, and institutions that shape educational outcomes. Educational research seeks to describes, understand and explain how learning takes place throughout a person's life and how formal and informal contexts of education affect all forms of learning. Educational research embraces the full spectrum of rigorous methods appropriate to the questions being asked and also drives the development of new tools and methods'(Retrieved from www.aera.net/About-AERA/What is Education Research on 20/5/2017. Research therefore, is the systematic process of collecting, analyzing and interpreting data objectively with the purpose of improving knowledge and development of new phenomena for the benefit of man and society.
The importance of research to man and society cannot be overemphasized. Through research activities, new subject areas have emerged, the world is now a global village, there are breakthroughs in science and technology, improvement in health, health education, business, politics and economics are being recorded.
Research is different from other sources of knowledge or means by which man tries to find solutions to problems. The difference lies in the fact that research is based on scientific method which adopts clearly identifiable procedure. Other sources of knowledge are intuition, authority, reasoning or rationalization, experience or empiricism and common sense. Intuition is the process of solving problems or acquiring knowledge through interaction with divine source such as dreams, prophecy, premonition, gods or the supreme God. Authority is a method that relies on the opinions of highly respected people, scholars or authority in solving a problem. Reasoning is the process of arriving at solutions through rational thinking. Reasoning could be deductive (one proceeds from general to specific statement through prescribed rules or logic) or inductive (one proceeds from specific to the general). Experience is the use of accumulated knowledge or skills acquired from encounters in the environment to solve problems, common sense which uses common sense to arrive at solutions.
Ugodulunwa (2016) identified some characteristics of research as follows:  Research is systematic: It consists of sequential steps that lead to solution of problems under study.  Research is objective: The researcher's personal opinions, biases and prejudices do not influence the result of the investigation. There is objectivity in the observation, collection of data, reporting of results and drawing of conclusions and inferences.  Research is empirical: It involves careful data collection for analysis using different methods and techniques such as interview, questionnaire, tests, observation, etc.  Research is replicable: Other researchers can repeat earlier studies in order to verify their veracity and correctness.  Research has a clear goal: The ultimate goal of a research are clearly and precisely stated.  Research is cyclical in nature: Research starts with a problem and ends with conclusions which may sometimes initiate further problems for investigation.  Research is non-ethical: It does not consider ethical issues that demand right or wrong, rather it tries to provide explanation for any actions.  Research is a painstaking and expensive activity: It is painstaking because it demands a lot of courage and perseverance from the researcher. Research is expensive because it demands a lot of time, effort and resources in its execution.

Classifications/Types of Research
Research is classified in different ways. The classification leads to types of research. Therefore research is classified based on purpose, method, whether experimental or non-experimental and whether it is quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods.
Classification based on purpose: When classification is based on purpose, we have the following types of research:  Basic or fundamental or pure research: Basic research is carried out for advancement of knowledge and development of new theories in a specific field. In psychology, the B.F Skinner's operant conditioning experiment is an example of basic research.  Applied research: This is concerned with testing the applicability of theories in real life situations. Applied research tests the practicability of theories produced by basic research. Hence basic and applied research complements each other.  Action research: This is conducted for solving immediate and pressing practical problems in different fields. The findings of this kind of research, is not generalized beyond the scope of the study. For example a department may decide to investigate into causes of poor quality of students' research projects in education.  Research and development (R&D): R&D is concerned with developing new products and technologies such as textbooks, assessment instruments, curricula and instructional materials.  Evaluation Research: This is concerned with making decisions about the effectiveness or desirability of programmes, methods and materials based on available data. It is a concerned with making decisions relating to value or worth of programmes based on empirical data. Example of evaluation research include: (i) evaluation of availability and utilization of instructional materials. It may be evaluation of input, process or outcomes of development project, intervention or curriculum. Classification Based on Method: This is the classification of research according to the method adopted in the conduct of any research activity. Under this classification we have the following types of research:  Historical research: This involves studying events that happened in the past with a view to improving on observed lapses in order to avoid future occurrences. Some aspects of the past are studied either through document analysis or by interviewing individuals who lived during the period. In historical research there are two sources of data -primary and secondary data. Primary sources are data provided by witnesses to the event in question. They are data original to the problem under study. Examples include relics, documents such as manuscripts, constitution, deeds, official minutes, biography, photographs, research reports, etc. Secondary sources are data that are not original. They are second hand information. They are stories narrated by informants, encyclopedias, quoted materials, etc. Example: (i) emerging trends in programme evaluation from 2000 to 2015.  Survey research: This is the type of research whereby data is collected on a large representative sample of a given population. The representative sample is studied for the purpose of generalizing the findings to the population from where the sample is drawn. In survey research, the appropriate sampling (random, stratified random, systematic, cluster, quota, incidental, multi-stage, etc) and data collection techniques (questionnaires, interview, observation, test, etc) are used.  Case study: This is an in-depth study of an individual, a group, an institution or a community geared towards thorough understanding of the social unit under investigation.  Correlational research: This is the type of research that seeks relationship among variables. It is also used for making predictions.  Causal comparative or ex-post facto research: This is the type of research where the researcher has no control over variables and cannot manipulate them. The effect of independent variable on the dependent variable is studied in retrospect or after they have had their effects. Examples include influence of gender on managerial skills on of environmental health officers; and effects of school environment on students' academic achievement.  Experimental research: This type of research directly tests cause-and-effect relationships. In this type of research, the independent variable is manipulated to observe its effect on the dependent variable.

Ethical Issues in Research
Ethics are moral principles that control individual's behaviour. They are norms for conduct that distinguish acceptable and non-acceptable behaviour (Resink cited in Ugodulunwa, 2016). These ethical issues identified by Resink include:  Honesty -in reporting data, results, methods, procedures and publications.  Objectivity -by avoiding bias in experimental design, data analysis, data interpretation, peer review and other aspects of research.  Integrity by keeping agreements and acting sincerely.  Carefulness by avoiding careless errors, negligence, and by accurate record keeping.  Confidentiality by keeping communications and participants' responses anonymous.  Responsible publication for the purpose of advancing knowledge and scholarship and not just for promotion.  Responsible monitoring to help educate students and junior academics for their advancement.
These and other ethical issues should be adhered to in conducting research or choosing research topics.