如何找到一个好的研究目标

Literature review 4: How to set research objectives. Big idea and small steps

Hey, it’s Dr. Liu here with Better LIFE Research TIPS. Today I want to talk about how to set good research objectives.

When you set your research objectives, there are two important principles. The first principle is to think big and aim high, the second principle is to be realistic and start low. These two principles may sounds contradictory. But actually they are not. Because the process of setting research objectives involves at least two steps. In the first step, you want to find a fundamental real world problem you want to help to solve. Solving the problem should have a significant impact, because you want to be part of something important. You do no want to focus your work on a small hole. If you are not contributing to a big or important fundamental problem, even you work hard and do a great job, your impact will still be limited. In order to be important and impactful, you need to think big and aim high.

But on the other hand, targeting a big problem and aim high does not necessarily mean big and complex objectives. You are not expected to solve all the problems in one study. You should focus on something that you can handle. You want to start low, and take realistic and small steps. Therefore, after you identified a significant fundamental problem, the next step is to figure out realistic objectives that help to solve the identified overall problem. Your objectives should be realistic, because you want to be credible and have acceptable chance of success. You should evaluate the available resources you have, and check what you are able to do in your study at the current time. You should learn to appreciate small and solid gains. Your objectives may be small, but as long as they are set in the right direction, accumulation of small and solid gains will ultimately lead to the solving of the overall big problem. There is a saying. “You do not have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.”

Sometime, you may want to set a clear goal or aim for solving the overall fundamental problem. The goal is something you are trying to achieve, and it provides direction for your work. The objectives are the steps you take in order to get to the goal. The goal is the destination, and objectives are your milestones. The goal may be a great building, but your objective could be just a small brick. The goal is often shared with many other researchers in the same field. That is how researchers from different part of the world and form different times can work together to solve big problems. But for the objectives of your study, you often have to take ownership. In order to set a meaningful goal, you need to understand your field, and the critical need of your target audiences. It would be nice to get advices from other people in related fields. Professional conferences are great places to meet people, to meet expert in your area, and get advices. But for the specific objectives in your study, there may not be a lot of people who can understand. You may have to rely more on yourselves, your reading, your preliminary results, your advisors, and your colleagues who work closely with you.

In fact, when writing your literature review, one of the main tasks could be to establish relationship between your research objectives and the overall goal. You may need to provide a rationale for your proposed research objectives. You want to persuade your readers that your proposed research objectives will contribute to the solving of a fundamental real world problem, or contribute to the overall goal. It is common that the significance of the problem or the goal has already been well recognized by the research community. Therefore, in your literature review, your main task is often to provide your special angle for solving the identified problem by proposing your specific research objectives. This diagram here explains a typical structure of a research paper. In the literature review or the introduction section, you move from a overall fundamental problem to a specific critical need, and then you move to more specific research objectives, and you prove to your readers, your research objectives will make solid contribution to the solving of the overall fundamental problem, and in the same time, they are realistic and feasible. After you complete your specific tasks defined by your objectives, and you get your results, you may describe how your results realized your objectives in the discussion section. And finally, in the conclusion section, you may restate and specify how the realized objectives have contributed to the solving of the overall fundamental problem, and what are the next steps.

Good research objectives should be clear and allow for practical action. Sometimes they should reflect the methodology part to some extent. Achievement of the objectives should be measurable. Two common types of quantitative research objectives are descriptive objectives, and analytical objectives. For descriptive objectives, a common verb to use is “to estimate”. For example, the objective can be “to estimate the value of a certain variable using a certain method.” For analytical objectives, a common verb to use is “to determine”. For example, the objective can be “to determine whether variable A is affected by variable B.” Of course, there are many other verbs can be used. But it is generally not a good idea to use the verbs such as “to study”, or “to investigate” in research objectives, because they are not specific and clear enough, and achievement of these kind of objectives are not actually measurable. To have a measurable objective can be very important, especially when many researchers from different part of the world are working together towards a shared goal, and your research is part of a group effort of the research community. In order to built a great building together, you need to make it clear for the size of the brick you make, and how others can use your brick in the building.

Thanks for watching, I am Dr. Liu with research tips for the underdogs. In the next video, I will talk about how to narrow down your research question and focus your topic to the appropriate level. Until next time, keep studying for a better life.

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