Wiki Page, GOTT Clover II: Identify (4 of 6): The Scope of Your Investigation

Wiki Page
2016-08-14T21:35:07-06:00

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When choosing a topic and developing your research question, it's important to consider the scope of your inquiry. It might be useful to think of scope in terms of a telescope.

If you look through the eyepiece of a telescope, things far away appear larger. If you look through the opposite end of the lens, things close by appear smaller.

The same can be said of research topics and questions.

If you have a large or broad scope, you are looking at the big picture, or something very general.

If you have a small or narrow scope, you are looking at something more specific.

If your scope is too broad, there may be too much information related to your topic. On the other hand, if your scope is too narrow, you may find very little or nothing at all that directly addresses your topic.