literature-gap-finder

Literature Gap Finder

Systematic framework for identifying research opportunities in statistical methodology

Use this skill when: positioning research contributions, finding gaps in methodology literature, identifying unexplored combinations of methods and settings, building literature reviews, or deciding on research directions.

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The Gap-Finding Framework

What Makes a Good Research Gap?

A publishable gap must be:

1. Real - Not already addressed (check thoroughly!)
2. Important - Solves a problem researchers face
3. Tractable - Can be solved with available tools
4. Novel - Provides new insight, not just combination
5. Timely - Relevant to current research trends

Types of Gaps

Gap Type	Description	Example
Method Gap	No method exists for setting	No mediation analysis for network data
Theory Gap	Method exists but lacks theory	Bootstrap for mediation lacks consistency proof
Efficiency Gap	Methods exist but are inefficient	Doubly robust mediation more efficient
Robustness Gap	Methods fail under violations	Mediation under measurement error
Computational Gap	Existing methods don't scale	Mediation with high-dimensional confounders
Extension Gap	Existing method needs generalization	Binary → continuous mediator

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Method-Setting Matrix

Systematic Gap Identification Framework

The method-setting matrix is the core tool for finding research gaps systematically:

# Build a method-setting matrix programmatically
create_gap_matrix <- function() {
  methods <- c("Regression", "Weighting/IPW", "DR/AIPW", "TMLE", "ML-based")
  settings <- c("Binary treatment", "Continuous treatment",
                "Time-varying", "Clustered", "High-dimensional",
                "Measurement error", "Missing data", "Network")

  matrix_data <- expand.grid(method = methods, setting = settings)
  matrix_data$status <- "unknown"  # To be filled: "developed", "partial", "gap"
  matrix_data$priority <- NA
  matrix_data$references <- ""

  matrix_data
}

# Visualize the gap matrix
visualize_gaps <- function(gap_matrix) {
  library(ggplot2)

  ggplot(gap_matrix, aes(x = method, y = setting, fill = status)) +
    geom_tile(color = "white") +
    scale_fill_manual(values = c(
      "developed" = "#2ecc71",
      "partial" = "#f39c12",
      "gap" = "#e74c3c",
      "unknown" = "#95a5a6"
    )) +
    theme_minimal() +
    labs(title = "Method × Setting Gap Matrix",
         x = "Method", y = "Setting") +
    theme(axis.text.x = element_text(angle = 45, hjust = 1))
}