What are the challenges and pitfalls of finding and filling a research gap?

The biggest challenge is finding a niche that will be specific enough to become your own (without stepping on another researcher’s toes, sort of speak, and thus create scientific redundancy and conflict), where a researcher may ask meaningful and relevant questions that have feasible and testable hypotheses. The latter may not sound like much of a challenge to some, but it is the key to science. If it answers a question that previously was unknown, then it’s significant, and it will be of interest to some. Not everything in science has to answer the big questions to be significant. Even the discovery of the smallest thing is a step into the unknown and can be a piece of the puzzle into the next big thing; it will be of interest to someone.

One thing I've found really helpful is to start out looking at review articles. They'll give you a bird's eye view of what's going on in that particular field, and you can use that to help figure out if it's worth diving in to some actual research articles.

In studies involving human subjects, an additional issue with a too narrow scope is simply finding enough participants. In my experience, we've had to adjust our eligibility criteria (in some cases more than once) in order to find people that qualify and would still benefit from the study.

I think most of it comes from the research problem under question. One can go on a macroscopic level, and find a good correlation between experimental or well established analytical results and numerical results (talking about scientific research). Going beyond what has been explored in microscopic level is what creates a gap. A new researcher has to be unlucky with the validation of his hypothesis in the first two instances. This will create a headache of ifs and buts, a pile of brainpower will be put into work and the gap will be created.

Finding a research gap can be tricky - Is the topic genuinely under-researched, or have you simply not looked hard enough or in the right places? This is the essence of the "Lack of Literature" challenge – a situation where the absence of existing research creates uncertainty about the significance of the chosen gap. It's akin to the classic chicken-or-the-egg dilemma. Does the gap exists because it hasn't been explored? or It hasn't been explored because it doesn't warrant attention?

In my experience, one needs to commit significant time and effort to not only search a wide range of databases but to also consult with experts in the field.

For me, finding literature was likely the most time-consuming part of research. In graduate school, one of my jobs was an instructional research assistant and my primary responsibility was helping researchers find applicable literature. Finding the information can clearly be challenging enough for universities, organizations, etc. to literally hire people purely to help with this task. If you still haven't found what you need after utilizing all of your resources, maybe that's a gap that needs to be studied.

From a scientific point of view what is proposed makes sense. However, there are other factors to keep in mind. Often, conflicting findings that involve publications in high-impact factors journals will receive biased support just for the publication journal itself more than the actual quality of the research. Data supporting different findings will find high resistance to being published, risking to put in jeopardy your research, funding, and career.

Try to avoid the "who is right and who is wrong?" mentality. Conflicting or inconsistent findings may be resulting from factors outside of the researchers' scope of work, or the issue at hand is capable of very different interpretation.

In addition to article studies, I will occasionally look at a meta-analysis, analyze their methods and findings, and it can sometimes point you to where the majority of findings lie.

Finding and closing research gaps on sensitive topics is tricky and sometimes complicated because of ethical issues and risks involved in conducting such research. Researchers need to identify vulnerable participants and implement mechanisms that address any adverse reactions or responses during and after the research process. However, the need for risk assessment and protection mechanisms for researchers is equally essential. Researchers must be in the right frame to address identified research gaps. - Academic institutions must create initiatives that protect sensitive topic researchers. - Funding bodies ought to review a university's guidelines on the researcher's well-being and support compliant institutions.

Experiencing imposter syndrome as a new researcher is very challenging and it can make the process of finding and filling a research gap even more daunting. When I’m experiencing a lack of confidence or imposter syndrome I do my best to recognize that I’m experiencing imposter syndrome and the normality of the feeling while seeking support from a mentor or colleague. It’s often really hard to embrace failure but failure is a part of the learning process and focusing on growth, goals and self compassion take me further as a researcher than anything ever will, especially as a researcher coming from a marginalized identity. Remember that overcoming imposter syndrome is a journey and it takes time and effort.

Especially for those who are doing PhD or postdoctoral research in industries with manager or directors who have no experience about science and engineering. The goals set are displayed in an unrealistic manner, to give a budget and a point to clarify an image of the team to the head of directors (talking about my personal experience). And this actually does bring huge pressure in and out the office. Especially when dealing with predictive modelling of a physical phenomena.

Plan, plan, plan. Brainstorm every possible conflict, hinderance, issue that could arise and plan for how you/your study will adapt.

Lastly, you should check if a gap exists with a good reason. Being able to say "no one has researched on this before" is very tempting, but make sure to reflect on why the gap exists. Does filling the gap have potential for intellectual and/or applicational impact that justify the work?