Q: How to write the title for a quantitative research study?
It difficult for me to construct a research title because it’s the first time I have conducted research.
The title of your paper is the first thing that the readers will see, and they will immediately form a view on what to expect from your research paper. If the title doesn’t appeal to the readers, they will not read any further. It is therefore important to write a clear, persuasive title that communicates what your study is about and engages the interests of the reader.
Let us first understand what makes a good research paper title. A good title is expected to do the following:
- Capture the essence of the paper
- Be accurate and specific, not overly general
- Not contain unnecessary, distracting details
- Be comprehensible to a broad academic readership
- Engage readers and generate curiosity
To write a good title for a quantitative paper, you should follow these steps:
- List down the following items:
- The most important key words/concepts in your study
- The methodology used
- The samples/areas studied
- Your most important finding
- Draft a title that includes all the items you’ve listed (if you wish, do so in a sentence format).
- Delete anything that is unnecessary.
- Use a general term to cover overly specific aspects, as shown in the example above.
- Pay heed to any journal instructions or discipline-specific conventions for writing titles (e.g., adding a sub-title describing the study design, or restricting the number of words/characters to a certain count.
You can also look up titles of quantitative studies in your field to seek inspiration from them and frame your title accordingly.
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