Research Topic Redefinition
Before the redefinition class, my topic was “The Commercialization of Table-top Games in Malaysia” which was broad enough a topic to allow for much exploration yet I’ve scoped it down to focus on Malaysia which is basically where I have the most access and connections thus making it easier to realize.
After the class on redefining my research topic with Dr. Tan however, it might be prudent to revisit this and really think this through. According to my colleague Hilmy, my topic could actually be broken down further and a part of it was actually the content for a PhD research (if I ever get there).
The initial plan was to
- Study existing methods of commercialization employed by the many companies I know of, analyze their results and identify their problems or strengths.
- Look at their model through areas such as Conceptualization, Prototyping, Testing & Iteration, Funding, Manufacturing and Publishing.
- Study the current retail landscape within Malaysia.
- Come up with a way to actually lay the groundwork for the commercialization of future tabletop games.
- Test the new model with my own board-game Dungeon Fodder.
- Report the findings and graduate.
It seems though that for a Master’s level of research, articles 1 through 3 would actually suffice. Article 4 & 5 could be a more focused and pretty large area to explore for a PhD instead. I’ve got to run this through my supervisor but in that case I think it would definitely make this easier to separate and execute.
According to Dr. Noraini Idris, quoted by Dr. Tan, a research title should be
- Specific in nature
- Reflect fundamental issues to be resolved
- Novelty
- Preferably 12 – 15 words long. (I can attest to this as I’ve seen some rather long gibberish)
More to come on redefinition