Great theses and dissertation start with an intriguing idea

Abstract

Strategic efforts expended towards identifying and evaluating ideas for a graduate student's thesis or dissertation can help prepare that student for a successful career as either a researcher or practitioner. Generating intriguing and novel ideas can help advance the field of leisure studies, yet the process of identifying great research ideas and questions is largely uncritiqued. This paper presents alternatives to the traditional “extend the research literature” approach, as a means of identifying research questions focusing more strategically on the diversity of information and process of observation and thinking. Graduate students upon beginning their studies can be mentored by faculty to explore ‘what's next’ by capitalizing on their ‘fresh eyes’ to generate novel ideas worth exploring. Some of these methods are akin to how persons and organizations develop ideas for new products and services. Consequently, these methods not only help students going into research-based careers but also those intending to work in professions outside of academia.