The gap statement and justification in higher education research: an analysis of published articles

ABSTRACT

This paper examines how higher education researchers approach writing the rationale and justification for their work published in journal articles. A common way for establishing this justification is through claiming a gap, but the problem is that it is often hard to find a research gap, and if it is included, there is too often no explanation for why the gap is worthwhile in terms of its contribution to knowledge. What we do not know is how this task is approached across the field, what different approaches are taken, and what the implications might be for the quality of research and the advancement of knowledge. Therefore, we examined the gap statements from 124 articles from five top-ranked higher education journals. What we found is that the majority of articles do have a gap statement, but these are mostly implicit rather than explicit, and located somewhere in the introductory text. However, 20% of articles had no gap statement and 27% of all articles had no justification for the importance of the research. Based on the data and drawing on theory, we present a tool to assist with writing gap statements and comment on current practice in relation to knowledge contribution.

KEYWORDS:

• Research gap
• research justification
• contribution to knowledge
• publication

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Navé Wald

Navé Wald is a Lecturer at the Higher Education Development Centre, University of Otago, Dunedin, Aotearoa New Zealand. His research focuses on critical thinking in assessment practice, doctoral co-supervision, and students peer review. His teaching interests include supporting those new to research in higher education as well as helping students at all levels to develop their critical skills.

Tony Harland

Tony Harland is Professor of Higher Education in the Higher Education Development Centre, University of Otago, Aotearoa New Zealand. His recent research projects have looked at the ways in which higher education is valued, how teaching values affect students’ education, how undergraduate students learn through doing research, and how assessment affects student behaviour and the quality of their education. Tony teaches research methods in higher education and other topics such as learning theory and peer review.

Chandima Daskon

Chandima Daskon is a Research Fellow at the Higher Education Development Centre, University of Otago, Dunedin, Aotearoa New Zealand. She is a multi-disciplinary researcher with particular interests in qualitative research and research methodologies.