Your assignment asks you to find a "gap" in research literature, meaning you are looking for an area or angle that has been explored very little or not at all. It is a gap in the existing knowledge about a subject. Examples of where gaps exist are: population sample (size, type, location), demographic, research method, data collection, or other research variables or conditions. You are being asked to address a gap that, when explored, could contribute new information.
Your assignment guidelines recommend finding and reading 10 peer-reviewed academic articles as part of a literature review. When you read across the breadth of a topic and think critically in the process about what information appears over and over and what questions remain unanswered as you read, this helps you identify gaps in existing research. By reading 10 sources you should find a balance between:
When you are reading an academic peer-reviewed article it will be divided into sections with subheadings. Look for the sections of the article under Discussion or Future Research or Implications to understand what the researchers know and what they still have questions about, or how they see their own research being built upon by others.
Ask questions in order to think critically as you read: who, what, when, where and how about the population, conditions or variables, methods or analysis, measurements, or outcomes of the research explored in each article you read.