Research for everyone is different, for some it is competitive research that they want to pursue in the near future or is a part of their ongoing work. Research is very subjective and usually needs to be funded and most of the PhD candidates are looking for opportunities to work on. 
Personally, I have interest in Material Science and Construction materials, and the structural performance of such materials in the field of civil engineering. All of the previous research publication have been along the same theme. 

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Most student pursuing higher education would like to pursue a MS thesis or a PhD in the near future. For them, my advise would be to start identifying their interests and the professor in various universities that work on these topics. It can be an exhaustive task but as from my personal experience with identifying research potentials and potential topics it allows you to learn more about the scope of the research and your genuine interest for it. If you find a specific topic try to make a exhaustive list of the research publications that currently exist, and research out to the corresponding authors to get more information.

Moreover, you should also read the introduction, research objectives and proposed conclusion for each of the research papers that you like. Then your motive should be to identify the lacuna gap and the mean and methods to fill out these lacuna gaps and then start with your research. Research can be theoretical or analytical or experimental. In most cases, you will come across theoretical research which not backed by analytical results or any practical experimental results. Any research that your propose to work on should be a composition of theoretical background along with analytical and experimental validation. If you provide all the above results, then your research becomes credible and hold a lot of importance. Below you can find some of my articles.