There is no doubt that research is hard. But if you could find an interesting topic that you are passionate about, you will be unstoppable. Is it true? Why am I saying so? This attempt is to dissect and diagnose the academic research pipeline to address such questions.
Research comes in all different forms and in areas like technology, medicine, history and science etc. The computer, the internet, COVID vaccine, cement, aeroplanes, space shuttles and even fire are evolved outcomes of research and experiment. Simply, we live in a world of research driven by the curiosity of humans. And whether we know it or not, it affects most of the things that we deal with in our lives. The modern form of humans only evolved about 200,000 years ago, and for whatever they have achieved, research has made a vital contribution.
Way too much rewinding the clock, right? Again, back to the topic. Just as I said earlier, research can take many forms. There are many types of research being conducted.
Even though there are two main types of research, casual and academic, what we focus here is on academic research. Academic research primarily focuses on making discoveries and inventions for the greater benefit of humankind. The journey of research starts with the genesis problem (the preliminary question that builds the underlying motivation) where no one else has found a solution yet to address the particular problem, but still keep on exploring and hunting possibilities.
The following could make your research problem more unique, attractive and worth the hustle
- A timely topic that is important to a greater community and has tremendous directions to progress our current understanding and knowledge of it
- A topic that requires non-trivial approaches, experiments and in-depth analysis
- A strong passion, motivation and analytical mindset behind the researcher to dig deeper
- An open enough topic where the researcher has the liberty to experiment, explore and invent
Assume you found a cool research topic that you are ready to die for ;D Then again, you need to explore the fundamental questions to answer under that topic and analyze what other people have done towards solving those identified research questions. This is called the literature review, and it is a process that enables us to identify the gaps in the current approaches that the other researchers in the field have proposed so far. A critical literature review will open up new possibilities and perspectives to the question. Now what? the research methodology. The research methodology comprises specific procedures, experimental setups and techniques used to come up with a new solution to the research problem at hand. This may include methods to identify, select, process, model and analyze data/information related to the topic. There are several research methodologies you can choose from based on the research topic and available resources.
By this time you know the problem and a way to find an answer. But what would keep you on track to be a good researcher? What skills need to be improved?
First things first; working hard, working smart and perseverance. One of the crucial skills in becoming a skilled researcher is spending enough time on your topic. A successful researcher, in other words, works hard. But, of course, it is not just about working very hard but also working “smart,” that the researcher should spend every minute of his time making some teeny tiny milestones at a time but while driving towards the aim/s. The researcher should have clear goals. This includes having a general goal of completing the thesis to educate and communicate the society with your findings, but also some subgoals or milestones to attain the main goal. But of course aims and objectives may change based on the level of your career and the underlying objective of conducting the study. Maintaining persistence or tenacity is also important when researching because you need to focus on your work despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.
Plan! Do! Check! Act! (PDCA in short). This famous PDCA cycle is a continuous loop of planning, doing, checking and acting. It offers a simple and effective method to issue resolution and change management. Before changing the processes and working habits, the model is effective in evaluating small-scale improvement initiatives. This will keep you on track throughout the research period while detecting loopholes and correcting them. The first attempt for your research may or may not be successful. You may need more than one iteration of PDCA. Because, doing research is like walking in an unknown territory, completely out of your comfort zone. Always keep in mind to maintain good interactions with your supervisor/s (if you have any) as they have years of domain expertise capable of significant contribution to your study.
The next one is Networking. Humans are part of a very sociable group by nature. You need to find and connect with like-minded people interested and experienced in the same field. But only if you are not an introvert from your very core :/ Not that I am saying being an introvert is bad, I am sort of an introvert too. Remember that you can use your other interpersonal skills and social platforms to get connected with academics and scientists. You can work on how to get socialized along the way. Back to the topic again, as I was saying the network is the new net worth. You are not alone in this journey. Many people have undergone the same trouble even before you were born until now. If you get an opportunity to attend international conferences, you should try to meet other students/professors and even industry personnel to establish contact with them. Other ways of establishing contact with other researchers are to send emails asking questions or discuss promising trends in the field. Building a social network is very important as it can create many opportunities for collaborations in future.
There is no such thing called an error-free, perfect, crystal clear research project. There can be ups and downs along the way. Some may praise you, but some will critically criticize your work. Therefore, an important skill to be a good researcher is to be humble, open-minded and be able to listen to others. You might feel that your project and approaches are the best of all time, yet there will always be some unidentified flaws or possibilities for improvement according to someone else’s perspective. A humble researcher will listen to the feedback and opinions of other researchers on their work. Be it positive or negative, they think about how to use this feedback to improve their work. A researcher that works alone can do excellent work. But discussions and collaborations with other like-minded researchers will spice up things, making the research problem at hand more tractable and effective to solve.
After a rigorous and extensive research process, the last step includes stepping back, evaluating what has been researched and then reporting the findings. Research evaluation is the process in which the purpose of research, the methodology used and methods, such as data collection and analysis, are rated to ascertain their relevance, value and their ability to achieve research objectives and to ascertain the significance of the research. For example, the purpose, design and availability of resources need evaluation.
There is usually no formalized system of evaluation, especially in qualitative research. This is because most evaluation methods can be emergent based on research purposes and design. General measures, such as peer review evaluation and transparency, however, should be taken into account to enhance the quality of research. Mostly, evaluation in research includes intra-disciplinary and interdisciplinary reviews. Several systematic evaluation guidelines are used in peer-reviews. Evaluation signifies the novelty of the research and its contribution towards solving the problem compared to the other attempts that are taken by other researchers.
Alright! Now that we have some sort of idea about becoming a good researcher, let us move on to your presentation skills. Because at the end of the day, what matters is how you present your research findings to the world. The first thing to improve is your writing skills. I mean the Academic Writing Skills. This skill is very important because a researcher will have to write many publications including reviews, theses and research papers. If you could pay at least 30 minutes per week to improve your writing skills, sooner or later it will come back in handy for sure. In terms of writing, there are two main pillars to consider. The first one is writing in English without grammar and spelling errors. And the other one is expressing the ideas clearly and in a well-organized manner. You may or may not be a native English speaker but these skills can be acquired by writing and reading papers, and spending the time to improve yourself when writing, as in reading the grammar rules when unsure about grammar. One of the recommended ways of improving the clarity in your writing is to get someone to review what you have written. It is better if the reviewer has less or no idea about the particular area because if they can understand what you are trying to deliver only by reading a piece of paper, it is more than enough for the interested parties to get the big picture.
Your public speaking skills are always important when presenting your research findings in front of a panel of judges, academic personnel or even to the general public. Having a very good understanding of the audience and the purpose of delivering the presentation is crucial to be successful. General public speaking guidelines are also applied in academic presentations, such as maintaining regular eye contact, speaking clearly and enunciating, having supportive gestures and postures, varying speech and pitch and interacting with the audience when necessary. Keep in mind that your audience wants you to succeed. No one is plotting for your failure. So, be confident and get the job done. Always be polite and show respect in the question and answer session. Provide precise and concise answers and one important thing, if you do not know the particular area or have not considered such things in your research, do not hesitate to claim that the question is out of scope due to your reason/s. Just do not ramble around to defend yourself as you know integrity is something that counts. This does not mean to say “I do not know” to every question but to be well prepared before the presentation and use the word ‘NO’ mindfully.
In this brief article, I gave some general advice about important skills for becoming a successful researcher. If you think that I have forgotten something, please post it as a comment below. Because no one is perfect and everyone can learn from each other :)
PS — This is my second article during the ScholarX mentoring program summarizing the qualities and characteristics of a good researcher as I got to know from my mentor, Dr Dinithi Sumanaweera.
ScholarX is a 6-month program for Sri-Lankan undergraduates who would like to get free premium mentoring during their study period and the mentors are also Sri Lankans who are studying, working and researching abroad.
Anyone interested in this program can refer to the SEF website. And stay tuned for the class of 2022.
More on upcoming blogs!
Stay safe!!
References
- https://researchbasics.education.uconn.edu/types-of-research/
- https://libguides.wits.ac.za/c.php?g=693518&p=4914913#:~:text=Research%20methodology%20is%20the%20specific,study's%20overall%20validity%20and%20reliability.
- https://artifacts.ai/what-is-academic-research/
- https://asq.org/quality-resources/pdca-cycle
- https://www.campuscareerclub.com/skills-of-a-good-researcher-must-have/
- https://www.elsevier.com/connect/how-to-become-a-successful-researcher-at-every-stage-of-your-career
