Defining a Research Trajectory (II)

I find myself thinking more and more about research trajectories, in particular in the specific context of PhD studies. Today, I would like to discuss the notion of personal and external coherence of a research project and a research trajectory. (A previous discussion of of the pieces of a research trajectory can be found here.)

Research Projects and Research Trajectories (or Research Agendas)

Projects and trajectories, or agendas, are different beasts, and distinguishing between the two, explicitly, and early on in the definition of your research project can help you moving forward more quickly.

Projects are bounded research efforts, clearly defined as having a start and an end. Together, multiple research projects trace a research trajectory. A research trajectory is the path traced by complementary research projects. In other words, trajectories and agendas are about answering Big Questions that take a lifetime or more to tackle, while research projects tackle precise research questions and have a short duration. Your PhD is a research project, albeit a big one.

It helps to distinguish between the two because we often wish to answer big questions in our thesis, but then the PhD is no longer feasible. You have seven research questions that would each require seven professors to devote seven lifetimes towards scratching their surfaces. Ok, I might be exaggerating, but the point remains, big questions are interesting, more interesting than small questions. Yet, small questions are the baby steps necessary to answer big questions.

Marking the difference between big and smaller questions helps, because it allows you to let go of the big research questions, as you relocate them within your research trajectory or agenda. You are still pursuing your Big Question, but over your career, and at this moment, you are advancing through a specific, bounded, feasible research project.

Personal and External Coherence

In thinking of your PhD research project, or any project bounded in time, you should consider four dimensions: passion, skill set, feasibility, and zeitgeist. The first two are personal dimensions of your project’s coherence, while the last two are external dimensions. A good enough project should balance those four dimensions.

In reflecting on your research project and hammering it on your keyboard, you will likely move in circles through those four dimensions. For example, you might have a great project about which you care greatly, yet proves difficult to pull out, let alone in three years. As one dimension proves lacking, it will send you back to the other dimensions and force you to revise your project. I think that’s to be expected and a good thing. By considering carefully these four dimensions of your research project, you are less likely to find yourself in a difficult position once the project is half done.

Personal Coherence: Passion and Skill Set

Simply put, do you care about your project and do you have the skills to pull it off successfully. This can be hard dimensions to balance. I hear fellow students sometimes mention how they would like to pursue a mixed method research design, in part because they’ve taken statistics courses. This is somewhat puzzling, as taking courses does not ensure mastery, and it also suggests that the interest in statistics might be fairly recent.

It is worthwhile thus to take one skill set in consideration in selecting a research project and, more precisely, research questions. If you need to read a ton, if you need to take more courses, or if you feel somewhat insecure, then perhaps you are selecting the wrong project.

On the other hand, passion goes a long way. If you care deeply about the project, then it is more likely that most days will less like work, that cracking new books open on correlations will not bother you much, as you feel driven forward. Passion is often the first place to start, but it is important to circle back to passion as the project takes shape. For example, you might have a great idea of a project, something close to you, but then, as you tackle feasibility, for example, your research question shifts, and then, without you necessarily noticing, the project is no longer what you really care about, simply because it is now feasible. If this happens to you, and you catch it early on, then keep thinking and find a better project, because a PhD is a looong and looonely path. You need drive, so make passion your priority.

External Coherence: Feasibility and Zeitgeist

The two dimensions I would mark as external are feasibility and zeitgeist. Feasibility results from the constraints placed upon you. How much time do you have for your project compared to how much time it will likely take? In developing your research questions, you will go through several iterations, and most of which will be rejected because they are not feasible. Great questions though… So keep them, but as part of your agenda or trajectory.

Zeitgeist is the spirit of the time. It is the external side of passion. It is the field’s passion. What is hot in your field? Will anyone else but you care about your findings?

Zeitgeist also reflects your future work plans. For example, if you wish to aim for academia, then there might be topics that are more likely to be in demand when you get your degree than others. If, on the other hand, you are aiming for corporate work, then you might wish to reconsider specific lines of inquiry, or avoid a certain tone in your dissertation.

Spiralling Through the Four Dimensions

In developing your research projects, you will likely evaluate several different approaches, topics, methods, and research questions, trying to find a purposeful combination. This I would call internal coherence. The purpose of this post is to draw your attention to four other dimensions, two personal, and two external, that you should also consider in developing your research project: passion, skill set, feasibility, and zeitgeist. If one were to draw those as circles on a Venn diagram, then the ideal research project is the one that is in all four circles, a project you care about, a project you can do, a project you can do in three years or so, and a project others care about and that will help towards securing a good job after your studies. As with most things in life, you may have to make compromises in finding that perfect project.