There are a few ways that I do research for my hub pages,I tried to stick to things that interest me first and foremost. But another way of trying to find the topic is to simply click on the "request" link, and see what people are looking for. By doing so, you can easily research their needs, and give them a concise response they're looking for.

What I've been currently spending my time learning, is niche markets. Look up a keyword phrase in Google and see how many results show up. For example, let's say you're searching for under water basketweaving. Once you press the search button, with that search term, at the bottom of the page you'll notice "Searches related to: underwater basket weaving". This is a good way of seeing what people are actually asking for when they search for that term. It's kind of a background look into the mind of Google and into the mind of the average Internet searcher.

Hope that helps.

TrajicK