Strategies for Research

The purpose of research is to acquire knowledge. In pure fields such as philosophy or science, the pursuit of knowledge is ideally an open-minded affair engaged in for its own sake. In other activities such as applied research or industrial development, the inquiring mind seeks out new knowledge to support specific objectives. The open-ended nature of research endeavors and their lack of obvious solutions and promising avenues usually qualify them as difficult problems. This chapter explores a number of domain-independent issues and techniques for pursuing research in various disciplines. For the sake of concreteness, much of our discussion in this chapter focuses on the academic environment of graduate research. However, most of the topics and approaches pertain as well to research in other settings, whether a government laboratory or a corporate marketing office. The newcomer to the research enterprise tends to have a simple view of what research entails. He initially believes that following a few suggestions from the advisor will lead to demonstrable results, a series of advances that can be measured by the hour or week. He has a tacit belief that progress will ensue automatically over time, much like attending a hamburger stand, raking autumn leaves, or solving homework problems. How could he believe otherwise? He has little or no prior experience with difficult problems of the magnitude that now face him. Perhaps the most important thing he will learn in the first year or so is the environment of research. Addressing difficult problems requires a new mind-set, a willingness to explore new horizons, maintain an open mind, appreciate small insights, and even enjoy the steady stream of failures as well as successes. Learning to conduct research systematically will be the most important aspect of his education in the first year. If the research effort spans a planning horizon of about two years, the indoctrination will occur in conjunction with an orientation phase during the first half-year, a period for defining the problem and gathering relevant information.