Research Gap

A research gap is a specific, defensible shortfall in existing knowledge that your study is positioned to address. It is the justification for the entire thesis — the answer to an examiner asking why this work needed doing at all.

Gaps come in recognisable types: an empirical gap where a relationship is untested in a particular population or context, a theoretical gap where no framework adequately explains a phenomenon, a methodological gap where prior work relied on limited designs, a population gap where a group has been overlooked, and a contradictory-evidence gap where published findings conflict.

A credible gap is evidenced, not asserted. Ground it in the literature you have reviewed, cite the specific studies whose limitations or explicit future-research suggestions point to it, and keep it narrow enough to address within one study. Systematic review protocols and citation searching are the most reliable ways to find genuine gaps.