I need a research topic

I’ve decided to do the Honours portion of my degree and I need a research topic. I’m putting this here because a) it will garner more responses and b) I want it to be something to do with therapy.

My interests are in therapy and the therapeutic relationship. I want to do some research around this. My sample is going to be university students who may have little to no experience of therapy.

Any ideas on how I can structure this?

How can it be on therapy if your sample might not have ever seen a therapist? I mean, I guess you could do it on perceptions of therapy, but that doesn't sound like it's what you had in mind.

I’d be open to that - or maybe something around stigma - ie what are the barriers preventing university aged students from seeking therapy?

I was also thinking something around the integration of spirituality and psychotherapy.

I have so many ideas, and no ideas. All at once

Barriers to seeking therapy could be a good angle. You could potentially use the Health Belief Model as your framework (I have an MS in Health Science/Community Health, though only had to do research proposal, not actual thesis--basically was the whole thesis thing except the results).

Oh that would be interesting! I just studied the Health Belief Model in my health psych class - applied learning!!

Yep, it's one that I studied, too.

I'm also thinking about looking at why people lie in therapy...that could be quite interesting! I would likely have to find a different sample, but that should be easy enough.

Are you allowed to gather the data through online surveys or interviews? C has volunteered for several such research projects that were being conducted by graduate students for their dissertations. For example, one was for somebody getting her PhD who was looking at the effect of disclosure of sexual abuse/assault on victims/survivors. C frequents another forum for this type of issue, and they have a sub forum where moderator-approved calls for research participants are posted. She was also in Canada, now that I think about it. Anyway, she gave the option of doing the interview using a messaging app, by phone, or by email, iirc. C answered her questions using the Line app.

Since your sample group is probably students who have no experience in therapy, how about something about stigma/perceptions of therapy/those who undergo therapy, therapists, what therapy actually is, etc.? Possible solutions for counter negative stigma, etc.?

Yes! I can absolutely gather data this way! I think most other students just use the campus pool because it’s easy and accessible, and they aren’t involved in online mental health forums. But - I see even just from this forum alone a huge opportunity to tap into people’s experiences of therapy.

One avenue regarding therapy is how students access it? What kind of funding is out there. Are there segments of the student population unable to do so? How then can one bring therapy to all individuals? How does the lack of availability of mental health help affect students? What is the best system of delivery? What type(s) of therapy would best meet the widest need required (ie. online? the availability of counselors or therapists)?

usually people do research projects on things that they already know something about. but it is possible to start with a hypothesis (a guess with no knowledge of the subject)

you have chosen your topic ...

university students who may have little to no experience of therapy

ok next what is your thesis statement going to be...

what is it about your topic that you want to learn about and research.... which position are you taking as in are you for university students who may need help going with out therapy or do you think when a university student has mental disorders they should have therapy, what exactly is going to be included in your paper...

example if I was doing a research paper on this here is what it would look like...

Topic...University students and mental illness
Thesis.... there are many students who do not seek mental health care. I believe this is a prevalent at the university levels where health care is limited, financially unattainable and the risk of stigma is high.

now the reader of my research paper knows what my topic is and thesis statement / content of my paper. (yes this is actually one of my research papers that I did and I got an A+ on it. feel free to take topic and thesis if needed there are lots of info out there on this topic, dont forget to keep a list of all your sources and quotes no( you dont have to give me recognition for the topic or the thesis many people do this kind of research papers for psychology classes in college because its right there at the college and everyone knows someone who should be in therapy but isnt for one or more of these three reasons )

If you decide to narrow it pick two people you can mark in your paper as subject 1 and subject 2. one in actual therapy and the other not in therapy and interview them based on what your thesis statement is. (make up a list of questions that relate to your thesis statement to ask your participating subjects, dont forget to get signed release forms to cover your butt so that the subjects cant come back to you afterwords and say I didnt give you permission to ... bla bla bla..)

dont forget to document things that you will need for documenting your footnotes, and bibliography. the charts, graphs, demographics and statistics....here at the local college this seems to be the first thing instructors check out because its the areas most forget to include.

good luck and have fun while doing it, it really helps to bring humor and fun into your life while getting bogged down in a research paper.

Be careful with using the forum or its content for research purposes. Not allowed by guidelines. There might be a way to inform members and give them access to surveys, etc. elsewhere however. Not sure. That would be an administration question.

Before you think about structure, you need to reflect on the scope of your research and project. What is the remit of the project? You should consider the academic guidance which has been provided by your tutors. At the moment, your ideas read like you are trying to crowbar your interest in therapy into the project by planting non-indigenous issues into your research group. This might not serve you well as you will find that specificity is key to a quality project.

Research ideas are one thing but using this forum to conduct it is inappropriate. Asking us to tell you how to structure it amounts to us doing your work for you. Go back and go through your learning for ideas and take advantage of your school resources for advice.

I think the question of lying in therapy is inherently a problematic idea. In part because it confuses therapeutic intent with sociological norms. Therapists don't typically view client generated content as "true" or "false" because it isn't therapeutically useful, not to mention often impossible to verify.


I think you'd do better by working with your thesis advisor to develop a feasible topic, especially as I assume they would have to approve it.

I would do something that adds new information to the existing body of knowledge. What did you find in your literature review of topics in your interest area?

There are many topics missing from the research as discussed on this forum. How about clients' perceptions on something-such as perceived usefulness of the therapy? And include data from those who dropped out of therapy and use number of sessions before drop out as one of the measures.

I’m not asking anyone to do my work for me. I am simply bouncing ideas around and seeing if people have better suggestions.

I think exploration of stigma and the barriers preventing university aged students from seeking therapy is a fantastic and potentially proactive topic. Possibly find a more specific direction such as the effects on students who need and do not seek therapy and include stigma and other barriers as potential arguments for proving accessible support and pathways for these students. Although, this may be a difficult topic to collect data and find answers to, there may be those who were not aware of the healing effects of therapeutic spirituality and psychotherapy who may be willing to participate in casual therapy before trauma and stigma become a factor.

I’m really liking this topic around students and therapy. It’s relevant and practical, and something I can make recommendations on. It’s only for my undergrad so it doesn’t need to be mind-blowing, but it’s also do-able and interesting. Thank you so much for your positive input!