Research process

The research process enables efficient research.  It is in some way forcing you into doing systematic research. It normalizes the chance for experienced and less experienced students to do equally well. There are many good processes out there depending on the nature of the topics.  This is one of the typical research processes.

PHASE 0: BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE - SET YOUR GOAL

Before using this process set the target which conference you will submit and note the publication deadline.  Now schedule your time from now to your publication deadline, by estimating how much time it takes for each step below.  For a new Ph.D., before you go to the process below, first browse the literature.  Get acquainted with the research in the past 3 years, in the conference you want to submit. Read abstracts, look at figures, how they experiment, etc, so you can get a sense of what is the state-of-the-art and what are the open problems. Then decide one good problem to work on.  You will likely stick to this problem for your entire period of Master/Ph.D. life.  Before you start, this short blog may help you:

As an overview, the research process can be separated into three phases: (1) identify the problem and solution (40%), (2) develop solutions and conduct experiments (30%), and (3) write, rewrite, refine (30%).

PHASE 1: PROBLEM AND SOLUTION DEFINITION

  1. Define a problem/research question.  Define a clear, concrete, non-ambiguous problem/research question.  Asking a good question is one thousand times more important than finding a solution.  It is just like sailing a ship in the wrong direction.  Even the ship is running very fast and efficiently, it does not really matter.  If you feel difficult to define a problem, go to Step 0 and read more papers.
     
  2. Now check the literature carefully.  You should read only from the top tier conferences / venues in your area.  What has been done already in your area relating to this problem?  What are their pros and cons?  Are there any remaining challenges?  How does your work position in the literature?   More how to do related work efficiently.
     
  3. Refine your problem.  Now refine your problem statement to be more precise and narrow.  Repeat 2 and 3 until you got a concrete, clear, significant, narrow problem / question.
     
  4. Propose a solution to the problem.  Come up with a rough outline for your solution, try to do some coding and get some intuition whether they will work.  You will eventually naturally form a set of hypotheses in your head.
     
  5. Double-check the criteria for your solution.
    • Feasible:  Do you have at least a rough idea of how to implement it?  How long will it take?  What is the risk that it will not work as you think?   Will you be able to finish this within your given time?
    • Novel:  Are you sure your solution is novel? Novel means the idea is creative, original and refreshing.   It does not need to be technically difficult but the idea is just creative and very interesting.
    • Significant:  If you solve this problem, who will benefit from your work?
    • Scientifically verifiable: Can you really show that it is a good and valid solution?  Can you prove in a solid way that the problem is solved? (there are something science cannot answer).

      If all/some of your answer is unsure, please rethink carefully, try an alternative solution, or rescope your problem / question.

PHASE 2:  EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

  1. Think about your experimental design.  Now think about how you can **scientifically** prove what you claim or intend to achieve, in which metric, in which context.  Draw a mockup table showing how your final comparisons (i.e., how many factors you compare) will look like.   Your professor will love it.
     
  2. Write everything down on the paper using the format of the venues you wanted to submit (highly recommend the latex template).  Now, I know you already feel itchy to start execution.  But wait, first, please write the  Introduction, Related Work, Methodology for your paper.  This is necessary to clear your mind and force your mind to think logically and deeply.    Although it takes time, you will often (about 99.99%) to find that you found flaws in your work that you have not thought about before, without writing.   Detailed guide here
     
  3. Implement your solution - yes, implement your solution. Try to get inspirations from Github to work smart. 
     
  4. Run a pilot study -Running a cheap pilot study is often useful to see what happens and see whether anything about experimental design or solution needs to be changed.  You will be often surprised that there are many unexpected things happening.  Repeat this step until everything seems to be expected, where you found a trend that you will find a practical and statistically significant effect.
     
  5. Run the experiment and analyze data - you know best what to do here in your field.

PHASE 3: PAPER WRITING

  1. Write and polish. Finish the rest of your paper and polish.  Remember that real writing starts in revision.  A good paper usually takes at least 1 month of rewriting. Make good figures, good video, write concisely and clearly, it takes a lot of time and effort. Double-check this criterion.
    • Novelty:  What is creative, original here? 
    • Significance:  What is the impact here?
    • Validity:  Did you really prove what you have claimed?  
    • Clarity:  Last, did you clearly convey 1, 2, and 3?
       
  2. Prepare for rebuttal (conference) or revision (journal).  After several months, the verdicts are out.  Prepare yourself to do a good rebuttal and/or revision.  The key point for rebuttal is "Be polite. Prioritize the most important issues.  SHOW how you change, not simply what you will change."