What
is a GAP?
1.
The gap, also considered the missing piece or pieces in the research
literature, is the area that has not yet been explored or is under-explored.
This could be a population or sample (size, type, location, etc.), research
method, data collection and/or analysis, or other research variables or
conditions. It means not only a literature review, but about the population or
setting, conditions or variables, methods or analysis, and measurement or
outcomes.
2.
A gap is something that remains to be done or learned in an area of research;
it’s a gap in the knowledge of the scientists in the field of research of your
study. Every research project must, in some way, address a gap–that is, attempt
to fill in some piece of information missing in the scientific literature.
Otherwise, it is not novel research and is therefore not contributing to the
overall goals of science
3.
An example of a gap
Hosaka,
Itao, and Kuroda (1995):
“…
The relationship between the four damping factors, i.e. internal friction,
support loss, airflow force in free space, and squeeze force, has not yet been clarified,
so it is not obvious which one is dominant in actual micro systems.”
We
know that this is a gap because they
use the words “has not yet
been clarified.”
Other
phrases that might help you identify (or form) a gap statement are:
…has/have
not been… (studied/reported/elucidated)
…is
required/needed…
…the
key question is/remains…
…it
is important to address…
4.
Once we notice and can identify the gap in the literature, we must tell our
audience how we attempt to at least somewhat address in your project this lack
of knowledge or understanding. This is often done in a new paragraph and should
be accomplished in one summary statement, such as:
Therefore,
the purpose of this study was to determine the effects of lead on the
hepatobiliary system, especially on the liver and on the gallbladder (adapted
from Sipos et al. 2003).
We
may put it in the first
sentence of the last paragraph in a paper’s introduction will start
somewhat like this, indicating the gap fill.
Some phrases you can use to indicate your gap
“fill:”
“We
therefore analyzed…”
”
“Therefore,
the goals of this study are…”
“In
this paper, we report…”
From
personal understanding;
-
Find a space where the new contribution can be fixed
-We
find what is missing in their papers, so we can know what may be a possible
‘gap’ or opening for our potential research and contribution to the topic.
-We take an example;
The topic of our research is about ‘Nasi
goreng Versi Pantai Timur’ – then, we study all past journals and reviews about
the topic. After details or long and intensive reading, we notice that no past
reviews about ‘belacan’ inside Nasi goreng. They may talk about the ingredients
for old, for children and for an infant. They may also talk about time to cook
it, or the good or bad of eating it. But, none of them debated about ‘belacan’
as an additional flavour into it. So, this is our potential to write and study
about it, begin with how ‘belacan’ is made, types of belacan, who always
consume it in their meal, how much to put inside the cooking meal, the
procedure of frying Nasi goreng with a ‘belacan’, how its taste etc. Is it
posibble?
Another example and
practice.
In
the following examples, identify the gap statement. Then, identify the fill.
Notice if there are any specific words or phrases used to signal either of
these moves.
1.
Adapted from Costa, Robertson, and Quilliam (2015):
Paralytic
shellfish poisoning occurs worldwide, and harmful algal blooms, including those
responsible for PSP, appear to be increasing in frequency and intensity. PSP
outbreaks in Portuguese waters have been associated with blooms of Gymnodinium
caenatum in the late 1980s to early 1990s, then again after 2005. According to the
national monitoring program in Portugal, G. catenatum were not reported along
the Portuguese coast during the 10-year period from 1995 to 2005. The aims of this study were to fully characterize the toxin profile of
G. catenatum strains isolated from the NW Portuguese coast before and after the
10-year absence of blooms to determine changes and potential implications for
the region. Hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography tandem
mass spectrometry (HILIC-MS/MS) was utilized to determine the presence of any
known and emerging PSTs in sample extracts.
Gap
statement: “According to the national monitoring program in Portugal, G.
catenatum were not reported along the Portuguese coast during the 10-year
period from 1995 to 2005.”
Fill:
“The aims of this study were to fully characterize the toxin profile of G.
catenatum strains isolated from the NW Portuguese coast before and after the
10-year absence of blooms to determine changes and potential implications for
the region.”
2.
Adapted from Littler, Ciringh, and Lindsey (1999):
The
exchange process frequently observed in polypyrrane condensations is proposed
to occur by the acid-catalyzed fragmentation of a polypyrrane 1 into pyrrolic 2
and azafulvene 3 components.15 As illustrated in Scheme 2, recombination of 2
and 3 can form a new polypyrrane 4 that cannot be formed by direct condensation
of the dipyrromethane and aldehyde. Ultimately this process leads to the
production of a scrambled mixture of porphyrins. The factors that promote the scrambling
process in MacDonald-type 2 + 2 condensations are poorly understood,
but suppression of scrambling is essential for preparing large quantities of
pure trans-porphyrins. In this paper we describe a study of a wide range of reaction
conditions for the 2 + 2 condensation that has led to refined synthetic
procedures for the preparation of trans-porphyrins.
Gap
statement: “The factors that promote the scrambling process in MacDonald-type 2
+ 2 condensations are poorly understood….”
Fill:
“In this paper we describe a study of a wide range of reaction conditions for
the 2 + 2 condensation that has led to refined synthetic procedures for the
preparation of trans-porphyrins.”
3.
Adapted from Pukhov and Meyer-ter-Vehn (2002):
In the present paper, we
focus on laser wake field acceleration in a new, highly non-linear regime. It
occurs for laser pulses shorter than λ(p) but for relativistic intensities high
enough to break the plasma wave after the first oscillation. In the present
relativistic regime, one should notice that the plama wave fronts
are curved and first break new the wave axis and for lower values than the
plane-wave limit. This has been studied in 2D geometry in [14-17]. Here, we present 3D PIC simulations of two representative cases.
The case (I) is just marginally above and the case (II) is far above the
breaking threshold.
This
question is a little trickier! The authors use “In the present paper…,” then,
“In the present regime…,” and finally, “Here…,” all of which sound like signalling
words for filling the gap. But where is the gap? We have to look closely at
what exactly is being said. It
is true that the first statement appears to be somewhat of a gap fill,
although they haven’t yet given us a gap statement. The authors go on to say
“This has been studied in 2D geometry,” which brings us back to move 1(iii),
identifying critical evidence from the literature.
Thus,
the gap statement is not explicit. It is a combination of stating that this
concept has been studied in 2D, followed by announcement that the authors will
study it in 3D.
Fill:
“Here, we present 3D PIC simulations of two representative cases.”
Although
the first sentence (“… we focus on laser wake field acceleration…”) could also
be considered part of the fill, because it comes before the gap statement and
is also less descriptive, it functions more as an introduction to these moves.
SUCCESS ALWAYS!
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