Which approach do you suggest to a student that has an idea and would like to research its potential, when one does not yet have the knowledge and skills to do by oneself most of the work? Thank you.
Well designed research is becoming a rarity. The most important thing is the study design and about asking the 'right research question' . If you ask the right question and design a good study - only then are the results reliable and useful. A good resource to start with is to read about the protocols / application of grants process of NIH or any other funding agency. Not that you have to apply for it but they have templates for study protocols.
Also it would be good to go through the clinical trials registries to understand relevant ongoing / completed / incomplete studies in areas of your interest. You can then get in touch with them to understand the limitations. The basic tenet in research is knowing what has already been done and what needs to be done in the field! No use doing the same research giving the same answers ... unless you really think what you are doing adds to the information already available.
Also, reading the literature is important with a critical review of those articles. Some limitations of the study are always mentioned in the article but there will be few areas which are grey or not mentioned. These are either omitted or have been lost due to the restriction of "words limit" in most publications. A simple email to the author or a letter to editor raising the question would enable you to understand better as to what other challenges the researchers faced to avoid a hiccup in your own research.
And last but not the least, a good guide in your Department or Instiution can give you valuable insights on how you can proceed but they definitely will not have the time to teach you step by step .... but after all researcher is named as a re'searcher' because they are expected to search ... so ...
All that you should expect from a guide is that they 'show you the way/path'.
They should "talk the walk" and let you "walk the talk".
On a side note, are we all not students all through our profesional lives ? The moment we stop learning we have stopped growing in our field :)
Dear Akilesh,
Your answer is as much precious and useful as it is generos and warmhearted. It is not the first time that I came to appreciate your contributions here, on RG.
Thank you.
Jane
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