Planning research projects.
tutor: Mike Horne FGS
for the Centre for Life Long Learning
I think that research is fun. It is a great way to learn you are finding things out and doing things, rather than just reading someone else's words. If you are involved in any form of formal education you are likely to have to a research project at some stage in your studies.
Here are some hints that might help you.
If the research is for a qualification - find out the Rules. What are the rules on time allowed, presentation style, word limits and so on. Find these out before you start and negotiate with your supervisor so that you have a clear idea of what you are doing and the boundaries that you have to keep within.
If your research is for publication - find out the Rules of the journal/publisher.
The practical side of research - fieldwork or whatever - will always take longer to do than you expect.
Plan things well. You certainly need to try to do your practical work in a well thought out and methodical way. That will save you time in the long run. If you do not then you are likely to have to repeat bits of it. I know this from experience doing geological fieldwork - it is annoying to get home and think 'I wish I had done ....' and then have to go back again to do it!
But don't spend too long planning - planning can turn into procrastination. If you spend too long planning then you will have to rush or miss out bits of the practical work. Is your search for the perfect plan just a way of putting off the work?
Break up a longer piece of research into small manageable discreet tasks.
Get a diary and put important dates into it. Set yourself some deadlines for finishing bits of the research. Put the dates when you can do the practical work into the diary. For instance a lot of my geological fieldwork can only be dome on weekends when there is a low tide. If the research is for a qualification set yourself a deadline for finishing the writing up - preferably a few weeks before it has to be handed in - that way you can leave it alone for a week before proof reading it.
You do not have to do things sequentially. There are probably several tasks to do - e.g. literature search, practical work, statistical analysis, &c. Set yourself a programme to run these strands of the research alongside each other.
Remember that 'absence of evidence is not evidence of absence' - just because you do not observe something does not mean that it is not there!
Don't be put off if you do not get the answers/results you expected. Negative results are still results and are worthy of recording and writing up.
Writing up -
I find that this is the hardest bit of research. It seems so final - once your write up the project seems to have ended. I am always tempted to wait just a little bit longer just in case the one piece of evidence I hope for turns up. Perhaps a better way of looking at it is to think - 'this represents my understanding of the topic today', it is not an end to the work or a definitive statement but just a snapshot of things as they are now.
There is also a degree of compromise involved - it is not simply a case of writing what you want to write. You have to consider the reader and write in a way to keep the reader interested - otherwise there is little point in writing. The style and format should also be appropriate. Assessed work for a qualification usually has to follow standards and you will lose marks if you do not meet those standards. There may be times when you have to seriously decide whether you should 'jump through the hoops' or remain true to yourself!
Check that you know exactly what is expected in the write up - including style (e.g. personal or impersonal, formal or informal), sections/chapters, formatting, bibliography/references.
You do not have to write up in the final order of the chapters/sections. There is something to be said for leaving the introduction, abstract and conclusions to last. This is easy when you use a computer because you can cut and paste and insert things wherever you want. If you are not using a computer then you could start each chapter/section on a new page, to give yourself some flexibility.
Start writing some bits as you go along - in particular the research methods/protocols that you have adopted, the results of practical work and fieldwork, statistics and the references/bibliography.
State the obvious - it easy to miss things out because they seem obvious to you, but they might need explaining to the reader.
Don't try to use jargon that you do not understand - it is far better to use your own words and observations. If you describe things in your own words then it hard to go wrong, but if you use the wrong jargon word then you will confuse the reader, look stupid and probably loose marks in an assessment.
You do not have to include everything you have done. Remember that you may have to stay within a word count and that you must keep the reader interested. There may be bits of the research that took you a long time but should be left out or put into an appendix because they are (to put it bluntly) boring!
Reflection - towards the end of the project and writing up you should reflect on how the research went, whether you achieved your aims and how you whether you would do it differently knowing what you do now. Whether you should include this in the write up is debatable - it might show a high degree of maturity which will be appreciated by the marker or it might draw the marker's attention to bits you are not so proud of. If in doubt - discuss it with your supervisor/editor.
Remember to use the spell check and proof read the finished product!
copyright Mike Horne - 2019
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