How to solve research problems

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Pre-reading tasks

1. Guess what the text headlined “How to solve research problems” can run about.

2. What advice can you give to those who have decided to start investigating a problem?

3. Name the main difficulties one can face while carrying out his research.

4. Choose from the box suitable definitions of the following words: period, to observe, to discover, supposition, to stimulate, effort, to confirm, drawback, foundation.

5. Match words of two columns to form word combinations. Make use of the text below to check whether you have fulfilled the task correctly. Use each word once only.

Reading

Read the first three paragraphs of the text “How to solve research problems” and fill in the blanks using appropriate words.

HOW TO SOLVE RESEARCH PROBLEMS

(overcoming common difficulties)

Problem – Making a start

Sometimes you 1) … a lot of 2) … researching your subject, but cannot 3)… a ‘thesis’ or a proposal. You are doing a lot of 4) … work, reading or gathering information, but you are unable to focus your ideas or 5) … with a topic you think will be 6) … or fruitful.

Solution

In cases like this, you can 7) … making a digest of your notes, or try to 8) … from your information those aspects of your subject which 9) … you most. Have a look at some other examples of research in the same subject area. Remember that you can 10) … your chosen topic later if 11).... It’s often better to make a start with something half-formed, rather than not make a start at all.

Problem – False start

Sometimes a project begins well, but then gradually appears to be 12) …. When inspected 13) …, the central idea might seem incorrect or fruitless. You might find that there’s not as much information on your topic as you had first 14) …. Take care! You will need to make a careful 15) … between a lack of material, and just a lack of interest in it. An additional problem in such cases is that by this time, you might have produced a substantial amount of work.

Solution 1

In this case you have some tough decisions to make, and they will be dependent upon how much time you have before you. You can either start afresh or make different use of the same material. Of course, you should discuss this decision with your supervisor. If you have only recently started, you could abandon your idea completely. Scrap the materials you have produced, and start work on something new. This is drastic, but better than continuing with a flawed idea. The work you have abandoned might not be entirely wasted. It will have given you the experience of tackling a longer project.

You will have learned something about handling more material than usual. It will also form background information for your next choice of topic. The experience of abandoning work already completed might be quite painful. Try to think of it in this positive light.

Solution 2

If your first idea was not so bad, choose a different aspect of it. Try to look at the same topic or materials from a different perspective. Do all this in consultation with your tutor, so that you don’t make the same mistake again.

Reworking your material may involve a fresh approach, or a new analysis of the information.

Alternatively, you could chop out parts and replace them with new material. Don’t feel guilty about any of this drastic re-working: it’s quite common. The final result might even be improved for this process of renewal.

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