It is mandatory that in order for anyone to be awarded a degree certificate after graduation, there is a need to carry out research in his or her field of study.

Consequently, this is done at the final year level in all higher institutions of learning such as Colleges of education, colleges of Health Technology, Polytechnics, Universities, etc.

This tutorial is aimed at helping final-year students know the basic steps involved in choosing a research topic.

A lot of students have challenges when it comes to choosing a research topic, some even have to request a change of topic midway through the research while most students score poor grades at the end of the research work because of poor selection of a project topic and lack of knowledge on the basics of choosing a good research topic.

1. FAMILIARIZATION WITH THE TOPIC
It is not advisable to embark on a project topic you know little or nothing about. Before carrying out any research or project work on any topic, be sure you have little or broad knowledge concerning such a topic, especially when given to you by your supervisor or department.

2. FEASIBILITY OF STUDY
Feasibility simply means the state or degree of being easily or conveniently done.
Feasibility of study in this case means what it will take the researcher to complete the project in terms of the cost of carrying out the study, the time frame of the study, and the availability of Materials and statistical tools.
Therefore, it is very important that as a researcher, you estimate what it will take to complete the study in terms of finance, tools, time, and materials before choosing such a topic.

3. INTEREST IN THE TOPIC
Many students in the middle of their research, abandoned their research topics for a new one because of a lack of interest in the topic they are researching on.
Just like earlier said in point one, most students embark on research work on topics given or suggested to them by their friends, supervisors, or department.
NOTE: It is very dangerous to embark on a project work on a topic you are not really interested in because when it gets tough, your interest in the topic is the most important thing to sustain you at that point in time.

4. A RESEARCHABLE TOPIC
Before you carry out any research work on any topic, be sure you can get reasonable data whether primary or secondary concerning such a topic.
What makes a topic researchable is that you can collect reliable primary or secondary data to answer your research questions.

5. AVAILABILITY OF DATA
Sometimes a project topic may have secondary data available but the topic will be unresearchable because researchers can't have access to data.
Before accepting to carry out research on a particular topic, make a survey to ascertain whether or not the data for such a topic is readily available.
Also, check if other researchers have researched such or similar topics you are about to embark on.

What Else Should I do?.