After deciding to focus on how Scottish universities communicate their Net Zero strategies, I started thinking more seriously about the exact scope of my research. At first, this seemed like a simple decision, but it actually involved several layers of consideration—and it would directly affect both the depth and breadth of the study.

One of the first questions I struggled with was choosing my research subject. Should I focus only on the University of Edinburgh and do a deep dive into how it communicates sustainability in different areas? Or should I include multiple Scottish universities to do a cross-comparison? A single case study would allow me to explore Edinburgh’s communication system in greater depth and examine how consistent or contradictory its messaging is. On the other hand, a multi-case comparison would give me a broader perspective, allowing me to identify common trends and differences across universities—which could lead to more general conclusions.

After weighing the pros and cons, I’m leaning towards focusing mainly on the University of Edinburgh, while also including the University of Glasgow and the University of St Andrews for comparison. This way, I can still do a deep analysis of Edinburgh’s strategies, but also gain insights from other universities to enrich the overall picture.

Of course, this choice brings up another question: how can I make the comparison meaningful? Scottish universities differ in many ways—size, history, areas of focus—so simply comparing them side by side might overlook some important background factors. That means I’ll need to pay attention to the specific context of each university, looking not only at what they have in common, but also understanding what makes each one unique.

Another key factor I have to consider is my own capacity and the resources I have. Including more universities would definitely improve the representativeness of the research, but it would also make the project more time-consuming and complex. As a master’s student, I need to strike a balance between an ideal research design and what’s actually doable. Taking all this into account—time, energy, and resources—focusing on two or three representative Scottish universities seems like the most practical approach.

Thinking through all of this helped me narrow down the scope of my research, but it also made me realize that choosing a topic is much more complicated than I first thought.

Thinking Through and Deciding on My Research Scope / Yunyi Yang / Future Infrastructure, Climate Change and Sustainability: KIPP & Futures Project (2024-25) by is licensed under a