Planning a research project requires consideration of many factors. Level of interest and knowledge in a specific area, access to appropriate populations of participants, support of mentors and other researchers, and funding availability all help determine the focus of a future project. An additional component to be considered is whether adequate, up-to-date research has already been completed on a topic; if sufficient evidence is available in a given core area, this area might not be the best choice for another research project.

The best research topic may be one in which either little research has been done or the research to date is insufficient, inconclusive, or mixed. In addition, when research conducted to date provides a low level of evidence and is of limited quality, additional high-quality research in the area is needed.

The “Research Opportunities Table in the Area of Driving and Community Mobility for Older Adults” provides an overview of the state of current available evidence on interventions within the scope of occupational therapy practice. The table is based on the systematic reviews from the American Occupational Therapy Association’s (AOTA’s) Practice Guidelines Series. The table lists specific interventions and indicates either that the evidence is strong to support the intervention or that moderate, mixed, or few studies support the intervention and therefore it is a priority area for future research. Researchers, students, and clinicians can use this information in developing innovative research to answer important questions within the field of occupational therapy. Please refer to Occupational Therapy Practice Guidelines for Driving and Community Mobility for Older Adults (Stav, 2015) and the November/December 2014 issue of the American Journal of Occupational Therapy (Golisz, 2014) for more information on the topic area and the systematic review process. To access other research opportunities tables online and search for research opportunities in other practice areas, visit http://www.aota.org/researchopportunitiestables.

Researchers are also encouraged to enter their projects into AOTA’s Researcher Database at http://myaota.aota.org/research/. This database provides AOTA with information such as relevant clinical settings and populations; International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health level (World Health Organization, 2001); funder (if any); and key words to help guide research advocacy and policy initiatives.

This work is based on the November/December 2014 issue of the American Journal of Occupational Therapy (Golisz, 2014) and the Occupational Therapy Practice Guidelines for Driving and Community Mobility for Older Adults (Stav, 2015), developed in collaboration with the AOTA Evidence-Based Practice Project.