Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Learning to do research involves acquisition of a range of separate skills. It takes
experience to see these skills as part of a single integrated “process of research”. That
is, many people learn to be researchers by working step by step under supervision;
only after having been through the research process once or twice does the bigger
picture become evident.
Some newcomers try to pursue research as if it were some other kind of activity.
For example, in computer science many research students see experimentation as
a form of software development, and undertake a research write-up as if they were
assembling an essay, a user manual, or software documentation. Part of learning to be
a scientist is recognition of how the aims of research differ from those of coursework.
A perspective on research is that it is the process that leads to papers and the-
ses, because these represent our store of accepted scientific knowledge. Another
perspective is that it is about having impact; by creating new knowledge, successful
research changes the practices and understandings of other scientists. Our work must
be adopted in some way by others if it is to be of value. Thus another part of learning
to be a scientist is coming to understand that publication is not an end in itself, but
is part of an ongoing collaborative enterprise.
Beginnings
The origin of a research investigation is typically a moment of insight. A student
attending a lecture wonders why search engines do not provide better spelling cor-
rection. A researcher investigating external sorting is at a seminar on file compression,
and ponders whether one could be of benefit to the other. An advisor is frustrated by
network delays and questions whether the routing algorithm is working effectively.
A student asks a professor about the possibility of research on evaluation of code
reliability; the professor, who hadn't previously contemplated such work, realises
that it could build on recent advances in type theory. Tea-room arguments are a
rich source of seed ideas. One person is idly speculating, just to make conversation;
another pursues the speculation and a research topic is created. Or someone claims
that a researcher's idea is unworkable, and a listener starts to turn over the arguments.
What makes it unworkable? How might those issues be addressed?
This first step is a subjective one: to choose to explore ideas that seem likely to
succeed, or are intriguing, or have the potential to lead to something new, or that
contradict received wisdom. At the beginning, it isn't possible to know whether the
work is novel or will lead to valuable results; otherwise there would be no scope
for research. The final outcome is an objective scientific report, but curiosity and
guesswork are what establish research directions.
It is typically at this stage that a student becomes involved in the research. Some
students have a clear idea of what theywant to pursue—whether it is feasible, rational,
or has research potential is another matter—but the majority are in effect shopping
for a topic and advisor. They have a desire to work on research and to be creative,
perhaps without any definite idea of what research is. They are drawn by a particular
