An excerpt from The Clinical Research Handbook: A Practical Guide to Designing, Conducting and Publishing Clinical Research.

Research is a powerful force for change. Whether addressing global health care disparities, improving local community services, advancing technology, or exploring the frontiers of science, well-chosen research projects can solve practical problems and expand our understanding of the world. However, identifying the “right” question is often the hardest—and most critical—step in this journey.

This chapter provides a detailed, step-by-step guide to help you navigate the process of selecting a research project that aligns with your passions, meets pressing societal needs, and stands up to rigorous scrutiny. We’ll explore how to:

• Integrate personal inspiration with broader community or societal priorities
• Conduct a thorough review of existing literature to identify genuine gaps
• Use established frameworks to formulate a clear and answerable question
• Balance ambitious ideas with feasible plans
• Build a long-term research trajectory that can shape your career or future endeavors

By the end, you should be equipped with practical strategies for crafting research questions that matter—not only to you but also to the communities and fields you hope to serve.

Aligning your interests with broader needs

Finding personal inspiration

Intrinsic motivation fuels persistence. Research projects are seldom straightforward; they often involve setbacks, complex logistics, and lengthy timelines. A meaningful personal connection to the topic helps sustain energy and focus when challenges arise. The following is a list of strategies for personal discovery:

• Reflect on personal or professional experiences. Think of moments where you witnessed a problem firsthand—perhaps in a clinic, a workplace, or a community program. These “on-the-ground” experiences can illuminate real, unmet needs.
• Engage in constant exploration. Attend webinars, guest lectures, or community forums. Keep a notepad or digital file of interesting ideas and questions you encounter.
• Leverage curiosity. Ask “Why?” whenever you see a phenomenon that interests you, even if it seems tangential. Some of the most groundbreaking research questions arise from everyday observations.

A practical example of using this framework would be a student who watched a family member struggle with side effects from chemotherapy may feel driven to explore ways to reduce toxicity. This personal connection can guide the student toward researching novel drug-delivery systems or supportive care interventions.

Identifying urgent issues

While personal passion is vital, connecting that passion to a real-world need amplifies the potential impact. Whether your area is medical research, education, business, environmental science, or technology, pinpointing urgent and unsolved problems increases the relevance—and often the support and funding—of your project. The following is a list of strategies that can be utilized for identifying urgent issues:

• Consult public health and policy reports. Organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations (UN), or national institutes publish regular reports highlighting pressing global or local issues (e.g., burden of non-communicable diseases, environmental pollution hotspots).
• Engage with local communities or end users. Community groups, patient advocacy organizations, industry roundtables, or school boards can articulate their most pressing challenges and help shape your research trajectory.
• Monitor emerging trends. Be alert to new technologies, shifting demographics, or policy changes that might create gaps or opportunities (e.g., the rise of telehealth, aging populations, or climate change impacts on agriculture).

A practical example of using this framework would be of a public health advocate who notices that diabetes prevalence is skyrocketing in low-income areas. Identifying this as an urgent health disparity can spur research into cost-effective lifestyle interventions, mobile health apps for medication reminders, or policy changes that incentivize healthier food options.

Balancing personal passion with external impetus

A project at the intersection of personal interest and broader needs is most likely to sustain momentum and secure stakeholder buy-in. This balance is crucial for ensuring both longevity and wider applicability. To map your interests with existing gaps, create a simple two-column chart listing (a) personal research interests and (b) pressing societal or field-specific problems. Look for overlaps or synergy. Additionally, seeking feedback is important as sometimes mentors, peers, or professionals with experience in a particular domain can shed light on which emerging problems most urgently need attention—and which are most feasible.

Reviewing what’s already known

When developing an idea, you can review what has already been discovered on the topic by using two primary data sources. These include both systematic reviews and scoping (narrative) reviews. Before committing to a research direction, it’s essential to understand the state of current knowledge. By doing so, you avoid duplicating existing work and identify potential areas where your contribution could be unique.

Systematic reviews

Definition: A highly structured approach (often guided by PRISMA) that specifies search criteria, databases used, and strict inclusion/exclusion rules.
Benefits: Delivers rigorous, quantitative summaries (e.g., meta-analyses) and identifies data-driven consensus or lack thereof.
Challenges: Tends to be time-consuming, and best suited when your research question is already quite focused.

Scoping or narrative reviews

Definition: Broader, more exploratory overviews that gather information on a wide range of sources without rigid protocols.
Benefits: Ideal if you’re still refining your question or seeking a broad conceptual understanding of the field.
Challenges: May not provide the precise effect sizes or strict quality assessments that systematic reviews offer.

Spotting knowledge gaps

Real innovation occurs when researchers address what hasn’t been resolved or explored. Gaps can include contradictory findings, unexplored populations, or novel research methods that haven’t yet been applied to a known problem. There are several optimal ways to identify gaps in current knowledge:

• Look for contradictions. Are there studies that show opposite results under seemingly similar conditions? This discrepancy may point to methodological weaknesses or unrecognized confounders.
• Focus on special populations. Some demographics (e.g., older adults, rural communities, underrepresented minorities) might be underrepresented in large studies, even if they bear a high burden of disease.
• Embrace interdisciplinary insights. Check if theories or methods from another field (e.g., data science, behavioral economics, or engineering) could be applied to your domain in a novel way.

Julian Gendreau is a neurosurgery resident and co-author of The Clinical Research Handbook: A Practical Guide to Designing, Conducting and Publishing Clinical Research.