How Do I Get Better at Research?
As someone who came from outside of academia to do a PhD, who explored the messy and subjective interior worlds of other people through play for years prior, I relate very much to this experience.
When I first felt overwhelmed by the idea of research myself, I went to words. Specifically, to find a definition. Because sometimes you have to break things down into the smallest units you can and make sense in the rebuilding.
Research, in verb form, is to investigate systematically.
Systematically is defined as according to a fixed plan or system; methodically.
Methodically means in an orderly or systematic manner.
What reassured me at the time was all the objective appearing language of a system and order and fixed plans. Surely then research would be a process that had steps or a pathway or a rubric even.
But then I arrived to a place very similar to which you appear to be writing from. A place where this person cites this person that you’ve seen cited before but then you read the paper and they’ve all did things in not quite the same way.
You realize methods sections can look a lot less like a system and a lot more like wandering through a verbal labyrinth.
All of this is to say, that it makes sense that you’re confused. The research process can be confusing. And the way people write academic papers about their research doesn’t exactly help make it less so.
In many ways research does feel like a never ending checklist, I do understand exactly what you mean. It just also can be a shifting checklist depending on whose advice you’re seeking or whose paper you’re reading.
And yet, at one point, each research project has to be done so it can’t actually be a never ending shifting checklist. The paper has to be submitted, the funding runs out, the stakeholders need a final recommendation.
There’s a peace that must be made against a sort of perfectionistic tendency, against an absolute ‘final truth’ of each piece of research. Be mindful of the expectations you’re holding of yourself for either of those things, or of other people’s expectations of you (because those are unrealistic expectations I just mentioned, perfection or a final singular truth, and you shouldn’t be held to account for those things).
Before we move on, I want to pause to make sure you catch something important here: you didn’t belittle yourself about being confused. You didn’t show any self-hatred in the writing while you’re feeling frustrated and exhausted and uncertain. There was no ‘I’m not smart enough for this’ or ‘I don’t deserve this because I don’t know this’ etc. The absence of those thoughts are important. I want to point that out because sometimes half the battle with research or post-grad degrees is having the self-confidence and self-trust to navigate the feelings and then have the energy to do the searching for the information they need.
So rather than spend time in the realm of the emotions for this letter, I’ll leave you with some practical tips for who to ask for help, and building confidence in research / for becoming a researcher.
Where to start: librarians.
Librarians are expert researchers, even if their job description doesn’t say so. And not only do they know the process of research, they have the knowledge of the resources your specific university has (or if you’re not with the university, then the resources your city council or state legislature has). They may be up for a conversation or they may be up for directing you to resources. Either way, start with the questions you posed here with setting up interviews or surveys, and data analysis introductions, and see where they can point you.
If you don’t have a librarian to access, or you’re not feeling confident about asking the questions that will be helpful for you, I would encourage you to look through university blogs, YouTube videos, grad student social medias, and anything ‘how-to’ related that you can find online. You are not the first nor the last to feel like research doesn’t exactly make sense or that it hasn’t clicked for you yet. And whether or not any one person you find says it explicitly, those resources are made because people recognize a hole in knowledge that exists right now and are trying to fill it creatively and accessibly. They recognize that feeling on some level.
(And if you really want to practice your research skills, keep notes on the searches you put in, who led you to another place, what conversations you found helpful, etc. Keep track of your own process of learning how to become comfortable researching.)
Librarians also can be incredibly helpful in the literature review phase that you mentioned above. They can help you choose which type of literature review you need to do (scoping, systematic, etc.) and which databases will be helpful, including how to navigate said database. University library staff also usually have experience with reference managers which can come in super handy for not only a review but a thesis as well.
Where to languish: the meandering middle
Once you have a plan, a roadmap, a method, it’s go time. But also - do you remember in the game Candy Land, that sort of sticky swamp place (aka Molasses Swamp), that’s not so far ahead of passing go (if you’ll allow me to mix game metaphors here) when it comes to the research process.
Be prepared for the emotions to come and be elevated. Don’t take on a research process devoid of support. Know who you can lean on, cry with, ask questions with, ignore all things research related with, during this time. It’s a meandering place, the middle of the research process, so embrace it!
Showing your work - a lot of the research process is understanding which method fits, following the method process, and then showing / proving / defending all the choices you made. This ‘show your work’ phase is the most orderly bit of the whole research process in my opinion because it’s required no matter the field or the type of method. Philosophically how do your choices align, practically how do your choices align, has anyone ever done this before or why not, who did you learn from and why not choose this other person, etc. As much detail as you have about your process the better. And that’s research. This is the systematic investigation. Even if there are many ways to go about systematically investigating, as long as we can read your work and know why you made those choices and follow along your work, then you’ve accomplished what you came here to do.
Sharing your results with others - people will always have different feedback for you because they’re coming to it from different vantage points. The vantage point of who they are as an individual. Which is different than who you are as an individual. This means there will always be a difference between what you find and what someone else will find. Or how you wrote it up versus how someone else will write it up. Because you’ve had different life experiences, different trainings, different educational backgrounds. It doesn’t mean that you’re right and they’re wrong or they’re right and you’re wrong. It just means you’re different people coming at a project differently.
Where to end: listen to your gut / instincts
This depends on what you’re aiming for.
What I mean by that is a paper for peer review publication might have a more traditional complete a check-list finishing. Like making sure your references are in order, figures are labelled, you are within the page limit, the abstract is written, etc. A thesis is similar too, but I had a sort of feeling of wholeness that let me know I was done writing and then it was time for the edits and structure and things like above.
For, let’s say qualitatively data analysis, it’s done when there’s a completeness to the story. Not a happy ending or a conclusive it’s been analyzed in every way possible. But a ‘this narrative is complete’ moment, a ‘I’ve told a whole story here’ (even if it’s only one story of many potential stories). Look up Braun & Clarkes’ books for interviews and surveys, they have some of the best reassurance out there when it comes to knowing when data analysis is ‘over’. I don’t have the experience with statistical analysis on a post-grad level but I reckon there is a natural stop point too, where in alignment with practices in the field, you would stop running more analyses. That is something to research! 🤭
There are so many specifics that cannot be named and accounted for in a letter like this, but I hope it’s left a breadcrumb trail for you to get going with.
Research is one of those annoying life experiences that require a lot of doing in order to feel like you get it or you’re doing a good job or even to be slightly less confused. Think of it has something that requires a lot of getting your hands dirty to make sense, and a lot of note taking on the side to keep track of everything that’s happened since you put your hands in the mud.
(I’m full of play based metaphors today - I guess that shows my true feelings about research, a playful process that requires doing)
I believe in you!
See you two Sundays from now (SXSWEDU & SXSW intermission next week),
Dr. Sydney Conroy
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