qualitative research titles for high school students

100 Qualitative Research Titles For High School Students

Are you brainstorming for excellent qualitative research titles for your high school curriculum? If yes, then this blog is for you! Academic life throws a lot of thesis and qualitative research papers and essays at you. Although thesis and essays may not be much of a hassle. However, when it comes to your research paper title, you must ensure that it is qualitative, and not quantitative.

Qualitative research is primarily focused on obtaining data through case studies, artifacts, interviews, documentaries, and other first-hand observations. It focuses more on these natural settings rather than statistics and numbers. If you are finding it difficult to find a topic, then worry not because the high schooler has this blog post curated for you with 100 qualitative research titles that can help you get started!

Qualitative research prompts for high schoolers

Qualitative research papers are written by gathering and analyzing non-numerical data. Generally, teachers allot a list of topics that you can choose from. However, if you aren’t given the list, you need to search for a topic for yourself.

Qualitative research topics mostly deal with the happenings in society and nature. There are endless topics that you can choose from. We have curated a list of 100 qualitative research titles for you to choose from. Read on and pick the one that best aligns with your interests!

Why is there a pressing need for wildlife conservation?
Discuss the impacts of climate change on future generations.
Discuss the impact of overpopulation on sustainable resources.
Discuss the factors considered while establishing the first 10 engineering universities in the world.
What is the contribution of AI to emotional intelligence? Explain.
List out the effective methods to reduce the occurrences of fraud through cybercrimes.
With case studies, discuss some of the greatest movements in history leading to independence.
Discuss real-life scenarios of gender-based discrimination.
Discuss disparities in income and opportunities in developing nations.
How to deal with those dealing with ADHD?
Describe how life was before the invention of the air conditioner.
Explain the increasing applications of clinical psychology.
What is psychology? Explain the career opportunities it brings forth for youngsters.
Covid lockdown: Is homeschooling the new way to school children?
What is the role of army dogs? How are they trained for the role?
What is feminism to you? Mention a feminist and his/her contributions to making the world a better place for women.
What is true leadership quality according to you? Explain with a case study of a famous personality you admire for their leadership skills.
Is wearing a mask effective in preventing covid-19? Explain the other practices that can help one prevent covid-19.
Explain how teachers play an important role in helping students with disabilities improve their learning.
Is ‘E business’ taking over traditional methods of carrying out business?
What are the implications of allowing high schoolers to use smartphones in classes?
Does stress have an effect on human behavior?
Explain the link between poverty and education.
With case studies, explain the political instability in developing nations.
Are ‘reality television shows’ scripted or do they showcase reality?
Online vs Offline teaching: which method is more effective and how?
Does there exist an underlying correlation between education and success? Explain with case studies.
Explain the social stigma associated with menstruation.
Are OTT entertainment platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime beneficial in any other way?
Does being physically active help reverse type 2 diabetes?
Does pop culture influence today’s youth and their behavior?
‘A friend in need is a friend in deed.’ Explain with case studies of famous personalities.
Do books have greater importance in the lives of children from weaker economic backgrounds? Explain in detail.
Give an overview of the rise of spoken arts.
Explain the problem of food insecurity in developing nations.
How related are Windows and Apple products?
Explore the methods used in schools to promote cultural diversity.
Has social media replaced the physical social engagement of children in society?
Give an overview of allopathic medicine in treating mental disorders.
Explain if and how willpower plays a role in overcoming difficulties in life.
Are third-world countries seeing a decline in academic pursuit? Explain with real-life scenarios.
Can animals predict earthquakes in advance? Explain which animals have this ability and how they do it.
Discuss if the education system in America needs to improve. If yes, list out how this can be achieved.
Discuss democracy as a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.’
Discuss the increasing rate of attention deficit disorder among children.
Explain fun games that can help boost the morale of kids with dyslexia.
Explain the causes of youth unemployment.
Explain some of the ways you think might help in making differently-abled students feel inclusive in the mainstream.
Explain in detail the challenges faced by students with special needs to feel included when it comes to accessibility to education.
Discuss the inefficiency of the healthcare system brought about by the covid-19 pandemic.
Does living in hostels instill better life skills among students than those who are brought up at home? Explain in detail.
What is Advanced Traffic Management? Explain the success cases of countries that have deployed it.
Elaborate on the ethnic and socioeconomic reasons leading to poor school attendance in third-world nations.
Do preschoolers benefit from being read to by their parents? Discuss in detail.
What is the significance of oral learning in classrooms?
Does computer literacy promise a brighter future? Analyze.
What people skills are enhanced in a high school classroom?
Discuss in detail the education system in place of a developing nation. Highlight the measures you think are impressive and those that you think need a change.
Apart from the drawbacks of UV rays on the human body, explain how it has proven to be beneficial in treating diseases.
Discuss why or why not wearing school uniforms can make students feel included in the school environment.
What are the effective ways that have been proven to mitigate child labor in society?
Explain the contributions of arts and literature to the evolving world.
How do healthcare organizations cope with patients living with transmissive medical conditions?
Why do people with special abilities still face hardships when it comes to accessibility to healthcare and education?
What are the prevailing signs of depression in small children?
How to identify the occurrences and onset of autism in kids below three years of age?
Explain how SWOT and PESTLE analysis is important for a business.
Why is it necessary to include mental health education in the school curriculum?
What is adult learning and does it have any proven benefits?
What is the importance of having access to libraries in high school?
Discuss the need for including research writing in school curriculums.
Explain some of the greatest non-violent movements of ancient history.
Explain the reasons why some of the species of wildlife are critically endangered today.
How is the growing emission of co2 bringing an unprecedented change in the environment?
What are the consequences of an increasing population in developing nations like India? Discuss in detail.
Are remote tests as effective as in-class tests?
Explain how sports play a vital role in schools.
What do you understand about social activities in academic institutions? Explain how they pose as a necessity for students.
Are there countries providing free healthcare? How are they faring in terms of their economy? Discuss in detail.
State case studies of human lives lost due to racist laws present in society.
Discuss the effect of COVID-19 vaccines in curbing the novel coronavirus.
State what according to you is more effective: e-learning or classroom-based educational systems.
What changes were brought into the e-commerce industry by the COVID-19 pandemic?
Name a personality regarded as a youth icon. Explain his or her contributions in detail.
Discuss why more and more people are relying on freelancing as a prospective career.
Does virtual learning imply lesser opportunities? What is your take?
Curbing obesity through exercise: Analyze.
Discuss the need and importance of health outreach programs.
Discuss in detail how the upcoming generation of youngsters can do its bit and contribute to afforestation.
Discuss the 2020 budget allocation of the United States.
Discuss some of the historic ‘rags to riches’ stories.
What according to you is the role of nurses in the healthcare industry?
Will AI actually replace humans and eat up their jobs? Discuss your view and also explain the sector that will benefit the most from AI replacing humans.
Is digital media taking over print media? Explain with case studies.
Why is there an increasing number of senior citizens in the elderly homes?
Are health insurances really beneficial?
How important are soft skills? What role do they play in recruitment?
Has the keto diet been effective in weight loss? Explain the merits and demerits.
Is swimming a good physical activity to curb obesity?
Is work from home as effective as work from office? Explain your take.

Qualitative research titles for high school students

Tips to write excellent qualitative research papers

Now that you have scrolled through this section, we trust that you have picked up a topic for yourself from our list of 100 brilliant qualitative research titles for high school students. Deciding on a topic is the very first step. The next step is to figure out ways how you can ensure that your qualitative research paper can help you grab top scores.

Once you have decided on the title, you are halfway there. However, deciding on a topic signals the next step, which is the process of writing your qualitative paper. This poses a real challenge!

To help you with it, here are a few tips that will help you accumulate data irrespective of the topic you have chosen. Follow these four simple steps and you will be able to do justice to the topic you have chosen!

Create an outline based on the topic. Jot down the sub-topics you would like to include.
Refer to as many sources as you can – documentaries, books, news articles, case studies, interviews, etc. Make a note of the facts and phrases you would like to include in your research paper.
Write the body. Start adding qualitative data.
Re-read and revise your paper. Make it comprehensible. Check for plagiarism, and proofread your research paper. Try your best and leave no scope for mistakes.

Wrapping it up!

To wrap up, writing a qualitative research paper is almost the same as writing other research papers such as argumentative research papers , English research papers , Biology research papers , and more. Writing a paper on qualitative research titles promotes analytical and critical thinking skills among students. Moreover, it also helps improve data interpretation and writing ability, which are essential for students going ahead.

Having a 10+ years of experience in teaching little budding learners, I am now working as a soft skills and IELTS trainers. Having spent my share of time with high schoolers, I understand their fears about the future. At the same time, my experience has helped me foster plenty of strategies that can make their 4 years of high school blissful. Furthermore, I have worked intensely on helping these young adults bloom into successful adults by training them for their dream colleges. Through my blogs, I intend to help parents, educators and students in making these years joyful and prosperous.

500+ Qualitative Research Titles and Topics

Table of Contents

Qualitative research is a methodological approach that involves gathering and analyzing non-numerical data to understand and interpret social phenomena. Unlike quantitative research , which emphasizes the collection of numerical data through surveys and experiments, qualitative research is concerned with exploring the subjective experiences, perspectives, and meanings of individuals and groups. As such, qualitative research topics can be diverse and encompass a wide range of social issues and phenomena. From exploring the impact of culture on identity formation to examining the experiences of marginalized communities, qualitative research offers a rich and nuanced perspective on complex social issues. In this post, we will explore some of the most compelling qualitative research topics and provide some tips on how to conduct effective qualitative research.

Qualitative Research Titles

Qualitative research titles often reflect the study’s focus on understanding the depth and complexity of human behavior, experiences, or social phenomena. Here are some examples across various fields:

“Understanding the Impact of Project-Based Learning on Student Engagement in High School Classrooms: A Qualitative Study”
“Navigating the Transition: Experiences of International Students in American Universities”
“The Role of Parental Involvement in Early Childhood Education: Perspectives from Teachers and Parents”
“Exploring the Effects of Teacher Feedback on Student Motivation and Self-Efficacy in Middle Schools”
“Digital Literacy in the Classroom: Teacher Strategies for Integrating Technology in Elementary Education”
“Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices: A Case Study in Diverse Urban Schools”
“The Influence of Extracurricular Activities on Academic Achievement: Student Perspectives”
“Barriers to Implementing Inclusive Education in Public Schools: A Qualitative Inquiry”
“Teacher Professional Development and Its Impact on Classroom Practice: A Qualitative Exploration”
“Student-Centered Learning Environments: A Qualitative Study of Classroom Dynamics and Outcomes”
“The Experience of First-Year Teachers: Challenges, Support Systems, and Professional Growth”
“Exploring the Role of School Leadership in Fostering a Positive School Culture”
“Peer Relationships and Learning Outcomes in Cooperative Learning Settings: A Qualitative Analysis”
“The Impact of Social Media on Student Learning and Engagement: Teacher and Student Perspectives”
“Understanding Special Education Needs: Parent and Teacher Perceptions of Support Services in Schools

Health Science

“Living with Chronic Pain: Patient Narratives and Coping Strategies in Managing Daily Life”
“Healthcare Professionals’ Perspectives on the Challenges of Rural Healthcare Delivery”
“Exploring the Mental Health Impacts of COVID-19 on Frontline Healthcare Workers: A Qualitative Study”
“Patient and Family Experiences of Palliative Care: Understanding Needs and Preferences”
“The Role of Community Health Workers in Improving Access to Maternal Healthcare in Rural Areas”
“Barriers to Mental Health Services Among Ethnic Minorities: A Qualitative Exploration”
“Understanding Patient Satisfaction in Telemedicine Services: A Qualitative Study of User Experiences”
“The Impact of Cultural Competence Training on Healthcare Provider-Patient Communication”
“Navigating the Transition to Adult Healthcare Services: Experiences of Adolescents with Chronic Conditions”
“Exploring the Use of Alternative Medicine Among Patients with Chronic Diseases: A Qualitative Inquiry”
“The Role of Social Support in the Rehabilitation Process of Stroke Survivors”
“Healthcare Decision-Making Among Elderly Patients: A Qualitative Study of Preferences and Influences”
“Nurse Perceptions of Patient Safety Culture in Hospital Settings: A Qualitative Analysis”
“Experiences of Women with Postpartum Depression: Barriers to Seeking Help”
“The Impact of Nutrition Education on Eating Behaviors Among College Students: A Qualitative Approach”
“Understanding Resilience in Survivors of Childhood Trauma: A Narrative Inquiry”
“The Role of Mindfulness in Managing Work-Related Stress Among Corporate Employees: A Qualitative Study”
“Coping Mechanisms Among Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder”
“Exploring the Psychological Impact of Social Isolation in the Elderly: A Phenomenological Study”
“Identity Formation in Adolescence: The Influence of Social Media and Peer Groups”
“The Experience of Forgiveness in Interpersonal Relationships: A Qualitative Exploration”
“Perceptions of Happiness and Well-Being Among University Students: A Cultural Perspective”
“The Impact of Art Therapy on Anxiety and Depression in Adult Cancer Patients”
“Narratives of Recovery: A Qualitative Study on the Journey Through Addiction Rehabilitation”
“Exploring the Psychological Effects of Long-Term Unemployment: A Grounded Theory Approach”
“Attachment Styles and Their Influence on Adult Romantic Relationships: A Qualitative Analysis”
“The Role of Personal Values in Career Decision-Making Among Young Adults”
“Understanding the Stigma of Mental Illness in Rural Communities: A Qualitative Inquiry”
“Exploring the Use of Digital Mental Health Interventions Among Adolescents: A Qualitative Study”
“The Psychological Impact of Climate Change on Young Adults: An Exploration of Anxiety and Action”
“Navigating Identity: The Role of Social Media in Shaping Youth Culture and Self-Perception”
“Community Resilience in the Face of Urban Gentrification: A Case Study of Neighborhood Change”
“The Dynamics of Intergenerational Relationships in Immigrant Families: A Qualitative Analysis”
“Social Capital and Economic Mobility in Low-Income Neighborhoods: An Ethnographic Approach”
“Gender Roles and Career Aspirations Among Young Adults in Conservative Societies”
“The Stigma of Mental Health in the Workplace: Employee Narratives and Organizational Culture”
“Exploring the Intersection of Race, Class, and Education in Urban School Systems”
“The Impact of Digital Divide on Access to Healthcare Information in Rural Communities”
“Social Movements and Political Engagement Among Millennials: A Qualitative Study”
“Cultural Adaptation and Identity Among Second-Generation Immigrants: A Phenomenological Inquiry”
“The Role of Religious Institutions in Providing Community Support and Social Services”
“Negotiating Public Space: Experiences of LGBTQ+ Individuals in Urban Environments”
“The Sociology of Food: Exploring Eating Habits and Food Practices Across Cultures”
“Work-Life Balance Challenges Among Dual-Career Couples: A Qualitative Exploration”
“The Influence of Peer Networks on Substance Use Among Adolescents: A Community Study”

Business and Management

“Navigating Organizational Change: Employee Perceptions and Adaptation Strategies in Mergers and Acquisitions”
“Corporate Social Responsibility: Consumer Perceptions and Brand Loyalty in the Retail Sector”
“Leadership Styles and Organizational Culture: A Comparative Study of Tech Startups”
“Workplace Diversity and Inclusion: Best Practices and Challenges in Multinational Corporations”
“Consumer Trust in E-commerce: A Qualitative Study of Online Shopping Behaviors”
“The Gig Economy and Worker Satisfaction: Exploring the Experiences of Freelance Professionals”
“Entrepreneurial Resilience: Success Stories and Lessons Learned from Failed Startups”
“Employee Engagement and Productivity in Remote Work Settings: A Post-Pandemic Analysis”
“Brand Storytelling: How Narrative Strategies Influence Consumer Engagement”
“Sustainable Business Practices: Stakeholder Perspectives in the Fashion Industry”
“Cross-Cultural Communication Challenges in Global Teams: Strategies for Effective Collaboration”
“Innovative Workspaces: The Impact of Office Design on Creativity and Collaboration”
“Consumer Perceptions of Artificial Intelligence in Customer Service: A Qualitative Exploration”
“The Role of Mentoring in Career Development: Insights from Women in Leadership Positions”
“Agile Management Practices: Adoption and Impact in Traditional Industries”

Environmental Studies

“Community-Based Conservation Efforts in Tropical Rainforests: A Qualitative Study of Local Perspectives and Practices”
“Urban Sustainability Initiatives: Exploring Resident Participation and Impact in Green City Projects”
“Perceptions of Climate Change Among Indigenous Populations: Insights from Traditional Ecological Knowledge”
“Environmental Justice and Industrial Pollution: A Case Study of Community Advocacy and Response”
“The Role of Eco-Tourism in Promoting Conservation Awareness: Perspectives from Tour Operators and Visitors”
“Sustainable Agriculture Practices Among Smallholder Farmers: Challenges and Opportunities”
“Youth Engagement in Climate Action Movements: Motivations, Perceptions, and Outcomes”
“Corporate Environmental Responsibility: A Qualitative Analysis of Stakeholder Expectations and Company Practices”
“The Impact of Plastic Pollution on Marine Ecosystems: Community Awareness and Behavioral Change”
“Renewable Energy Adoption in Rural Communities: Barriers, Facilitators, and Social Implications”
“Water Scarcity and Community Adaptation Strategies in Arid Regions: A Grounded Theory Approach”
“Urban Green Spaces: Public Perceptions and Use Patterns in Megacities”
“Environmental Education in Schools: Teachers’ Perspectives on Integrating Sustainability into Curricula”
“The Influence of Environmental Activism on Policy Change: Case Studies of Grassroots Campaigns”
“Cultural Practices and Natural Resource Management: A Qualitative Study of Indigenous Stewardship Models”

Anthropology

“Kinship and Social Organization in Matrilineal Societies: An Ethnographic Study”
“Rituals and Beliefs Surrounding Death and Mourning in Diverse Cultures: A Comparative Analysis”
“The Impact of Globalization on Indigenous Languages and Cultural Identity”
“Food Sovereignty and Traditional Agricultural Practices Among Indigenous Communities”
“Navigating Modernity: The Integration of Traditional Healing Practices in Contemporary Healthcare Systems”
“Gender Roles and Equality in Hunter-Gatherer Societies: An Anthropological Perspective”
“Sacred Spaces and Religious Practices: An Ethnographic Study of Pilgrimage Sites”
“Youth Subcultures and Resistance: An Exploration of Identity and Expression in Urban Environments”
“Cultural Constructions of Disability and Inclusion: A Cross-Cultural Analysis”
“Interethnic Marriages and Cultural Syncretism: Case Studies from Multicultural Societies”
“The Role of Folklore and Storytelling in Preserving Cultural Heritage”
“Economic Anthropology of Gift-Giving and Reciprocity in Tribal Communities”
“Digital Anthropology: The Role of Social Media in Shaping Political Movements”
“Migration and Diaspora: Maintaining Cultural Identity in Transnational Communities”
“Cultural Adaptations to Climate Change Among Coastal Fishing Communities”

Communication Studies

“The Dynamics of Family Communication in the Digital Age: A Qualitative Inquiry”
“Narratives of Identity and Belonging in Diaspora Communities Through Social Media”
“Organizational Communication and Employee Engagement: A Case Study in the Non-Profit Sector”
“Cultural Influences on Communication Styles in Multinational Teams: An Ethnographic Approach”
“Media Representation of Women in Politics: A Content Analysis and Audience Perception Study”
“The Role of Communication in Building Sustainable Community Development Projects”
“Interpersonal Communication in Online Dating: Strategies, Challenges, and Outcomes”
“Public Health Messaging During Pandemics: A Qualitative Study of Community Responses”
“The Impact of Mobile Technology on Parent-Child Communication in the Digital Era”
“Crisis Communication Strategies in the Hospitality Industry: A Case Study of Reputation Management”
“Narrative Analysis of Personal Stories Shared on Mental Health Blogs”
“The Influence of Podcasts on Political Engagement Among Young Adults”
“Visual Communication and Brand Identity: A Qualitative Study of Consumer Interpretations”
“Communication Barriers in Cross-Cultural Healthcare Settings: Patient and Provider Perspectives”
“The Role of Internal Communication in Managing Organizational Change: Employee Experiences”

Information Technology

“User Experience Design in Augmented Reality Applications: A Qualitative Study of Best Practices”
“The Human Factor in Cybersecurity: Understanding Employee Behaviors and Attitudes Towards Phishing”
“Adoption of Cloud Computing in Small and Medium Enterprises: Challenges and Success Factors”
“Blockchain Technology in Supply Chain Management: A Qualitative Exploration of Potential Impacts”
“The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Personalizing User Experiences on E-commerce Platforms”
“Digital Transformation in Traditional Industries: A Case Study of Technology Adoption Challenges”
“Ethical Considerations in the Development of Smart Home Technologies: A Stakeholder Analysis”
“The Impact of Social Media Algorithms on News Consumption and Public Opinion”
“Collaborative Software Development: Practices and Challenges in Open Source Projects”
“Understanding the Digital Divide: Access to Information Technology in Rural Communities”
“Data Privacy Concerns and User Trust in Internet of Things (IoT) Devices”
“The Effectiveness of Gamification in Educational Software: A Qualitative Study of Engagement and Motivation”
“Virtual Teams and Remote Work: Communication Strategies and Tools for Effectiveness”
“User-Centered Design in Mobile Health Applications: Evaluating Usability and Accessibility”
“The Influence of Technology on Work-Life Balance: Perspectives from IT Professionals”

Tourism and Hospitality

“Exploring the Authenticity of Cultural Heritage Tourism in Indigenous Communities”
“Sustainable Tourism Practices: Perceptions and Implementations in Small Island Destinations”
“The Impact of Social Media Influencers on Destination Choice Among Millennials”
“Gastronomy Tourism: Exploring the Culinary Experiences of International Visitors in Rural Regions”
“Eco-Tourism and Conservation: Stakeholder Perspectives on Balancing Tourism and Environmental Protection”
“The Role of Hospitality in Enhancing the Cultural Exchange Experience of Exchange Students”
“Dark Tourism: Visitor Motivations and Experiences at Historical Conflict Sites”
“Customer Satisfaction in Luxury Hotels: A Qualitative Study of Service Excellence and Personalization”
“Adventure Tourism: Understanding the Risk Perception and Safety Measures Among Thrill-Seekers”
“The Influence of Local Communities on Tourist Experiences in Ecotourism Sites”
“Event Tourism: Economic Impacts and Community Perspectives on Large-Scale Music Festivals”
“Heritage Tourism and Identity: Exploring the Connections Between Historic Sites and National Identity”
“Tourist Perceptions of Sustainable Accommodation Practices: A Study of Green Hotels”
“The Role of Language in Shaping the Tourist Experience in Multilingual Destinations”
“Health and Wellness Tourism: Motivations and Experiences of Visitors to Spa and Retreat Centers”

Qualitative Research Topics

Qualitative Research Topics are as follows:

Understanding the lived experiences of first-generation college students
Exploring the impact of social media on self-esteem among adolescents
Investigating the effects of mindfulness meditation on stress reduction
Analyzing the perceptions of employees regarding organizational culture
Examining the impact of parental involvement on academic achievement of elementary school students
Investigating the role of music therapy in managing symptoms of depression
Understanding the experience of women in male-dominated industries
Exploring the factors that contribute to successful leadership in non-profit organizations
Analyzing the effects of peer pressure on substance abuse among adolescents
Investigating the experiences of individuals with disabilities in the workplace
Understanding the factors that contribute to burnout among healthcare professionals
Examining the impact of social support on mental health outcomes
Analyzing the perceptions of parents regarding sex education in schools
Investigating the experiences of immigrant families in the education system
Understanding the impact of trauma on mental health outcomes
Exploring the effectiveness of animal-assisted therapy for individuals with anxiety
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful intergenerational relationships
Investigating the experiences of LGBTQ+ individuals in the workplace
Understanding the impact of online gaming on social skills development among adolescents
Examining the perceptions of teachers regarding technology integration in the classroom
Analyzing the experiences of women in leadership positions
Investigating the factors that contribute to successful marriage and long-term relationships
Understanding the impact of social media on political participation
Exploring the experiences of individuals with mental health disorders in the criminal justice system
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful community-based programs for youth development
Investigating the experiences of veterans in accessing mental health services
Understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health outcomes
Examining the perceptions of parents regarding childhood obesity prevention
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful multicultural education programs
Investigating the experiences of individuals with chronic illnesses in the workplace
Understanding the impact of poverty on academic achievement
Exploring the experiences of individuals with autism spectrum disorder in the workplace
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful employee retention strategies
Investigating the experiences of caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease
Understanding the impact of parent-child communication on adolescent sexual behavior
Examining the perceptions of college students regarding mental health services on campus
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful team building in the workplace
Investigating the experiences of individuals with eating disorders in treatment programs
Understanding the impact of mentorship on career success
Exploring the experiences of individuals with physical disabilities in the workplace
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful community-based programs for mental health
Investigating the experiences of individuals with substance use disorders in treatment programs
Understanding the impact of social media on romantic relationships
Examining the perceptions of parents regarding child discipline strategies
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful cross-cultural communication in the workplace
Investigating the experiences of individuals with anxiety disorders in treatment programs
Understanding the impact of cultural differences on healthcare delivery
Exploring the experiences of individuals with hearing loss in the workplace
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful parent-teacher communication
Investigating the experiences of individuals with depression in treatment programs
Understanding the impact of childhood trauma on adult mental health outcomes
Examining the perceptions of college students regarding alcohol and drug use on campus
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful mentor-mentee relationships
Investigating the experiences of individuals with intellectual disabilities in the workplace
Understanding the impact of work-family balance on employee satisfaction and well-being
Exploring the experiences of individuals with autism spectrum disorder in vocational rehabilitation programs
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful project management in the construction industry
Investigating the experiences of individuals with substance use disorders in peer support groups
Understanding the impact of mindfulness meditation on stress reduction and mental health
Examining the perceptions of parents regarding childhood nutrition
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful environmental sustainability initiatives in organizations
Investigating the experiences of individuals with bipolar disorder in treatment programs
Understanding the impact of job stress on employee burnout and turnover
Exploring the experiences of individuals with physical disabilities in recreational activities
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful strategic planning in nonprofit organizations
Investigating the experiences of individuals with hoarding disorder in treatment programs
Understanding the impact of culture on leadership styles and effectiveness
Examining the perceptions of college students regarding sexual health education on campus
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful supply chain management in the retail industry
Investigating the experiences of individuals with personality disorders in treatment programs
Understanding the impact of multiculturalism on group dynamics in the workplace
Exploring the experiences of individuals with chronic pain in mindfulness-based pain management programs
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful employee engagement strategies in organizations
Investigating the experiences of individuals with internet addiction disorder in treatment programs
Understanding the impact of social comparison on body dissatisfaction and self-esteem
Examining the perceptions of parents regarding childhood sleep habits
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful diversity and inclusion initiatives in organizations
Investigating the experiences of individuals with schizophrenia in treatment programs
Understanding the impact of job crafting on employee motivation and job satisfaction
Exploring the experiences of individuals with vision impairments in navigating public spaces
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful customer relationship management strategies in the service industry
Investigating the experiences of individuals with dissociative amnesia in treatment programs
Understanding the impact of cultural intelligence on intercultural communication and collaboration
Examining the perceptions of college students regarding campus diversity and inclusion efforts
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful supply chain sustainability initiatives in organizations
Investigating the experiences of individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder in treatment programs
Understanding the impact of transformational leadership on organizational performance and employee well-being
Exploring the experiences of individuals with mobility impairments in public transportation
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful talent management strategies in organizations
Investigating the experiences of individuals with substance use disorders in harm reduction programs
Understanding the impact of gratitude practices on well-being and resilience
Examining the perceptions of parents regarding childhood mental health and well-being
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful corporate social responsibility initiatives in organizations
Investigating the experiences of individuals with borderline personality disorder in treatment programs
Understanding the impact of emotional labor on job stress and burnout
Exploring the experiences of individuals with hearing impairments in healthcare settings
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful customer experience strategies in the hospitality industry
Investigating the experiences of individuals with gender dysphoria in gender-affirming healthcare
Understanding the impact of cultural differences on cross-cultural negotiation in the global marketplace
Examining the perceptions of college students regarding academic stress and mental health
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful supply chain agility in organizations
Understanding the impact of music therapy on mental health and well-being
Exploring the experiences of individuals with dyslexia in educational settings
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful leadership in nonprofit organizations
Investigating the experiences of individuals with chronic illnesses in online support groups
Understanding the impact of exercise on mental health and well-being
Examining the perceptions of parents regarding childhood screen time
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful change management strategies in organizations
Understanding the impact of cultural differences on international business negotiations
Exploring the experiences of individuals with hearing impairments in the workplace
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful team building in corporate settings
Understanding the impact of technology on communication in romantic relationships
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful community engagement strategies for local governments
Investigating the experiences of individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in treatment programs
Understanding the impact of financial stress on mental health and well-being
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful mentorship programs in organizations
Investigating the experiences of individuals with gambling addictions in treatment programs
Understanding the impact of social media on body image and self-esteem
Examining the perceptions of parents regarding childhood education
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful virtual team management strategies
Investigating the experiences of individuals with dissociative identity disorder in treatment programs
Understanding the impact of cultural differences on cross-cultural communication in healthcare settings
Exploring the experiences of individuals with chronic pain in cognitive-behavioral therapy programs
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful community-building strategies in urban neighborhoods
Investigating the experiences of individuals with alcohol use disorders in treatment programs
Understanding the impact of personality traits on romantic relationships
Examining the perceptions of college students regarding mental health stigma on campus
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful fundraising strategies for political campaigns
Investigating the experiences of individuals with traumatic brain injuries in rehabilitation programs
Understanding the impact of social support on mental health and well-being among the elderly
Exploring the experiences of individuals with chronic illnesses in medical treatment decision-making processes
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful innovation strategies in organizations
Investigating the experiences of individuals with dissociative disorders in treatment programs
Understanding the impact of cultural differences on cross-cultural communication in education settings
Examining the perceptions of parents regarding childhood physical activity
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful conflict resolution in family relationships
Investigating the experiences of individuals with opioid use disorders in treatment programs
Understanding the impact of emotional intelligence on leadership effectiveness
Exploring the experiences of individuals with learning disabilities in the workplace
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful change management in educational institutions
Investigating the experiences of individuals with eating disorders in recovery support groups
Understanding the impact of self-compassion on mental health and well-being
Examining the perceptions of college students regarding campus safety and security measures
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful marketing strategies for nonprofit organizations
Investigating the experiences of individuals with postpartum depression in treatment programs
Understanding the impact of ageism in the workplace
Exploring the experiences of individuals with dyslexia in the education system
Investigating the experiences of individuals with anxiety disorders in cognitive-behavioral therapy programs
Understanding the impact of socioeconomic status on access to healthcare
Examining the perceptions of parents regarding childhood screen time usage
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful supply chain management strategies
Understanding the impact of parenting styles on child development
Exploring the experiences of individuals with addiction in harm reduction programs
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful crisis management strategies in organizations
Investigating the experiences of individuals with trauma in trauma-focused therapy programs
Examining the perceptions of healthcare providers regarding patient-centered care
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful product development strategies
Investigating the experiences of individuals with autism spectrum disorder in employment programs
Understanding the impact of cultural competence on healthcare outcomes
Exploring the experiences of individuals with chronic illnesses in healthcare navigation
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful community engagement strategies for non-profit organizations
Investigating the experiences of individuals with physical disabilities in the workplace
Understanding the impact of childhood trauma on adult mental health
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful supply chain sustainability strategies
Investigating the experiences of individuals with personality disorders in dialectical behavior therapy programs
Understanding the impact of gender identity on mental health treatment seeking behaviors
Exploring the experiences of individuals with schizophrenia in community-based treatment programs
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful project team management strategies
Investigating the experiences of individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder in exposure and response prevention therapy programs
Understanding the impact of cultural competence on academic achievement and success
Examining the perceptions of college students regarding academic integrity
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful social media marketing strategies
Investigating the experiences of individuals with bipolar disorder in community-based treatment programs
Understanding the impact of mindfulness on academic achievement and success
Exploring the experiences of individuals with substance use disorders in medication-assisted treatment programs
Investigating the experiences of individuals with anxiety disorders in exposure therapy programs
Understanding the impact of healthcare disparities on health outcomes
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful supply chain optimization strategies
Investigating the experiences of individuals with borderline personality disorder in schema therapy programs
Understanding the impact of culture on perceptions of mental health stigma
Exploring the experiences of individuals with trauma in art therapy programs
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful digital marketing strategies
Investigating the experiences of individuals with eating disorders in online support groups
Understanding the impact of workplace bullying on job satisfaction and performance
Examining the perceptions of college students regarding mental health resources on campus
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful supply chain risk management strategies
Investigating the experiences of individuals with chronic pain in mindfulness-based pain management programs
Understanding the impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy on social anxiety disorder
Understanding the impact of COVID-19 on mental health and well-being
Exploring the experiences of individuals with eating disorders in treatment programs
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful leadership in business organizations
Investigating the experiences of individuals with chronic pain in cognitive-behavioral therapy programs
Understanding the impact of cultural differences on intercultural communication
Examining the perceptions of teachers regarding inclusive education for students with disabilities
Investigating the experiences of individuals with depression in therapy programs
Understanding the impact of workplace culture on employee retention and turnover
Exploring the experiences of individuals with traumatic brain injuries in rehabilitation programs
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful crisis communication strategies in organizations
Investigating the experiences of individuals with anxiety disorders in mindfulness-based interventions
Investigating the experiences of individuals with chronic illnesses in healthcare settings
Understanding the impact of technology on work-life balance
Exploring the experiences of individuals with learning disabilities in academic settings
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful entrepreneurship in small businesses
Understanding the impact of gender identity on mental health and well-being
Examining the perceptions of individuals with disabilities regarding accessibility in public spaces
Understanding the impact of religion on coping strategies for stress and anxiety
Exploring the experiences of individuals with chronic illnesses in complementary and alternative medicine treatments
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful customer retention strategies in business organizations
Investigating the experiences of individuals with postpartum depression in therapy programs
Understanding the impact of ageism on older adults in healthcare settings
Examining the perceptions of students regarding online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful team building in virtual work environments
Investigating the experiences of individuals with gambling disorders in treatment programs
Exploring the experiences of individuals with chronic illnesses in peer support groups
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful social media marketing strategies for businesses
Investigating the experiences of individuals with ADHD in treatment programs
Understanding the impact of sleep on cognitive and emotional functioning
Examining the perceptions of individuals with chronic illnesses regarding healthcare access and affordability
Investigating the experiences of individuals with borderline personality disorder in dialectical behavior therapy programs
Understanding the impact of social support on caregiver well-being
Exploring the experiences of individuals with chronic illnesses in disability activism
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful cultural competency training programs in healthcare settings
Understanding the impact of personality disorders on interpersonal relationships
Examining the perceptions of healthcare providers regarding the use of telehealth services
Investigating the experiences of individuals with dissociative disorders in therapy programs
Understanding the impact of gender bias in hiring practices
Exploring the experiences of individuals with visual impairments in the workplace
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful diversity and inclusion programs in the workplace
Understanding the impact of online dating on romantic relationships
Examining the perceptions of parents regarding childhood vaccination
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful communication in healthcare settings
Understanding the impact of cultural stereotypes on academic achievement
Exploring the experiences of individuals with substance use disorders in sober living programs
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful classroom management strategies
Understanding the impact of social support on addiction recovery
Examining the perceptions of college students regarding mental health stigma
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful conflict resolution in the workplace
Understanding the impact of race and ethnicity on healthcare access and outcomes
Exploring the experiences of individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder in treatment programs
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful project management strategies
Understanding the impact of teacher-student relationships on academic achievement
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful customer service strategies
Investigating the experiences of individuals with social anxiety disorder in treatment programs
Understanding the impact of workplace stress on job satisfaction and performance
Exploring the experiences of individuals with disabilities in sports and recreation
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful marketing strategies for small businesses
Investigating the experiences of individuals with phobias in treatment programs
Understanding the impact of culture on attitudes towards mental health and illness
Examining the perceptions of college students regarding sexual assault prevention
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful time management strategies
Investigating the experiences of individuals with addiction in recovery support groups
Understanding the impact of mindfulness on emotional regulation and well-being
Exploring the experiences of individuals with chronic pain in treatment programs
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful conflict resolution in romantic relationships
Investigating the experiences of individuals with autism spectrum disorder in social skills training programs
Understanding the impact of parent-child communication on adolescent substance use
Examining the perceptions of parents regarding childhood mental health services
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful fundraising strategies for non-profit organizations
Investigating the experiences of individuals with chronic illnesses in support groups
Understanding the impact of personality traits on career success and satisfaction
Exploring the experiences of individuals with disabilities in accessing public transportation
Analyzing the factors that contribute to successful team building in sports teams
Investigating the experiences of individuals with chronic pain in alternative medicine treatments
Understanding the impact of stigma on mental health treatment seeking behaviors
Examining the perceptions of college students regarding diversity and inclusion on campus.

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Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

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100 Interesting Research Paper Topics for High Schoolers

What’s covered:, how to pick the right research topic, elements of a strong research paper.

Interesting Research Paper Topics

Composing a research paper can be a daunting task for first-time writers. In addition to making sure you’re using concise language and your thoughts are organized clearly, you need to find a topic that draws the reader in.

CollegeVine is here to help you brainstorm creative topics! Below are 100 interesting research paper topics that will help you engage with your project and keep you motivated until you’ve typed the final period.

A research paper is similar to an academic essay but more lengthy and requires more research. This added length and depth is bittersweet: although a research paper is more work, you can create a more nuanced argument, and learn more about your topic. Research papers are a demonstration of your research ability and your ability to formulate a convincing argument. How well you’re able to engage with the sources and make original contributions will determine the strength of your paper.

You can’t have a good research paper without a good research paper topic. “Good” is subjective, and different students will find different topics interesting. What’s important is that you find a topic that makes you want to find out more and make a convincing argument. Maybe you’ll be so interested that you’ll want to take it further and investigate some detail in even greater depth!

For example, last year over 4000 students applied for 500 spots in the Lumiere Research Scholar Program , a rigorous research program founded by Harvard researchers. The program pairs high-school students with Ph.D. mentors to work 1-on-1 on an independent research project . The program actually does not require you to have a research topic in mind when you apply, but pro tip: the more specific you can be the more likely you are to get in!

Introduction

The introduction to a research paper serves two critical functions: it conveys the topic of the paper and illustrates how you will address it. A strong introduction will also pique the interest of the reader and make them excited to read more. Selecting a research paper topic that is meaningful, interesting, and fascinates you is an excellent first step toward creating an engaging paper that people will want to read.

Thesis Statement

A thesis statement is technically part of the introduction—generally the last sentence of it—but is so important that it merits a section of its own. The thesis statement is a declarative sentence that tells the reader what the paper is about. A strong thesis statement serves three purposes: present the topic of the paper, deliver a clear opinion on the topic, and summarize the points the paper will cover.

An example of a good thesis statement of diversity in the workforce is:

Diversity in the workplace is not just a moral imperative but also a strategic advantage for businesses, as it fosters innovation, enhances creativity, improves decision-making, and enables companies to better understand and connect with a diverse customer base.

The body is the largest section of a research paper. It’s here where you support your thesis, present your facts and research, and persuade the reader.

Each paragraph in the body of a research paper should have its own idea. The idea is presented, generally in the first sentence of the paragraph, by a topic sentence. The topic sentence acts similarly to the thesis statement, only on a smaller scale, and every sentence in the paragraph with it supports the idea it conveys.

An example of a topic sentence on how diversity in the workplace fosters innovation is:

Diversity in the workplace fosters innovation by bringing together individuals with different backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences, which stimulates creativity, encourages new ideas, and leads to the development of innovative solutions to complex problems.

The body of an engaging research paper flows smoothly from one idea to the next. Create an outline before writing and order your ideas so that each idea logically leads to another.

The conclusion of a research paper should summarize your thesis and reinforce your argument. It’s common to restate the thesis in the conclusion of a research paper.

For example, a conclusion for a paper about diversity in the workforce is:

In conclusion, diversity in the workplace is vital to success in the modern business world. By embracing diversity, companies can tap into the full potential of their workforce, promote creativity and innovation, and better connect with a diverse customer base, ultimately leading to greater success and a more prosperous future for all.

Reference Page

The reference page is normally found at the end of a research paper. It provides proof that you did research using credible sources, properly credits the originators of information, and prevents plagiarism.

There are a number of different formats of reference pages, including APA, MLA, and Chicago. Make sure to format your reference page in your teacher’s preferred style.

Analyze the benefits of diversity in education.
Are charter schools useful for the national education system?
How has modern technology changed teaching?
Discuss the pros and cons of standardized testing.
What are the benefits of a gap year between high school and college?
What funding allocations give the most benefit to students?
Does homeschooling set students up for success?
Should universities/high schools require students to be vaccinated?
What effect does rising college tuition have on high schoolers?
Do students perform better in same-sex schools?
Discuss and analyze the impacts of a famous musician on pop music.
How has pop music evolved over the past decade?
How has the portrayal of women in music changed in the media over the past decade?
How does a synthesizer work?
How has music evolved to feature different instruments/voices?
How has sound effect technology changed the music industry?
Analyze the benefits of music education in high schools.
Are rehabilitation centers more effective than prisons?
Are congestion taxes useful?
Does affirmative action help minorities?
Can a capitalist system effectively reduce inequality?
Is a three-branch government system effective?
What causes polarization in today’s politics?
Is the U.S. government racially unbiased?
Choose a historical invention and discuss its impact on society today.
Choose a famous historical leader who lost power—what led to their eventual downfall?
How has your country evolved over the past century?
What historical event has had the largest effect on the U.S.?
Has the government’s response to national disasters improved or declined throughout history?
Discuss the history of the American occupation of Iraq.
Explain the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Is literature relevant in modern society?
Discuss how fiction can be used for propaganda.
How does literature teach and inform about society?
Explain the influence of children’s literature on adulthood.
How has literature addressed homosexuality?
Does the media portray minorities realistically?
Does the media reinforce stereotypes?
Why have podcasts become so popular?
Will streaming end traditional television?
What is a patriot?
What are the pros and cons of global citizenship?
What are the causes and effects of bullying?
Why has the divorce rate in the U.S. been declining in recent years?
Is it more important to follow social norms or religion?
What are the responsible limits on abortion, if any?
How does an MRI machine work?
Would the U.S. benefit from socialized healthcare?
Elderly populations
The education system
State tax bases
How do anti-vaxxers affect the health of the country?
Analyze the costs and benefits of diet culture.
Should companies allow employees to exercise on company time?
What is an adequate amount of exercise for an adult per week/per month/per day?
Discuss the effects of the obesity epidemic on American society.
Are students smarter since the advent of the internet?
What departures has the internet made from its original design?
Has digital downloading helped the music industry?
Discuss the benefits and costs of stricter internet censorship.
Analyze the effects of the internet on the paper news industry.
What would happen if the internet went out?
How will artificial intelligence (AI) change our lives?
What are the pros and cons of cryptocurrency?
How has social media affected the way people relate with each other?
Should social media have an age restriction?
Discuss the importance of source software.
What is more relevant in today’s world: mobile apps or websites?
How will fully autonomous vehicles change our lives?
How is text messaging affecting teen literacy?

Mental Health

What are the benefits of daily exercise?
How has social media affected people’s mental health?
What things contribute to poor mental and physical health?
Analyze how mental health is talked about in pop culture.
Discuss the pros and cons of more counselors in high schools.
How does stress affect the body?
How do emotional support animals help people?
What are black holes?
Discuss the biggest successes and failures of the EPA.
How has the Flint water crisis affected life in Michigan?
Can science help save endangered species?
Is the development of an anti-cancer vaccine possible?

Environment

What are the effects of deforestation on climate change?
Is climate change reversible?
How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect global warming and climate change?
Are carbon credits effective for offsetting emissions or just marketing?
Is nuclear power a safe alternative to fossil fuels?
Are hybrid vehicles helping to control pollution in the atmosphere?
How is plastic waste harming the environment?
Is entrepreneurism a trait people are born with or something they learn?
How much more should CEOs make than their average employee?
Can you start a business without money?
Should the U.S. raise the minimum wage?
Discuss how happy employees benefit businesses.
How important is branding for a business?
Discuss the ease, or difficulty, of landing a job today.
What is the economic impact of sporting events?
Are professional athletes overpaid?
Should male and female athletes receive equal pay?
What is a fair and equitable way for transgender athletes to compete in high school sports?
What are the benefits of playing team sports?
What is the most corrupt professional sport?

Where to Get More Research Paper Topic Ideas

If you need more help brainstorming topics, especially those that are personalized to your interests, you can use CollegeVine’s free AI tutor, Ivy . Ivy can help you come up with original research topic ideas, and she can also help with the rest of your homework, from math to languages.

Disclaimer: This post includes content sponsored by Lumiere Education.

189+ Most Exciting Qualitative Research Topics For Students

Researchers conduct qualitative studies to gain a holistic understanding of the topic under investigation. Analyzing qualitative? Looking for the best qualitative research topics?

If yes, you are here at the right place. We are discussing here all the topics in every field. Basically, qualitative research is the most valuable approach within the fields of social sciences, humanities, and various other fields.

Qualitative research uses a wide array of methods such as interviews, focus groups, participant observation, content analysis, and case studies. Even among others, to gather and analyze non-numerical data.

In this blog, we will explore the diverse, most interesting qualitative research topics, highlighting their importance. Whether you are a student, a scholar, or a practitioner in your field, these best qualitative research ideas are most helpful for you.

Must Read: 21 Ways To Get Good Grades In College

What Is Qualitative Research

Table of Contents

Qualitative research is a systematic and exploratory approach to research that focuses on understanding and interpreting the complexities of human experiences, behaviors, and phenomena. It aims to provide in-depth insights into the “how” and “why” of various issues by examining them in their natural settings and contexts. Unlike quantitative research, which primarily deals with numerical data and statistical analysis, qualitative research relies on non-numerical data such as interviews, observations, textual analysis, and participant narratives to uncover deeper meanings and patterns.

Key Characteristics Of Qualitative Research

These are the main features of Qualitative research. It is such as;

1. Subjective Understanding

Qualitative research is concerned with subjective aspects of human experiences, such as beliefs, emotions, values, and perceptions. It seeks to understand the world from the perspectives of the individuals being studied.

2. Contextual Exploration

Researchers immerse themselves in the context or environment in which the phenomenon of interest occurs. This contextual understanding is crucial for interpreting the findings accurately.

3. Flexibility

Qualitative research methods are flexible and adaptive, allowing researchers to adjust their approaches as they gain insights during the research process.

4. Small Sample Sizes

Qualitative studies often involve smaller samples compared to quantitative research, but they prioritize depth over breadth, aiming to gain a profound understanding of a particular group or issue.

5. Data Collection Techniques

Qualitative data is gathered through various techniques, including interviews, focus groups, participant observations, document analysis, and open-ended surveys. Researchers often use a combination of these methods to triangulate their findings.

6. Inductive Approach

Qualitative research typically employs an inductive approach, meaning that researchers develop theories or concepts based on the data they collect, rather than testing pre-existing hypotheses.

7. Rich and Detailed Data

The data collected in qualitative research is rich and descriptive, often involving transcripts of interviews, field notes, or coded textual data. Researchers analyze this data to identify themes, patterns, and relationships.

8 Great Tips On How To Choose Good Qualitative Research Topics

Here are some tips to help you select strong qualitative research topics:

1. Personal Interest and Passion: Start by considering what genuinely interests and excites you. Your enthusiasm for the topic will sustain your motivation throughout the research process.

2. Relevance: Ensure that your chosen topic is relevant to your field of study or the discipline you are working within. It should contribute to existing knowledge or address a meaningful research gap.

3. Research Gap Identification: Review relevant literature and research to identify gaps or areas where there is limited qualitative research. Look for unanswered questions or underexplored aspects of a particular subject.

4. Feasibility: Assess whether the topic is feasible within the scope of your research project. Consider factors like available time, resources, and access to potential participants or data sources.

5. Clarity and Specificity: Your research topic should be clear, specific, and well-defined. Avoid overly broad topics that are difficult to explore in depth. Narrow it down to a manageable focus.

6. Significance: Ask yourself why your research topic matters. Consider the potential implications and applications of your findings. How might your research contribute to understanding, policy, or practice?

7. Originality: Aim for a unique angle or perspective on the topic. While you can build on existing research, strive to offer a fresh viewpoint or new insights.

8. Researchable : Ensure that your topic is researchable using qualitative methods. It should allow you to collect relevant data and answer research questions effectively.

137+ Most Exciting Qualitative Research Topics For All Students

These are The following best qualitative research topics are given below for the students.

Qualitative Research Topics In Health and Medicine

Experiences of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Perceptions of alternative medicine among cancer patients.
Coping mechanisms of individuals with chronic illnesses.
The impact of telemedicine on patient-doctor relationships.
Barriers to mental health treatment-seeking among minority populations.
Qualitative analysis of patient experiences with organ transplantation.
Decision-making processes of families regarding end-of-life care.

Qualitative Research Topics In Education

The role of parental involvement in student academic achievement.
Teacher perceptions of remote learning during a pandemic.
Peer influence on academic motivation and performance.
Exploring the experiences of homeschooling families.
The impact of technology on the classroom environment.
Factors influencing student dropout rates in higher education.

Qualitative Research Topics In Psychology and Mental Health

Understanding the stigma associated with seeking therapy.
Experiences of individuals living with anxiety disorders.
Perceptions of body image among adolescents.
Coping strategies of survivors of traumatic events.
The impact of social support on mental health recovery.
Narratives of individuals with eating disorders.

Qualitative Research Topics In Sociology and Culture

Experiences of immigrants in adapting to a new culture.
The role of social media in shaping cultural identities.
Perceptions of police-community relations in marginalized communities.
Gender dynamics in the workplace and career progression.
Qualitative analysis of online dating experiences.
Narratives of LGBTQ+ individuals coming out to their families.

Qualitative Research Topics In Technology and Society

User experiences with augmented reality applications.
Perceptions of online privacy and data security.
The impact of social media on political activism.
Ethical considerations in artificial intelligence development.
Qualitative analysis of online gaming communities.
Experiences of individuals participating in virtual reality environments.

Qualitative Research Topics In Environmental Studies

Public perceptions of climate change and environmental policies.
Experiences of individuals involved in sustainable living practices.
Qualitative analysis of environmental activism movements.
Community responses to natural disasters and climate change.
Perspectives on wildlife conservation efforts.

Qualitative Research Topics In Business and Economics

Qualitative analysis of consumer behavior and brand loyalty.
Entrepreneurial experiences of women in male-dominated industries.
Factors influencing small business success or failure.
Corporate social responsibility and its impact on consumer trust.
Experiences of employees in remote work settings.

Qualitative Research Topics In Politics and Governance

Perceptions of voter suppression and electoral integrity.
Experiences of political activists in grassroots movements.
The role of social media in shaping political discourse.
Narratives of individuals involved in civil rights movements.
Qualitative analysis of government responses to crises.

Qualitative Research Topics In Family and Relationships

Experiences of couples in long-distance relationships.
Parenting styles and their impact on child development.
Sibling dynamics and their influence on individual development.
Narratives of individuals in arranged marriages.
Experiences of single parents in raising their children.

Qualitative Research Topics In Art and Culture

Qualitative analysis of the impact of art therapy on mental health.
Experiences of artists in exploring social and political themes.
Perceptions of cultural appropriation in the arts.
Narratives of individuals involved in the hip-hop culture.
The role of art in preserving cultural heritage.

Qualitative Research Topics In Crime and Justice

Experiences of formerly incarcerated individuals reentering society.
Perceptions of racial profiling and police violence.
Qualitative analysis of restorative justice programs.
Narratives of victims of cyberbullying.
Perspectives on juvenile justice reform.

Qualitative Research Topics In Sports and Recreation

Experiences of athletes in overcoming career-threatening injuries.
The role of sports in building resilience among youth.
Perceptions of performance-enhancing drugs in professional sports.
Qualitative analysis of sports fandom and its impact on identity.
Narratives of individuals involved in adaptive sports.

Qualitative Research Topics In History and Heritage

Experiences of descendants of historical events or figures.
Perceptions of cultural preservation and heritage conservation.
Narratives of individuals connected to indigenous cultures.
The impact of oral history on preserving traditions.
Qualitative analysis of historical reenactment communities.

Qualitative Research Topics In Religion and Spirituality

Experiences of individuals who have undergone religious conversion.
Perceptions of spirituality and well-being.
The role of religion in shaping moral values and ethics.
Narratives of individuals who have left religious communities.
Qualitative analysis of interfaith dialogue and cooperation.

Qualitative Research Topics In Travel and Tourism

Experiences of solo travelers in foreign countries.
Perceptions of sustainable tourism practices.
Qualitative analysis of cultural immersion through travel.
Narratives of individuals on pilgrimages or spiritual journeys.
Experiences of individuals living in tourist destinations.

Qualitative Research Topics In Human Rights and Social Justice

Narratives of human rights activists in advocating for change.
Experiences of refugees and asylum seekers.
Perceptions of income inequality and wealth distribution.
Qualitative analysis of anti-discrimination campaigns.
Perspectives on global efforts to combat human trafficking.

Qualitative Research Topics In Aging and Gerontology

Experiences of individuals in assisted living facilities.
Perceptions of aging and quality of life in older adults.
Narratives of caregivers for elderly family members.
The impact of intergenerational relationships on well-being.
Qualitative analysis of end-of-life decisions and hospice care.

Qualitative Research Topics In Language and Communication

Experiences of individuals learning a second language.
Perceptions of non-verbal communication in cross-cultural interactions.
Narratives of people who communicate primarily through sign language.
The role of language in shaping identity and belonging.
Qualitative analysis of online communication in virtual communities.

Qualitative Research Topics In Media and Entertainment

Experiences of content creators in the digital media industry.
Perceptions of representation in the film and television industry.
The impact of music on emotional well-being and identity.
Narratives of individuals involved in fan communities.
Qualitative analysis of the effects of binge-watching on mental health.

Qualitative Research Topics In Ethics and Morality

Experiences of individuals faced with ethical dilemmas.
Perceptions of moral relativism and cultural differences.
Narratives of whistleblowers in exposing corporate misconduct.
The role of empathy in ethical decision-making.
Qualitative analysis of the ethics of artificial intelligence.

Qualitative Research Topics In Technology and Education

Experiences of teachers integrating technology in the classroom.
Perceptions of online learning and its effectiveness.
The impact of educational apps on student engagement.
Narratives of students with disabilities using assistive technology.
Qualitative analysis of the digital divide in education.

Qualitative Research Topics In Gender and Sexuality

Experiences of transgender individuals in transitioning.
Perceptions of gender roles and expectations.
Narratives of individuals in same-sex relationships.
The impact of intersectionality on experiences of gender and sexuality.
Qualitative analysis of gender-based violence and advocacy.

Qualitative Research Topics In Migration and Diaspora

Experiences of immigrants in maintaining cultural ties to their home country.
Perceptions of identity among second-generation immigrants.
Narratives of refugees resettling in new countries.
The role of diaspora communities in supporting homeland causes.
Qualitative analysis of immigration policies and their impact on families.

Qualitative Research Topics In Food and Nutrition

Experiences of individuals with specific dietary restrictions.
Perceptions of food sustainability and ethical consumption.
Narratives of people with eating disorders seeking recovery.
The role of food in cultural identity and traditions.
Qualitative analysis of food insecurity and hunger relief efforts.

Qualitative Research Topics In Urban Studies and Community Development

Experiences of residents in gentrifying neighborhoods.
Perceptions of community engagement and empowerment.
Narratives of individuals involved in urban farming initiatives.
The impact of housing policies on homelessness.
Qualitative analysis of neighborhood safety and crime prevention.

Qualitative Research Topics In Science and Technology Ethics

Experiences of scientists in navigating ethical dilemmas.
Perceptions of scientific responsibility in climate change research.
Narratives of whistleblowers in scientific misconduct cases.
The role of ethics in emerging technology development.
Qualitative analysis of the ethics of genetic engineering.

Qualitative Research Topics In Social Media and Online Communities

Experiences of individuals in online support groups.
Perceptions of social media’s influence on self-esteem.
Narratives of social media influencers and their impact.
The role of online communities in social and political movements.
Qualitative analysis of cyberbullying and online harassment.

Qualitative Research Topics in Daily Life

The Impact of Social Media on Personal Relationships and Well-being.
Exploring the Experience of Remote Work during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Perceptions of Sustainable Living Practices Among Urban Dwellers.
Qualitative Analysis of Food Choices and Eating Habits in a Fast-paced Society.
Understanding the Motivations and Barriers to Physical Activity Among Adults.

Qualitative Research Topics for Students

Student Perceptions of Online Learning: Challenges and Opportunities.
Peer Pressure and Decision-making Among Adolescents.
Exploring the Transition from High School to College: Student Experiences.
The Role of Extracurricular Activities in Student Development.
Motivations and Challenges of Student Entrepreneurs in Starting Their Businesses.

Qualitative Research Topics for STEM Students

Qualitative Analysis of Ethical Dilemmas in Scientific Research.
Women in STEM: Barriers, Challenges, and Strategies for Success.
Understanding the Decision-making Process in Biomedical Research.
Qualitative Exploration of Team Dynamics in Engineering Projects.
Perceptions of Artificial Intelligence and Automation Among STEM Professionals.

Qualitative Research Titles Examples

“Voices of Resilience: Narratives of Cancer Survivors.”
“Exploring Cultural Identity Among Immigrant Communities.”
“From Addiction to Recovery: Life Stories of Former Substance Abusers.”
“Inside the Classroom: Student and Teacher Perspectives on Inclusive Education.”
“Navigating Caregiving: Experiences of Family Members Caring for Alzheimer’s Patients.”

Qualitative Research Topics in Education

Teacher Beliefs and Practices in Culturally Responsive Pedagogy.
Qualitative Study of Bullying Incidents in Elementary Schools.
Homeschooling: Parent and Student Perspectives on Alternative Education.
Evaluating the Impact of Technology Integration in Classroom Learning.
Parental Involvement in Early Childhood Education: A Qualitative Analysis.

Qualitative Research Topics for Nursing Students

Patient Experiences of Chronic Illness Management.
The Role of Empathy in Nursing Practice: A Qualitative Study.
Qualitative Exploration of End-of-Life Care Decision-making.
Perceptions of Nurse-Patient Communication in Intensive Care Units.
Nursing Burnout: Causes, Consequences, and Coping Strategies.

Qualitative Research Topics for Human Studies

Understanding the Impact of Climate Change on Vulnerable Communities.
The Role of Social Support in Mental Health Recovery.
Experiences of First-time Homebuyers in the Real Estate Market.
Exploring the Motivations and Challenges of Volunteering.
Narratives of Trauma Survivors: Coping and Resilience.

Qualitative Research Topics 2023

Emerging Trends in Remote Work: Employee Perspectives.
The Influence of Social Media on Political Engagement in the Post-COVID-19 Era.
Qualitative Study of Mental Health Stigma Reduction Campaigns.
Sustainability Practices in Business: Stakeholder Perceptions and Implementation.
Narratives of Long COVID: The Lived Experience of Survivors.

10 Major Differences Between Qualitative And Quantitative Research

Here are the 10 best differences between qualitative and quantitative research:

Conclusion – Qualitative Research Topics

Consequently, the selection of qualitative research topics is a critical phase in the journey of any researcher or student pursuing qualitative inquiry. The process of choosing the right topic involves a delicate balance of personal passion, research significance, feasibility, and ethical considerations.

As we’ve discussed, it’s essential to choose a topic that not only resonates with your interests but also contributes to the broader academic or practical discourse. Qualitative research offers a unique lens through which to examine the complexities of human experiences, behaviors, and phenomena.

It provides the opportunity to delve deep into the “how” and “why” of various subjects, offering nuanced insights that quantitative methods may not capture. Whether you are investigating personal narratives, cultural dynamics, educational practices, or social phenomena, qualitative research allows you to uncover the rich tapestry of human existence.

What is a good topic for qualitative research?

Self-esteem among people from low socioeconomic backgrounds. The advantages of online learning over physical learning.

What are the five topics of qualitative research?

These are biography, ethnography, phenomenology, grounded theory, and case study.

What is the easiest type of qualitative research?

Content analysis is possibly the most common and straightforward QDA method. At the simplest level, content analysis.

What are the 4 R’s of qualitative research?

Qualitative social research, whether conducted as ethnography, participant observation, or in situ interviewing, fares poorly when examined by the criteria of representativeness, reactivity, reliability, and replicability.

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161+ Exciting Qualitative Research Topics For STEM Students

Are you doing Qualitative research? Looking for the best qualitative research topics for stem students? It is a most interesting and good field for research. Qualitative research allows STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) students to delve deeper into complex issues, explore human behavior, and understand the intricacies of the world around them.

In this article, we’ll provide you with an extensive list of 161+ qualitative research topics tailored to STEM students. We’ll also explore how to find and choose good qualitative research topics, and why these topics are particularly beneficial for students, including those in high school.

Also Like To Read: 171+ Brilliant Quantitative Research Topics For STEM Students

Table of Contents

What Are Qualitative Research Topics for STEM Students

Qualitative research topics for stem students are questions or issues that necessitate an in-depth exploration of people’s experiences, beliefs, and behaviors. STEM students can use this approach to investigate societal impacts, ethical dilemmas, and user experiences related to scientific advancements and innovations.

Unlike quantitative research, which focuses on numerical data and statistical analysis, qualitative research delves into the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ of a particular phenomenon.

How to Find and Choose Good Qualitative Research Topics

Selecting qualitative research topics for stem students is a crucial step in the research process. Here are some tips to help you find and choose a suitable topic:

Passion and Interest: Start by considering your personal interests and passions. What topics within STEM excite you? Research becomes more engaging when you’re genuinely interested in the subject.
Relevance: Choose qualitative research topics for stem students. Look for gaps in the existing knowledge or unanswered questions.
Literature Review: Conduct a thorough literature review to identify the latest trends and areas where qualitative research is lacking. This can guide you in selecting a topic that contributes to the field.
Feasibility: Ensure that your chosen topic is feasible within the resources and time constraints available to you. Some research topics may require extensive resources and funding.
Ethical Considerations: Be aware of ethical concerns related to your qualitative research topics for stem students, especially when dealing with human subjects or sensitive issues.

Here are the most exciting and very interesting Qualitative Research Topics For STEM Students, high school students, nursing students, college students, etc.

Biology Qualitative Research Topics

Impact of Ecosystem Restoration on Biodiversity
Ethical Considerations in Human Gene Editing
Public Perceptions of Biotechnology in Agriculture
Coping Mechanisms and Stress Responses in Marine Biologists
Cultural Perspectives on Traditional Herbal Medicine
Community Attitudes Toward Wildlife Conservation Efforts
Ethical Issues in Animal Testing and Research
Indigenous Knowledge and Ethnobotany
Psychological Well-being of Conservation Biologists
Attitudes Toward Endangered Species Protection

Chemistry Qualitative Research Topics For STEM Students

Adoption of Green Chemistry Practices in the Pharmaceutical Industry
Public Perception of Chemical Safety in Household Products
Strategies for Improving Chemistry Education
Art Conservation and Chemical Analysis
Consumer Attitudes Toward Organic Chemistry in Everyday Life
Ethical Considerations in Chemical Waste Disposal
The Role of Chemistry in Sustainable Agriculture
Perceptions of Nanomaterials and Their Applications
Chemistry-Related Career Aspirations in High School Students
Cultural Beliefs and Traditional Chemical Practices

Physics Qualitative Research Topics

Gender Bias in Physics Education and Career Progression
Philosophical Implications of Quantum Mechanics
Public Understanding of Renewable Energy Technologies
Influence of Science Fiction on Scientific Research
Perceptions of Dark Matter and Dark Energy in the Universe
Student Experiences in High School Physics Classes
Physics Outreach Programs and Their Impact on Communities
Cultural Variations in the Perception of Time and Space
Role of Physics in Environmental Conservation
Public Engagement with Science Through Astronomy Events

Engineering Qualitative Research Topics For STEM Students

Ethics in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics
Human-Centered Design in Engineering
Innovation and Sustainability in Civil Engineering
Public Perception of Self-Driving Cars
Engineering Solutions for Climate Change Mitigation
Experiences of Women in Male-Dominated Engineering Fields
Role of Engineers in Disaster Response and Recovery
Ethical Considerations in Technology Patents
Perceptions of Engineering Education and Career Prospects
Students Views on the Role of Engineers in Society

Computer Science Qualitative Research Topics

Gender Diversity in Tech Companies
Ethical Implications of AI-Powered Decision-Making
User Experience and Interface Design
Cybersecurity Awareness and Behaviors
Digital Privacy Concerns and Practices
Social Media Use and Mental Health in College Students
Gaming Culture and its Impact on Social Interactions
Student Attitudes Toward Coding and Programming
Online Learning Platforms and Student Satisfaction
Perceptions of Artificial Intelligence in Everyday Life

Mathematics Qualitative Research Topics For STEM Students

Gender Stereotypes in Mathematics Education
Cultural Variations in Problem-Solving Approaches
Perception of Math in Everyday Life
Math Anxiety and Coping Mechanisms
Historical Development of Mathematical Concepts
Attitudes Toward Mathematics Among Elementary School Students
Role of Mathematics in Solving Real-World Problems
Homeschooling Approaches to Teaching Mathematics
Effectiveness of Math Tutoring Programs
Math-Related Stereotypes in Society

Environmental Science Qualitative Research Topics

Local Communities’ Responses to Climate Change
Public Understanding of Conservation Practices
Sustainable Agriculture and Farmer Perspectives
Environmental Education and Behavior Change
Indigenous Ecological Knowledge and Biodiversity Conservation
Conservation Awareness and Behavior of Tourists
Climate Change Perceptions Among Youth
Perceptions of Water Scarcity and Resource Management
Environmental Activism and Youth Engagement
Community Responses to Environmental Disasters

Geology and Earth Sciences Qualitative Research Topics For STEM Students

Geologists’ Risk Perception and Decision-Making
Volcano Hazard Preparedness in At-Risk Communities
Public Attitudes Toward Geological Hazards
Environmental Consequences of Extractive Industries
Perceptions of Geological Time and Deep Earth Processes
Use of Geospatial Technology in Environmental Research
Role of Geology in Disaster Preparedness and Response
Geological Factors Influencing Urban Planning
Community Engagement in Geoscience Education
Climate Change Communication and Public Understanding

Astronomy and Space Science Qualitative Research Topics

The Role of Science Communication in Astronomy Education
Perceptions of Space Exploration and Colonization
UFO and Extraterrestrial Life Beliefs
Public Understanding of Black Holes and Neutron Stars
Space Tourism and Future Space Travel
Impact of Space Science Outreach Programs on Student Interest
Cultural Beliefs and Rituals Related to Celestial Events
Space Science in Indigenous Knowledge Systems
Public Engagement with Astronomical Phenomena
Space Exploration in Science Fiction and Popular Culture

Medicine and Health Sciences Qualitative Research Topics

Patient-Physician Communication and Trust
Ethical Considerations in Human Cloning and Genetic Modification
Public Attitudes Toward Vaccination
Coping Strategies for Healthcare Workers in Pandemics
Cultural Beliefs and Health Practices
Health Disparities Among Underserved Communities
Medical Decision-Making and Informed Consent
Mental Health Stigma and Help-Seeking Behavior
Wellness Practices and Health-Related Beliefs
Perceptions of Alternative and Complementary Medicine

Psychology Qualitative Research Topics

Perceptions of Body Image in Different Cultures
Workplace Stress and Coping Mechanisms
LGBTQ+ Youth Experiences and Well-Being
Cross-Cultural Differences in Parenting Styles and Outcomes
Perceptions of Psychotherapy and Counseling
Attitudes Toward Medication for Mental Health Conditions
Psychological Well-being of Older Adults
Role of Cultural and Social Factors in Psychological Well-being
Technology Use and Its Impact on Mental Health

Social Sciences Qualitative Research Topics

Political Polarization and Online Echo Chambers
Immigration and Acculturation Experiences
Educational Inequality and School Policy
Youth Engagement in Environmental Activism
Identity and Social Media in the Digital Age
Social Media and Its Influence on Political Beliefs
Family Dynamics and Conflict Resolution
Social Support and Coping Strategies in College Students
Perceptions of Cyberbullying Among Adolescents
Impact of Social Movements on Societal Change

Interesting Sociology Qualitative Research Topics For STEM Students

Perceptions of Racial Inequality and Discrimination
Aging and Quality of Life in Elderly Populations
Gender Roles and Expectations in Relationships
Online Communities and Social Support
Cultural Practices and Beliefs Related to Marriage
Family Dynamics and Coping Mechanisms
Perceptions of Community Safety and Policing
Attitudes Toward Social Welfare Programs
Influence of Media on Perceptions of Social Issues
Youth Perspectives on Education and Career Aspirations

Anthropology Qualitative Research Topics

Traditional Knowledge and Biodiversity Conservation
Cultural Variation in Parenting Practices
Indigenous Language Revitalization Efforts
Social Impacts of Tourism on Indigenous Communities
Rituals and Ceremonies in Different Cultural Contexts
Food and Identity in Cultural Practices
Traditional Healing and Healthcare Practices
Indigenous Rights and Land Conservation
Ethnographic Studies of Marginalized Communities
Cultural Practices Surrounding Death and Mourning

Economics and Business Qualitative Research Topics

Small Business Resilience in Times of Crisis
Workplace Diversity and Inclusion
Corporate Social Responsibility Perceptions
International Trade and Cultural Perceptions
Consumer Behavior and Decision-Making in E-Commerce
Business Ethics and Ethical Decision-Making
Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Startups
Perceptions of Economic Inequality and Wealth Distribution
Impact of Economic Policies on Communities
Role of Economic Education in Financial Literacy

Good Education Qualitative Research Topics For STEM Students

Homeschooling Experiences and Outcomes
Teacher Burnout and Coping Strategies
Inclusive Education and Special Needs Integration
Student Perspectives on Online Learning
High-Stakes Testing and Its Impact on Students
Multilingual Education and Bilingualism
Perceptions of Educational Technology in Classrooms
School Climate and Student Well-being
Teacher-Student Relationships and Their Effects on Learning
Cultural Diversity in Education and Inclusion

Environmental Engineering Qualitative Research Topics

Sustainable Transportation and Community Preferences
Ethical Considerations in Waste Reduction and Recycling
Public Attitudes Toward Renewable Energy Projects
Environmental Impact Assessment and Community Engagement
Sustainable Urban Planning and Neighborhood Perceptions
Water Quality and Conservation Practices in Residential Areas
Green Building Practices and User Experiences
Community Resilience in the Face of Climate Change
Role of Environmental Engineers in Disaster Preparedness

Why Qualitative Research Topics Are Good for STEM Students

Deeper Understanding: Qualitative research encourages STEM students to explore complex issues from a human perspective. This deepens their understanding of the broader impact of scientific discoveries and technological advancements.
Critical Thinking: Qualitative research fosters critical thinking skills by requiring students to analyze and interpret data, consider diverse viewpoints, and draw nuanced conclusions.
Real-World Relevance: Many qualitative research topics have real-world applications. Students can address problems, inform policy, and contribute to society by investigating issues that matter.
Interdisciplinary Learning: Qualitative research often transcends traditional STEM boundaries, allowing students to draw on insights from psychology, sociology, anthropology, and other fields.
Preparation for Future Careers: Qualitative research skills are valuable in various STEM careers, as they enable students to communicate complex ideas and understand the human and social aspects of their work.

Qualitative Research Topics for High School STEM Students

High school STEM students can benefit from qualitative research by honing their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Here are some qualitative research topics suitable for high school students:

Perceptions of STEM Education: Investigate students’ and teachers’ perceptions of STEM education and its effectiveness.
Environmental Awareness: Examine the factors influencing high school students’ environmental awareness and eco-friendly behaviors.
Digital Learning in the Classroom: Explore the impact of technology on learning experiences and student engagement.
STEM Gender Gap: Analyze the reasons behind the gender gap in STEM fields and potential strategies for closing it.
Science Communication: Study how high school students perceive and engage with popular science communication channels, like YouTube and podcasts.
Impact of Extracurricular STEM Activities: Investigate how participation in STEM clubs and competitions influences students’ interest and performance in science and technology.

In essence, these are the best qualitative research topics for STEM students in the Philippines and are usable for other countries students too. Qualitative research topics offer STEM students a unique opportunity to explore the multifaceted aspects of their fields, develop essential skills, and contribute to meaningful discoveries. With the right topic selection, a strong research design, and ethical considerations, STEM students can easily get the best knowledge on exciting qualitative research that benefits both their career growth. So, choose a topic that resonates with your interests and get best job in your interest field.

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131 Interesting Qualitative Research Topics For High Scoring Thesis

Qualitative research topics are undoubtedly not easy. While statistics enthralls some students, others don’t like the subject. That’s because qualitative assignments entail cognitive analysis, which complicates them. But apart from the hardships of completing the projects, selecting topics for qualitative research papers is also a challenge.

This article presents a list of 130-plus qualitative research topic ideas to help learners that struggle to get titles for their papers. It is helpful because many learners have difficulties picking titles that will make their essays impressive to educators. But before presenting the topics, this article defines qualitative research.

What Is Qualitative Research?

Qualitative research is an investigative and innovative abstract data analysis. When writing a qualitative research paper, a learner analyzes intangible data. Qualitative researchers code the data after or during collection. Therefore, having top-notch research topics is necessary for a first-class essay.

Knowing how to write a qualitative research paper is vital because it helps the student deliver a copy that provides a clear picture of an event or situation. A researcher can achieve this via practical experience, reliable reporting, and conversations. Gathering raw data is the initial step in qualitative research. A researcher can gather raw data by conducting reviews, observations, and surveys. Also, researchers can use creative methods to collect data.

Best Examples Of Qualitative Research Topics

Qualitative research covers many things. Here are examples of topics that learners can explore in their qualitative study.

What causes stigma around some health challenges?
Stigma facing the people living with disabilities- What is the cause?
Can Pro Bono legal assistance improve the criminal justice system?
How the less privileged can benefit from Pro Bono services
The educational challenges facing rural children- Are there ways to help them?
Child labor causes- How to mitigate the practice
Substance and drugs- What are young people abusing more?
How alcohol affects college students
Can food insecurity interfere with children’s performance in school?
Food banks intricacies- Understanding the challenge in low-income areas
Free education- Does it have socioeconomic benefits?
Culture and female harm- What’s the connection?
The impact of social media on physical and social engagement among teens in urban areas
Using medication to treat depression- What are the health benefits?
Investigating peer educators’ efficiency in creating awareness of health and social issues
Gender-based violence- What causes it in rural areas, and how does it affect victims?
Sexual reproductive health challenges of child brides- Are there ways to control it?
Investigating the causes of school dropout among teenagers
How to address school dropout among young adults
Investigating the deteriorating academic pursuit in Third-World countries
Social activities- Do they have benefits for depressed people?
Investigating cerebral palsy and the stigma that people associate with it.
Living with disabilities- Are there social implications?
The impact of ableism on disabled people
Exploring the promotion and benefits of feminist values
Why should society promote free education in all learning environments?
What causes food insecurities among low-income earners?
Food and housing insecurity- What are the root causes?
What are the effects of displacement- Investigating the homeless people’s mental health

These are good examples of qualitative research topics. However, a student that picks a title in this category should research it extensively to impress the educator with their work.

Qualitative Nursing Research Topics

Professors ask students to write about qualitative topics when pursuing nursing studies. Here are issues to consider in this category.

How does the nurse-patient relationship affect health outcomes?
How can nurses deal with complex patients?
How can nurses provide culturally competent care?
How do personal beliefs affect nursing practice?
What is the impact of spirituality on nursing care?
How does the nurse’s role change when working with terminally ill patients?
What challenges do nurses face when providing end-of-life care?
How can nurses best support families whose members have serious illnesses?
What are the unique challenges of caring for elderly patients?
How does the nurse’s role change when working in a hospice setting?
Health outreach programs- What are the most effective ways to execute them?
Effective methods of curbing drug abuse
Effective ways to help rape survivors
How can nurses administer care to female genital mutilation victims?
How to care for special needs individuals
Anxiety and depression symptoms
Methods of administering care to Dyslexia patients
How to help individuals dealing with mental disorders
Signs of Alzheimer’s disease in older people
How to provide primary patient care

These are good qualitative research topics for students pursuing nursing studies. Nevertheless, learners must research any of these titles before writing their papers.

Qualitative Research Topics In Education

Most topics spring up from the education niche despite fitting other specifications. Here are examples of qualitative research topics that include the education niche.

Are guidance and counseling essential in schools?
How computer literacy affects education
Why governments in developing schools should encourage adult education
Autistic children’s education- Which learning style suits them?
Is mental health education relevant in the modern school curriculum?
Exploring the learning conditions for kids in third world countries
Child education and food insecurity- What is the connection?
The impact of virtual learning on high school students
How does alcoholism affect a student and their education?
Homeschooling- What are its advantages and disadvantages?
How do teachers’ beliefs about intelligence affect their teaching?
What is the teacher’s role in developing a student’s self-concept?
Does race or ethnicity play a role in how teachers treat their students?
What are the teachers’ experiences with teaching students with special needs?
What methods do effective teachers use to motivate their students?
What are the most effective ways to teach reading and writing?
How does technology use affect how teachers teach, and students learn?
What are the challenges faced by teachers in rural areas?
What are the challenges faced by teachers in urban areas?
How do charter schools differ from traditional public schools?

Many topics and issues in the education system allow learners to find subjects to investigate and cover in their papers quickly. And this is not an exhaustive qualitative research topic list in this field. Nevertheless, it covers the most exciting ideas to explore.

Qualitative Research Topics In Public Health

Educators ask students to write academic papers while studying the public health sector. And this provides insights into crucial and relevant aspects of this sector. Here are qualitative research topics examples in this category.

How does the public health sector manage epidemics?
The role of public health in disaster management
Evaluating the effectiveness of public health campaigns
An analysis of the factors that hinder effective public health delivery
Access to healthcare: A study of rural and urban populations
Health needs assessment of refugees
Mental health support within the public health sector
The role of technology in public health
Understanding and addressing health disparities
Sexual and reproductive health rights in the public health discourse
How immunization benefits people in rural areas
What causes water-borne diseases, and how can society mitigate them?
Symptoms of high blood pressure among young people
How antenatal care helps pregnant women
How to boost breast cancer awareness

These are excellent qualitative research paper topics in the public health sector. Nevertheless, learners need sufficient time and resources to investigate their preferred titles in this category to write winning papers.

Qualitative Research Topics In Project Management

Project management writing focuses on ways to achieve results and goals while basing the achievement on the process. This subject covers planning, structuring, proffering, and controlling ways to execute plans to accomplish desired goals. Here are research topics for qualitative research in project management.

How effective communication strategies can impact the outcome of a project
How different leadership styles affect team productivity during a project
The role of conflict management in ensuring successful project outcomes
Gender differences in the perception and understanding of project risk
The impact of organizational culture on a project’s likelihood of success
How different project management methodologies affect its outcome
The effect of stakeholder involvement on project success
How to manage virtual teams effectively to ensure successful project outcomes
What motivates project managers to achieve successful results?
How can project managers create a positive work environment that leads to successful outcomes?
What challenges do project managers face when trying to achieve successful outcomes?
How can project management be used to achieve social change?
What are the ethical implications of project management?
What are the global impacts of project management?
Ways to achieve sustainable development through project management

These are topics to explore in project management. Nevertheless, learners need adequate time to investigate their chosen titles and write winning essays.

Qualitative Research Topics In Political Science

Qualitative research can also cover political science. Investigating this field enables people to understand it better and can be broad. Here are sample titles to consider in for your scientific thesis .

How do social media affect the way people engage with politics?
What motivates people to vote?
How does voting behavior change over time?
What are the consequences of gerrymandering?
How does campaign finance influence elections?
Interest groups- What is their role in politics?
How do the media cover politics?
What are the effects of political scandals?
How does public opinion influence policymakers?
How feminism enhanced the American politics
The adverse effects of misrepresentation
The American democracy- A look into its dimensions
Colorism, racism, and classism- How the American ideologies differ
What causes an election crisis?
Two-party system- What challenges does it face in America?
Black women’s inclusion in the American politics
Should America have a multi-party system?
Why mass media matters in politics’ scrutiny and promotion

While political science is a broad field, these narrow topics help learners handle their research effectively. Pick any of these ideas to write a winning essay.

Topics For Ethnography Qualitative Research

Ethnographic research entails studying and paying attention to society and describing it. Here are topics to consider for a research paper in this field.

Studying a subculture: Reasons people join and stay in gangs
How does social media use vary by culture?
An ethnographic study of a homeless shelter or soup kitchen
Understanding the lives of sex workers through ethnography
The impact of religion on family life
How does parenting vary between cultures?
How do children learn and socialize in different cultures?
What is the effect of migration on family life?
What are the experiences of refugees?- An explorative case study
What is the impact of poverty on family life?
How do people in different cultures understand and experience mental illness?
What is the role of the family in other cultures?
What are the end-of-life experiences and beliefs around death in different cultures?

This article has presented easy qualitative research topics. However, some need time and resources to investigate and write quality papers. Therefore, pick your paper title carefully to write an essay that will earn you an excellent grade.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Why students feel competent in the classroom: a qualitative content analysis of students’ views.

$\r\nNadia Catherine Reymond*$

1 Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Sports Science, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
2 Department for Didactics of Biology, Faculty of Biology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany

This qualitative study aimed to identify and to systematize factors that contribute to students’ competence satisfaction in class from students’ perspectives. Based on self-determination theory as our primary theoretical background, we conducted episodic interviews with 25 high school students. A combined deductive-inductive qualitative content analysis approach was applied. As our key finding, we revealed different teaching factors within and beyond self-determination theory (i.e., structure, autonomy support, relatedness support, mastery goal structure, perceived error climate, teaching quality, teachers’ reference norm orientations) as well as additional factors (e.g., students’ motivation and engagement, peer climate and reciprocal peer support) that contributed to students’ competence satisfaction in class from the students’ points of view. This study contributes to existing research on why students’ competence satisfaction arises in class by complementing it with an integrative, explorative, and student-oriented perspective.

Introduction

Students’ competence satisfaction plays a crucial role for motivation, achievement, and individual growth ( Ryan and Deci, 2017 ; Vansteenkiste et al., 2020 ; Vasconcellos et al., 2020 ). Therefore, in the literature, researchers have linked several teaching practices to students’ competence satisfaction (e.g., perceptions of structure and autonomy support) that can be addressed to support students’ competence satisfaction in different educational settings (e.g., school, extracurricular learning; Jang et al., 2010 ; Guay et al., 2017 ; Eckes et al., 2018 ; Aelterman et al., 2019 ; Ryan and Deci, 2020 ; Vasconcellos et al., 2020 ). However, in the context of self-determination theory (SDT), studies investigating the factors that contribute to students’ competence satisfaction have, in part, provided controversial findings. For instance, structure has been beneficial for students’ competence satisfaction when provided in an autonomy-supportive way ( Eckes et al., 2018 ). Autonomy support has, however, partly been negatively correlated with individuals’ competence satisfaction ( Steingut et al., 2017 ; Vasconcellos et al., 2020 ). Moreover, little is known about students’ views on why their competence satisfaction evolves in class. One reason is that students’ need satisfaction has rarely been studied qualitatively ( Hassandra et al., 2003 ). However, qualitative studies are an important step in order to understand the development and the manifestation of subjective experiences in social contexts through specific perspectives ( Ryan and Deci, 2020 ; Vansteenkiste et al., 2020 ). To widen researchers’ view on why students’ competence satisfaction arises in classroom contexts from the students’ perspectives and to complement the mainly quantitative studies, this qualitative content analysis study explored students’ narratives about which factors contribute to their competence satisfaction in class.

Students’ competence satisfaction in self-determination theory

In the context of SDT, the basic psychological need theory describes three basic psychological needs, namely the needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence ( Ryan and Deci, 2017 , 2020 ). The need for autonomy is the need to regulate one’s experiences and actions in a self-determined way. The need for relatedness is defined as the need to feel socially connected with others. The need for competence is the need on which we focus in this study. It is defined as the individuals’ need to experience effectiveness in interactions with their environment ( Deci and Ryan, 2000 ; Ryan and Deci, 2017 , 2020 ). Students’ need for competence is satisfied when students act in and experience classroom environments in which they can express and extend their skills and knowledge ( Ryan and Deci, 2020 ; Vansteenkiste et al., 2020 ). Moreover, students feel competent when their abilities are in balance with the demands of actions ( Reeve, 2015 ). In the following, the satisfaction of students’ need for competence is referred to as students’ competence satisfaction.

Students’ competence satisfaction is essential for their motivation, achievement, and well-being ( Reis et al., 2000 ; Jeno et al., 2018 ; Muenks et al., 2018 ; Ryan and Deci, 2020 ; Vasconcellos et al., 2020 ). Contrarily, the frustration of students’ need for competence has been linked to disengagement, amotivation, and helplessness ( Legault et al., 2006 ; Earl et al., 2017 ; Ryan and Deci, 2017 , 2020 ; for an overview, see Vansteenkiste et al., 2020 ). These findings show the importance of taking students’ need for competence into account when designing lessons and school environments.

Fostering students’ competence satisfaction in self-determination theory

Within SDT, the measures designed to fulfill students’ basic psychological needs are subsumed under the term need support. Need support typically encompasses structure, autonomy support, and relatedness support ( Ryan and Deci, 2020 ). Structure describes to which extent teaching styles provide clear communication of expectations, appropriate feedback, and guidance ( Jang et al., 2010 ; Ryan and Deci, 2017 , 2020 ; Aelterman et al., 2019 ; Vasconcellos et al., 2020 ). It can be divided into clarifying and guiding structure ( Aelterman et al., 2019 ). Teachers with a focus on clarifying structure give overviews about the learning material, make their expectations transparent, and monitor the students’ progress. Teachers who apply guiding structure provide help and guidance when needed. They also assist the students to accept mistakes as an important step in their learning progress, as well as to reflect on them ( Aelterman et al., 2019 ).

Autonomy support focuses on identifying and nurturing students’ feelings, perspectives, and preferences ( Jang et al., 2010 ; Ryan and Deci, 2017 , 2020 ; Aelterman et al., 2019 ; Vasconcellos et al., 2020 ). It has been divided into participative and attuning autonomy support ( Aelterman et al., 2019 ). Teachers focusing on participative autonomy support engage in dialogue with their students. They invite them to provide input and give them opportunities to choose. Attuning autonomy support comprises the acceptance of students’ feelings, the provision of meaningful rationales, and the application of ways to make learning enjoyable for the students ( Aelterman et al., 2019 ).

Relatedness support includes teaching practices that empower students’ sense of social connection and belonging ( Reeve, 2015 ; Sparks et al., 2016 ; Vasconcellos et al., 2020 ). The latter has scarcely been explored in SDT ( Sparks et al., 2016 ). However, following physical education research, relatedness-supportive teachers provide individualized conversations, task-related feedback, and promote cooperation and teamwork. They also show enthusiasm, have high awareness, care about their students, and communicate in a friendly way with them ( Sparks et al., 2015 , 2016 ). Reeve (2015) has additionally proposed relatedness support to comprise the following aspects: taking time for other individuals, caring and knowing things about other individuals, expressing affection and appreciation with regard to other individuals, enjoying interaction, and sharing resources (e.g., interest) with other individuals.

From an empirical point of view, autonomy support and structure have been positively associated with students’ competence satisfaction quite consistently ( Patall et al., 2008 ; Mouratidis et al., 2013 ; Guay et al., 2017 ; Ryan and Deci, 2020 ; Vasconcellos et al., 2020 ). For instance, meta-analytical findings have shown a strong link between structure and students’ competence satisfaction as well as a positive relationship between opportunities to choose and students’ competence satisfaction ( Patall et al., 2008 ; Vasconcellos et al., 2020 ). Furthermore, relatedness support was positively correlated to students’ competence satisfaction in a meta-analysis ( Vasconcellos et al., 2020 ). Relatedness was also a major theme for youth in a social service context ( Nagpaul and Chen, 2019 ). These findings suggest that relatedness support could play an important role for students’ perspectives on which factors contribute to their competence satisfaction.

Still, first, compared to autonomy-supportive measures, SDT research has paid less attention to measures that foster students’ competence satisfaction ( Sparks et al., 2016 ; Vasconcellos et al., 2020 ). Second, these findings have partly been controversial ( Guay et al., 2016 ; Steingut et al., 2017 ; Vasconcellos et al., 2020 ). This controversy impedes implications on why students feel competent in class. It prompts more research on which factors contribute to their competence satisfaction. Third, the typically applied approach describing teachers’ need support does not make claims about completeness ( Vansteenkiste et al., 2020 ). Factors within and especially factors that go beyond perceptions of teaching practices, such as student factors, peer factors, and context factors, remain to be explored. Last, there is a lack of studies that explore students’ perspectives on how and why need-supportive measures influence their competence satisfaction in class ( Anderman et al., 2002 ; Ryan and Deci, 2020 ). However, students are one of the actors in classes as social contexts. Their perspectives are hence important in order to understand the motivational processes taking place within and across classrooms ( Nolen et al., 2015 ; Nolen, 2020 ).

Understanding why students feel competent in class – The need for qualitative and integrative research

Qualitative research is able to provide a deep understanding of students’ narratives and experiences, to describe even complex student-environment-interactions, and to reveal how and why need-supportive measures work through individuals’ perspectives ( Patrick et al., 2001 ; Anderman et al., 2002 ; Flick, 2011 ; Nolen et al., 2012 , 2015 ; Mayring, 2014 ; Nolen, 2020 ; Ryan and Deci, 2020 ; Vansteenkiste et al., 2020 ). Additionally, qualitative studies enable researchers to take a holistic perspective ( Nolen et al., 2015 ; Vansteenkiste et al., 2020 ). That is because, for instance, qualitative studies can simultaneously consider a theory-based perspective (i.e., deductive thinking; the use of existing theory in deriving qualitative findings) and a data-based perspective (i.e., inductive thinking; the explorative analysis of data; Mayring, 2014 ). Furthermore, qualitative research facilitates the transfer of theoretical knowledge into school practice, because it offers more detailed insights into individuals’ behaviors and experiences compared to quantitative research ( Patrick et al., 2001 ; Mayring, 2014 ; Nolen et al., 2015 ; Ryan and Deci, 2020 ; Vansteenkiste et al., 2020 ). Qualitative research is hence one useful approach to widen researchers’ view on which factors contribute to students’ competence satisfaction through students’ perspectives. In line with this, Ryan and Deci (2020) have called for more qualitative research in the context of need support.

Moreover, scientific knowledge is primarily gained by building on existing research ( Merton, 1957 ; Parolo et al., 2020 ). Accordingly, researchers in motivational psychology as well as in methodological literature have called for combining and integrating different theoretical frameworks in order to extend, refine, and integrate existing knowledge ( Mayring, 2016 ; Anderman, 2020 ; Flick, 2020 ). Such an integrative approach is particularly important when aiming to translate specific research questions (e.g., why students’ competence satisfaction arises in class) into comprehensible recommendations for practitioners in the classrooms (e.g., teachers; Anderman, 2020 ). After having reached several findings and contributions, translations into practitioner-oriented recommendations have been called for in the context of SDT ( Ryan and Deci, 2020 ). Therefore, one important question is which existing theories one can build on in addition to SDT. Besides taking the students’ perspectives into account, this work took an integrative perspective, and considered different theoretical frameworks in order to widen SDT researchers’ view on how to facilitate students’ competence satisfaction in class.

Understanding why students feel competent in class – Theoretical frameworks for qualitative research

The investigation of teaching practices is one approach which has extensively been investigated in motivational and educational psychology ( Lazowski and Hulleman, 2016 ; Ryan and Deci, 2020 ; Vansteenkiste et al., 2020 ). Based on a continuous dialogue with experts in motivational psychology, didactics, and educational psychology, as well as on a literature informed strategy that sought to include renowned works (e.g., Corno and Anderman, 2016 ; Wentzel and Miele, 2016 ), we therefore preselected a variety of teaching practices that might contribute to students’ competence satisfaction beyond existing SDT assumptions from students’ perspectives. Specifically, some well-established teaching practices have been essential for educational outcomes, and have already been linked to students’ competence satisfaction or to related perceptions of competence (e.g., Halvari et al., 2011 ; Steuer et al., 2013 ; Scherer et al., 2016 ; Dickhäuser et al., 2017 ). In order to identify and to systematize additional factors that might contribute to students’ competence satisfaction beyond the existing SDT assumptions from our integrative perspective, we therefore considered the theoretical frameworks from which these teaching practices were derived, namely the achievement goal theory, perceived error climate, teaching quality, and reference norm orientation theory, in the conceptualization, analysis, and discussion of the present study. They are outlined hereafter.

In the classroom goal structure literature, researchers typically distinguish between mastery goal structure (a focus on developing competencies in class), performance approach goal structure (a focus on demonstrating competence and on outperforming others in class), and performance avoidance goal structure (a class focus on not demonstrating incompetence and on avoiding to be inferior to others in terms of performance; Meece et al., 2006 ; Urdan and Schoenfelder, 2006 ; Schwinger and Stiensmeier-Pelster, 2011 ). Classroom goal structures have been an important starting point for motivational interventions as well as for understanding students’ motivational and achievement-related functioning (e.g., Wolters, 2004 ; Urdan and Kaplan, 2020 ). Moreover, having a high level of mastery goal structure has been positively linked to perceptions of competence satisfaction (e.g., Kavussanu and Roberts, 1996 ; Cox and Williams, 2008 ; Halvari et al., 2011 ). Taking the well-investigated TARGET approach into account ( Ames, 1992 ; Meece et al., 2006 ; Lüftenegger et al., 2014 ; Urdan and Kaplan, 2020 ), the following mastery goal structure dimensions could thus help to investigate students’ perspectives on why their competence satisfaction arises in class: task (teachers design tasks that focus on learning, provide optimal challenge, and enable students’ active involvement), authority (teachers provide opportunities to choose, for sharing perspectives, and for taking responsibility), recognition (teachers recognize students’ acting and achievement, e.g., by using feedback), grouping (teachers enable collaborative work in heterogeneous groups and interaction among students), evaluation (teachers’ evaluations focus on learning and collaboration instead of competition), and time (teachers provide appropriate workload and pace; Meece et al., 2006 ; Lüftenegger et al., 2014 , 2017 ).

Another theoretical approach which we addressed is the perceived error climate research (e.g., Oser and Spychiger, 2005 ; Steuer et al., 2013 ; Reeve, 2015 ). Perceived error climate is defined as the way of evaluating and using errors within learning processes in classroom environments or other social learning environments ( Steuer et al., 2013 ). With regard to classroom contexts, Steuer et al. (2013) described the perceived error climate as a multidimensional construct including eight dimensions such as teachers’ error tolerance. Perceived error climate has not yet been linked to students’ competence satisfaction but to students’ self-concept and employees’ self-efficacy as competence-related variables ( Putz et al., 2013 ; Steuer et al., 2013 ). It also partly appeared in the literature on need-supportive measures ( Reeve, 2015 ; Aelterman et al., 2019 ; Jiang et al., 2019 ). These theoretical and empirical discussions suggest that a positive error climate might help to identify additional factors that contribute to students’ competence satisfaction through students’ perspectives.

In the teaching quality framework, researchers typically define three basic dimensions in order to explain under which circumstances students can learn effectively: classroom management (getting and keeping students attentive and on task), cognitive activation (providing optimal challenge and fostering students’ thinking), and student support (establishing a teacher–student-relationship which fulfills students’ needs; Praetorius et al., 2018 ). The teaching quality dimensions are one main precondition for self-perceptions of competence related to students’ competence satisfaction (e.g., self-concept) as well as for students’ achievement which again is related to students’ competence satisfaction ( Weinert et al., 1989 ; Scherer et al., 2016 ; Jeno et al., 2018 ; Praetorius et al., 2018 ; Blömeke and Olsen, 2019 ). Moreover, the student support dimension has been elaborated based on the need-supportive measures ( Praetorius et al., 2018 ). Hence, first empirical findings and theoretical elaborations indicate the relevance of teaching quality for students’ competence satisfaction. In contrast to this and the importance of this framework for several educational processes (e.g., Fauth et al., 2014 ; Scherer et al., 2016 ; Panayiotou et al., 2021 ), the teaching quality dimensions have not been empirically linked to students’ competence satisfaction in terms of SDT.

In reference norm orientation theory (e.g., Rheinberg, 1980 , 1983 ; Dickhäuser et al., 2017 ), researchers distinguish between three reference norms: The social (the use of interindividual comparisons), criteria-oriented (the use of comparisons with an absolute standard), and intraindividual reference norm (comparing students’ achievement with their own prior achievement) describe comparison standards by which actions, performance or competence are evaluated ( Rheinberg, 1980 , 1983 ; Dickhäuser et al., 2017 ; Lohbeck and Freund, 2021 ). Teachers use some reference norms more frequently than others which is called teachers’ reference norm orientation. Specifically, teachers who are oriented toward the intraindividual reference norm focus on improvement, have short-term expectations, and provide optimal challenge, among others. Teachers who are oriented toward the social reference norm focus on normative competence and provide uniform tasks for all students in class. Teachers who frequently use criteria-oriented reference norms presumably apply criteria-oriented teaching and task-focused feedback ( Rheinberg, 1980 , 1983 ; Dickhäuser et al., 2017 ; Lohbeck and Freund, 2021 ). However, teachers’ criteria-oriented reference norm orientation has not been elaborated yet. With regard to students’ competence satisfaction, teachers’ intraindividual reference norm orientation and teachers’ use of the criteria-oriented reference norm were found to be positively associated with related self-perceptions of competence (e.g., self-concept; Rheinberg, 1983 ; Krampen, 1987 ; Lüdtke et al., 2005 ; Dickhäuser et al., 2017 ; Lohbeck and Freund, 2021 ). Furthermore, in the context of SDT, some theoretical considerations as well as initial findings stressed the importance of differentiated instruction and improvement-focused feedback which are key elements of teachers’ intraindividual reference norm orientation ( Carpentier and Mageau, 2013 ; Reeve, 2015 ; Guay et al., 2017 ; Ryan and Deci, 2017 ). Although this prompts further research on whether teachers’ reference norm orientations might contribute to students’ competence satisfaction in terms of SDT, studies have not addressed this linkage.

To conclude, more research is required with respect to the competence-supportive measures within SDT, given the mainly quantitative, and some controversial findings in past research. Specifically, more qualitative research on students’ perspectives is required in order to take their essential perspectives into account in realistic classroom contexts. Furthermore, first hints suggest that, besides SDT and students’ perspectives, the depicted additional theoretical frameworks (i.e., the research on classroom goal structures, perceived error climate, teaching quality, and reference norm orientations) could provide additional factors that contribute to students’ competence satisfaction in the sense of SDT (e.g., Halvari et al., 2011 ; Dickhäuser et al., 2017 ; Praetorius et al., 2018 ). However, those frameworks as well as factors going beyond teaching practices (e.g., student factors, peer factors, and situational factors) have not sufficiently been considered with regard to students’ competence satisfaction in the context of SDT. A combined explorative investigation of students’ perspectives and integrative consideration of the depicted theoretical backgrounds hence is one fruitful approach to extend the existing literature on which factors contribute to students’ competence satisfaction through students’ perspectives.

Due to its procedure variety which allows a combined theory-driven and data-driven perspective, the qualitative content analysis is one approach which is particularly suitable in addressing these research desiderata by using qualitative material ( Mayring, 2014 ). Moreover, its rule-oriented as well as hybrid (i.e., combined qualitative and quantitative) or, in other words, integrated (i.e., combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis steps within one research design) approach allows an exact elaboration, validation, and further analysis of qualitative categories ( Mayring, 2007a , 2014 ; Burzan, 2016 ; Gläser-Zikuda et al., 2020 ). It is noteworthy that the need support, mastery goal structure, perceived error climate, teaching quality, and the reference norm orientation frameworks partly encompass similar teaching practices (e.g., optimal challenge; Rheinberg, 1983 ; Lüftenegger et al., 2017 ; Praetorius et al., 2018 ; Aelterman et al., 2019 ). From a pragmatical perspective, a combined theory- and data-based as well as a hybrid (or: integrated) approach to analyze qualitative material therefore seems particularly promising in order to get a holistic view of separable factors which represent reasons for students to feel competent in the classroom ( Mayring and Brunner, 2006 ; Mayring, 2007a , 2014 ; Burzan, 2016 ). By applying a combined theory-based and data-based content-analytical approach, one may hence identify and systematize already known (e.g., structure) and additional factors (e.g., student factors) that contribute to students’ competence satisfaction in class from the students’ perspectives.

Present study

Based on existing research, this interview study aimed to identify and to systematize additional factors that might contribute to students’ competence satisfaction. In addition to SDT, it focused on students’ perspectives (i.e., explorative research design; Mayring, 2007a , 2014 ) as well as on existing theoretical frameworks (classroom goal structure literature, perceived error climate research, teaching quality framework, reference norm orientation theory) that might add to SDT with regard to students’ competence satisfaction in class (i.e., descriptive research design; Mayring, 2007a , 2014 ). As a result, this qualitative study had a combined explorative-descriptive field research design. By doing so, it aimed to refine, extend, and integrate existing knowledge within and beyond SDT on how to fulfill students’ need for competence in realistic classroom settings, giving new directions for future research. By using episodic interviewing, this work addressed students’ generalized beliefs as well as the complexity of student-classroom environment-interactions in real school-life situations ( Flick, 2011 , 2018 ). By analyzing the interviews following the rules of qualitative content analysis, this study applied a rigorous and hybrid (or: integrated; i.e., combined qualitative and quantitative) approach for analyzing qualitative material ( Mayring, 2000 , 2007a , 2014 ; Mayring and Brunner, 2006 ; Scheufele, 2008 ; Burzan, 2016 ; Krippendorff, 2019 ; Gläser-Zikuda et al., 2020 ; e.g., Duchatelet et al., 2020 ). The research question that we addressed in our qualitative, integrative, and student-oriented study was: Which factors contribute to students’ competence satisfaction through students’ perspectives? The study was cross-sectional in nature, focusing the representativeness of our sample ( Nolen et al., 2012 ).

Materials and method

Participants and procedure.

The present study took place from May to July, 2019. It involved N = 25 ninth-grade students ( n = 9 male, n = 16 female) from two high schools (in German: Gymnasium) in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The students’ mean age was 14.84 years ( SD = 0.47 years). For the purpose of sampling, we deliberately addressed two contrasting schools in order to represent the perspectives of students’ coming from schools as diverse as possible, namely a private school in a rather rural area with a rather low socioeconomic status and a public school in a large city ( Küpper, 2016 ; Landatlas, 2019 ). This contrast-oriented sampling procedure is common in qualitative and mixed-methods research in order to overcome biased material (e.g., due to over-representing specific contexts) and to enhance validity ( Krippendorff, 1989 ; Brink, 1993 ; Collins et al., 2007 ; Onwuegbuzie and Leech, 2007 ; Creswell and Poth, 2016 ; e.g., Flick et al., 2019 ). After having obtained consent from the principals and teachers within the addressed schools, we orally presented the study, distributed information material as well as the written informed consent forms, and asked the students for participation during school lessons. This procedure combines the depicted purposive sampling procedure with a convenience sampling procedure. By doing so, we warranted the availability and willingness of the individual students to participate ( Collins et al., 2007 ). According to the clarity of the research field, the expected data quality, as well as the expected heterogeneity of participants, the first 25 students (School 1: n = 15; School 2: n = 10) who were willing to participate were included in the study ( Guest et al., 2006 ). Post hoc analyses revealed that data saturation was reached after coding 51% of the interview material.

According to the European Union General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 and the Data Protection Act of North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany), all participants were informed about the voluntary nature of participation, and gave their written informed consent before the beginning of the interview. For students who were younger than 16 years old at the time of the interview, written parental consent was additionally provided. According to the depicted regulations, the written informed consent included content information (e.g., information on the study aims and procedures), legal information (e.g., the right to withdraw from the study), and the declaration of consent itself. The study was approved by the responsible research ethics committee.

In order to standardize the interview procedure, we conducted semi-structured episodic interviews according to Flick (2011) ( M duration = 42.86 min; SD duration = 12.87). Episodic interviews are a combination of narrative and semi-structured interviews. They contain open-ended questions and situation-specific narratives in order to capture both episodic and semantic components of students’ subjective narratives and experiences ( Flick, 2018 ). The applied interview schedule (see Supplementary Appendix A ) was revised after one pilot interview. In accordance to this interview schedule, the interviewers first introduced the topic of the study as well as the procedure and then asked the students to define their understanding of the term “competence satisfaction.” Second, the interviewers defined the aforementioned term in the sense of SDT. If necessary, the interviewers gave a standardized example. Third, the interviewers and students settled on a common definition according to the SDT definition. Fourth, the interviewers asked the students to describe at least one situation in which the students had perceived competence satisfaction in class, and at least one situation in which the students had perceived competence frustration (e.g., “Can you remember a current classroom situation [from the ongoing school year] in which you felt particularly competent? Please tell me about this situation.”). Fifth, the interviewers explored the students’ general beliefs about and experiences with factors that contribute to their competence satisfaction and with factors that contribute to their competence frustration in class. For this purpose, they asked some questions about the general reasons and circumstances under which the students felt competent and incompetent in class (e.g., “In general, what helps you in class to feel competent or what is important for you in class so that you can feel competent?”). Based on our research question, the situations in which the students perceived competence frustration and the generalized beliefs about and experiences with competence frustration were not of further relevance within this work. Last, the interviewers and students completed a short demographics questionnaire together.

The interviews were audio-recorded and conducted in one-to-one-settings (one interviewer, one student). They took place in a private room of the respective schools. In order to reach an adequate level of closeness and distance between interviewers and interviewees ( Helfferich, 2011 ), the interviewers were two student teachers. Given that the interviewers both had a more similar age and background to the interviewees than the authors of this study, it was assumable that the students would open up more easily by doing so. Nevertheless, the interviewers had sufficiently divergent backgrounds from the interviewees to uphold the interviewees’ willingness to verbalize information that is obvious to insiders but necessary to interpret the interview data ( Helfferich, 2011 ).

As far as professionality is concerned ( Helfferich, 2011 ), the interviewers had a strong school background (recent school experiences; a Bachelor’s degree in teaching, a well-advanced Master’s program in teaching), as well a motivational psychology background (successfully accomplished courses in motivational psychology). In addition, the interviewers were trained by the corresponding author of this study before the survey began. The training included the working through the literature which underlay our interview approach along with its debriefing ( Flick, 2011 , 2018 ; Helfferich, 2011 ), the discussion of the interview schedule and of questions, as well as the practicing of the interviews among the interviewers and in the mentioned pilot interview. The practicing interview and the pilot interview were debriefed with the corresponding author (practicing interview, pilot interview) and the pilot interviewee (pilot interview). The interview process and the Master thesis projects in the context of which the student teachers collected the data of the present study was supervised by the corresponding author (i.e., psychologist; researcher in the fields of motivational psychology and educational psychology), the third author (Master’s degree in teaching; researcher in the fields of biology didactics and motivational psychology), and the fourth author (i.e., teacher; researcher in the fields of biology didactics and motivational psychology) of the present study.

Beyond their important roles within the data collection of this study (investigation), the student teachers supported the participants’ acquisition (resources). The corresponding author provided the study materials (investigation), and took responsibility of the conceptualization, data curation, visualization, methodology, the writing of the original draft, and the project administration. In addition, the corresponding author and the second author of this manuscript (i.e., psychologist; researcher in the fields of motivational psychology and educational psychology) formally analyzed the interview material. A continuous peer review and peer debriefing across the author team was established during the entire research process, e.g., during the writing in review and editing stages. The last author of this manuscript (i.e., Master’s degree in Social Science; psychologist; researcher in the fields of motivational psychology, instructional psychology, and educational psychology) provided the resources and supervised the research project ( CRediT, 2020 ).

Qualitative and quantitative data analysis

After completion of the interviews, we transcribed and anonymized the interviews based on the well-established recommendations of Dresing and Pehl (2018) , Kuckartz (2010 , 2018) , and Selting et al. (2009 ; see Supplementary Appendix B for the transcription rules). The applied transcription rules represent a verbatim data transcription, except that they slightly adapt spoken language into standard German and to the written language. Moreover, standardized symbols are implemented to highlight specific audio recordings’ characteristics (e.g., […] for one-second-breaks in speaking). In order to anonymize the interviews, we anonymized any names, sites, and assigned a code to each transcript. Afterward, we analyzed the interviews according to qualitative content analysis ( Mayring and Brunner, 2006 ; Schilling, 2006 ; Mayring, 2014 ; Krippendorff, 2019 ). Qualitative content analysis is a hybrid (or: integrated) analysis approach that combines a rigorous qualitative and quantitative analysis of qualitative communication material, such as text material ( Mayring, 2007a ; Burzan, 2016 ; Gläser-Zikuda et al., 2020 ). Its qualitative analysis steps represent a phenomenological description of the interview material that is narrowly based on the interviewees’ statements. They result in a category system which gives a structured overview about the contents of the specific communication material with regard to a specific research question ( Mayring, 2014 ). Subsequent quantitative analysis steps regarding the resulting category system enable an exploration and description of the salience of specific categories within investigated samples, among other possibilities ( Mayring, 2014 ). An overview about the procedural model applied in our study can be found in Figure 1 . Note that Steps 1 to 3 in Figure 1 have already been considered in the sections theoretical background, present study, sample, procedure, and in the description of our transcription procedure.

Figure 1. Procedural model of the qualitative content analysis applied in the present study. Adapted from Mayring and Brunner (2006) .

Since we combined the deductive (i.e., theory-based derivation of categories) and inductive (i.e., material-based derivation of categories) approach of qualitative content analysis in this study ( Mayring and Brunner, 2006 ; Schilling, 2006 ; Mayring, 2014 ), we first elaborated the categories and definitions for the deductive category system (Step 4 in Figure 1 ). We thereby relied on the aforementioned theoretical frameworks (i.e., SDT, classroom goal structure literature, perceived error climate research, teaching quality framework, reference norm orientation theory) and on our interview schedule.

Then, we segmented the interview material into 8087 coding units in total (Step 5 in Figure 1 ; Chi, 1997 ; Schilling, 2006 ; for the segmentation rules, see Supplementary Appendix C ). Note that the participants are referred to by their codes (e.g., KM01) and by the corresponding interview segment (e.g., 80) to ensure anonymity in any participant quotations (e.g., female student KM01, 15 years old, reported in interview segment 80 “[Teachers who help me feel competent] above all, they explain things well.”). Based on our research question, we identified 1774 coding units describing factors that contributed to students’ competence satisfaction from the students’ perspectives (coding units per interview: M = 70.96; SD = 30.17). Specifically, we analyzed 34 situations ( n = 722 segments) in which the students had perceived competence satisfaction. Thousand fifty-two segments contained students’ general beliefs about and experiences with factors that contributed to their competence satisfaction. The remaining coding units referred either to another research question or did not contain any relevant information. They were therefore not analyzed within this work.

With regard to this work, the recording unit was one word, and minimally contained one proposition (i.e., one episode, one idea or one piece of information which is comprehensible by itself) describing a factor that contributed to students’ competence satisfaction. The context unit was one paragraph, and maximally contained one proposition describing one factor that contributed to students’ competence satisfaction ( Schilling, 2006 ; Tesch, 2013 ). The unit of classification was all coding units out of one interview referring to factors that contributed to students’ competence satisfaction since we chose a cross-interview approach ( Schilling, 2006 ; Mayring, 2014 ).

After an initial viewing of the material, provisional coding rules and text examples were inserted into the deductive category system (Step 6 in Figure 1 ). A second member of our research team was introduced to the category system and to the applied analysis software MAXQDA 2020 (Step 7 in Figure 1 ; VERBI Software, 2019 ). Afterward, both main coders commonly coded 10% of the material in order to get familiar with the category system, and to identify initial ambiguities in the category system (Step 8 in Figure 1 ). After solving those ambiguities (Step 9 in Figure 1 ), both main coders independently coded the same 24% of the interview material while documenting difficult coding units and categories. After a subsequent formative intercoder reliability check, further problems in the category system were discussed, identified, and resolved ( Schilling, 2006 ; Mayring, 2014 ). Specifically, minor overlaps between different categories or minor ambiguities entailed the addition or revision of definitions, coding rules, and text examples. For instance, we added coding rules that stressed the difference between Clear communication and high-quality explanations (coding units generally referring to adequate explanations when no support is required), Optimal challenge for student and regarding school requirements (coding units specifically describing teacher explanations having an appropriate challenge level regarding the students’ stage in learning progresses or regarding school requirements when no support is required), and Constructive and appropriately challenging support (coding units describing the usefulness of additional explanations the teachers use to support the students when support is required). Larger overlaps between categories entailed the integration of multiple categories if reasonable. For instance, we combined Participation possibilities and Autonomy-supportive interaction (see Participation possibilities and autonomy-supportive interaction) which were originally placed in two separate categories. Supplemental categories or subcategories were inductively added if both raters agreed about the fulfillment of the following criteria: (a) the content did not fit into the existing categories, (b) the interviewed students viewed this content as a factor that contributed to their competence satisfaction, (c) the content arose several times, (d) the integration of this content into existing categories would have biased the original categories. One deductive category ( Meta-cognition support ; Praetorius et al., 2018 ) was removed because it did not arise in our sample. Based on Mayring (2016) , we also adapted the coding units retroactively in order to calibrate the coding units to the applied abstraction level of analysis. In line with the iterative character of qualitative content analysis, the analysis steps in Step 9 of Figure 1 were each repeated by coding a further 10% of the interview material until formative intercoder reliability was acceptable ( Mayring and Brunner, 2006 ; Schilling, 2006 ; Mayring, 2014 ; Krippendorff, 2019 ).

For the final coding (Step 10 in Figure 1 ), the 25 interviews were randomly assigned to the two main coders (main coder 1: n = 15 interviews; main coder 2: n = 14 interviews; note that n = 4 of the N = 25 interviews were coded twice in order to perform the summative intercoder reliability check). In order to ensure that the final category system 1 works with interchangeable coders, a third coder (i.e., student assistant in the research field of motivational psychology and educational psychology; combined Bachelor’s degree in linguistics and psychology; advanced double degree in linguistics [Master program] and psychology [Bachelor program]) was involved in the summative intercoder reliability check after a short briefing regarding the final category system (Step 11 in Figure 1 ; Mayring and Brunner, 2006 ; Hayes and Krippendorff, 2007 ; Mayring, 2014 ). Krippendorff’s alpha (α = 0.74; 95% CI [0.71–0.77]) indicated an acceptable intercoder reliability ( Krippendorff, 2019 ).

We subsequently conducted qualitative and quantitative analyses of the interview material (Step 12 in Figure 1 ; Mayring and Brunner, 2006 ; Schilling, 2006 ; Mayring, 2014 ). In the course of the quantitative analyses, we conducted three indicators in order to identify the salience of the categories and subcategories within our sample. According to Schilling (2006) , we analyzed the absolute topic frequencies, which are the absolute frequency of coding for each subcategory across all students. Second, we analyzed how many students had addressed each subcategory in at least one segment, and at least from the perspective of one coder (i.e., person frequency; Schilling, 2006 ). Third, we analyzed the relative distribution of the different subcategories based on the person frequencies.

As has been implicitly addressed, multiple strategies have been used to establish reliability and validity in the present study: Besides a thick description of the study procedures, a standardized coding system, and an intercoder-reliability check ensured reliability ( Hayes and Krippendorff, 2007 ; Mayring, 2014 ; Morse, 2015 ). Regarding validity, triangulation, a continuous peer review, elements of negative case analysis, and the reflection on researcher bias complemented the depicted reliability criteria. Triangulation describes the complementation of multiple investigators, theories, methods, and data with each other to address a research question, and is used to reveal the complexity of investigated phenomena ( Mayring, 2007a ; Morse, 2015 ; Flick et al., 2019 ). A data triangulation took place, since we interviewed interviewees’ visiting two contrasting schools, conducted episodic interviews which explore both interviewees’ past experiences and current concepts, and quantitatively assessed the demographics ( Mayring, 2007a ; Flick et al., 2019 ). An investigator triangulation was given, since multiple stakeholders contributed different perspectives to the present study, for instance, in form of the intercoder-agreement-check ( Mayring, 2007a ; Krippendorff, 2019 ). A theory triangulation was applied, because we confronted the data with the theoretical backgrounds of self-determination theory, mastery goal structure, perceived error climate, teaching quality, and reference norm orientation ( Mayring, 2007a ). A methodological triangulation was part of the study, since the qualitative content analysis represents a hybrid (i.e., combined qualitative and quantitative) or integrated (i.e., a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis steps in one research design) analysis of qualitative material which additionally combines explorative (inductive) and hypothesis-oriented (deductive) analysis procedures ( Mayring and Brunner, 2006 ; Mayring, 2007a ; Burzan, 2016 ). Concerning negative cases, the coders were attentive to categories that were salient (i.e., positive cases) and non-salient (i.e., negative cases) through the interviewed students’ perspectives ( Morse, 2015 ). Member checks were not applied in this study because they are not unconditionally recommended in interview research (e.g., Morse, 2015 ). Moreover, there are no clear recommendations on how to deal with potential differences between the researchers’ judgments and the participants’ judgments ( Morse, 2015 ).

On average, the students each described 1.36 situations in which they had perceived competence satisfaction ( SD = 0.57; Min = 1; Max = 3). The situations in which the students perceived competence satisfaction most commonly arose in the school subjects Mathematics (29%), History (15%), and English (12%). The students also reported situations out of eight further school subjects in which they had perceived competence satisfaction. On average, students’ current school grades in the reported school subjects were M = 1.85 ( SD = 0.94; Min = 1; Max = 4). In Germany, school grades range from 1 ( very good ) to 6 ( unsatisfactory ).

Table 1 and Figure 2 provide overviews of the final category system describing the factors that contributed to students’ competence satisfaction in class through the students’ perspectives both for the situations and the generalized beliefs and experiences (including the category labels and quantitative analyses). Specifically, Table 1 shows the categories, the absolute topic frequencies, and the relative person frequencies for the categories. Figure 2 illustrates the categories and the relative distributions of the categories (for the three frequency types, see the quantitative frequency indicators in the method section). As a finding, the category system comprised five main categories (e.g., Teaching factors ; including Others ), subsuming 16 categories (e.g., Constructive and appropriately challenging support ), that, in turn, comprised nine subcategories (e.g., Task-focused, constructive feedback ). In the following, we present our findings along the main category sequence Teaching factors , Teacher factors and student-teacher relationship factors , Student factors , and Peer climate and reciprocal peer support as displayed in Table 1 . Within those, we focused on the subcategories and categories with a person frequency higher than 50% and on surprising findings due to limited space. By doing so, we attempted to report the findings that were representative for large amounts of our sample or that gave new directions for future research ( Schilling, 2006 ).

Table 1. Factors contributing to students’ competence satisfaction through students’ perspective.

Figure 2. Relative category distribution of the factors that contribute to students’ competence satisfaction through students’ perspectives. The relative category distribution represents n % of all category codings, based on the absolute person frequencies (i.e., n students that have addressed the respective categories at least in one segment and at least from the perspective of one coder; see Table 1 ). The relative category distributions sum up to 101.29% instead of 100% because, for the sake of clarity, all values have been rounded to the nearest whole number, with one exception. The relative distribution of the category “Improvement-focused, constructive feedback and evaluation” has been rounded to two decimal places in order not to create the impression that its value is 0%.

Teaching factors

In line with our initial deductive category system (see the deductive categories, as presented in Table 1 ), the students reported different Teaching factors (T) as factors that contributed to their competence satisfaction in class. This main category included students’ perceptions of teaching styles that contributed to students’ competence satisfaction and could be divided into eight categories (e.g., Constructive and appropriately challenging support ), with two categories (i.e., Autonomy-supportive teaching ; Feedback and evaluation ) being further divided into three subcategories (e.g., Participation possibilities and autonomy-supportive interaction ; e.g., Task-focused, constructive feedback ).

Among the Teaching factors , Constructive and appropriately challenging support as well as Clear communication and high-quality explanations were the two most salient (sub-) categories from the views of our participants. Referring to the category Constructive and appropriately challenging support (T1), the students described that they felt competent because their teachers helped them at an appropriate challenge level when they required support. For instance, the students reported to feel competent because the teachers repeatedly explained content when something was unclear. Moreover, the students described that they felt competent because teachers created opportunities for asking questions and discussing students’ questions (e.g., female student AT04, 15 years old, reported in interview segment 45 “[A teaching attribute that helps me feel competent is that] if you have questions you can approach the teacher at any time.”). In the category Clear communication and high-quality explanations (T2), the students described that they felt competent because of teacher behaviors, such as making expectancies and procedures clear or explaining instructions and the material in an understandable manner. For example, the students frequently stressed that they felt competent because the teachers appropriately explained the learning material or instructions (e.g., female student SD03, 14 years old, reported in interview segment 49 “Simply if the task is well explained, the assignment.”; and female student KM01, 15 years old, stated in interview segment 80 “[Teachers who help me feel competent] above all, they explain things well.”).

A further frequent category was the category Optimal challenge for student and regarding school requirements (T3). Within this category, the students described that they felt competent because teachers set appropriate challenge levels for the students but also for the mastering of upcoming school requirements such as exams. Specifically, an appropriate challenge level was defined as neither under- nor overdemanding for the individual student while corresponding to the difficulty level required by respective curricula. An important difference between this category and the appropriately challenging support in the category Constructive and appropriately challenging support was that in Optimal challenge for student and regarding school requirements , the students perceived the challenge level as appropriate when no support was required. In Constructive and appropriately challenging support , the students described that their teachers successfully identified on which challenge level they may settle their support when support was required.

Turning to the next category Feedback and evaluation (T4), Task-focused, constructive feedback (T4.1) was the most frequently mentioned reason as to why the students felt competent. This subcategory was characterized by positive and informative teacher feedback, and by meeting the teachers’ expectations. Within this category, the students often described that they felt competent because the teachers generally gave sufficient feedback, or specifically gave positive feedback (e.g., female student SM03, 14 years old, reported in interview segment 4 “[I think I might have felt competent in this situation because] maybe being praised by the teacher has given me sort of a push.”). Additionally, we subsumed grades under the inductive subcategory Feedback through grades or scores (T4.2) since the students frequently reported them as helpful in order to feel competent. The students thereby frequently highlighted the informative character of grades (e.g., female student KM01, 15 years old, stated in interview segment 34 “[This gave me another confirmation that I had, uh, written a good test]. Because there was also a grade underneath, yes.”). Surprisingly, teacher feedback specifically oriented toward the intraindividual reference norm orientation ( Improvement-focused, constructive feedback and evaluation [T4.3]) seemed less relevant for the interviewed students’ competence satisfaction. It was only mentioned once and defined by teacher feedback that highlights improvements and individual developments over time.

As expected, the students frequently described some key elements of teacher autonomy support: Referring to the category Autonomy-supportive teaching (T5), the most frequent subcategory was Participation possibilities and autonomy-supportive interaction (T5.1). In this subcategory, the students described that they felt competent because teachers provided opportunities to actively interact with the classroom environment (including teacher–student interactions), and because teachers engaged in an active, respectful, and interested dialogue with their students. For example, the students highlighted the importance of opportunities for every student to actively engage in class (e.g., male student AT02, 15 years old, explained in interview segment 12 “[I think I felt competent in that situation because the teacher felt you were capable of doing that] and gave you the chance.”), and respectful teacher-student-interactions (e.g., female student AV03, 15 years old, stated in interview segment 52 “[Teachers who help me feel competent] deal respectfully with the students.”).

Beyond that, the students frequently emphasized factors subsumed under the next categories Classroom management and Opportunities for collaborative working and peer interaction as reasons for their competence satisfaction in class. The category Classroom management (T6) described that teachers effectively organized the classroom environment in order to establish a high and productive time-on-task for the students. For example, the students mentioned that they felt competent when teachers created a quiet working atmosphere, e.g.,

[To make me feel competent teachers could] make sure that it is quiet in class [because sometimes I have the feeling that many teachers somehow struggle to be assertive so that many students in my class don’t care and don’t listen to them. Then, it’s difficult to keep them quiet]. (Female student AT04, 15 years old, in interview segment 44)

Furthermore, the students felt competent when teachers succeeded in maintaining rules and guidelines, e.g.,

[[Teachers who help me feel competent] do not, it sounds harsh now, abuse their power. Rather, they are relatively on an equal footing.] But nevertheless, that they are still able to take action, I would say. That’s pretty important to me. (Female student CM11, 15 years old, interview segment 53)

The category Opportunities for collaborative working and peer interaction (T7) included the promotion of teamwork opportunities and interaction among classmates in class. Here, the students frequently reported feeling competent when teachers created opportunities for peers to interact with each other, such as in small group working or exchange among seating partners. Moreover, the students often felt competent when teachers created opportunities for classroom conversations with the whole class, for instance, in class discussions (e.g., female student AT04, 15 years old, reported in interview segment 54 “Not simply working individually on any tasks but maybe having more of a class discussion [helps me feel competent in class again].”).

Teacher factors and student–teacher-relationship factors

However, in addition to the teaching factors, the students described Teacher factors and student-teacher-relationship factors (TR; describing teachers’ person-related competencies, characteristics, traits, and attitudes that contributed to students’ competence satisfaction through the students’ perspectives) as relevant reasons for perceiving competence satisfaction in class. This inductive main category involved three categories (e.g., Teacher personality, characteristics, and attitudes ). For instance, several students told the interviewers that they felt competent because teachers mastered their school subject well and evaluated students competently (i.e., Teacher’s professional and diagnostic competence [TR2]). A positive student-teacher-relationship (i.e., Positive student-teacher-relationship [TR3]) was also mentioned several times. It was characterized by the student’s positive attitude toward the teacher and by the student’s perception of a good relationship with the teacher.

However, among our participants, the most salient category in this main category was Teacher personality, characteristics, and attitudes (TR1). This category was characterized by any teacher characteristics, personality traits, attitudes, and understandings of the teacher role that did not describe specific teaching behaviors or competencies. For example, the students felt competent because the teachers were generally kind and affable. Additionally, the students frequently reported that they felt competent because of relaxed teachers who were not too strict (e.g., female student SD03, 14 years old, stated in interview segment 53 “[Teachers who help me feel competent are] not necessarily too strict.”).

Student factors

Moreover, we inductively added the main category Student factors (S) into the category system. This main category described students’ own skills, characteristics, attributes and attitudes that contributed to their competence satisfaction. It included six categories (e.g., Student motivation and engagement ), with one of those categories ( Current mastery experience ) being further divided into three subcategories (e.g., Notion of a currently successful interaction with teaching or exam material ).

In the main category Student factors , two factors were salient for 100% of the participants of our study: Student motivation and engagement as well as Notion of a currently successful interaction with teaching or exam material . With regard to the category Student motivation and engagement (S1), the students stated that they traced their competence satisfaction to their own motivation, preparation, and engagement such as in class or at home (e.g., female student KM01, 15 years old, explained in interview segment 19 “[I believe the reason why I felt competent on my part was] above all, that I personally tried to prepare myself for it in advance.”). In the category Notion of a currently successful interaction with teaching or exam material (S2.1), the students described that they perceived competence satisfaction because they were successfully interacting with teachers, the teaching material, or with the exam material. For example, the students described that they felt competent because they understood the learning material, were capable of doing something, or recognized that they had done or understood something correctly (e.g., female student KM01, 15 years old, commented in interview segment 4 “I realized that what I did was right.”).

In contrast to the related Teaching factors subcategory Improvement-focused, constructive feedback and evaluation , more than 50% of our sample also considered factors describing the Notion of own learning improvement (S2.2) as a reason for their competence satisfaction in class. This subcategory was characterized by descriptions in which the students compared their current actions or achievement with their prior actions or achievement, and in which they recognized learning improvements. For example, the students chose previous situations and the beginnings of current situations as benchmarks. They also explicitly addressed learning gains or improvements (e.g., female student SD03, 14 years old, reported in interview segment 8 “As opposed to back in the day, I improved.”).

Turning to the two last Student factors categories which were relevant for more than 50% of our participants, the two categories Successful emotional coping and Generalized self-perceptions of competence and control beliefs both described factors that went beyond one single situation, stressing the dynamics of classroom environments. In Successful emotional coping (S3), the students described reasons for the transition from a competence frustration to a brighter side of students’ competence satisfaction (i.e., the reduction of competence frustration or the beginnings of competence satisfaction) through specific thoughts, emotions or behaviors. For instance, the students reported that they felt competent because of putting situations behind them, positive thoughts, or relativizing thoughts, e.g.,

When I see that I got something right or that I was able to participate after all, I try not to let the bad drag me down. Instead, I try to focus on the bigger picture, for example, [to see] that I did better in another lesson, that it was just one lesson and I can still prove myself in the next lesson. (Female student SW12, 15 years old, in interview segment 42)

In the category Generalized self-perceptions of competence and control beliefs (S4), the students described that they felt competent because they were generally competent or had beneficial self-perceptions of competence (e.g., in a specific subject, topic, or task type) which went beyond one single situation in which the students felt competent. Additionally, this category included students’ general beliefs about being able to influence their own competence satisfaction or school outcomes. For example, the students stated that they felt competent because they generally felt that they were proficient or confident in a school subject or topic (e.g., female student DJ10, 15 years old, explained in interview segment 26 “[Because] I actually feel pretty confident in this subject.”).

Peer climate and reciprocal peer support

Lastly, more than 80% of the interviewed students highlighted the importance of Peer climate and reciprocal peer support (P) as a factor that contributed to their competence satisfaction in class. This main category described a respectful, collaborative and learning-facilitating atmosphere among peers in which the students could or would help each other. For instance, the students reported that they felt competent because they were capable of helping other students (e.g., male student KA12, 15 years old, stated in interview segment 6 “Because I could help [others] with my skills.”). Also, the students felt competent because peers explained the learning material to them (e.g., female student SC06, 14 years old, reported in interview segment 66 “[To feel competent again] [Yes actually also, like, exchange with others] so that maybe not only the teacher, but also classmates explain things to you.”). An important characteristic of this main category was that the students traced the responsibility for these occurrences to interactions with their peers or to their peers but not to their teachers, or to the teachers’ teaching behaviors.

In this study, we attempted to widen researchers’ view on factors that contribute to students’ competence satisfaction at school by taking a qualitative, integrative, and student-oriented perspective. Specifically, we aimed to enrich and extend existing SDT-knowledge on which factors contribute to students’ competence satisfaction in realistic classroom settings. For this purpose, we combined a data-driven (explorative) and a theory-driven (descriptive) research design in which we integrated existing SDT assumptions as well as additional theoretical frameworks (i.e., classroom goal structure, perceived error climate, teaching quality, reference norm orientations; integrative approach). As one main finding of our qualitative content analysis approach, we identified and systematized 23 data- and theory-based factors (i.e., Teaching factors, Teacher factors and student–teacher-relationship factors, Student factors, Peer climate and reciprocal peer support) that contributed to students’ competence satisfaction in classroom contexts through the interviewed students’ perspectives. The most frequent categories were Student motivation and engagement , Notion of a currently successful interaction with teacher, teaching or exam material , Clear communication and high-quality explanations , as well as Constructive and appropriately challenging support . In contrast, the least frequent categories were Improvement-focused, constructive feedback and evaluation , Opportunities to choose , and Positive student-teacher-relationship (besides Others ). Concluding, our data-based perspective first showed additional factors that seem to be beneficial for students’ competence satisfaction (e.g., student factors) through the interviewed students’ perspectives. Second, our theory-based perspective complemented quantitative SDT findings on need support and offered new conceptual insights into which teaching practices beyond the ones anchored in SDT (e.g., the fostering of a high mastery goal structure in class, teaching practices that characterize a high teaching quality) might facilitate students’ competence satisfaction at school through students’ perspectives (e.g., Rheinberg, 1980 , 1983 ; Patall et al., 2008 ; Steuer et al., 2013 ; Lüftenegger et al., 2014 , 2017 ; Dickhäuser et al., 2017 ; Praetorius et al., 2018 ; Vasconcellos et al., 2020 ). In the following, we present our specific findings along the sequence Teaching factors, Teacher factors and student-teacher-relationship factors, Student factors , and Peer climate and reciprocal peer support .

Teaching factors contributing to students’ competence satisfaction

Expectedly, teaching factors were the most salient reasons for the interviewed students’ competence satisfaction (accounting for 48.70% of the relative category distribution). Based on SDT as our primary theoretical framework, we discuss our findings regarding the teaching factors along the need support variables structure, autonomy support, and relatedness support ( Ryan and Deci, 2017 ). Moreover, we present additional factors we revealed within the teaching factors that could extend the need support literature in future research. The additional theoretical frameworks considered in our category system (i.e., achievement goal theory, perceived error climate, teaching quality, reference norm orientation theory) are used to extend existing knowledge on which teaching practices might be beneficial for students’ competence satisfaction through students’ views in the context of SDT.

In line with SDT, the categories Clear communication and high-quality explanations , Constructive and appropriately challenging support , as well as Task-focused, constructive feedback underpin the importance of structure for students’ competence satisfaction in class ( Jang et al., 2010 ; Ryan and Deci, 2017 , 2020 ; Aelterman et al., 2019 ; Vasconcellos et al., 2020 ). Together with the categories Optimal challenge for student and regarding school requirements as well as Classroom management , which are also discussable along the structure construct ( Jang et al., 2010 ; Reeve, 2015 ; Ryan and Deci, 2017 , 2020 ; Aelterman et al., 2019 ), these findings suggest that students might feel competent when teachers make expectations clear, give overviews, and provide appropriate help when necessary. Moreover, they emphasize the importance of positive and informative feedback, neither over- nor under-challenging tasks, and transparent as well as consistent rules. This description of competence-supportive teaching is in line with existing conceptualizations of structure in SDT ( Jang et al., 2010 ; Aelterman et al., 2019 ; Ryan and Deci, 2020 ; Vansteenkiste et al., 2020 ).

Along with the benefits of qualitative approaches ( Ryan and Deci, 2020 ; Vansteenkiste et al., 2020 ), we additionally revealed data-based factors by which the structure construct might be enriched in the educational setting. Whereas conceptualizations of clarifying structure have focused on overviews, transparent expectations, and the monitoring of students’ progress, our findings underlined the importance of understandable, precise, and sufficiently detailed explanations of the learning material for the students’ competence satisfaction (i.e., Clear communication and high-quality explanations ; Aelterman et al., 2019 ). Moreover, our participants emphasized the indirect link of explanation quality and competence satisfaction via students’ understanding of the learning material, prompting future studies to consider both students’ motivational and cognitive functioning (e.g., Manganelli et al., 2019 ). This was particularly evident from the frequent consecutive occurrence of the categories Clear communication and high-quality explanations and Notion of a currently successful interaction with teaching or exam material across many participants in our study. Regarding the Constructive and appropriately challenging support , we conclude that an optimal challenge level might be important not only when providing tasks but also when providing help, which extends typical conceptualizations in SDT research ( Jang et al., 2010 ; Guay et al., 2017 ; Aelterman et al., 2019 ; Ryan and Deci, 2020 ). Our findings also prompt future research to further investigate whether an appropriate challenge level should not only be defined regarding students’ current possibilities but additionally considering the challenge level of upcoming school requirements (e.g., final exams; Jang et al., 2010 ; Aelterman et al., 2019 ; Ryan and Deci, 2020 ).

To further enrich the structure construct, a theory-based and integrative perspective has been taken. The interviewed students mentioned several characteristics out of existing theoretical frameworks (e.g., teaching quality) as factors that contributed to their competence satisfaction in class (e.g., creating a quiet working atmosphere as an indicator for classroom management; Praetorius et al., 2018 ). These might extend typical conceptualizations in the need support literature. In line with existing research, our findings indicate that it is worthwhile to further investigate the link of mastery goal structure and students’ competence satisfaction ( Kavussanu and Roberts, 1996 ; Cox and Williams, 2008 ; Quested and Duda, 2009 ; Halvari et al., 2011 ). They also prompt researchers to study whether the perceived error climate ( Steuer et al., 2013 ), the teaching quality ( Praetorius et al., 2018 ), and teachers’ reference norm orientations ( Rheinberg, 1980 , 1983 ; Dickhäuser et al., 2017 ; Lohbeck and Freund, 2021 ) might be related to students’ competence satisfaction in quantitative research. In order to facilitate the follow-up of our findings, Table 2 gives an overview about the theoretical frameworks and their dimensions that, based on our study, provide a fruitful foundation for further investigations of factors that can be beneficial for students’ competence satisfaction from a structure perspective. As can be seen in Table 2 , the teaching factors derived from the different theories could be classified into common categories based on the interviewed students’ perspectives in the present research. These results are promising for future research, as this should facilitate to answer the call for integrative recommendations to practitioners that overcome conceptual overlaps between different motivational theories ( Anderman, 2020 ).

Table 2. Dimensions describing the factors that contribute to students’ competence satisfaction from a structure perspective.

However, even though we retained the theory-based category Improvement-focused, constructive feedback and evaluation in our category system for transparency reasons and because it arose once in our sample, feedback focusing on students’ intraindividual improvement was not salient for students’ competence satisfaction in our study. At first sight, this stands in contrast to existing literature ( Rheinberg, 1980 , 1983 ; Reeve, 2015 ; Dickhäuser et al., 2017 ; Rheinberg and Krug, 2017 ; Ryan and Deci, 2017 ). However, several methodological (e.g., the high specificity of this category compared to the other feedback categories) and theoretical explanation approaches (e.g., small effect sizes of teachers’ intraindividual reference norm orientation; context specificities under which we conducted this study) might have caused this finding. For instance, teachers might rarely be oriented toward the intraindividual reference norm in the regular school system in Germany where this study has been conducted. Alternatively, the students might not have noticed the teachers’ efforts to focus on intraindividual improvement when they gave their feedback. Specifically, in line with some initial difficulties to differentiate between the categories Task-focused, constructive feedback as well as Improvement-focused, constructive feedback and evaluation in our study, several students might not have differentiated between constructive, task-focused, and improvement focused feedback in the present study. These possible explanations might have made it difficult to link teachers’ reference norm orientations to students’ competence satisfaction within the applied study design. From an SDT perspective, further research (accounting for context-specific influences, e.g., by intervention studies) is required in order to understand whether intraindividual comparison standards are related to students’ competence satisfaction in classroom contexts.

Autonomy support

In line with SDT, the students additionally mentioned that participation opportunities, respectful teacher-student interactions, and teachers who were responsive to students’ views, needs, and interests facilitated their competence satisfaction in class. This is in line with conceptualizations of attuning and participative autonomy support as well as with empirical SDT findings on individuals’ competence satisfaction ( Patall et al., 2008 , 2018 ; Jang et al., 2010 ; Ryan and Deci, 2017 , 2020 ; Eckes et al., 2018 ; Aelterman et al., 2019 ).

However, matching some inconsistent findings in past research ( Patall et al., 2014 ; Steingut et al., 2017 ; Vasconcellos et al., 2020 ), some autonomy support facets were more salient among the interviewed students ( Participation possibilities and autonomy-supportive interaction ) than others ( interestingness and relevance , opportunities to choose ). One possible explanation could be that opportunities for engaging in active interactions with classroom environments (i.e., Participation possibilities and autonomy-supportive interaction) might represent more proximal reasons for the students’ competence satisfaction compared to the sense of being self-determined causers of such active student-environment-interactions (e.g., opportunities to choose ). Other explanation approaches might be that interestingness, relevance, and opportunities to choose are not salient teaching practices in Germany or that some students might have overlooked their teachers’ efforts to provide opportunities to choose or rationales. As one fruitful approach to understand how students perceive autonomy-supportive practices and their influence on students’ competence satisfaction while controlling for context specificities, one could manipulate specific autonomy support facets within qualitative intervention studies and explore students’ competence experiences (e.g., via open questions). Evidently, our findings should also be investigated considering several moderating and mediating processes (e.g., Patall et al., 2014 ; Steingut et al., 2017 ; Vasconcellos et al., 2020 ).

Furthermore, our findings revealed additional factors that might improve existing prediction results for students’ competence satisfaction in future studies. For instance, from a data-based perspective, the students felt competent when teachers gave equal opportunities to all students to participate in class. This approach extends past need support conceptualizations ( Jang et al., 2010 ; Ryan and Deci, 2017 , 2020 ; Aelterman et al., 2019 ), is in line with research on adaptive teaching ( Corno, 2008 ), and prompts SDT researchers to complement existing competence satisfaction research by considering teaching equality beyond differentiated instruction ( Deci, 2009 ; Roy et al., 2013 ; Guay et al., 2017 ).

In line with structure, autonomy support might additionally be refined based on our theory-based approach. Specifically, the interviewed students stressed factors that described mastery goal structure, teaching quality, and teachers’ intraindividual reference norm orientations as salient reasons for their competence satisfaction at school ( Rheinberg, 1980 , 1983 ; Dickhäuser et al., 2017 ; Lüftenegger et al., 2017 ; Praetorius et al., 2018 ). Therefore, our findings give first hints that existing autonomy support conceptualizations might be extended by dimensions out of those frameworks. In order to facilitate the transfer of our findings to quantitative research, Table 3 shows the theoretical frameworks and the specific dimensions that, following our findings, seem to be a fruitful approach in order to investigate which factors are positively linked to students’ competence satisfaction from an autonomy support perspective. As discussed for Table 2 , the analyzed teaching factors derived from the different theories could be classified into common categories in the present research. This potential integrability might facilitate the derivation of recommendations for practitioners in future research ( Anderman, 2020 ).

Table 3. Dimensions describing the factors that contribute to students’ competence satisfaction from an autonomy support perspective.

Relatedness support

Within the categories Constructive and appropriately challenging support, Participation possibilities and autonomy supportive interaction as well as Opportunities for collaborative working and peer interaction , the students also viewed factors attributable to relatedness support as factors that contributed to their competence satisfaction which is in line with first hints in the literature ( Vasconcellos et al., 2020 ). In line with existing relatedness support conceptualizations (e.g., opportunities for individualized teacher–student conversations; Reeve, 2015 ; Sparks et al., 2015 , 2016 ), for instance, the students felt competent because their teachers had an approachable, helpful, and interactive teaching style. They also felt competent because teachers invited the students to interact with each other (e.g., by working in groups). Hence, our findings prompt future SDT research to focus on relatedness support as a potential predictor of students’ competence satisfaction.

Additionally, our findings provide first evidence that might broaden existing relatedness support conceptualizations. For instance, through the interviewed students’ perspectives, it seemed essential for students’ competence satisfaction that teachers and students met as equals, that students felt treated fairly by the teachers, and that the teachers were patient with students’ learning difficulties. For example, the students found it helpful when teachers actively provided voluntary opportunities for getting additional assistance (e.g., building small groups for whom teachers give additional assistance). This is partly in line with Reeve (2015) who proposed teacher patience to be an autonomy-supportive measure.

From our theory-based perspective, we conclude that existing SDT knowledge on relatedness support might be refined based on the depicted theoretical frameworks. Specifically, the categories Opportunities for collaborative working and peer interaction , Participation possibilities and autonomy-supportive interaction , and Constructive and appropriately challenging support revealed several teaching practices that have been elaborated in the TARGET framework (e.g., authority; Lüftenegger et al., 2017 ), in the student support and cognitive activation dimensions out of the teaching quality framework (e.g., discursive and co-constructive learning; Praetorius et al., 2018 ), in reference norm orientation theory ( Rheinberg, 1980 , 1983 ; Dickhäuser et al., 2017 ), and in perceived error climate research ( Steuer et al., 2013 ). In view of the requirements for further research on relatedness support in SDT, it might be helpful for future research to integrate those factors into existing relatedness support conceptualizations ( Reeve, 2015 ; Sparks et al., 2015 , 2016 ). Future studies might also investigate whether our qualitative findings can be replicated in quantitative research. Attempting to facilitate the follow-up of our findings, Table 4 represents an overview of our findings concerning the theoretical frameworks and their dimensions that seem to contribute to students’ competence satisfaction from a relatedness support perspective. As discussed for Tables 2 and 3 , the interviewed students’ perspectives additionally indicate that, based on the analyzed teaching factors, it might be fruitful as well as feasible for future research to elaborate integrative recommendations for practitioners with regard to students’ competence satisfaction ( Anderman, 2020 ).

Table 4. Dimensions describing the factors that contribute to students’ competence satisfaction from a relatedness support perspective.

However, in line with past SDT research ( Ahn et al., 2019 ; Vasconcellos et al., 2020 ), our category system indicated overlaps between relatedness support and the other need support variables from the interviewed students’ perspective. For example, the category Participation possibilities and autonomy-supportive interaction might be discussed both from a relatedness support perspective and an autonomy support perspective. Moreover, the category Constructive and appropriately challenging support can be viewed from a relatedness support perspective as well as from a structure perspective. Therefore, our findings prompt future research to investigate the empirical separability of structure, autonomy support, and relatedness support in the context of students’ competence satisfaction.

Additional factors contributing to students’ competence satisfaction

Extending past SDT research that mainly focused on teaching practices (e.g., Ryan and Deci, 2020 ; Vansteenkiste et al., 2020 ; Vasconcellos et al., 2020 ), our findings also suggest that, from the interviewed students’ perspectives, additional factors beyond the teaching practices (accounting for 51.30% of the relative category distribution in our study when including Others ) might be considered in order to understand why students’ competence satisfaction subjectively arises in class. In the following, we discuss the most salient additional factors through the interviewed students’ perspectives.

Based on the main category Teacher factors and student–teacher-relationship factors , teacher factors might be a fruitful approach in understanding students’ perspectives on why their competence satisfaction arises in class (accounting for 9.22% of the relative category distribution in our study). For example, within the category Teacher personality, characteristics, and attitudes , the students described teacher agreeableness (i.e., kindness) and teacher characteristics presumably interpretable as generalized autonomy and relatedness supportive, as well as non-controlling orientations (e.g., “generally being attentive to students’ needs”) as factors that contributed to their competence satisfaction. This is in line with teacher personality research within and beyond SDT ( Ryan and Deci, 2017 ; Kim et al., 2018 ; Reeve et al., 2018 ). According to teaching quality research and SDT research on relatedness support, the students also frequently reported teacher humor, enthusiasm, and teacher motivation as reasons for their competence satisfaction in class ( Kunter, 2013 ; Sparks et al., 2015 , 2016 ; Baier et al., 2019 ; Shahid and Ghazal, 2019 ; Ahn et al., 2021 ).

However, some inconsistent findings on the links between teacher personality and students’ motivational functioning prompt future research to follow up on our findings ( Kim et al., 2018 ; Reeve et al., 2018 ; Baier et al., 2019 ; Khalilzadeh and Khodi, 2021 ). Moreover, students may not have differentiated between teaching behaviors and teachers’ orientations in our study, urging researchers to interpret our findings with caution.

Through the interviewed students’ perspectives, student factors seemed crucial in explaining why students’ competence satisfaction arises in class (accounting for 34.87% of the relative category distribution). For instance, the students viewed their own motivation and engagement as one of the most important preconditions for their competence satisfaction, suggesting that students’ competence satisfaction might be considered as a predictor and as an outcome of motivation and engagement in future research. This is in line with longitudinal studies in which students’ need fulfillment and competence satisfaction have predicted students’ motivation and engagement, as well as vice versa ( Papaioannou et al., 2006 ; Reeve and Lee, 2014 ).

Based on the main category Notion of a currently successful interaction with teacher, teaching or exam material , we conclude that, from students’ views, it seems essential for students’ competence satisfaction that students subjectively notice their own competence in current situations. This is in line with the hierarchical model of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and with studies in which students who performed above-average did not necessarily feel competent ( Miserandino, 1996 ; Vallerand, 1997 ). However, the conceptual similarity of this category with students’ competence satisfaction might indicate that it revealed indicators rather than reasons for students’ competence satisfaction ( White, 1959 ; Ryan and Deci, 2017 , 2020 ). Although we rigorously defined our coding units (i.e., reasons for students’ competence satisfaction; Mayring, 2014 ), future studies should address the empirical separability of the factors described in this category from students’ competence satisfaction. By doing so, one might disentangle definitional and preceding aspects of students’ competence satisfaction in class.

Peer climate and the reciprocal peer support were further additional factors that contributed to the students’ competence satisfaction in class (accounting for 6.05% of the relative category distribution in our study). For instance, the students perceived the capability to help others, getting help from peers, asking of questions, and exchanging of ideas, views, and information among peers as reasons for their competence satisfaction in class. In line with first hints in the literature ( Steuer et al., 2013 ; Vasconcellos et al., 2020 ), our findings thus shed light on how peer climate and peer interactions might influence students’ competence satisfaction in classroom contexts. Due to scarce research on how peer factors and students’ motivational processes interact in class ( Núñez and León, 2015 ), our findings widen researchers’ view on why students’ competence satisfaction arises in class. They prompt future studies to focus on peer factors and peer interactions.

Limitations

Despite our promising findings, some limitations must be addressed. First, qualitative research is object to researcher biases (e.g., sampling effects, anticipations, unconscious biases; Morse, 2015 ). For instance, although the applied qualitative content analysis approach is a transparent, rigorous, and rule-oriented approach to analyze qualitative material ( Mayring, 2014 ), the interpretative coding of interview material remains a subjective process which can lead to subjective bias ( Morse, 2015 ). Second, an important validity concern in qualitative research is to aptly describe the investigated phenomenon ( Morse, 2015 ). In the present study, we investigated the interviewed students’ subjective experiences with and generalized beliefs about the factors that contribute to their competence satisfaction in class. According to Mayring (2007b) , we hence may speculate that students in similar schools, in a similar age, in similar school subjects, and in similar life circumstances may report similar reasons for their competence satisfaction in class. However, the generalizability of the identified factors remains to be investigated since qualitative content analysis does not make claims of generalizability ( Krippendorff, 1989 ; Mayring, 2007b ). Furthermore, potential threats to the accurate description of the investigated phenomenon have to be considered. For example, although we conceptualized our interviews along typical SDT definitions ( White, 1959 ; Deci and Ryan, 2000 ; Ryan and Deci, 2017 , 2020 ), the applied operationalization of students’ competence satisfaction might be confounded with other self-perceptions of competence. In order to verify whether we described the phenomenon of interest, future studies should test whether our qualitative findings are replicable, for instance, in quantitative studies with well-validated SDT questionnaires (e.g., Heissel et al., 2018 ). Third, conclusions on whether the identified factors can predict students’ competence satisfaction in addition to structure, autonomy support, and relatedness support have yet to be drawn. Last, even though our study offered important insights into students’ perspectives on which factors contribute to their competence satisfaction based on a limited and purposeful sample, it was beyond the scope of this study to control for context-specific influences. For instance, the students may not have had the possibility to feel competent because of specific teaching practices if their teachers did not implement these practices in class. Therefore, future studies should combine the gains of qualitative approaches such as in our study with research designs which allow causal inferences (e.g., mixed-methods intervention studies).

Following existing calls for qualitative research and giving insights into students’ views, this interview study explored students’ perspectives on which factors contribute to their competence satisfaction in class ( Ryan and Deci, 2020 ; Vansteenkiste et al., 2020 ). From an SDT point of view, we first conclude that teaching factors within and beyond SDT were beneficial for students’ competence satisfaction from the students’ perspectives. Second, additional factors going beyond students’ perceptions of teaching practices, such as students’ perceptions of student factors (e.g., students’ motivation and engagement), teacher and student–teacher-relationship factors (e.g., teacher kindness), and peer climate factors (e.g., helping each other), played essential roles for the development of students’ competence satisfaction at school from the students’ perspectives. From a cross-theoretical point of view, our study shows the benefits of taking a qualitative, hybrid (or: integrated), integrative, and student-oriented perspective. The results of this study do not only enrich existing need-supportive measures by our integrative approach. They might also give new directions for the depicted additional theoretical backgrounds (i.e., classroom goal structure, perceived error climate, teaching quality, reference norm orientations). That is, the frameworks used in our study might benefit from integrating need-supportive measures anchored in SDT to enrich existing conceptualizations, and improve existing prediction results for the outcomes relevant to these frameworks (e.g., students’ reactions to errors in the error climate research; Steuer et al., 2013 ). This study might additionally inspire future research to reduce gaps not only within theoretical backgrounds by considering additional theoretical backgrounds, as in our study. In line with Anderman (2020) , it might also inspire researchers to clarify differences and commonalities between related theoretical frameworks.

Data availability statement

The datasets presented in this article are not readily available because the participants were assured the raw data would remain confidential and would not be shared. This was necessary due to the sensitive nature of the questions asked in this study. Requests to access the datasets should be directed to NR, [email protected] .

Ethics statement

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of Bielefeld University. Written informed consent to participate in this study was provided by the participants and, if necessary by legal law, by the participants’ legal guardian/next of kin.

Author contributions

NR developed the idea and study design (conceptualization), provided the study materials (investigation), and performed the data curation, visualization, methodology, writing of the original draft, as well as the project administration. NR, NG, and MW supervised the data acquisition which was conducted by two student teachers in the course of their master’s theses. NR and RN analyzed the data. SF supervised the project and provided the resources. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

We acknowledge the financial support of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Open Access Publication Fund of Bielefeld University for the article processing charge.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary material

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.928801/full#supplementary-material

^ The final category system can be obtained from the corresponding author of this study.

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Keywords : competence satisfaction, need support, mastery goal structure, perceived error climate, reference norm orientation, teaching quality

Citation: Reymond NC, Nahrgang RG, Großmann N, Wilde M and Fries S (2022) Why students feel competent in the classroom: A qualitative content analysis of students’ views. Front. Psychol. 13:928801. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.928801

Received: 26 April 2022; Accepted: 16 September 2022; Published: 13 October 2022.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2022 Reymond, Nahrgang, Großmann, Wilde and Fries. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Nadia Catherine Reymond, [email protected]

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

300 Qualitative Research Topics For Easy Academic Victory

You are on the right page if you are looking for a perfect qualitative research topic and have difficulty finding it.

Writing a qualitative research paper is not a piece of cake. Let alone the research and writing; the first and most significant challenge is finding the qualitative research topic that is a perfect fit for you. You have to be sure about a handful of things to decide the best topic for you, and you can ace it. First and most important, you must choose a topic that you find appealing and motivating. If you are not interested in a topic, not only will it tire you, but it will make your research dull and exhausting as well. Two, choose a relevant topic that adds value to the academia. Last but not least, there must be enough data about the theme that you are about to choose. In case of any confusion, concerns, or questions, you can consult for paper writing help from Paper Perk .

Table of Contents

Qualitative Research Topics: Psych, Education, Health, Medicine & More

Wandering around the internet looking for qualitative research topics can be exhausting. We are writing this article to make it a one-stop solution for you. There is enough inspiration to come up with the most suitable topic for you, no matter your academic area.

Psychological Qualitative Research Topics

Emotional Intelligence: Can it be an excellent alternative to IQ?
Oxytocin in autistic children.
Meditation: A means to control emotions
Emotional dependency during pregnancy
Schizophrenia: Causes and treatment
Post-traumatic stress disorder: Causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment
Psychology of physical attraction in opposite sexes
What is a borderline personality disorder? Facts and myths
Psychological elements in electronic media: Marketing, persuasion, and propaganda
Psychology in public relations
Psychology in international relations
Causes of depression and what to do to avoid it?
Detailed analysis of speech disorders
Criminal psychology and the origin of serial killers
Psychological aspects of the aging process
The character of NGOs regarding awareness about mental health
How to prevent child abuse with the help of psychology?
Aspects of criminal psychology
Emotional imbalance: Causes, symptoms, and treatment
Memory loss? Is it a neural problem or a psychological problem?
The secrets to well-being
Mental disorders in teens

Read More: Psychology Research Paper Topics

Political Qualitative Research Topics

What role did masons’ living conditions have in forming workers’ political movements ?
How do presidential elections matter?
Political compass: A critical analysis
Is a representative democracy genuinely democratic?
How has Europe evolved in terms of democracy?
Democratic evolution in the United States in the last three centuries
Is democracy a myth or a reality?
Why is voter abstention a danger to democracy?
Role of minorities in the United States politics
Freedom of expression in developing countries
Freedom of expression under Islamist regimes
Misconduct on television: Awareness and Legislation

Read More: Political Science Research Topics

Qualitative Research Topics for Art and Culture

Is history a universally shared concept?
Can a man be indifferent to art?
How do we articulate the link between science and technology?
What is the purpose of art?
What does the artist show us? Expression and symbolism
What is an artist? What does an artist do?
What is an artist?
Is art always transgressive?
Work of art: The proof of the freedom of the spirit
Can art compete with nature?
Does art only have the function of freeing us from our passions?
Passion and emotion in art
Absurd surrealism
Grotesque surrealism
Different movements in art
Progress and evolution of art
The art of the middle ages
The art of the renaissance
Is the work of art necessarily beautiful?
Does art change our relationship with reality?
Does the critic able to regard something as art or not?
Does the experience of beauty necessarily pass through the work of art?
Things that art teaches us, artists, as a technician
Importance of meaning in a work of art
Meaningless art and absurdist existentialism
The need for a model in the production of art
Can we conceive of a society without art?
Different aspects of society are defined and differentiated by art
The fear of industrial production among the artists
Dystopian art: The ability to predict the future among artists
Elements that distinguish the work of art from any object
Why the artists deserve a special place in the world
Rules and regulations in art
Reproduction of art: Plagiarism in art and harm of repetition
Art and escapism
Anachronistic art and the element of satire
Should the artist seek to please the audience
Can we blame a work of art for not being worth anything?
Does every human being understand and appreciate art?
Do you think that, according to Aristotle’s formula, art is an “imitation of nature”?
Why does what we dislike in life please us in a work of art?
Does art seem to be a “revolt against the tyranny of desire”?
Why do we apply the term “creation” to artistic activity?
Sacrosanctity of art and human duty to uphold it

Qualitative Research Topics Involving Environment Issues

Advantages and disadvantages of technology for the environment
Benefits of environmental education in children
Methods to make modern society aware of the environment
Alternative energies
Nuclear energy production: An alternative to the planet’s growing energy demand
X degree care for the environment
Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the different types of renewable energy
Need to develop environmentally friendly products
Documentation of experience: Protection of nature
Elements involved in environmental deterioration
Environment and strategies for sustainability
Environmental activism in adolescents and young people
Sustainability and security for environmental justice
Raising awareness about the protection of the environment through sports, literature, and culture
Environment influenced by collective and individual actions
Awareness of the advantages and disadvantages of the use of technologies
Effects and causes of acid rain and groundwater
Ways to live sustainably or focus on a specific aspect of sustainability
Recent disasters caused by global warming
Greenhouse effect and melting ice
Importance of renewable energy
Wildlife and endangered species
Air quality and pollution
Water quality in underdeveloped countries
Famines caused by environmental changes
Various recycling programs: Which one is the most effective
Awareness to participate in the initiatives about the protection of the environment
How deforestation has affected animals or how it is related to climate change
Importance of the coral reef, the dangers of its destruction, or preservation strategies

Read More: Best Legal Research Paper Topics

Qualitative Research Topics on Public Relations

Public Relations and socio-productive activity
Organizational Communication and Public Relations
Ethics in the practice of Public Relations
Epistemological foundations of Public Relations.
Factors that limit the practice of Public Relations.
Public Relations is a strategic factor of the company.
Relationship workers and professional practice in the United States
Corporate image and Public Relations
Corporate identity and Public Relations.
Public Relations and social enterprise
Public Relations as an integration factor.
Profile of the teacher of Public Relations.
Legislation of Public Relations in Europe
The free exercise of Public Relations
Public Relations and the labor market
Public Relations and digital communication
History of Public Relations in Europe
History of Public Relations in the United States
History of Public Relations in Canada
Semiology and Public Relations
Linguistics and Public Relations
Indicators to evaluate Public Relations programs
Planning of Public Relations in organizations
Public Relations through radio and television
University teaching in Public Relations

Read More: Criminal Justice Research Paper Topics

Qualitative Research Topics for High School Students

How has technological development helped hospitals?
Benefits of technological advances in the classroom
Advantages and disadvantages of technology in children
How and why are fun activities different during every stage of the educational period, Montessori, school, college, and university?
Most dangerous challenges that must be avoided as students
Challenges made by celebrities: How do future career choices and jobs look for you in the next decade?
The pros and cons of viral challenges from Tiktok and reels
How/what do social networks help?
Disadvantages of social networks
Problems of social network in adolescents
What is the most suitable age for children to have a social media presence?
Toxic behaviors accompanied by social media: Prevention and Solution

Educational Qualitative Research Topics

History of education
How education has changed over time in one place
Importance of sports and games in early childhood education
Possible results of adding playtime to education
Pros and cons of a grading system
Most effective grading methods
How tests affect the success or mental health of students
Assessment methods: Such as standardized tests or open tests
Investigate how dress codes affect student performance
Different schools of learning
Qualities that effective teachers possess
Effects of teaching and lesson planning
Different approaches of public and private schools
Pros or cons of a charter school systems
How class size and number of students affect student performance
Qualities of an Effective Teacher
The length of the school day, or the length of breaks, and how the durations affect the progress of the students
How the start time of school affects performance

Read More: Biology Research Paper Topics

Qualitative Research Topics for Business and Economy

The chartered accountant and the client: what relationship today?
How does the arrival of the low-cost accountant change differentiation practices in accounting?
Law and accounting: how do the new laws impact the profession of a chartered accountant?
Accountants, why are they so difficult to recruit?
How does accounting make it possible to assess the state of health of a company?
Accounting and new technologies: the future or the end of the accountant?
Can inequalities be reduced with new technologies?
What distribution of wealth in France (or other)?
Why do companies relocate?
Protectionism or free trade?
Has the organization of work changed after the pandemic?
Do flexibility and home-working reduce unemployment?
Should we be afraid of financial bubbles?
Financial crises, similar cogs? Are we headed to a new recession?
What is money, and who creates it?
The stock market against growth?
How does economic growth lead to sustainable development?
What is the impact of innovation on growth?
What role does investment play?
What are the keys to productivity?
Is it possible to measure economic growth?
Why do stock markets crash?

Read More Law / Legal Research Paper Topics

Medical Qualitative Research Topics

Current situation of palliative care in health institutions in the United States
Complications of acute diarrheal disease in children under five years of age
Nutritional status of surgical oncology patients and its relationship with postoperative complications
Cost-effectiveness of cervical cancer screening strategies in California
Thyroid cancer and risk factors in patients treated at San Jose Hospital
Communicative processes in American ancestral medicine
Seronegative rheumatoid arthritis in a patient with a pulmonary septic complication
Telemedicine and Tele-health of the inhabitants of Massachusetts
Feasibility study and technical, infrastructure and human sustainability for the implementation of the care model
Epidemiological profile of the general surgery outpatient service
Physical activity and sport as determinants of health
Cost of treatment and follow-up of people with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
National Health System for the formal introduction of the family doctor
How is the social security system in France unsustainable?
Comparative study of health systems in the United States and Europe?
Allergies and intolerances, what are the differences for lactose?
Is gluten intolerance an actual disease?
Social inequalities in health in rural countries
Public health policy or health policy
Public health at the European level, what public policies
Public health in developing countries
Public health and environmental issues through the prism of red meat consumption
Communication of medicines when advertising is prohibited

Related: Medical research paper writing services

Qualitative Research Topics for Law and Crime

Consequences of the death penalty.
Capital offenses: Law, persecution, and penalties
Classic methods used in the death penalty
Arguments for or against this punishment
The stipulation for others and the promise of a stronghold
Consumer protection in the American Law
The social attributions of the captain of the ship
Recent developments in the constitutional justice
Reframing the civil code
Critical analysis of the scope of the principle of free justice
Institutions of the criminal records
Equality of the creditors in collective proceedings
Risk management in expertise
The repressive jurisdiction of the court of peace in the event of insufficiency of the judges
Labor law and the rights of workers
Secularism and labor law: Question of religion in business
The Management of transit migration
The legal framework of bank credit
Legal regime of intellectual rights
Compensation for moral damage
Family criminal law in the relation between parents and children
Unilateral termination of the contract
Role of the military in public prosecution
Critical analysis of the pre-jurisdictional procedure regarding human rights
The fault of the administration in land matters
The subsequent attitude of the victim and compensation for the damages
Action for retrocession in the event of excessive liberalities
The exploitation of child labor under Labor Law
Reflection on the introduction of the system of the dematerialization of bearer shares
Study on the feasibility of a structure for the amicable settlement of consumer disputes
The life insurance contract
Legal liability of the community pharmacist
The legal age of marriage: legislative, jurisprudential, and doctrinal approach
Protection of the unpaid seller in the event of insolvency of the buyer
The renewal of the employment contract
The regulatory framework for outdoor advertising, signs, and pre-sign
Extra-judicial resolution of land disputes

Qualitative Research Topics Concerning Drug Abuse

Drug use in adolescents
Consequences of excessive drug use
Legal and illegal addictive substances
Effects of drugs on the brain
Effects of alcohol and tobacco
Social science research on drugs
Psychological research on drugs
Biomedical research in the field of drugs
Drug addiction treatment
Cannabis in Europe: a study of social research
Drug expectations
Dynamics of drug cartels: Perception, politics, and markets
Sources and uses of methamphetamine
Sensation seeking
Contribution of research in psychology on drugs
Drug research: recent developments
in the field of psychology
Places of cannabis consumption
Drug prevention for the most vulnerable young people
Cannabis retail markets
Cultivation of cannabis at home
Cannabis Dependence and the Strength of Marijuana
Cannabis and youth
Cannabis and schizophrenia

Women Issues and Rights Qualitative Research Topics

How to educate teens about pregnancy
Women’s rights violations in the middle east
Forced-Hijab conflict in Iran
How to live a healthy pregnancy period
Access to health is a fundamental right: what role can parliaments play in ensuring health for women and children?
The wave of feminist movements in the Middle East
The situation of women and children in times of conflict
The role of women parliamentarians in the prevention of national and international terrorism and in the promotion of peace
Promoting women’s participation and gender equality in multilateral negotiations
The contribution of women to the establishment of a new global financial and economic model
Feminism in Egypt
Impact of the media on the status of women and image of women politicians in the media
Poverty and extreme poverty: women as victims of this phenomenon and as key actors in the fight to eradicate it
Complementarity of women’s rights and children’s rights
Health and well-being of older people, especially women
Women in Armed Conflict
Feminism in the South Asian Subcontinent
Violence against women
Role of women in ensuring environmental protection within the framework of development
Women in the informal economic sector and their access to microcredits
Women in economic life and the world of work
Impact of women on the democratic process
Women in the political process
Women’s rights violations in Africa
Financing women’s electoral campaigns
Women’s political and electoral training
Women in political parties
United Nations Initiatives for Women’s Education and the role of Malala Yousafzai
Women in national parliaments
The partnership between men and women in politics

Still feel the need to know more? It is noble to be insatiable about knowledge, so here are 402 More Research Paper Topics for you.

As we said in the beginning, writing a qualitative research paper is not a piece of cake. But after reading all these topics above, you now know that it is not rocket science either. All you need is a little commitment and a pint of inspiration potion that we have above 300 research paper topics.

If you still need professional qualitative research writing services, you can get to know our writers or contact us. We are online 24/7 with immediate responses to offer you research paper help .

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Qualitative Research Paper Topics & Ideas 2023

Published 16 October, 2023

If you are unable to find good qualitative research topics for your research paper then do follow the list given here. High School & College students will be able to find qualitative research paper topic ideas from different disciplines.

For instance, you can have research paper topics on psychology , the environment, and the education sphere as well. So write your qualitative research paper easily by following these topics easily.

List of Qualitative Research Paper Topics in Various Fields

Here, we are providing a list of qualitative research topics in various fields for middle, senior high school & college students.

Women and Gender Qualitative Research Paper Topics for High School Students:

Relationship between violence and rape.
Gender v/s sexual orientation.
Birth control and pregnancy.
Difference between male and female bosses.
Discuss menstruation and menopause.
How can you relate women and the glass ceiling?
Female genital mutilation.
Gender and sexual harassment.
Cultural expectations and practices.
Sexism and gender discrimination.

Read Also: Human Sexuality Research Paper Ideas For Students

Terrorism Qualitative Research Paper Topics for Senior High School Students:

Significance of homeland security.
What is the future of terrorism?
What is bioterrorism?
Terrorist groups and political parties: same goals and different tactics.
Write an overview of the websites associated with terrorist groups.
Targeting the logic of terrorist attacks.
Methodologies and techniques of counter-terrorism policies.
Importance of strengthening public resilience against terrorism.
Civil society and terrorism.
Freedom of speech v/s incitement to terrorism.

List of Social Issues Qualitative Research Paper Topics:

What are textbook biases?
The power of advertisements.
Discuss airline safety and security.
Immigration and resocialization of the immigrants.
What is reverse discrimination?
The issue of bigotry and modern society.
Gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender.
Women’s rights v/s transpeople rights.
Gambling v/s online gaming.
What is the necessity of the death penalty?

Read Also: Social Work Research Paper Ideas

Religion Qualitative Research Paper Topics for ABM Students:

What is occultism?
The causes for the emergence of a new religion.
What do you understand by freedom of religion?
Is yoga a religious practice?
Discuss cults.
What are black churches?
Discuss the economics of religion.
Female clergy according to different religions.
Differentiate religious counseling and classical psychology.
World religions and science.

Have a look: Religion Research Paper Ideas For College Students

Psychology Qualitative Research Paper Topics Examples:

What is Schizophrenia?
Aspects of the aging process.
What is criminal psychology?
What are different learning disabilities?
Is physical attraction good?
What are speech disorders?
Intelligence tests.
What is a borderline personality disorder?
What leads to depression in a person?
Persuasion, propaganda, and marketing.

See Also: Psychology Research Paper Ideas For Students

Top 10 Political Issues Qualitative Research Paper Topics:

What are the different types of taxes?
What is political anthropology?
What is a budget deficit?
What are the good and bad effects of political scandals?
Discuss social security reform.
What do you understand by cultural pluralism?
Discuss election reform.
Differentiate nationalism and globalization.
Illegal aliens.
Advantages and disadvantages of positivism.

You may like also: Political Science Research Paper Ideas

Media and Communications Qualitative Research Paper Topics for Stem Students:

The purpose of hidden messages in the media.
How to deal with television violence?
Role of media for educational purposes.
Importance of body image.
Is Disney a media or new mythology?
What are the different stereotypes?
The difference between different styles of media.
Importance of children’s programming and advertising.
Media, politics, and public relations.
The impact of the internet on media development.

Read Also: Media Research Paper Ideas For College Students

Free Health Qualitative Research Paper Topics:

What are the pros and cons of weight loss surgery?
Mental stability and obesity.
Describe AIDS and HIV infections.
What are the causes of youth inactivity?
Discuss the bad impacts of plastic surgery.
Obstacles to smoking cessation.
What is attention deficit disorder?
Preventative medicine and healthy living for senior citizens.
The significance of exercise and fitness.
What is the best prevention for heart disease?

View Also: Healthcare Research Paper Ideas For College Students

Latest Family Issues Qualitative Research Paper Topics:

The importance of family values.
Importance of palliative care for patients of terminal diseases.
What is battered woman syndrome?
Do you think that older people are always right?
Discuss family relationships.
Impact of the absence of love in your life.
What is the reason for increasing divorce rates?
What are the methods to prevent adultery?
The best prevention for child abuse.
How to back up your life after disasters?

View Also: Marriage And Family Research Paper Ideas

New Environmental Qualitative Research Paper Questions:

What is the necessity of wildlife conservation?
What is the significance of small water bodies such as ponds, lakes, etc.?
Discuss the term acid rain.
Forest fires and their impact on the ecosystem.
Discuss soil pollution.
The harm to humanity from the greenhouse effect.
What are the effects of deforestation?
Different types of volcanoes.
What do you understand by smog?
Is it possible to reinforce the ozone layer?

Read Also: Environmental Research Ideas For College Students

Updated Education Qualitative Research Paper Topics for USA Students:

What do you understand by a standardized test?
What are the measures to reduce school violence and its harm?
Importance of sex education.
Role of teacher in multicultural education.
What do you understand by attention deficit disorder?
Top 10 universities in the world and their history.
Essentiality of prayers in school.
The essential qualities of a modern teacher.
Admission policies of your college.
Discipline in education and its effect on the process of learning.

Fresh list of Drugs and Drug Abuse Qualitative Research Paper Topics:

How harmful is nicotine drug for human health?
Advertising of alcohol, tobacco, and sleeping pills could lead to more drug abuse.
The increasing rate of alcohol consumption.
What is the role of substance abuse in teenage and college student’s life?
Explain Marijuana.
What is the legal age for alcohol consumption in various countries?
Describe the cocaine drug. How harmful is it to human health?
Are bodybuilding and steroid, forms of drug abuse?
Discuss the bad impacts of drug driving.
Effects of drug abuse on mental health.

Doable Crime and law qualitative research paper topics:

What is the three strikes law?
Explain the International criminal court. When it came into existence?
What do you understand by acquaintance rape?
What are the best measures to prevent domestic violence?
Reason for increasing cases of sexual harassment.
Explain religious laws and religious crimes in terms of developing and developed countries.
What do you understand by capital punishment?
What is the reason for the same crime and different punishments?
Explain: police brutality
Are the laws far behind to punish crimes such as cybercrimes?

See Also This: Criminal Law Research Paper Topics For College Students

Essential Qualitative Research Paper Topics About Business:

Discuss white-collar crime.
Which business is providing maximum profit return to the businessmen these days?
Explain cybersecurity.
Essential business strategies are required for the success of big businessmen.
What are sweatshops?
It is necessary to check the quality of the product even if it is branded. Why?
Describe the term E-business.
What is the importance of keeping your employees loyal to your business?
What is online retail?
Role of privatization in giving business opportunities to businessmen and the benefit of society.

High School Qualitative research paper topics (Educational)

What could be done to bring the differently-abled students into the mainstream from the marginal section?
Challenges that are confronted by the students with special needs in inclusive education.
How there should be different strategies to deal with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) children in school by teachers?
The barrier of autism in learning and how teachers should cater to the needs of such students in their class?
Why the education of students with special needs cannot be merged in common classrooms?
Is it appropriate to have a political hand in the educational affairs of any institution?
What could be done to improve the structure of education in the world?
Why it is crucial to inculcate the research values in students from the very beginning of their education?

ABM Students Qualitative research paper topics on Women rights

Why do women still need to be vocal about their rights in the twenty-first century?
What were the conditions that subjugate the women as a social entity and how to come out of it?
What laws can be made by the government to teach a lesson to the people having a misogynist approach?
How women’s suffrage can be seen as a big movement towards women’s rights in America?
What sort of subjugation do women experience from the developed countries where domestic violence no longer exists?
What are the international conventions on women’s rights and their success on-ground reality?

High School research Topics ideas of qualitative

Why business cannot be run in the present time without an online appearance?
What business ethics should be followed by businessmen to flourish and grow his or her business to every height?
How SWOT and PESTLE analysis are the main pillars of a business that can make or break a business entity?
How to handle and manage a business by getting out of the challenge given by geographical variations in a country?
What is the importance of supply and chain management and how it can be seen by applying the theory of supply and demand?
Effect of fluctuating monetary policy and stock market of a country on the business tycoons.

You may also like: Trending Ideas for Quantitative Research

Fresh ideas of qualitative research paper topics on the environment

What types of harm the environment is getting through in the past couple of decades?
New ordinances and protocols are required to save the critically endangered species of the world.
Why there is a huge need to take great measures to check the growth of co2 emissions in the environment?
What could be a successful alternative to stop deforestation with the increase in population in the world?
Effect of increase in the use of gadgets like cell phones and air conditioners on the environment.
What are the leap steps were taken by world-level conventions of the environment to check the pollution?

Qualitative research topics on psychology

How psychology is a discipline that is very crucial for the proper development of a rational being?
Applications of clinical psychology apart from dealing with depression .
Psychology and social behavior are two parallel aspects. Comment.
Different areas of psychology are making headlines in the present time.
How psychology has emerged as an independent discipline over a period of time?

Have a look: Psychology Research Ideas For Students

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Research Topics & Ideas

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Research Topics & Ideas: Education

170+ Research Ideas To Fast-Track Your Project

Topic Kickstarter: Research topics in education

If you’re just starting out exploring education-related topics for your dissertation, thesis or research project, you’ve come to the right place. In this post, we’ll help kickstart your research topic ideation process by providing a hearty list of research topics and ideas , including examples from actual dissertations and theses..

PS – This is just the start…

We know it’s exciting to run through a list of research topics, but please keep in mind that this list is just a starting point . To develop a suitable education-related research topic, you’ll need to identify a clear and convincing research gap , and a viable plan of action to fill that gap.

If this sounds foreign to you, check out our free research topic webinar that explores how to find and refine a high-quality research topic, from scratch. Alternatively, if you’d like hands-on help, consider our 1-on-1 coaching service .

Overview: Education Research Topics

How to find a research topic (video)
List of 50+ education-related research topics/ideas
List of 120+ level-specific research topics
Examples of actual dissertation topics in education
Tips to fast-track your topic ideation (video)
Free Webinar : Topic Ideation 101
Where to get extra help

Education-Related Research Topics & Ideas

Below you’ll find a list of education-related research topics and idea kickstarters. These are fairly broad and flexible to various contexts, so keep in mind that you will need to refine them a little. Nevertheless, they should inspire some ideas for your project.

The impact of school funding on student achievement
The effects of social and emotional learning on student well-being
The effects of parental involvement on student behaviour
The impact of teacher training on student learning
The impact of classroom design on student learning
The impact of poverty on education
The use of student data to inform instruction
The role of parental involvement in education
The effects of mindfulness practices in the classroom
The use of technology in the classroom
The role of critical thinking in education
The use of formative and summative assessments in the classroom
The use of differentiated instruction in the classroom
The use of gamification in education
The effects of teacher burnout on student learning
The impact of school leadership on student achievement
The effects of teacher diversity on student outcomes
The role of teacher collaboration in improving student outcomes
The implementation of blended and online learning
The effects of teacher accountability on student achievement
The effects of standardized testing on student learning
The effects of classroom management on student behaviour
The effects of school culture on student achievement
The use of student-centred learning in the classroom
The impact of teacher-student relationships on student outcomes
The achievement gap in minority and low-income students
The use of culturally responsive teaching in the classroom
The impact of teacher professional development on student learning
The use of project-based learning in the classroom
The effects of teacher expectations on student achievement
The use of adaptive learning technology in the classroom
The impact of teacher turnover on student learning
The effects of teacher recruitment and retention on student learning
The impact of early childhood education on later academic success
The impact of parental involvement on student engagement
The use of positive reinforcement in education
The impact of school climate on student engagement
The role of STEM education in preparing students for the workforce
The effects of school choice on student achievement
The use of technology in the form of online tutoring

Level-Specific Research Topics

Looking for research topics for a specific level of education? We’ve got you covered. Below you can find research topic ideas for primary, secondary and tertiary-level education contexts. Click the relevant level to view the respective list.

Research Topics: Pick An Education Level

Primary education.

Investigating the effects of peer tutoring on academic achievement in primary school
Exploring the benefits of mindfulness practices in primary school classrooms
Examining the effects of different teaching strategies on primary school students’ problem-solving skills
The use of storytelling as a teaching strategy in primary school literacy instruction
The role of cultural diversity in promoting tolerance and understanding in primary schools
The impact of character education programs on moral development in primary school students
Investigating the use of technology in enhancing primary school mathematics education
The impact of inclusive curriculum on promoting equity and diversity in primary schools
The impact of outdoor education programs on environmental awareness in primary school students
The influence of school climate on student motivation and engagement in primary schools
Investigating the effects of early literacy interventions on reading comprehension in primary school students
The impact of parental involvement in school decision-making processes on student achievement in primary schools
Exploring the benefits of inclusive education for students with special needs in primary schools
Investigating the effects of teacher-student feedback on academic motivation in primary schools
The role of technology in developing digital literacy skills in primary school students
Effective strategies for fostering a growth mindset in primary school students
Investigating the role of parental support in reducing academic stress in primary school children
The role of arts education in fostering creativity and self-expression in primary school students
Examining the effects of early childhood education programs on primary school readiness
Examining the effects of homework on primary school students’ academic performance
The role of formative assessment in improving learning outcomes in primary school classrooms
The impact of teacher-student relationships on academic outcomes in primary school
Investigating the effects of classroom environment on student behavior and learning outcomes in primary schools
Investigating the role of creativity and imagination in primary school curriculum
The impact of nutrition and healthy eating programs on academic performance in primary schools
The impact of social-emotional learning programs on primary school students’ well-being and academic performance
The role of parental involvement in academic achievement of primary school children
Examining the effects of classroom management strategies on student behavior in primary school
The role of school leadership in creating a positive school climate Exploring the benefits of bilingual education in primary schools
The effectiveness of project-based learning in developing critical thinking skills in primary school students
The role of inquiry-based learning in fostering curiosity and critical thinking in primary school students
The effects of class size on student engagement and achievement in primary schools
Investigating the effects of recess and physical activity breaks on attention and learning in primary school
Exploring the benefits of outdoor play in developing gross motor skills in primary school children
The effects of educational field trips on knowledge retention in primary school students
Examining the effects of inclusive classroom practices on students’ attitudes towards diversity in primary schools
The impact of parental involvement in homework on primary school students’ academic achievement
Investigating the effectiveness of different assessment methods in primary school classrooms
The influence of physical activity and exercise on cognitive development in primary school children
Exploring the benefits of cooperative learning in promoting social skills in primary school students

Secondary Education

Investigating the effects of school discipline policies on student behavior and academic success in secondary education
The role of social media in enhancing communication and collaboration among secondary school students
The impact of school leadership on teacher effectiveness and student outcomes in secondary schools
Investigating the effects of technology integration on teaching and learning in secondary education
Exploring the benefits of interdisciplinary instruction in promoting critical thinking skills in secondary schools
The impact of arts education on creativity and self-expression in secondary school students
The effectiveness of flipped classrooms in promoting student learning in secondary education
The role of career guidance programs in preparing secondary school students for future employment
Investigating the effects of student-centered learning approaches on student autonomy and academic success in secondary schools
The impact of socio-economic factors on educational attainment in secondary education
Investigating the impact of project-based learning on student engagement and academic achievement in secondary schools
Investigating the effects of multicultural education on cultural understanding and tolerance in secondary schools
The influence of standardized testing on teaching practices and student learning in secondary education
Investigating the effects of classroom management strategies on student behavior and academic engagement in secondary education
The influence of teacher professional development on instructional practices and student outcomes in secondary schools
The role of extracurricular activities in promoting holistic development and well-roundedness in secondary school students
Investigating the effects of blended learning models on student engagement and achievement in secondary education
The role of physical education in promoting physical health and well-being among secondary school students
Investigating the effects of gender on academic achievement and career aspirations in secondary education
Exploring the benefits of multicultural literature in promoting cultural awareness and empathy among secondary school students
The impact of school counseling services on student mental health and well-being in secondary schools
Exploring the benefits of vocational education and training in preparing secondary school students for the workforce
The role of digital literacy in preparing secondary school students for the digital age
The influence of parental involvement on academic success and well-being of secondary school students
The impact of social-emotional learning programs on secondary school students’ well-being and academic success
The role of character education in fostering ethical and responsible behavior in secondary school students
Examining the effects of digital citizenship education on responsible and ethical technology use among secondary school students
The impact of parental involvement in school decision-making processes on student outcomes in secondary schools
The role of educational technology in promoting personalized learning experiences in secondary schools
The impact of inclusive education on the social and academic outcomes of students with disabilities in secondary schools
The influence of parental support on academic motivation and achievement in secondary education
The role of school climate in promoting positive behavior and well-being among secondary school students
Examining the effects of peer mentoring programs on academic achievement and social-emotional development in secondary schools
Examining the effects of teacher-student relationships on student motivation and achievement in secondary schools
Exploring the benefits of service-learning programs in promoting civic engagement among secondary school students
The impact of educational policies on educational equity and access in secondary education
Examining the effects of homework on academic achievement and student well-being in secondary education
Investigating the effects of different assessment methods on student performance in secondary schools
Examining the effects of single-sex education on academic performance and gender stereotypes in secondary schools
The role of mentoring programs in supporting the transition from secondary to post-secondary education

Tertiary Education

The role of student support services in promoting academic success and well-being in higher education
The impact of internationalization initiatives on students’ intercultural competence and global perspectives in tertiary education
Investigating the effects of active learning classrooms and learning spaces on student engagement and learning outcomes in tertiary education
Exploring the benefits of service-learning experiences in fostering civic engagement and social responsibility in higher education
The influence of learning communities and collaborative learning environments on student academic and social integration in higher education
Exploring the benefits of undergraduate research experiences in fostering critical thinking and scientific inquiry skills
Investigating the effects of academic advising and mentoring on student retention and degree completion in higher education
The role of student engagement and involvement in co-curricular activities on holistic student development in higher education
The impact of multicultural education on fostering cultural competence and diversity appreciation in higher education
The role of internships and work-integrated learning experiences in enhancing students’ employability and career outcomes
Examining the effects of assessment and feedback practices on student learning and academic achievement in tertiary education
The influence of faculty professional development on instructional practices and student outcomes in tertiary education
The influence of faculty-student relationships on student success and well-being in tertiary education
The impact of college transition programs on students’ academic and social adjustment to higher education
The impact of online learning platforms on student learning outcomes in higher education
The impact of financial aid and scholarships on access and persistence in higher education
The influence of student leadership and involvement in extracurricular activities on personal development and campus engagement
Exploring the benefits of competency-based education in developing job-specific skills in tertiary students
Examining the effects of flipped classroom models on student learning and retention in higher education
Exploring the benefits of online collaboration and virtual team projects in developing teamwork skills in tertiary students
Investigating the effects of diversity and inclusion initiatives on campus climate and student experiences in tertiary education
The influence of study abroad programs on intercultural competence and global perspectives of college students
Investigating the effects of peer mentoring and tutoring programs on student retention and academic performance in tertiary education
Investigating the effectiveness of active learning strategies in promoting student engagement and achievement in tertiary education
Investigating the effects of blended learning models and hybrid courses on student learning and satisfaction in higher education
The role of digital literacy and information literacy skills in supporting student success in the digital age
Investigating the effects of experiential learning opportunities on career readiness and employability of college students
The impact of e-portfolios on student reflection, self-assessment, and showcasing of learning in higher education
The role of technology in enhancing collaborative learning experiences in tertiary classrooms
The impact of research opportunities on undergraduate student engagement and pursuit of advanced degrees
Examining the effects of competency-based assessment on measuring student learning and achievement in tertiary education
Examining the effects of interdisciplinary programs and courses on critical thinking and problem-solving skills in college students
The role of inclusive education and accessibility in promoting equitable learning experiences for diverse student populations
The role of career counseling and guidance in supporting students’ career decision-making in tertiary education
The influence of faculty diversity and representation on student success and inclusive learning environments in higher education

Education-Related Dissertations & Theses

While the ideas we’ve presented above are a decent starting point for finding a research topic in education, they are fairly generic and non-specific. So, it helps to look at actual dissertations and theses in the education space to see how this all comes together in practice.

Below, we’ve included a selection of education-related research projects to help refine your thinking. These are actual dissertations and theses, written as part of Master’s and PhD-level programs, so they can provide some useful insight as to what a research topic looks like in practice.

From Rural to Urban: Education Conditions of Migrant Children in China (Wang, 2019)
Energy Renovation While Learning English: A Guidebook for Elementary ESL Teachers (Yang, 2019)
A Reanalyses of Intercorrelational Matrices of Visual and Verbal Learners’ Abilities, Cognitive Styles, and Learning Preferences (Fox, 2020)
A study of the elementary math program utilized by a mid-Missouri school district (Barabas, 2020)
Instructor formative assessment practices in virtual learning environments : a posthumanist sociomaterial perspective (Burcks, 2019)
Higher education students services: a qualitative study of two mid-size universities’ direct exchange programs (Kinde, 2020)
Exploring editorial leadership : a qualitative study of scholastic journalism advisers teaching leadership in Missouri secondary schools (Lewis, 2020)
Selling the virtual university: a multimodal discourse analysis of marketing for online learning (Ludwig, 2020)
Advocacy and accountability in school counselling: assessing the use of data as related to professional self-efficacy (Matthews, 2020)
The use of an application screening assessment as a predictor of teaching retention at a midwestern, K-12, public school district (Scarbrough, 2020)
Core values driving sustained elite performance cultures (Beiner, 2020)
Educative features of upper elementary Eureka math curriculum (Dwiggins, 2020)
How female principals nurture adult learning opportunities in successful high schools with challenging student demographics (Woodward, 2020)
The disproportionality of Black Males in Special Education: A Case Study Analysis of Educator Perceptions in a Southeastern Urban High School (McCrae, 2021)

As you can see, these research topics are a lot more focused than the generic topic ideas we presented earlier. So, in order for you to develop a high-quality research topic, you’ll need to get specific and laser-focused on a specific context with specific variables of interest. In the video below, we explore some other important things you’ll need to consider when crafting your research topic.

Get 1-On-1 Help

If you’re still unsure about how to find a quality research topic within education, check out our Research Topic Kickstarter service, which is the perfect starting point for developing a unique, well-justified research topic.

Research Topic Kickstarter - Need Help Finding A Research Topic?

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59 Comments

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Special education

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Research title related to school of students

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You can find our list of nursing-related research topic ideas here: https://gradcoach.com/research-topics-nursing/

Write on action research topic, using guidance and counseling to address unwanted teenage pregnancy in school

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parental involvement and students academic performance

Science education topics?

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How about School management and supervision pls.?

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Kindly help me with the research questions on the topic” Effects of workplace conflict on the employees’ job performance”. The effects can be applicable in every institution,enterprise or organisation.

Greetings, I am a student majoring in Sociology and minoring in Public Administration. I’m considering any recommended research topic in the field of Sociology.

I’m a student pursuing Mphil in Basic education and I’m considering any recommended research proposal topic in my field of study

Kindly help me with a research topic in educational psychology. Ph.D level. Thank you.

Project-based learning is a teaching/learning type,if well applied in a classroom setting will yield serious positive impact. What can a teacher do to implement this in a disadvantaged zone like “North West Region of Cameroon ( hinterland) where war has brought about prolonged and untold sufferings on the indegins?

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I wish to get help on topics of research on educational administration PhD level

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Would like to request for suggestions on a topic in Economics of education,PhD level

Would like to request for suggestions on a topic in Economics of education

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I would to inquire on research topics on Educational psychology, Masters degree

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request suggestion on topic in masters in medical education .

Look at British Library as they keep a copy of all PhDs in the UK Core.ac.uk to access Open University and 6 other university e-archives, pdf downloads mostly available, all free.

May I also ask for a topic based on mathematics education for college teaching, please?

Please I am a masters student of the department of Teacher Education, Faculty of Education Please I am in need of proposed project topics to help with my final year thesis

Am a PhD student in Educational Foundations would like a sociological topic. Thank

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Greetings and Regards I am a doctoral student in the field of philosophy of education. I am looking for a new topic for my thesis. Because of my work in the elementary school, I am looking for a topic that is from the field of elementary education and is related to the philosophy of education.

Masters student in the field of curriculum, any ideas of a research topic on low achiever students

In the field of curriculum any ideas of a research topic on deconalization in contextualization of digital teaching and learning through in higher education

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I am a graduate with two masters. 1) Master of arts in religious studies and 2) Master in education in foundations of education. I intend to do a Ph.D. on my second master’s, however, I need to bring both masters together through my Ph.D. research. can I do something like, ” The contribution of Philosophy of education for a quality religion education in Kenya”? kindly, assist and be free to suggest a similar topic that will bring together the two masters. thanks in advance

Hi, I am an Early childhood trainer as well as a researcher, I need more support on this topic: The impact of early childhood education on later academic success.

I’m a student in upper level secondary school and I need your support in this research topics: “Impact of incorporating project -based learning in teaching English language skills in secondary schools”.

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210 Qualitative Research Topics for Students To Consider

Table of Contents

Usually, while pursuing a course, you will be either asked to conduct qualitative or quantitative research and submit a detailed thesis or dissertation on a particular topic relevant to your subject or university guidelines. But no matter whether it is quantitative or qualitative research, a good topic is needed the most for academic paper preparation. In case, you are looking for the best qualitative research topics, then this blog will be more helpful to you. Here, we have presented an overview of qualitative research along with a list of 200+ unique qualitative research paper topics and ideas on different subjects.

Explore this blog to get an amazing idea.

What is a Qualitative Research?

Qualitative research is a type of research that involves non-numerical data collection and analysis for the understanding of certain concepts, experiences, or opinions. The ultimate aim of qualitative research is to get a deep understanding of an event or a situation through firsthand experience, reliable reporting, and quotations from actual conversations. Moreover, to collect raw data for your research process, you can conduct surveys, observations, interviews, or implement any other innovative methods on your topic of study.

Qualitative Research Topics and Ideas List

As said earlier, for the preparation of a qualitative research paper, a good topic is essential. In case, you are confused about what topic to choose for your qualitative research paper, feel free to go through the list of 200+ ideas shared below and pick any topic that is convenient for you to perform qualitative research and write about.

Educational Qualitative Research Topics

Food insecurity and child education
Understanding adult learning
The efficient learning style for autistic children
The importance of computer literacy
The importance of mental health education in the school curriculum
The effects of alcoholism on education
How does virtual learning affect high school students?
Disadvantages of homeschooling
The need to encourage adult education
The impacts of computer literacy on education

Extra Qualitative Research Topics on Education

Significance of school uniform to learning
The importance of guidance and counseling in schools
The impacts of the poor educational system
Psychological impacts of student bullying
The importance of research writing in schools
Easy ways to master foreign languages for students in high school.
The importance of social activities in schools
How do smartphones affect students’ academic performance in the academic system?
How to teach and improve the learning abilities of ADHD students
The negative impacts of student loans
What is the level of academic preparedness of university students?
Ethnic and socioeconomic reasons for poor school attendance in developing countries
Discuss the role of teachers in multicultural education.
How to improve oral learning in classrooms
The importance of reading to preschoolers
The importance of research writing in schools.
The effects of alcoholism on education.
Disadvantages of homeschooling.
Discuss the essentialities of prayers in school

Ethnography Qualitative Research Paper Topics

Discuss the challenges transgender people undergo within and outside the LGBTQ+ community.
The relationship that exists between political instability and migration
Evaluating the role of parental care and the lack of it thereof in the lives of some foster kids
Analyze the socioeconomic impacts of instability on a nation.
How does sexual violence in rural areas affect the psychological well-being of the women and girls in such a locality?
An insight into the primary causes of the swift migration happening from Africa to Europe.
Explore the link between violence against women and sex trafficking.
An overview of the rise of oral literature study in literature.
How do social media distort the perception of reality?
Outline some of the challenges of Muslims in Africa.
Understanding the effects of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in rural areas and how this negatively impacts women in such areas
Benefits of engaging in social activities for depressed people and those struggling with certain mental health challenges
Displacement and its accompanying effects: a look into the mental health of homeless people
How culture contributes to female harm in the society

A Few More Qualitative Research Ideas on Ethnography

The impacts of Westernization on human perception.
How does male dominance breed male violence?
How does literature contribute to changing the world?
Understanding the effects of female genitalia mutilation in girls
The importance of books in the lives of children in rural areas.
How does violence breed housing and food insecurity?
The role of the smartphone in our deteriorating attention span
Discuss the leniency of the practice of Islam in foreign spaces.
A study into the ways through which government enables homelessness
A study into the importance of fraternities and sororities.
The role of capitalism in generating food insecurity
The place of social and academic practices in uplifting a society
Rethinking consumer appraisals and motivations
Transforming virtual ethnography into a modernized form.
Observing a group of children playing.
Observing employees in a corporate office.
Observing medical personnel in a high-volume hospital.
Observing an Indigenous village
What are the long-term planning methods for efficient project management?
Why there is a huge significance of time management for the setting of goals?
Evaluating the levels of nursing professionals’ satisfaction in private hospitals in the US.
Long-term planning methods for better project management.
How to deal with issues during a project implementation program.

Qualitative Project Management Research Topics

The impacts of financial management in the country and how it benefits citizens.
The root causes of the lack of medical insurance and possible ways to curb it.
Dealing with a backlash during a project implementation program.
The importance of developing healthy customer-client relationships
Foreign policy and its impact on developing industrial complexes.
How to ensure effective budget planning
Why managers should be flexible and apt in their decisions
The role of strategy in enhancing business management.
The efficient ways of regulating revenue distribution.
Various means of relieving pressure for tight project deadlines.
Analysis of the cost-effectiveness of manufacturing learning centers in urban areas.
An investigation into the current cost of living in society and how this is propagated by capitalism.
Design process and management of geolocators.
The assessment of the contributing factors that lead to failed healthcare systems in rural areas
The need to create a more inclusive healthcare system
Plausible ways through which food insecurity can be handled within a given society.
Design a system for building an online regulated parking system.
How to set up an operation pest control activity in a society
The benefits of building communication masts in rural areas
Understanding the essence of time management in goal setting
The best way to carry out the facility life cycle costing.
The contemporary approaches used in project management.

Nursing Qualitative Research Paper Topics

How do social processes influence patient behavior?
How to identify Alzheimer’s in older patients
Basics of patient care
The efficacy of a particular medication to a patient
Unique attributes of a culture that determines a patient’s success rate
The feminist empiricism perspective of the nursing profession
How to help patients with mental disorders
How nurses can handle cardiovascular challenges
Difference between workloads of ICU nurses and OR nurses
Environmental factors that necessitate quicker patient recover

Read more: Great Nursing Research Topics for Impressive Content

Additional Qualitative Research Topics on Nursing

Understanding how to deal with pregnant women and emergencies
Pros & cons of Nurses’ drug prescription
The effective ways to carry out health outreach programs
How to take care of the elderly
How to assist rape survivors
Bipolar symptoms in young adults
The role of nurses and healthcare corporations
The benefits of immunization in rural areas
Care for hypertensive patients with diabetes
Why are compassion and sensitivity important for nurses?
Patient care in psychiatric units
First aid treatments for gun victims
Intensive care for visually and verbally impaired patients
Signs of Depression and anxiety in patients
How to curb drug abuse

Qualitative Research Topics on Political Science

Racism as a dividing factor in America
Understanding neoliberalism and how it impacts our activities in the society
The negative impacts of peace war in affected countries
Dissect the causes of the election crisis
The negative impacts of misrepresentation
The role of feminism in enhancing American politics
The need for a free polling system to encourage free and fair voting practices
The role of mass media in promoting and scrutinizing politics
The distinction between Liberalism and Conservatism and the places where they merge
Segregation and racist laws
The effects of capitalism on America’s health system.
The abortion regulation bill and its effects
Address Police Brutality in America
Discuss the effects of American incarceration.
The inclusion of Black women in American politics.

Qualitative Research Paper Topics on Public Health

Preventative methods for flu during cold seasons
Ideas for quitting cigarettes and alcohol
How to achieve affordable healthcare in low-income societies
Ways to create awareness about breast cancer
Programs for community-based sanitization
Techniques of making eco-friendly facemasks
Effective obesity management strategies for the young
Causes of malnutrition in young children
The need to properly manage the source of our waste products disposal
Poorly maintained public hospitals and their effects
The difference between an epidemic and a pandemic
How to properly manage to live with diabetes type II
Barriers to clean hygiene in health centers
The importance of safe menstrual care for girls
Factors generating health issues in pregnant women
Understanding the health challenges of the lack of drinkable water in a community
The importance of post-natal to nursing mothers
The role of finance in propagating an inclusive and efficient healthcare system.
Control of the prevalence of drug and substance abuse
The benefits of exercise to obese people

Best Qualitative Research Ideas

The advantages of online learning over physical learning
Can we detect and prevent natural disasters before they occur?
How often should one engage in sporting activities?
How have businesses transitioned into online digital marketing?
The influence of pop music on erratic youth behavior
Is it possible to have the same education system throughout the whole world?
The impact of unhealthy market completion on supply and demand
Evaluate the performance of mixed schools over single-gender schools.
The effects of developing introverted behavior
Self-esteem among people from low socioeconomic backgrounds
Management of depression among school-going children
Approaches to improving maternal healthcare in developing countries
Effective strategies that can help curb the problem of cyberbullying
Worrying trends among the aging population
The latest newsgathering technologies and their effectiveness
Emerging trends in digital media
Is preschool education necessary for children under the age of four years?
Overcoming addictions through sharing with others
Understanding the key roles of healthy eating habits
Working government policies on protocol observance

Read more: Excellent Case Study Topics for College Students to Think About

Miscellaneous Qualitative Research Paper Ideas

Effective measures to combat the issue of cyberbullying
How can teachers establish a personal connection with each of their students?
The role of academic and social activities in improving a society
employing resources at hand to establish a centralized community
Opportunities to develop management strategies and skills
Discuss the importance of palliative care and EBP (evidence-based practice) for adult patients with terminal diseases
Analysis of the Role of substance abuse and Use of illicit drugs in Teenage and College student’s life
Explain the religious norms, laws, boundaries, and religious crimes in terms of developed and developing countries
Discuss the way there should be different strategies primary and secondary school teachers can apply to manage children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Discuss the barrier children with autism face in learning and how teachers should cater to the needs of such students in their class
Discuss the kind of subjugation women experience in developed countries where gender-based domestic violence no longer exists
Describe the ways to handle and manage a business by getting out of the challenges given by geographical variations in a nation
Identify and analyze the importance of SCM (supply and chain management)and how it can be seen by applying the supply and demand theory
Why there is an urgent need to undertake effective measures to check the growth of the emissions of CO2 and other GHG (greenhouse gas) in the environment?
Psychology is a discipline that is very crucial for the proper development of a rational being: Explain with justifications

Engaging Qualitative Research Paper Topics

Does free education have socioeconomic benefits?
Explain the impact of Plato’s philosophy on mathematics.
What are the main influences on eating habits in children?
How to reduce violence in sports.
Analyze the effectiveness of Apple and Windows products in the Globe.
Write about sexual misconduct in colleges.
What are the effective ways to resolve conflicts in the workplace?
Discuss the application of AI in project management.
How to eliminate corruption in developing countries.
Why is job satisfaction important in brand management?

Final Words

The above-suggested list of topics will definitely help you to write an excellent qualitative research paper. If you find it difficult to write an academic essay or research paper, then contact us immediately. We have a team of professional research paper help experts on our platform to assist you in delivering a high-quality, original essay deserving of top grades. Without any hesitation, place your order by writing your requirements to us and receive instant academic assistance beyond your expectations at an affordable price.

220 Amazing Religious Research Paper Topics and Ideas

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100+ Controversial Research Topics and Ideas to Focus On

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299+ Brilliant Qualitative Research Topics for STEM Students

Unlock the doors to captivating qualitative research topics for STEM students. Delve into authentic narratives and firsthand encounters, illuminating perspectives beyond mere statistics.

Embark on this journey where numbers take a backseat, and human experiences steer the course. Imagine excavating undiscovered gems of wisdom, waiting to be unearthed.

Let’s kickstart this odyssey! Qualitative research beckons, offering a novel lens for STEM enthusiasts to navigate.

Table of Contents

How Do I Find Good Qualitative Research Topics for STEM Students?

STEM students, want to explore the human side of science, tech, engineering, and math? Here’s how:

Connect Science with People

See what folks think about cool tech like gene editing.
Look into tough choices scientists face, like testing on animals.
Explore how tech changes our daily lives.

Peek into STEM Pros’ Lives

Find out what motivates scientists and engineers.
Check out what challenges STEM students face.
See how teamwork works in STEM fields.

Get Friendly with Tech’s Human Side

Study how people use new gadgets.
See how tech affects our behavior, like on social media.
Look into who gets access to tech and why.

Where STEM Meets Society

Figure out how scientists can explain their work better.
Explore the rules that shape tech and science.
Think about how STEM ideas can help with big issues like climate change.

Tips for Awesome Research

Pick a part of STEM you love.
Make sure you’ve got what you need for your research.
Keep an eye on the news and new tech.

Ready to dive into the fascinating world where STEM meets humanity? Let’s go!

List of Qualitative Research Topics for STEM Students

Check out qualitative research topics for STEM:-

Public attitudes towards climate change policies.
Women’s experiences in STEM careers.
Cultural views on vaccination.
Citizen science impact on environmental efforts.
Interdisciplinary research team dynamics.
Public perceptions of genetic engineering.
Scientist experiences in extreme environments.
Alternative medicine acceptance.
Effectiveness of science outreach programs.
Cultural conservation practices and sustainability.
User experience with health monitoring devices.
Adoption of smart home tech across generations.
Challenges in using assistive technologies.
Social media’s impact on privacy.
Effects of digital gaming on cognition.
Attitudes towards autonomous vehicles.
Online learning user experiences.
Community dynamics in online platforms.
Access disparities in technology.
Technology’s role in environmental solutions.

Engineering

Public perception of renewable energy projects.
Engineers in humanitarian efforts.
Diversity challenges in engineering.
Traditional vs. modern construction attitudes.
Smart city initiatives’ stakeholder views.
Engineering roles in disaster response.
Usability in product design.
Diversity in engineering education.
Public opinion on nuclear energy.
Future of space exploration.

Mathematics

Math education for students with disabilities.
Cultural attitudes towards math.
Gender gap in math achievement.
Experiences in math competitions.
Math’s role in financial decision-making.
AI in mathematical modeling.
Teaching abstract math concepts.
Cultural approaches to math.
Math’s impact on job performance.
Math tutoring effectiveness.

Interdisciplinary

Bioethics in biomedical research.
Team collaboration in interdisciplinary research.
Cultural views on food science.
Challenges in interdisciplinary education.
STEM’s role in global challenges.
Science communication experiences.
STEM education reform effectiveness.
Indigenous knowledge and Western science.
STEM career development by culture.
AI and robotics in healthcare.

Health and Medicine

Patient experience with telemedicine.
Attitudes towards mental health treatment.
Socioeconomic factors in healthcare access.
Personalized medicine acceptance.
Healthcare workers during COVID-19.
Public opinion on vaccination.
End-of-life care cultural beliefs.
Alternative therapy in healthcare.
Medical decision-making experiences.
Chronic illness psychosocial impacts.

Environment and Sustainability

Community views on conservation efforts.
Environmental activism experiences.
Cultural adaptation to climate change.
Green infrastructure acceptance.
Renewable energy stakeholder perspectives.
Indigenous community environmental struggles.
Sustainable agriculture cultural practices.
Citizen science in environmental monitoring.
Water conservation attitudes.
Environmental sustainability and social justice.
Inquiry-based learning impact.
Girls’ STEM education views.
Teacher training effectiveness.
Tech use in early childhood education.
Homeschooling in STEM.
Project-based learning outcomes.
Parental involvement in STEM.
Inclusive STEM education challenges.
Informal STEM learning impacts.
Socio-economic status in STEM education.

Social Sciences and Psychology

Gender roles in STEM.
Stereotype threat effects in STEM.
Diversity initiatives effectiveness.
First-generation student experiences.
Public science skepticism.
Cultural attitudes towards authority in science.
Psychological factors in STEM career choice.
Mentorship impact in STEM.
Career change to STEM experiences.
Lifelong learning in STEM.

Economics and Business

Tech innovation’s economic impact.
Entrepreneurship views across cultures.
Diversity in STEM entrepreneurship.
STEM’s role in economic growth.
Small business sustainability efforts.
Government policies for STEM.
Intellectual property views.
Globalization’s impact on STEM.
Corporate social responsibility in STEM.
Workplace diversity challenges.

Policy and Governance

Science diplomacy effectiveness.
Tech regulation across cultures.
Evidence-based policymaking in crises.
Government surveillance ethics.
Scientist involvement in policy.
Science funding prioritization.
Environmental regulation approaches.
STEM education policy impacts.
Government science literacy efforts.
Equity in STEM resources.

Ethics and Philosophy

Gene editing ethics.
Animal testing ethics.
AI ethics considerations.
STEM’s role in climate ethics.
Whistleblower experiences.
Research integrity in STEM.
Informed consent cultural differences.
Professional ethics in STEM.
Global health ethics.
Ethical dilemmas in STEM careers.

Communication and Media

Public engagement strategies.
Science portrayal in media.
Social media’s science impact.
Narrative storytelling in science.
Online science engagement.
Science documentary impacts.
Cultural science education approaches.
Visual communication in science.
Humor in science communication.
Misinformation combat strategies.

Arts and Humanities

Art-science collaborations.
Cultural representation in science.
Storytelling’s impact on science.
Visual arts in science outreach.
Artist-in-residence programs.
STEAM education effectiveness.
Artistic interpretations of science.
Indigenous science storytelling.
Women and minority contributions in STEM.
Creativity in scientific inquiry.

Global Issues and Development

Development aid effectiveness.
Climate change adaptation views.
Indigenous knowledge in sustainability.
Grassroots STEM efforts.
International health collaboration.
Water resource management approaches.
Globalization’s impact on culture.
STEM entrepreneurship in developing regions.
Refugee access to STEM.

History and Heritage

Underrepresented groups in STEM history.
Science throughout history.
Science preservation in museums.
Colonialism’s impact on science.
Scientific exploration experiences.
Science portrayal in historical narratives.
Cultural STEM education history.
Oral traditions in science.
Women and minority contributions in history.
Science in political upheavals.

Future Trends and Emerging Technologies

Human enhancement tech ethics.
AI’s impact on employment.
Space exploration future.
Blockchain’s industry potential.
Early adopter experiences.
Biometric surveillance ethics.
Emerging tech regulation views.
Quantum tech’s potential.
Renewable energy future.
Technological disruptions preparation.

Urbanization and Infrastructure

Sustainable urban development views.
Transportation infrastructure acceptance.
Urbanization’s biodiversity impact.
Green infrastructure benefits.
Urban access disparities.
Affordable housing attitudes.
Urban planning cultural variations.
Community engagement in development.
Tech integration in urban infrastructure.
Circular economy adoption.

Healthcare and Biomedicine

Gene editing ethics considerations.
Personalized medicine views.
Social determinants of health impact.
Telemedicine expansion acceptance.
Clinical trial participant experiences.
Organ transplantation ethics.
End-of-life care cultural practices.
Global health governance challenges.
Traditional medicine cultural roles.
Healthcare worker pandemic experiences.

Education and Learning

STEM education innovation impact.
Tech in education acceptance.
Socioeconomic impacts on education.
Informal STEM learning effects.
Inclusive STEM education experiences.
Lifelong learning cultural views.
Cultural STEM education approaches.
Online learning challenges.
Hands-on research experiences.

These condensed topics offer clear starting points for STEM students looking to dive into qualitative research across various fields.

Interesting and Informative Research Topics For Senior High School STEM Students

Survey research topics for stem students, best quantitative research topics for stem high school students, research topics for grade 11 stem students, research topics for grade 12 stem students, experimental research topics for stem students about plants, top 10 research topics for stem students, simple research topics for stem students, scientific research topics for stem students, correlational research topics for stem students, capstone research topics for stem students, non-experimental research topics for stem students, best qualitative research topics for stem students pdf.

Here are the Qualitative Research Topics for STEM Students:

What Is An Example of Qualitative Research In Science?

Let’s embark on a scientific adventure that goes beyond charts and graphs, diving into the human side of climate change. Picture this: a qualitative research expedition that’s more about stories and emotions than cold, hard numbers.

The Climate Chronicles: Unveiling the Human Tale of Change

Our intrepid scientists set out not just to measure rising temperatures but to capture the heartbeat of a coastal community experiencing the frontline impacts of climate change.

Mission Objectives

Discover the personal stories of locals as they navigate the ebb and flow of changing tides. How has the rising sea level rewritten the chapters of their lives?
Explore the emotional landscape. What fears, hopes, and coping mechanisms emerge when faced with the unpredictable forces of climate change?
Weave through the cultural fabric of the community’s relationship with the environment. How do these changes resonate culturally and emotionally?
Highlight the community’s resilience. What communal efforts or practices have sprung up as a response to the environmental challenges?

Tools of Exploration

Researchers delved into personal narratives through one-on-one interviews, giving the community a platform to share their unique experiences.
Immerse yourself in the community’s daily life. Researchers became temporary residents, observing rituals, dynamics, and the heartbeat of the community.
Gather ’round for focus group discussions where shared experiences, challenges, and collective brainstorming took center stage.

Reading Between the Lines

Forget statistical jargon. Researchers uncovered recurring themes that resonated in the community’s stories, revealing the emotional and cultural layers of climate change.
Instead of drowning findings in numerical data, the researchers opted for a storytelling approach. Imagine presenting scientific findings as a captivating narrative.

What is the best research topic for stem students qualitative?

There isn’t a single “best” qualitative research topic for STEM students.

Choose what interests you

Explore human experiences in STEM.

Women in STEM careers.
Students’ views on teaching methods.
Ethical issues in scientific research.

Connect to a STEM area

Focus on a specific field like science, technology, engineering, or math.

Team communication in engineering.
Ethics in animal research.
Problem-solving in mathematics.

Be fresh and doable

Find a new angle and make sure you can research it.

Keep up with STEM news.
Ask professors for ideas.
Think about ethics and resources.

Choose a topic that excites you and lets you learn more about the human side of STEM.

What are the 10 examples of qualitative research?

Here are 10 simple and engaging qualitative research projects:

Student Loans: Talking with grads about their loan struggles.
Teacher Motivation: Chatting with teachers in low-income schools to understand why they stay.
Social Media and Body Image: Checking how athletes feel about their bodies online.
Street Art and Culture: Hanging with street artists to learn what art means to them.
Work and Retirement: Chatting with retirees about life after work.
New Medical Treatments: Hearing from patients about their treatment experiences.
Storytelling and Tradition: Listening to stories to understand culture.
Family Business Dynamics: Chatting with family members who work together.
Music Fan Communities: Exploring online music fan groups.
Women Entrepreneurs: Talking with female business owners about their challenges.

These projects give a peek into people’s lives and thoughts, making research interesting and relatable.

How do you choose a research topic in stem?

Navigating the vast landscape of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) for a research topic involves aligning your interests with project viability. Here’s a roadmap to guide you:

Discover Your Passion

Personal Connection: Explore what aspect of STEM ignites your curiosity—be it the wonders of nature, technological innovations, or mathematical elegance.
Real-World Relevance: Consider everyday challenges or global issues where STEM solutions could make a difference.

Ensure Feasibility and Focus

Scope: Keep your topic specific enough for thorough exploration within your available time and resources.
Data Accessibility: Assess if you can access the necessary information through surveys , existing data, experiments, or interviews.

Seek Originality and Significance

Fresh Perspective: Aim for a unique angle or approach to an existing topic, offering deeper insights or alternative methods.
Contribution to Knowledge: Evaluate how your research can fill a gap, propose solutions, or provide new interpretations in your field.

To spark ideas, explore these resources

Recent Scientific Discoveries: Scan news articles and scientific journals for recent breakthroughs that inspire further investigation.
Government Websites: Government agencies often highlight STEM challenges in areas like health, energy, or the environment, offering fertile ground for research.
Professor Consultations: Engage with professors in your field to learn about their ongoing research and seek guidance on potential topics.

Let’s dissect it: Qualitative research topics tailored for STEM students serve as gateways to the human dimension of science and technology. It’s about delving into real narratives, deciphering the essence of STEM, and grasping its intricacies.

Whether engaging in conversations with educators, examining the societal impact of technology, or grappling with profound ethical dilemmas, it all contributes to the journey. So, prepare to immerse yourself and uncover the human aspect within STEM!

100+ Most Qualitative Research Topics For High School Students In 2024

100+ Most Interesting Google Scholar Research Topics For Students [Updated 2024]

UC San Diego

Analyzing the Dropout Phenomenon: A Qualitative Study on the Lived Early School Experiences of Students with Learning Disabilities and its Impact on High School Completion

Harris, Joy Renae
Advisor(s): Daniels, Erika

Today’s high school student faces several complex experiences that impact his or her decision to stay in school. These factors, often a culmination of school events beginning in the elementary years, are correlated to a student’s likelihood of graduating from high school. Moreover, students with disabilities face additional factors that impact the likelihood of completing high school. Students with disabilities are less likely to earn a college degree, more likely to be underemployed or on public assistance, earn less income, and have higher rates of incarceration after leaving school. Not surprisingly, students with learning disabilities drop out at higher rates when compared to their non-disabled peers. This dissertation addresses the current state of the dropout phenomenon among students with learning disabilities. It examines the early school experiences that students with learning disabilities face in order to add qualitative data to the existing quantitative research that studies students with learning disabilities who drop out.

This dissertation utilized a semi-structured interview protocol and a review of student and school records and solicited the input of eight study participants at one traditional high school in Southern California. Findings resulted in identifying four of the eight students as “At-risk” for school failure, and they were grouped accordingly. Students were asked questions related to their elementary, middle and high school experiences with relation to potential graduation outcomes. The Student Voice Theory guided the theoretical framework of this study. It was supported by a secondary framework, the Self Determination Theory, which guided the findings addressing the study sub-questions.

The results of the study concluded with three major themes addressing the research question and two major themes addressing the sub-questions. Findings within the themes resulted in subthemes within the themes. Overwhelmingly, the study results indicated relational experiences as being paramount to a student’s success, or perceived success, in high school. Additional findings indicated that students found school transitions and peer relationships to be salient factors in their success. Students in the “At-risk” cohort identified additional factors, learning difficulties and negative school transitions, as being significant. Findings resulted in the need for a success model to address the prevalent factors necessary to ensure high school completion for students who are learning disabled, and for those who are at-risk for failure.

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Qualitative Research for Senior High School Students

2019, SAMSUDIN N. ABDULLAH, PhD

This power-point presentation (pdf) is specially prepared for the teachers who are teaching Practical Research 1 (Qualitative Research) in senior high school curriculum. Practical Research 1 aims to develop the critical thinking and problem solving skills of senior high school students through Qualitative Research. Its goal is to equip them with necessary skills and experience to write their own research paper. The actual research process will let the students experience conducting a research; from conceptualization of the research topic or title until the actual writing of their own research paper. Towards the end of the subject, the students are expected to produce their own research paper in group with four members.

Related Papers

Hernando Jr L Bernal PhD

Teaching Practical Research in the Senior High School was a challenge but at the same time a room for exploration. This study investigated the key areas in the interconnected teaching strategies employed to grade 12 students of which are most and least helpful in coming up with a good research output and what suggestions can be given to improve areas that are least useful. It is qualitative in nature and used phenomenological design. Reflection worksheets and interview schedule were the main sources of data. Results reveal that students come up with a good research output because of the following key areas: 'guidance from someone who is passionate with research' as represented by their research critique, research teacher, resource speaker from the seminar conducted, and group mates; 'guidance from something or activities conducted' like the sample researches in the library visitation, worksheets answered, and the research defenses; and 'teamwork' among the members of the group. On the other hand, key areas which are least useful are: 'clash of ideas and unequal effort' among the members; 'time consuming for some of the written works'; and 'no review of related literature' during the library hopping. Suggestions given where: to choose your own group mates of which each member should have the same field of interest, to remove worksheets not needed in the research paper; and to check online regarding availability of literature in the library. Further suggestions are to rearranged the sequence of the interconnected strategies which are as follows: grouping of students, having a research critique, seminar in conducting research, library visitation/work activity, proposal defense, final defense and the worksheet activities be given throughout the semester. Furthermore, there should be a culminating activity for students to share their outputs. Teaching research is a wholesome process. By then, the researcher recommends to organize a group orientation for the teacher-coaches/mentors on the creation of school research council or school mentoring committee for peer reviewing on the students research output. Further, student research presentation (oral, poster, gallery type, etc.), student research conference/colloquium, student research journal, etc. be organized to further nourish the culture of research in the part of the students, teachers and staffs involve.

Marcella Stark , John Slate Ph. D. , Julie Combs

In this article, we outline a course wherein the instructors teach students how to conduct rigorous qualitative research. We discuss the four major distinct, but overlapping, phases of the course: conceptual/theoretical, technical, applied, and emergent scholar. Students write several qualitative reports, called qualitative notebooks, which involve data that they collect (via three different types of interviews), analyze (using nine qualitative analysis techniques via qualitative software), and interpret. Each notebook is edited by the instructors to help them improve the quality of subsequent notebook reports. Finally, we advocate asking students who have previously taken this course to team-teach future courses. We hope that our exemplar for teaching and learning qualitative research will be useful for teachers and students alike.

Dr. Purnima Trivedi

International Journal of Research

Tahani Bsharat

Gaudensio Angkasa

Mjhae Corinthians

Can tenth graders go beyond writing reports to conduct "authentic" research? English teachers and the school librarian collaborate to gather data in a qualitative action research study that investigates the effectiveness of an assignment that requires primary research methods and an essay of two thousand words. The unit is designed as a performance-based assessment task, including rubrics, student journals, and peer editing. Students develop research questions, write proposals, design questionnaires and interviews, and learn techniques of display and analysis. Concurrently, their teachers gather data from observation, journals, and questionnaires to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the assignment. The research assignment has become analogous to "Take two aspirins and call me in the morning." It doesn't seem to do any harm and may even do some good. Educators adjust the dosage for older students: the length of the paper grows with the time allotted to the task but the prescription is the same. It is universally accepted as a benign activity, as evidenced by the prevalence of standards and objectives for research skills in school curricula. It has become a staple in the educational diet of the high school student. Librarians promote the research assignment because they want students to get better at searching, retrieving, and evaluating information. English teachers see it as an opportunity for sustained writing. Parents like it because it is good preparation for college. Everyone likes it because it gets students into the library and reading. So, what is wrong with research as it is traditionally taught in secondary schools? And what do students think?

Methodological Issues in Management Research: Advances, Challenges, and the Way Ahead

Richa Awasthy

Current paper is an overview of qualitative research. It starts with discussing meaning of research and links it with a framework of experiential learning. Complexity of socio-political environment can be captured with methodologies appropriate to capture dynamism and intricacy of human life. Qualitative research is a process of capturing lived-in experiences of individuals, groups, and society. It is an umbrella concept which involves variety of methods of data collection such as interviews, observations, focused group discussions, projective tools, drawings, narratives, biographies, videos, and anything which helps to understand world of participants. Researcher is an instrument of data collection and plays a crucial role in collecting data. Main steps and key characteristics of qualitative research are covered in this paper. Reader would develop appreciation for methodiness in qualitative research. Quality of qualitative research is explained referring to aspects related to rigor...

Nurse Education Today

Stefanos Mantzoukas

SAMSUDIN N. ABDULLAH, PhD, MOHAMAD T. SIMPAL, MAST & ARJEY B. MANGAKOY

SAMSUDIN N ABDULLAH, PhD

This Self-Instructional Module (SIM) in Practical Research 2 (Quantitative Research) is specially designed for the senior high school students and teachers. The explanation and examples in this SIM are based from the personal experiences of the authors in actual conduct of both basic and action researches. There is a YOUTUBE Channel of the major author (Samsudin Noh Abdullah) for the detailed video lessons anchored on this module.

Eye and vision (London, England)

Rufino Silva

To evaluate short-term markers of outcome in diabetic macular edema (DME). Prospective interventional case series included 122 eyes of 122 patients with recently diagnosed DME. Eyes were treated with a 3-monthly loading dose of ranibizumab or aflibercept and pro re nata thereafter. Serial enhanced deep imaging SD-OCT high resolution scans were used to measure subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT) and central retinal thickness (CRT). Anatomic (10% CRT decrease) and functional responses (best corrected visual acuity, BCVA gain ≥5 letters) were assessed at 3 months and 6 months using univariate and multivariate analyses. Parameters tested were gender, duration of diabetes, HbA1c, hypertension, CRT, SFCT, BCVA, ellipsoid zone (EZ) status, subfoveal neuroretinal detachment (SND), anti-VEGF used and laser naivety. A logistic regression model was applied to find independent markers outcome. BCVA increased, CRT and SFCT decreased at 3 months and 6 months. Good metabolic control ( = 0.003), i...

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HumSS Research Topics – Humanities & Social Sciences Topics

Humss (Humanities & Social Sciences) is an interesting field of study featuring college courses like Journalism, Communication Arts, and Education. Research projects for humss revolve around intellect, change, societal issues, and human conditions. Finding humss research topics is not as hard as it seems. For instance, you should know that research topics for humss differ from science topics because scholars are more interested in questions than answers. Also, your topics should be interesting and controversial to capture your readers. Choosing the right research topic about humss will simplify finding content and buy research paper .

Exciting Research Topic about Humss Strand

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Humss strand is one of the courses offered to students who want to pursue college degrees in education, liberal arts, or other social sciences. Choose any of the exciting topics below for your high school humss research project:

The impact of aging on social interactions
Anti-vaccination is the latest trending social movement
Remote working is the latest trend in the corporate world
What is the root cause of social media addiction?
Is there a valid connection between social class and success?
How much control should parents have over their kid’s social life?
What is the appropriate age to start teaching students about gender studies?
The impact of single parenting on a child’s social connection

Choosing interesting research about humss strand will help you stand out from the rest and impact the quality of your paper. Below are some thought-provoking humss research topics you can explore:

Feminism in the corporate place: a critical analysis
Does parental control influence a child’s social personality?
Conventional families: how do they impact a child’s development?
Growing up in an LGBTQ family: How does it influence a child’s sexual identity?
The effects of social media on teens and youths
The outcomes of social networking
Are unconventional families beneficial for child development?
Young motherhood: How does it impact a child’s wellbeing?

Are you a humss student looking for good topics for your research paper about the humss strand? Below are some ideas worth considering:

The impacts of foreign education on professional growth
The link between economic prosperity and the feeling of patriotism among citizens
The right to privacy: a critical analysis in the digital era
Social media preferences among different age and social groups
Does social media increase or reduce loneliness among individuals?
Is there a link between social media addiction and age?
How important is adding food education to the modern education curriculum?
A case study on the correlation between food and national identity

Whether you specialize in education, media, communication, liberal arts, or other social sciences, your humss research topic will influence your grade. You can choose an example of a research title about humss strand from the suggestions below:

The changes that feminism has bought on gender roles at home
The social perception of vegetarianism in different cultures
Spirituality and raw food diets: what is the connection?
Factors that affect students’ productivity during their free time
Social media activism: is it as effective as old-fashioned street protests?
Why you should take body language seriously during online interviews
Twitter: How it shifted from an ordinary social media platform to a political platform
Gender bias: concept definition

You can make your essay or research paper stand out and earn good marks by selecting quality topics. Pick a topic about humss strand from the ideas below:

How has the digital era negatively influenced the social concept of morality?
The impact of social media on people’s ability to understand others’ feelings
Justice and wars: Who is the right person to judge?
The influence of the mass media on political attitudes and statistics
Awareness of public choice: Why is it so important?
Framing: What is its role in the political sector?
The root cause of reduced voter turnout: A case study of the United States
What impact do advertisements have on political views?

Quantitative research involves collecting and analyzing data from deductive approaches like questionnaires while focusing on testing a specific theory. Finding a good top quantitative research topic about humss strand can make your study easier and more effective. Here are some noteworthy ideas:

The electoral process in Michigan (specify location): A quantitative analysis
The cultural practices related to childbirth rates in third-world countries
An evaluation of the factors promoting teenage pregnancies in the 21 st century
The rate of teenage pregnancies in third-world countries Vs. first-world countries
Mass Media: Its impact on political statistics and voter behaviors
How critical are self-defending networks?
A critical analysis of the voter turnout in the recent elections in (state country or state)
Can technology upgrades influence relationships?

Quantitative research involves data collection using questionnaires, interviews, and online or offline surveys. Below are some interesting topics you can write about in this area:

How can cyber-crimes affect human lives?
Racial bullying on social media: a critical analysis
Drug testing in the workplace: is it necessary?
How practical are modern components of sex education in High Schools?
The impacts of the government controlling women’s reproductive rights?
The root cause of stereotypes in society
How gambling feels to an addict
Group social education: What are its benefits?

Qualitative research depends on data obtained through first-hand observation, recordings, or focus groups. You can pick a good qualitative research topic about the humss strand from the following examples:

Why do many students perform poorly in sciences?
The rate of college acceptance in developing nations
Academic preparedness of university students in the United States
Victims of bullying in schools: a case study of (state a specific school or location)
The relationship between android and apple products
Online digital marketing: what is it all about?
Virtual reality worlds: their role in transforming society
Should kids under four years get a preschool education?

Humss is a vast field with thousands of research topic options for students with various specialties. Choose a research topic related to humss from the following option:

The cultural construct of the masculine and feminine identity
How individuals interact with various physical elements
Inter-nation relationships: what challenges hinder healthy relationships between nations?
The value of language in societal success
How has the political sector in the United States evolved in the past century?
The implications of philosophical studies for the growth of a society
Diversity: how does it make society better?
Peace and harmony: why are differences vital for peace and harmony?

Choosing a research title about humss can be challenging if you have not done one before. For this reason, we prepared the following title ideas:

Religious discrimination in the digital era
The conflict between religion and the digital era
Social relations between Islam and Christianity
The unification of Germany: a look at the process
The great migration: a critical analysis
Feminism movements and their impacts on society
Does studying social sciences give you a better chance of success?
The impact of the Ottoman Empire on socialization

When choosing the perfect research topics for humss, you should consider your specialization and research type (qualitative or quantitative). Here are some examples to consider:

The impact of the pandemic on people’s social media behaviors
Internet purchases: how sales taxes affect them
The significance of understanding history in studying humanities
Are all human beings anatomically similar?
The role of humanities in higher learning institutions
Do humanities help students achieve higher analytical and problem-solving skills?
Why do universities require multiple humanities courses?
The influence of William Shakespeare’s plays on modern literature

Focusing on a social issue is the best way to get a unique and interesting research topic for humss students. Here are some examples:

The beginning of the feminist era
How has the pandemic influenced the education sector?
The implications of social media on religion and culture
The impact of healthy doctor-patient relationships on the healthcare sector
The relationship between social media interaction and personality development
How is the digital era affecting the elderly in society?
Modern inter-nation wars: implications of the war between Ukraine and Russia
Is the United States still the most powerful country in the world?

Writing a research paper is as easy or hard as the topic you choose. Here are some humss research title ideas:

The relationship between empathy and the experience of illness
The impact of media on the study of medicine
The relationship between social media and education
Is diversity vital in society?
The impact of gun violence on school attendance
Modern aspects of poetry: a critical analysis
The COVID-19 pandemic’s influence on social media addiction
Social media addiction and age: what is the correlation?

Below are some key ideas on the topic about humss you can focus your research on:

How do parents influence their children’s social behaviors
Social education: how it helps students develop
How do teachers include their student’s course choices?
Boarding schools for boys Vs. boarding schools for girls
How has social media influenced people’s views of celebrities?
The role of social influencing in purchasing behaviors
When is military force justifiable
Should community service be mandatory for all students?

Your research title for humss will help you determine your paper’s outline and research methods. Below are some incredible topics you should consider:

Do advertisements still influence people’s purchasing behaviors?
Social media marketing Vs. conventional advertising
Dual nationality: its impact on political views
The implications of personality on political attitudes
The correlation between collective action and public policies
Do changes in public policies influence public opinions?
The correlation between law-making and bureaucracy
The influence of public policy on innovation

A concept paper provides your research’s purpose, background, and outline. Therefore, choosing the perfect topic is vital. Below are some ideas to look into:

The US-Mexico Border Dilemma: an analysis
Perfectionist policy: concept definition
Why are more people turning to digital work in the 21 st century?
Ethical issues in the dialysis of homelessness
Effects of stigma among leaders
How is technology reshaping the future of social interaction?
Importance of practical counseling sessions for Psychology students
How can parents cope with their kids’ disabilities

A good humss research paper should have a background research topic. Here are some great examples:

The root cause of international cyber-attacks
The history of Europe and its importance in humanities studies
The root of punishment in households
Should religious freedom be granted to kids under 18 years?
The growth and spread of Islam in African nations
How missionaries shaped Africans’ views on religion
The impact of the Great Awakenings on US history
The growth of Pentecostalism in Latin nations

Quantitative research is a dominant research technique in social sciences, where students can focus on topics like politics and elections. Here are some good ideas:

The effectiveness of home care against nursing homes
The development of telehealth in the 21 st century
How effective are cardiovascular treatments?
The link between mortality rates and gender
The changes in critic ratings and their impact on equity returns
Do people’s decision-making processes depend on their subconscious?
Impact of racism on mental health
Social anxiety triggers in youths

Let’s Help You

The humss strand is so vast that you can easily find a topic depending on your area of specialization. You can also pick a topic based on interesting social issues . Also, you must be keen on selecting a quality research title that stands out and makes your writing easier. If you feel overwhelmed choosing a title or writing a humss paper, we are here to help you. Talk to us now!

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Health Expect
v.20(5); 2017 Oct

A qualitative study exploring high school students’ understanding of, and attitudes towards, health information and claims

Leila cusack.

1 Centre for Research in Evidence‐Based Practice (CREBP), Bond University, Robina, QLD, Australia

Laura N Desha

Chris b del mar, tammy c hoffmann.

Exposure to health claims, particularly in the media and social media, is pervasive, and the information conveyed is often inaccurate, incomplete or misleading. Some young people of high school ages are already making decisions about using readily available health interventions (such as sports drinks and beauty products).Although previous research has assessed adults’ understanding of health claims, no research has examined this issue in young adults who are attending high school.

To explore high school students’ understanding of, and attitudes towards, concepts relevant to assessing health information and claims.

A qualitative study involving semi‐structured interviews with 27 Australian high school students. Responses were recorded, transcribed and a thematic analysis performed. Three themes emerged as follows: (i) Variability in sources of health information and claims, and general understanding of their creation and accuracy of content, (ii) The use of substitute indicators to assess health information and claims and make judgements about their trustworthiness, (iii) Uncertainty about, and literal interpretation of, the language of health claims. Despite general scepticism of health claims and admitted uncertainty of research terminology, many students were generally convinced. Students had poor understanding about how health claims are generated and tended to rely on substitute indicators, such as endorsements, when evaluating the believability of claims.

School students’ lack of awareness of basic health research processes and methods of assessing the accuracy of health information and claims makes them vulnerable to distorted and misleading health information. This restricts their ability to make informed health decisions – a skill that increases in importance as they become adults.

1. BACKGROUND

One consequence of the pervasive presence of mass media is that people are frequently exposed to health claims from varied sources (for example, from the Internet, television, radio and magazines). Many of these claims are inaccurate. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 Basing health decisions on misinformation can be harmful to a person's health and a waste of resources of both individuals and health systems. Conversely, mistrust of reliable and accurate health information can also negatively impact upon people's health and resource use. 6 , 7 Knowing how to assess the validity of health claims can empower people to identify accurate health information upon which to base informed decisions.

1.1. Assessing health claims

Health literacy encompasses the ability to gain access to, and interact with, health information in an effective manner, such that good health is promoted and maintained. 8 Nutbeam 9 describes health literacy abilities as ranging from basic to more advanced skills; including functional, interactive and critical health literacy. 9

Most interventions developed to improve health literacy have focused on improving a person's functional health literacy, concentrating on skills such as basic numeracy and literacy, along with knowledge of medical conditions, ensuring the safe use of medications and effective navigation of the health‐care system. 9 Interactive health literacy involves the combination of advanced cognitive, literacy and social skills, to enable a person to extract information from different types of communication and be adaptable in the face of new health information and circumstances. 10 Critical health literacy comprises higher cognitive skills, enabling people to analyse health information and claims and use this information appropriately to overcome barriers to improving health and well‐being. 9 , 11 These specific skills enable people to assess the credibility of health information directly, rather than relying on other indicators of quality, such as the perceived authority of the authors, or source of the information. 12 , 13

Being able to assess claims about the effectiveness of health interventions requires underlying knowledge about the processes involved in testing health interventions and basic research concepts (such as major types of study designs; experimental vs observational studies). Furthermore, for people to be able to assess health information and claims, universally relevant key concepts 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 need to be understood, such as the need for systematic reviews; concepts such as randomization and blinding, the role of chance, placebo effects; and how to interpret results (for example, relative vs absolute risk).

1.2. Critical health literacy for students

As children grow older, parental involvement in decision making decreases and adolescents increasingly assume responsibility for making decisions about their health. However, adolescents may already be making decisions about broader health issues, such as consuming sports drinks, supplements, skin creams or other readily available products that claim to improve some aspect of the consumer's health. 18 Mass media has been cited as a source for health information for adolescents, particularly those with chronic illness (eg asthma, mental illness), 19 but without adequate preparation for interpreting information they find, students may be unable to make appropriate health decisions. While most school students have minimal interaction with the healthcare system, this will increase as they become adults. Intervening to improve critical health literacy skills, while children are at school, may foster the development of skills that are necessary for health decision making through adolescence and into adulthood. 19

1.3. Education to assess health claims

Previous studies have explored adults’ awareness of some of the key concepts involved in health claim appraisal – for example, randomization, 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 double‐blinding 23 and informed consent. 24 , 25 , 26 Some studies have explored university health students’ and health professionals’ understanding of these concepts – typically as part of evidence‐based practice. 27 , 28 , 29 Other studies have explored the way people assess health information and claims on the Internet; however, these studies specifically refer to assessing aspects of Internet site quality, rather than a direct assessment of the accuracy of health claims on the site. 30 , 31 , 32 , 33

Research specifically focusing on critical health literacy in young people (who are not yet adults) is less common. Previous studies have explored media literacy education, 34 students’ understanding of the general scientific process (without health context), 35 , 36 and ability to assess online health information. 37

Incorporating critical health literacy education into school curricula has the potential to widely disseminate information and expose as many students as possible to this learning opportunity. 19 Education programmes that are designed to teach students to understand how, and why it is necessary, to assess health claims are currently being evaluated with African school students. 38 , 39 These programmes were developed for the eldest students at primary school (ages 10‐12 years old) as the researchers considered these students mature enough to understand the material. 40 Beyond these studies, research into students’ understanding of aspects of critical health literacy, including interpretation of health claims, is lacking. Understanding of these aspects can be used to inform the development of school educational interventions, which aim to enable students to critically evaluate information about health interventions and make informed decisions.

This study aimed to explore Australian high school students’ understanding of, and attitudes towards, the concepts relevant to the assessment of health information and claims.

2.1. Recruitment and participants

We focused on students in Grades 7‐9 (in Australia, these students are approximately 12‐15 years old). Purposive sampling was used to select the schools to invite for participation, with the aim of involving public (government‐funded) and private (fee‐paying) schools, and schools across a range of socioeconomic regions. Ethical approval was provided by the Human Research Ethics Committee at Bond University on the 1st of May 2015, and approval to approach public schools was granted by the relevant government education departments.

Between July and October 2015, seven Australian schools, in two Australian states, were approached to discuss potential involvement. Three agreed to participate. Once each principal had provided consent for school participation, students were recruited via internal advertising from teachers. The research was initially described to the students by the principal or nominated teacher. Students who indicated interest in participating were provided an information sheet and consent form to take home for parental completion.

2.2. Procedure

One author (LC) performed all of the interviews using an interview script, between August and October 2015. Each school organized a meeting room and a schedule of students. The interviewer collected the signed consent form prior to commencing, explained the interview process and expected duration (15‐20 minutes). Each interview was audio‐recorded, with participants’ consent, and later transcribed.

2.3. Data collection

The semi‐structured interview questions were designed to explore students’ understanding of, and assumptions regarding, the generation of information about health interventions; the role of research; how health information/claims are interpreted and/or assessed; and the perceived meaning of, and attitudes towards, associated terms (eg “evidence‐based,” “scientifically tested” and “clinically proven”). The questions were developed based upon a recently published list of key concepts that are considered important when people are assessing health claims, 14 and a book, written with the intention of teaching and promoting critical appraisal of health interventions, particularly within the public/lay population. 15 Throughout the interview and this study, the term “health intervention” is used broadly. This can include any intervention provided by a health professional or identified by the individual; prescription or non‐prescription; drug or non‐drug; conventional, complementary or alternative; and any product making a health claim (eg health and skin products, energy drinks, and foods). Piloting of the interview script with a convenience sample of people, who were not involved with the study, enabled subsequent refinement of the questions.

2.4. Data analysis

Two authors (LC, LD) independently used the process for thematic analysis outlined by Braun and Clark, 41 whereby each familiarized themselves with the interview transcripts, and generated initial codes for overarching themes and subthemes. This process was driven by the data, and thus inductive in nature. The authors (LC, LD) iteratively compared and discussed their analyses and coding, and came to consensus on an updated coding framework, with input from another author (TH). This coding framework was independently applied by LC and LD to five randomly selected interviews before final modifications were made. After coding all of the data for interviews from three schools, LC then reviewed the coded extracts for coherency within the themes, and further refinements were made to the themes and subthemes. No further participants were recruited as data saturation was evident (no new themes emerged from analyses of the final interviews).

The study recruited a total of 27 students from three of the seven Australian schools approached; two in Victoria and one in Queensland. The majority of participants were girls (n=18, 67%) and in Grade 7 (16, 59%), with fewer in Grade 8 (2, 7%) or 9 (9, 33%). Private (52%) and public schools (48%) were equally represented.

3.1. Key themes

Analyses revealed three themes including; (i) Variability in sources of health information and claims, and general understanding of their creation and accuracy of content; (ii) The use of substitute indicators to assess health information and claims, and make judgements about their trustworthiness and (iii) Uncertainty about, and literal interpretation of, the language of health claims.

3.1.1. Theme 1: Variability in sources of health information and claims, and general understanding of their creation and accuracy of content

There was great variability in students’ access to, and understanding of health information. Approximately half of the students had searched for health information on the Internet, while others indicated that they relied on their parents to provide this type of information – “If anyone in my family ever does that [searches for health information], it's my parents” (Participant 2).

Students who had searched for health information predominantly sought it from the Internet, using the search engine Google. A few sought information from medical centres or government authorities; and some from an intervention's packaging (if a physical product) – “On the back of the packet it says all the stuff that you need to look out for…” (Participant 15).

When asked where they thought people who share health information in some way (such as journalists and website writers) obtained information from, the students offered a mixed response. About half referred either to researchers, scientists, health professionals, institutions or organizations – “Through, probably, science tests and maybe they searched with professional scientists and that” (Participant 26).

Others thought this type of information came from the public, by means such as surveys, interviews or anecdotes – “Maybe from people, I guess. They might survey people” (Participant 10), or specific groups of people – “They might get them from, like, athletes or people working with athletes, like, physiotherapists and stuff like that” (Participant 7). Other students indicated that the information may have been found from another source within the mass media – “Maybe the news or the internet, the newspaper…” (Participant 16), or sought directly from manufacturers of the health products.

About half of the students made comments during the interview, which indicated basic awareness of the role of health‐related research: they were either aware of certain aspects of the research process – “[Health information comes from] scientific evidence and evidence by past experiences and about experiments, as such, and how things work and things don't work” (Participant 20), or that research has a role in generating reliable health information – “[what makes claims true is when] there is research behind [the health information] and not them just claiming” (Participant 13). Some students mentioned terms such as “evidence”, “research”, “scientists”, “experiments” or “testing”, but only a few were able to elaborate on these concepts:

Well, if they actually tested it and stuff like that, so, yeah, they actually have and they can show that they've actually tested it, and they can't just make up figures. (Participant 18)

Some of these responses appeared to have drawn on general knowledge rather than specific knowledge of the topic or health information. For example, some students mentioned that information about interventions may change over time, with one student stating that the reader would:

…never know who is writing (the information)… it could be 50 years old and a whole new discovery was made the other day. (Participant 8)

When prompted to elaborate on responses to the question, “You said that all research is probably not true, but why do you think that?”, a couple of students inadvertently referred to the influence of bias and placebo effect – “cause some people might be biased…” (Participant 24) and “…if you believe this [treatment] will help you, then it will probably help you” (Participant 15).

When asked if health information and claims were generally true, most students acknowledged that not all is:

Well, most of the time they say it's clinically proven or something, but we don't know. (Participant 2)

They can get [information] from test participants and … or general public, people who have tried it or sometimes they might even just make them up. (Participant 14)

However, although many students expressed general scepticism, some indicated they believed that health information and claims were, “basically true most of the time” (Participant 15) and generally justifiable:

…they have to get people to check it and have to go through some before they advertise it on TV to see if it's correct… like a publisher for a book or something… (Participant 11)

Some students identified a reason that health claims on the Internet may not be legitimate and can be created by people without authority or integrity:

…people can lie pretty easily. Like, it's not too hard, especially on the internet, just write a couple of words that aren't exactly true and there you go, you've got … and this amazing statement about something that is completely false… (Participant 14)

Nearly all the students identified the existence of ulterior motives or other vested interests that can be behind health information:

…different people want you to believe different things. (Participant 24)

Most of the time they're two companies or two brands competing against each other to try and get you to be convinced about what they believe and not what you believe. They're trying to pull you into what they want. (Participant 20)

More specifically, some students felt that health information was sometimes presented as a marketing technique or a form of advertising, “…so people will buy their product” (Participant 17).

When asked about the possibility of downsides of health interventions, all students acknowledged the potential for harm – “[it]… could fix something but also bring something else on, and it just doesn't tell you that necessarily” (Participant 9).

Most interview questions referred to health interventions in general, however, a few questions asked about health interventions, which described themselves “natural”. These types of interventions were generally viewed positively by most students – “[it would help], because it has natural ingredients and it's not artificial, and it would be more careful” (Participant 18). Some students perceived that natural ingredients were less likely to harm – “…because it's natural and it doesn't have all those toxins and stuff like that” (Participant 16). Others were not sure if products which claim to be “natural” could be harmful – “Maybe, like it could [be harmful] – well everyone reacts differently to stuff, but it is natural so it shouldn't be too harmful, but it might be harmful” (Participant 27).

3.1.2. Theme 2: The use of substitute indicators to assess health information and claims, and make judgements about their trustworthiness

No students mentioned searching for, or using, any formal or validated methods of assessing health information or claims. Instead, students described the use of various substitute indicators to make their assessment, which included the following:

personal experience of the intervention:

You obviously just buy them both and see which “one”. (Participant 8)

corroboration – that is, for specific health products, by finding multiple sources which provide information, to check or reinforce the initial information:

…if I saw something, then I would go and research it further and if other people… like, other websites are saying the same thing as, like, what every this product is saying, then I would probably believe it. (Participant 17)

performing “research,” which students used to refer to searching on the Internet:

… research the name… something like Google… just see what articles, if there's… reviews about it and stuff like that. (Participant 14)

evaluating the source of the information:

See if it comes from a reliable source. (Participant 7)

the perceived quality of its presentation (eg on the Internet, or product packaging):

…if it's on just a crappy web site… or it doesn't have a brand or it's not set up properly or the information… doesn't have good grammar and just things like that that just make it not very good quality. (Participant 13)

Like, valid packaging would have, like, not, like, massive scientific words but actually give you, like, information that you can understand and not like … and dodgy would have, like, big words that are just jumbled together to make it look more scientific and more complicated than what it is. (Participant 13)

a detailed description of how the product works:

… if [the company of the product] have a deep understanding, I tend to believe it. (Participant 11)

Because they know what they're talking about. (Participant 27)

presentation of balanced information was important to some, particularly if potential negative effects were mentioned:

…if it says, ‘Studies show’, and maybe talks about the studies a bit and maybe also a thing which I guess could help is if it mentions some bad things about it, so the side effects, so it's not all good, good, good, because that's not all advertising, it also shows a couple of the bad things which is also, like, even though it does cause this, this and this, it is still pretty good and, yeah. (Participant 12)

familiarity with the intervention provider or manufacturer made about half of the students feel more comfortable when making a decision about a health product:

… companies that I have heard of or have used, I know that they do work or don't work, so yeah, if I have heard of it then I might try it, but if I haven't heard of it, I still might try it, but I might have a bit of risk. (Participant 21)

Other students, however, did not use this as a substitute indicator, with some saying that they would not assume a treatment by a known brand would be better than one by an unknown brand, while others were uncertain if being familiar with a brand influenced their belief in product claims:

‘It might be, but there might be good companies that you've just never heard of before and they can make good stuff as well, and it's better to just try new things and see if they work for you, maybe. (Participant 17)

cost of an intervention was perceived as an indicator of quality by some – “…cause it means that they have invested more time and money into it” (Participant 24). Others did not share this belief – “they're just trying to rip you off”

(Participant 5).

Students were questioned about the influence of people (family members, friends or famous people), or organizational endorsement of health claims (such as medical or government authorities). Opinions were mixed about the endorsement by a family member or a close friend. Some felt this indicated believability:

…if a friend says that it works, then I'd more believe them because I know them and I know where they come from. (Participant 3)

Others were less trusting of such endorsements, suggesting that even if an intervention works well for one person, it may not for another:

… every person is different and it might work on someone else, but if it were tried on another person, their body is different so it won't work exactly the same. (Participant 18)

Students reported that they generally believed claims that were endorsed by “unknown” consumers or “ordinary people” – “… cause it's straight from their experiences with it, not scripting and getting told what to say” (Participant 20).

For some, a celebrity endorsement could make a claim more believable:

Well, you kind of believe it a bit more because, like, the person has high standards because they're obviously a celebrity, so they're rich and everything, so I'd probably believe it a little bit more, not as much as, like, it has to be like, completely correct, but more than just a normal person. (Participant 6)

Yet, others were suspicious of celebrity endorsements, and expressed awareness about financial incentives:

… they're probably just saying it just to get the money, and it doesn't really feel like they're actually meaning it. (Participant 18)

While in some cases, celebrity endorsement made no difference to whether students believed the claim, if it came from a celebrity health professional , some students were sceptical – “wouldn't fully believe everything” (Participant 18). However, the endorsement of health information by any health professional (not necessarily celebrities) was generally viewed positively by students:

[I'd believe it] if a doctor had said it or, yeah, probably a doctor or someone qualified enough to prove that it is ‘true’. (Participant 21)

3.1.3. Theme 3: Uncertainty about, and literal interpretation of, the language of health claims

Students associated terminology such as “‘evidence‐based,”’ “clinically proven” and “scientifically tested” with the assumption that research had been performed, or there was evidence or proof to support the claim:

So it means that the research has been done, so there's evidence that… the product is good or bad for you. (Participant 15)

Most students interpreted these terms literally – “[Evidence‐based means]… they've got evidence and it's based on what people have said, I think, yeah” (Participant 5).

A few offered a more detailed description:

… it [‘evidence‐based’] might be like they'll take the findings, they'll get like a bunch of test participants to sort of, like, test it and see if it works and sort of … or they'll give out, like, some people to do a trial of it for, like, 30 days and if they notice a difference or whatever, then they'll probably be like, yeah, ‘it works’. (Participant 14)

I guess it [‘evidence‐based’] means that they have tested it … so they haven't just tested it once or twice, they've tested it multiple times and took sort of everything into consideration or as much as they could, so a couple variables they've done. So, people with certain allergies, people without any, and yeah. (Participant 12)

However, most students acknowledged they did not understand the meaning of such terms:

Clinically proven. It's, sort of, like – I don't know about this one. Yeah. I'm not quite sure about this. (Participant 20)

Despite not fully understanding the terms, many viewed the intervention positively, stating that they would be more likely to use it:

I don't know what ‘clinically’ means, but I see [clinically proven] on everything and I'm just, like, oh, yeah, that'll be fine to use. (Participant 5)

It, sort of does to me [makes me more likely to use it], ‘cause it's one of those things that I feel ties in with a bit of the science and that behind it so it's been proven definitely. (Participant 20)

When asked how they thought new interventions compared to existing interventions, about half of the students responded that newer ones were better, with some elaborating that “newer” meant that more research, or “testing,” would have enhanced the newer one:

…there's more studies and research done and they've improved it probably. (Participant 12)

Others expressed uncertainty about whether new interventions were generally better, and a few students perceived new interventions negatively, explaining:

…some new treatments work as well, but just not as reliable as the old ones that have been used for a long time. (Participant 21)

Sometimes sticking with the old thing … is sometimes more reliable ‘cause … it's tested over years, but sometimes new ones might not be correct until a few years of testing… (Participant 20)

When asked whether, in general, new interventions have more or fewer side‐effects than older ones, responses were mixed. About half were unsure; some indicated that new interventions have more side‐effects – “… because they're newer and they don't have as much experience with the things that they're putting in there…” (Participant 1); while others believed that new interventions have less – “… [with] a lot of the new treatments, there's more side effects to start with but they sort of work out all the bugs and sort of get it good, whereas older ones generally had a lot more side effects…” (Participant 14).

4. DISCUSSION

We found that this sample of Australian school students, aged between 12‐15 years, generally had poor understanding about how health information and claims are generated and disseminated, and subsequently, how they can be assessed. Not unsurprisingly, many were largely reliant on their parents to manage any health conditions and students typically had little interaction with the health sector. However, many had already been exposed to health information and claims, and decision‐making about interventions which claim to impact upon health (for example, skin care products and sports drinks).

Many were generally sceptical about health information and claims, typically proffering concerns about conflict of interests, particularly financial, and the unregulated nature of the Internet, which allows anything to be published. Despite using terms such as “evidence” and “studies” in some of their replies, participants could not elaborate on what these terms mean or how to judge the accuracy of health claims. Instead they relied on personal experience or substitute indicators of accuracy, such as endorsements. Endorsements by friends, family or celebrities, appeared to be less consistently valued than those by health professionals and members of the public. Other substitute indicators included reading information on the product itself or associated websites, where descriptions of how the intervention works lent credibility, as did the quality of information presentation, the familiarity of the brand and the cost. An association of trust with familiar branding was noted in a study that examined health literacy challenges facing adolescents. 30 The variety of responses illustrates the diversity of approaches used and assumptions made by students.

The use of research terms, such as “evidence‐based” and “clinically proven”, in health claims has become common. While many had previously heard or seen terms like these, students’ understanding of what the terms meant was superficial. There was dissonance between students’ acknowledged lack of understanding of the meaning, yet an inclination to trust interventions that used the terms. This phenomenon of the mere presence of a health claim (regardless of its accuracy or a potential users’ understanding of it) encouraging a positive perception of the intervention, has been previously noted in studies assessing food products and cigarettes. 42 , 43 , 44 , 45

We are not aware of any studies that have explored school students’ general understanding of, and approaches to, assessing health information and claims. However, some of the findings of this current study are similar to those found in studies of adults’ health information‐seeking behaviour. Studies of adults have found that while people have easy access to health information through the Internet and may perceive their “research” skills as good, they actually have difficulty judging the trustworthiness of health information. 31 , 33 , 46 , 47 , 48 The use of the Internet to assess health information and claims in an unstructured way has also been previously found, with people often relying on search engines to identify relevant information, 12 , 31 , 33 making personal judgements about the quality of the information using factors such as the information source and presentation, 12 , 13 and not considering the evidence about intervention effectiveness when making a decision. 49 Adults searching for medicine information have also been found to search for corroborating information to reinforce a particular belief. 33

Recent reviews of interventions to improve school students’ ability to assess health claims have found limited interventions in this area, 50 , 51 leaving students likely to inadvertently rely on inaccurate information when making health decisions. 18 , 37 This study has identified specific areas requiring attention, and the findings will assist us in developing and evaluating a school educational intervention, which aims to enable students to critically evaluate information about health interventions and claims.

Some of our findings are encouraging for the potential of using education to focus on the areas in which students have low understanding and skills. For example, many students were generally sceptical about health claims, with an awareness of ulterior motives and vested interests. They were already readily using the Internet to search for information and most had an awareness of the unregulated nature of the Internet – this may serve as an incentive to develop better skills in searching for and assessing the accuracy of health information and claims. Likewise, some students based their judgement of health claims either on personal experience or on triangulated information (similar information from multiple sources which students took as reinforcement of its validity). Teaching could expand upon these assumptions (that is, of multiple sources of information vs a single experience) to include the basics of research study hierarchies, what systematic reviews and randomized trials are, and why they are more believable than anecdotes from one person when assessing health claims. Students are unlikely to otherwise learn about key concepts 14 such as these and having this knowledge has the potential to immediately influence their searching and interpretation behaviour.

Limitations of this study include possible unrepresentativeness of the sample. Boys and students from rural areas were under‐represented, and recruitment may have overrepresented middle‐ to high‐ socioeconomic status urban schools and students. Responses from participants may not accurately reflect actual behaviour, and we were unable to validate claims about their behaviours.

5. CONCLUSION

This study has provided insight into students’ understanding of issues relevant to assessing the accuracy of health information and claims and highlighted areas to incorporate into educational interventions. This sample of school students lacked understanding of basic health research processes and the knowledge or skills to assess health claims. This topic has had almost no attention in traditional school curricula, despite an increasing focus on teaching critical thinking in school subjects. 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 There is growing recognition of the role of such skills in equipping adults with critical health literacy, 10 , 11 , 57 and the school system may be an ideal place to begin teaching these skills. Until students (and adults) have this knowledge and skill set, they remain vulnerable to inaccurate and misleading health information and claims, which may result in them making ill‐informed health decisions.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests relevant to this manuscript.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We wish to express our gratitude to the principals, teachers and the students who made it possible to conduct the interviews. We would also like to acknowledge and thank Sir Iain Chalmers and Professor Andy Oxman for their much appreciated general input on the project.

Cusack L, Desha LN, Del Mar CB, Hoffmann TC. A qualitative study exploring high school students’ understanding of, and attitudes towards, health information and claims . Health Expect . 2017; 20 :1163–1171. https://doi.org/10.1111/hex.12562 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]

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