Research Gap

The definition of "research gap" based on the article written by D. Anthony Miles in 2017, titled "A Taxonomy of Research Gaps: Identifying and Defining the Seven Research Gaps," can be summarized as follows:

A research gap is an essential concept in research referring to areas or topics that have not yet been explored or answered in the existing research literature. The identification and definition of research gaps form the primary basis for investigating a phenomenon or scientific question. Most research begins with the development of these gaps. Despite the recognized importance of developing a research agenda based on research gaps, systematic training on how to identify research gaps systematically is still lacking for researchers, especially novice researchers.

The article develops a theoretical framework built from the five-point model by Robinson, Saldanhea, and McKoy (2011) and the six-point model by Müller-Bloch and Franz (2014), then proposes a new theoretical model that is a combination of both models with a total of seven types of research gaps. The seven types of research gaps are:

  1. Evidence Gap: Occurs when new findings contradict widely accepted conclusions.
  2. Knowledge Gap: The existence of knowledge voids in the current literature.
  3. Practical-Knowledge Gap: Discrepancies between the actual behavior of professionals and the behavior they advocate.
  4. Methodological Gap: Conflicts arising from the influence of methodology on research results.
  5. Empirical Gap: The need for evaluation or empirical verification of research findings or propositions.
  6. Theoretical Gap: Voids in existing theory that require the application of new theories to gain new insights.
  7. Population Gap: Research on populations that are not adequately represented or under-researched in the existing evidence base or previous research.

The article emphasizes the importance of having a clear framework to identify and define research gaps as a basis for conducting systematic and thorough research"‹"‹.

Another version of research gap: