1. Look at the starting points that you have formulated so far and write brief notes to record the (+)’s and (-)’s of adopting it as your main research focus.

(a) Scope for action		YES	NO
Does the situation come from my own field of experience?
Can I really do something about this?
Do I have any possibility of influencing this situation and/or taking action?
Or am I too dependent on other people and institutional structures?
Would an improvement in this situation depend primarily on changing the behaviour of other people?
(b) Relevance
How important is this situation to me and to my professional concerns?
Is this issue worth the effort in an educational or training sense — is it concerned with important educational or training values?
Is it likely that this situation will still interest me in a few weeks’ time?
Am I willing to invest a certain amount of energy in dealing with this situation?
Am I interested in this situation in order to change and improve something?
(c) Manageability
Do I have the time to cope with this?
Are there too many preparatory or related tasks to be coped with before I can start this project?
Will it make too many demands of me?
Is the question ‘too big’?
Can I build on successes, even if they are small, in working with this question?
(d) Compatibility
How compatible would this question be with the rest of my activities if I select it as my research focus?
Would it involve things that I have to do anyway?
How well does this intended research fit in with my planning?
Would it be possible to build some research activities directly into my present work responsibilities?