Finding researchable topics via a taxonomy of a field of knowledge

There are many paths leading to knowledge creation. This paper offers one step-by-step methodology for systematically identifying voids and hence researchable topics within a given field of knowledge. The method is based on transforming a descriptive taxonomy into a prescriptive one. Two disparate literature surveys, one for Combining Probability Distributions in Rational Group Decision Making and the other for Perishable Inventory Theory are used to demonstrate the efficacy of the procedure.