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Next year I will be embarking on my Research Project for BTech level. I am stumped for ideas on topics! I would like to embark on something that will improve our profession in some way or another. I am not interested in biomechanics or orthotic prescription. I want it to be directly related to South African issues.

I would really appreciate it if I can get some ideas from other podiatrists and podiatry students out there. Perhaps your in put can help me formulate a winning topic

Hi Jay

Its commendable that you are starting to think of a topic for your Research Project.At an Honours level your Resarch needs to be relatively simple. My personal feeling is that you must opt to do a Quantitaive study if possible-this will ultimately depend on what you are investigating.

A few thoughts on possible topics:

1) Use of traditional medicine in treating foot conditions-to my knowledge never done before;I could be mistaken though
2) Finding out the foot health needs of a specific geographical region in SA where there is no access to Pod or Foot Health Care eg N Cape etc.You could send out a questionnaire to doctors and nurses in provincial/prvate practices.
3) Investigating why the current cohort of first year students are actually studying the course and finding out the reasons for the high attrition/drop-out from first year (this is clumsily put but I do believe there is merit to a study of this nature if carefully planned).You could also include where they hear about the course and what prompts them to apply or eventaully register.
4) You could do a small study/pilot study to improve the quality of teaching/service delivery at one of the provincial hospitals where Pod students attend for experiential learning.Actually a step back would be to identify the challenges faced when attending some of these clinics and then proceed from there.

All of these topics have the potential to grow much bigger and further I believe into a Masters study.Im just giving you ides of small components taht will lead to further study

Ultimately the topic you choose must interest you-otherwise you will not enjoy the research process.these are some ideas I will try thinking of some more but cant at the moment esp as you dont want to do something in Biomech or orthotics. Would a topic in the field of Diabetes or Rheumatolgy interest you?You could then think about tapping into one of those areas.Again-I have some ideas but only if you are interested.

It is also worthwhile looking at previous studies and see the recommendations for future studies-this might also get you thinking about possible topics

If you want to discuss any of these topics further or you require further info please feel free to contact me

Good luck

Regards

Fatima