Research Methods for

Successful PhD
RIVER PUBLISHERS SERIES IN INNOVATION AND CHANGE
IN EDUCATION - CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

Series Editor Guest Editor

XIANGYUN DU NIAN ZHIYING
Department of Learning and Philosophy, Aalborg University Beijing Normal University
and China
College of Education, Qatar University, Qatar

Editorial Board
• Alex Stojcevski, Deakin University, Australia
• Baocun Liu, Beijing Normal University, China
• Baozhi Sun, North China Medical Education and Development Center, China
• Binglin Zhong, Chinese Association of Education Research, China
• Bo Qu, China Medical Education, China
• Danping Wang, Technological and Higher Education Institute, Hong Kong
• Fred Dervin, Helsinki University, Finland
• Kai Yu, Beijing Normal University, China
• Jiannong Shi, China Academy of Sciences, China
• Juny Montoya, University of Andes, Colombia
• Mads Jakob Kirkebæk, Aalborg University, Denmark
• Tomas Benz, Hochschule Heilbronn, Germany

Indexing: All books published in this series are submitted to Thomson Reuters Book Citation Index
(BkCI), CrossRef and to Google Scholar.

Nowadays, educational institutions are being challenged as professional competences and expertise
become progressively more complex. This is mainly because problems are more technology-bounded,
unstable and ill-defined with the involvement of various integrated issues. Solving these problems requires
interdisciplinary knowledge, collaboration skills, and innovative thinking, among other competences.
In order to facilitate students with the competences expected in their future professions, educational
institutions worldwide are implementing innovations and changes in many respects.
This book series includes a list of research projects that document innovation and change in
education. The topics range from organizational change, curriculum design and innovation, and pedagogy
development to the role of teaching staff in the change process, students’ performance in the areas of
not only academic scores, but also learning processes and skills development such as problem solving
creativity, communication, and quality issues, among others. An inter- or cross-cultural perspective is
studied in this book series that includes three layers. First, research contexts in these books include
different countries/regions with various educational traditions, systems, and societal backgrounds in a
global context. Second, the impact of professional and institutional cultures such as language, engineering,
medicine and health, and teachers’ education are also taken into consideration in these research projects.
The third layer incorporates individual beliefs, perceptions, identity development and skills development
in the learning processes, and inter-personal interaction and communication within the cultural contexts
in the first two layers.
We strongly encourage you as an expert within this field to contribute with your research and help
create an international awareness of this scientific subject.

For a list of other books in this series, visit www.riverpublishers.com

The NEC and You Perfect Together:
Research Methods for
A Comprehensive Study of the
Successful PhD
National Electrical Code

Gregory P. Bierals
Dinesh Kant Kumar
Electrical Design Institute, USA RMIT University
Professor,
Melbourne
Australia

River Publishers
 Published 2017 by River Publishers
River Publishers
Alsbjergvej 10, 9260 Gistrup, Denmark
www.riverpublishers.com

Distributed exclusively by Routledge

4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Research Methods for Successful PhD / by Dinesh Kant Kumar.

© 2017 River Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may
be reproduced, stored in a retrieval systems, or transmitted in any form or by
any means, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior
written permission of the publishers.

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business

ISBN 978-87-93609-18-1 (print)

While every effort is made to provide dependable information, the

publisher, authors, and editors cannot be held responsible for any errors
or omissions.
 Contents

Preface xiii

Acknowledgement xv

Abstract xvii

1 What Is Research? 1
1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Research and Development: What Is the Difference? . . . . 3
1.3 Research, Development and PhD Students . . . . . . . . . . 4
Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

2 Why Are We Researchers? 7

2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2 What Is the Aim of PhD? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.3 University and Their PhD Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.4 Causes of Stress for the Candidates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.5 Shortcomings of Output Focused PhD . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.6 Managing the Short-Term Demands . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

3 Attributes of a Researcher 15
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.2 Knowledge and Creativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.2.1 Researcher Attribute – Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.2.1.1 Ideas vs. literature review . . . . . . . . . 17
3.2.1.2 Literature review: Attention to detail . . . 18
3.2.2 Researcher Attributes: Creativity . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.2.2.1 Fostering creativity . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.3 Research Attributes: Resilient and Self-Confident . . . . . . 20
3.3.1 Supporting to Develop Self-Confidence . . . . . . . 22

v
vi Contents

3.4 Research Attributes: Planning and Discipline . . . . . . . . 23

3.4.1 Time Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.5 Researcher Attribute: Flexibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.6 Researcher Attributes: Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.6.1 What Is Communication? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.6.2 Clarity of the Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.6.3 Ability to Listen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.7 Research Attributes: Partnership and Networking . . . . . . 27
3.7.1 Networking with Other Researchers . . . . . . . . . 28
3.7.2 Partnership with Industry and External
Agencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

4 The Supervisor and the Supervised 31

4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.2 Student and Supervisor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.2.1 Supervisor and the Student; Reality Check . . . . . 33
4.2.2 An Ideal Supervisor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.2.3 An Ideal Student . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4.2.4 The Real Situation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4.2.5 The Real Supervisor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
4.2.5.1 The supervisor does not appear to have
the time for the student or the project . . . 36
4.2.5.1.1 Suggestions to the student . . 37
4.2.5.2 The supervisor appears to be unreasonable
in the expectations of the student . . . . . 38
4.2.5.3 Supervisor does not appear to have
the knowledge of the topic . . . . . . . . . 39
4.2.5.4 Supervisor does not appear to be interested
in the student, the topic or the outcomes . . 40
4.2.5.5 Supervisor makes personal remarks
or invitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
4.2.5.6 Romantic liaison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
4.2.5.7 Supervisor personality type; Lacks
emotions or is too emotional . . . . . . . 42
4.2.5.8 Personality clash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
4.2.6 Real Research Student . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
4.2.6.1 Transition from undergraduate
to post-graduate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
4.2.6.1.1 Change of expectations . . . . 45
 Contents vii

4.3 Selection of the Supervisor and Student . . . . . . . . . . . 45

4.3.1 Background of Student . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
4.4 Networking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
4.4.1 Networking with Other Professors . . . . . . . . . . 47
4.4.2 Industry Partnership: Support for Students . . . . . . 47
4.5 Dispute Management and Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.5.1 Causes of Disputes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.5.1.1 Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
4.5.1.2 Challenge of research outcomes . . . . . . 49
4.5.1.3 Personal beliefs and desires . . . . . . . . 50
4.5.2 Resolving and Managing Disputes . . . . . . . . . . 50
4.6 Communication – Supervisor and the Supervised . . . . . . 51
4.7 Being Mindful with Supervisor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

5 Responsibilities of a Researcher 55
5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
5.2 Accountability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
5.2.1 What Is the Need? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
5.2.2 Comparison between Researchers . . . . . . . . . . 57
5.2.3 Challenges in Measuring Research Outcomes . . . . 57
5.3 Measuring Research Outcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
5.3.1 Some Measures of Research Impact . . . . . . . . . 61
5.4 Need for Peer Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
5.5 Publications for Spread and Growth of Knowledge . . . . . 63
5.5.1 Review Process: Spread of Knowledge . . . . . . . 64
5.6 Review Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
5.6.1 Managing the Review Process . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
5.7 Summary of Responsibilities of Researchers . . . . . . . . 66
Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

6 Continuing to Be a Researcher: Motivation Issues

for Researchers 67
6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
6.2 Mid-Candidature Blues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
6.3 Why Do We Get the Blues? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
6.4 Motivating a Researcher – Suggestions for the Supervisor . . 72
6.4.1 Corporate Style Carrot and Stick Approach . . . . . 72
6.4.2 Accolades and Shaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
6.4.3 Finding Motivation is Personal . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
viii Contents

6.5 How to Motivate Yourself? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

6.5.1 Identifying the Different States . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
6.5.2 Lazy and Confused State: What Happens? . . . . . . 77
6.5.2.1 Lazy and confused state: What to do? . . . 78
6.5.3 In the Active State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
6.5.4 The Creative State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
6.5.4.1 Stating the vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
6.5.4.2 Planning for the vision . . . . . . . . . . . 82
6.5.4.3 Short term goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
6.6 How to Become Productive? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

7 Research Proposal 85
Task Before You Start This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
7.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
7.1.1 Dynamic Idleness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
7.1.2 Mid-Candidature Blues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
7.2 Purpose of Research Proposals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
7.3 What Is a Research Proposal? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
7.4 Developing the Research Proposal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
7.4.1 Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
7.4.2 Aim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
7.4.3 Objective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
7.4.4 Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
7.4.4.1 Example to explain scope . . . . . . . . . 92
7.4.5 Research Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
7.4.5.1 Example of research proposal . . . . . . . 93
7.4.6 Developing the Hypothesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
7.4.6.1 Example for developing the hypothesis . . 95
7.4.7 Developing the Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
7.4.8 Time Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
7.4.8.1 Project timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
7.4.8.2 Regularity in timeline . . . . . . . . . . . 98
7.4.8.3 Changes to the timeline . . . . . . . . . . 98
7.4.9 Milestones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

8 Planning the Experiments 101

8.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
8.2 Focus and Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
 Contents ix

8.3 Inferential Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

8.4 Descriptive Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
8.4.1 Central Tendency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
8.4.2 Dispersion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
8.5 Significance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
8.6 Statistical Hypothesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
8.7 Measuring Significance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
8.7.1 p Value to Test Null Hypothesis . . . . . . . . . . . 106
8.7.2 What Is Significance Level? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
8.8 Reproducibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
8.9 Types of Statistical Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
8.9.1 Parametric Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
8.9.2 Non-Parametric Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
8.10 Confidence Band, Confidence Intervals
and Confidence Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
8.11 Statistical Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
8.11.1 Correlation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
8.11.2 Regression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
8.11.3 t-test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
8.11.3.1 Unpaired t-test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
8.11.3.2 Paired t-test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
8.11.4 Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) . . . . . . . . . . . 111
8.12 System Performance Measure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
8.12.1 Accuracy, Sensitivity and Specificity . . . . . . . . . 111
8.12.2 Confusion Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
8.12.3 Statistical Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
8.12.4 Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC) Curve . . . 113
Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

9 Communication Skills 117

9.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
9.2 Need to Communicate for Researchers . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
9.3 Essentials for Effective Communication . . . . . . . . . . . 118
9.4 Developing Oral Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
9.4.1 Planned and Focused . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
9.4.2 Connect with Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
9.5 Presenting to Your Supervisors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
9.6 Conference Seminar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
9.6.1 Example for Audience Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
x Contents

9.7 Listening and Observing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

9.8 Planning the Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
9.8.1 How to Start: A Brief to Put in Context . . . . . . . 124
9.8.1.1 Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
9.8.1.2 Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
9.8.2 Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
9.8.3 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
9.8.3.1 Facts and opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
9.9 Style of Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
9.9.1 Aggressive Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
9.9.2 Passive Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
9.9.3 Assertive Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
9.9.4 Examples: Aggressive and Assertive
Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
9.10 Written Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
9.10.1 Informal Written Communication . . . . . . . . . . 131
9.10.1.1 Writing emails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
9.11 Formal Written Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
9.11.1 Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
9.11.2 Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
9.11.2.1 Compact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
9.11.2.2 Formal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
9.11.2.3 Simple statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
9.11.3 Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
9.12 Some Points for Effective Written
Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

10 Why Publish? 139

10.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
10.2 Peer Review of Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
10.3 Publications for Accountability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
10.4 Manuscript Submissions as Milestones . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
10.5 Publications for Employability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
10.6 How to Stand Out of the Crowd? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
10.7 Benefit to the Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
10.8 Measure of Outcomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
10.9 Getting the Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
 Contents xi

11 How to Publish: Writing Manuscripts 149

11.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
11.2 Target Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
11.3 When to Start the Manuscript? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
11.4 Develop a Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
11.5 Typical Subheadings of a Paper in Science, Engineering
and Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
11.6 Starting the Manuscript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
11.7 The Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
11.8 Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
11.9 Writing the Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
11.9.1 Introduction – Some Common Mistakes . . . . . . . 156
11.10 Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
11.11 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
11.12 Data Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
11.13 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
11.14 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
11.15 Paper Iterations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
11.16 List of Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
11.17 What Gets Published? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
11.18 What Gets Rejected? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
11.19 Post-Submission of Manuscript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
11.20 Difference between Thesis and Manuscript . . . . . . . . . 164
11.21 Review Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
11.22 Managing the Review Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Appendix 169

Index 171

About the Author 173

 Preface

When I did my PhD, there was luxury of time, and no pressure for a big
list of publications. There was time to sip a coffee while trying to solve
the world’s problems. The dull moments were ticking away, while we had
the time to invest for enjoying Pink Floyd. And then, I turned around and the
world was a different place. It was already 1998, and we researchers needed
a track record that no one had bothered to help me develop when I was a
student. Then I chased the Sun and since then have been able to develop a
decent track record, publish lots of papers and get quite a few citations.
Thanks to a decent track record, a few years ago I was asked to help PhD
candidates in a University in Brazil develop their skills for writing papers
that will get published. Every academic in the University was convinced that
the problem was their poor English language skills but they were willing for
me to experiment. I ran a few workshops for these students and realised that
being a PhD student now was stressful and not a relaxed existence which
I had enjoyed. I also realised that the problem was not the language, but it
was deeper than that. Researchers did not seem to understand what they were
doing but seemed to be eager to do ‘things’ and impress the supervisors.
I first blamed this on the Brazilian hierarchical culture, but soon noticed that
Australian, USA or Indian students were by no way different. The problem
seemed to be Global.
I became inquisitive and soon realised that there seemed to be a big
gap between what people expected to be as PhD students and the reality.
The problem was compounded by the mismatch of the expectations of the
supervisors, the University, and the grant bodies. Then I started to see the
different websites of the Universities and the Government and realised that
this was systemic and there was a lack of coherent message for what a student
should be doing. While on one end it was about training and independence,
the other end of the spectrum was about rules, deadlines, accountability and
support to the supervisor.
I know that the best and the brilliant minds of our society join Univer-
sities to do their PhD, but many of them get disheartened and confused.

xiii
xiv Preface

A significant number of the candidate dropout which is considered a waste of

their time along with the taxpayers money. The big problem associated with
the difficulties faced by PhD candidates has been considered to be the lack of
structure and remote milestones. There also appeared to be the lack of focus
and purpose. More recently the blame of these problems was placed on the
supervisor which from my view point seemed to confuse all the stakeholders.
A few years ago, I started going to a set of lectures on spirituality from
Swami Chinmayanand, a Hindu scholar. What I realised when listening to his
lectures was the need to clarify the topic, provide clear structure and short-
term goals. I also realised the need for ensuring that smart people do not like
to be spoken to but spoken with. Armed with this knowledge, I began the task
of running workshops for newly recruited PhD students and learnt over time
with my mistakes. This book is the labour of love from what seemed to work
well in these workshops.
This book is not written with the purpose of telling you reader what to
do or not to do, but to engage with you to think and help you develop your
path. It is to help you develop your personal style and identity and realise the
significant differences between different candidates, topics, Universities and
supervisors. It is meant to encourage you, give you a purpose to enjoy your
candidature and help you develop a vision for the future. And if you are the
Professor who is using this book, please use it to organise the students and do
not give them lectures. PhD students in all Universities are always the cream
of the society and you should allow them to speak.
It is essential to observe the acceleration of change in our society. The
other day I noticed that the topic of my recently PhD student was already
being considered as past the use by date, and this is going to happen regularly.
Thus, as students or as supervisors, do not expect to continue working on the
topic which you started your PhD. To stay relevant and current, it is essential
to continue to evolve and hence what you will take away from your PhD
candidature is not only the new discovery that you made, but the training for
discovering or developing new things.
I hope that this book helps you question, experiment and remain focused.
But most importantly, it helps you enjoy your days and identify your personal
vision. I wish you the best for your candidature.

Dinesh Kant Kumar

 Acknowledgement

I would first like to thank my guru, Swami Chinmayanand, whose lectures

on Bhagavad Gita taught me how to identify the purpose and meaning in
everything that we do. It also taught me to be inquisitive, to explore and to
remain focused.
I would also like to thank my two PhD students who have helped me put
this book together, Mr Bhowmick, and Ms Priya. All the lovely sketches you
will see in this book were made by Bhowmick while Priya helped me with
the statistical equations.

xv
 Abstract

Research is no longer a hobby but core to our modern economies. PhD is

the first step in the journey and over half million PhD are being awarded
every year. However, while the methodologies for teaching courses have been
formalised, methods for conducting or managing research is still evolving.
And with an exponential growth of institutions conducting research and
offering PhD qualifications, there is no single answer.
The book targets emerging researchers, their supervisors and other stake-
holders. One major aim is to provide the basis for individual researchers
and their supervisors to manage their research and find ways of motivating
themselves without requiring draconian measures. The book discusses the
expectations of the different stakeholders, and puts into perspective the aim
and necessary outcomes. The book also examines some of the policies that
are necessary for managing research and discusses these in context of sci-
entific and engineering research. It provides the basis for writing outcome
focused research proposals that will establish strong track-records of the
researchers.
The other aim is to support the researchers by having high impact
outcomes of their research and provides the basis for writing papers for
scientific and engineering journals. After establishing the need and purpose
of publishing papers for different stakeholders, the book discusses the art
of writing these papers. It demonstrates that good papers are not necessary
the outcome of good language skills, elaborates the process of writing the
paper and provides the basis for identifying suitable journals. While this
book focuses on the disciplines of science and engineering, it is designed for
providing a conceptual framework for conducting and managing research.
The book will provide the readers with the ability to write outcome
focused research proposals. It will help the researchers manage their own
research and help them improve the art of publishing their works. This will
support the timely completion of research qualifications with track-records
that are helpful in getting research grants and employment.

xvii
xviii Abstract

The book is also designed to help you identify your personal strengths and
goals. Each chapter has a set of tasks at the end and it will be useful to record
your answers safely. You should revisit these responses every few months as
that will help you keep a focus and observe your personal development.
 1
What Is Research?

Abstract
The world and its citizens are looking towards the brighter future based on
their hopes of exciting research outcomes which is fueled by PhD students.
The number of people enrolling for their PhD is increasing rapidly, however
it appears that the role of a PhD candidate and their supervisors is not very
clear. While one common purpose of researchers is to conduct research, it is
evident that the word, Research, is used very loosely, with differences in the
understanding of its meaning, purpose and scope.
This chapter discusses the concept of research in different contexts and to
different stakeholders. It takes the reader through the dialogue to understand
the purpose, scope and expectations of what is PhD and highlights some of
the expected roles and attributes of the PhD students and their supervisors.
At the end of the chapter is a list of Tasks which is to help you identify your
personal strengths and directions. I encourage you to record your responses
and revisit these through your candidature.

1.1 Introduction
Etymologically, research can be considered to combine the prefix, Re with
Search, thereby suggesting repetitive search. However, it is significantly big-
ger and more complex than that; it is about discovery, investigation, invention
and development. The understanding of research is discipline dependent; in
humanities and pure arts research is practice dependent while, in the broadest
sense, scientific research includes any gathering of data, information and
facts for the advancement of knowledge [Definition of Research by Martin
Shuttleworth].

1
2 What Is Research?

The word, research, is used very loosely, and it is essential to be aware

of the differences and define this for our own context before moving to
other relevant questions. While this word has the capacity to be open to
interpretations, and there can never be a single strict definition of the word, it
is important to ensure that we are aware of what this word means to us. It is
also essential to be aware of the multiple interpretations of this word because
it prevents us from getting confused.
This word appears to be from the root word: search, which indicates the
‘searching’ component that has to be associated with the research activity.
Searching is always for something that is not obvious. Thus, research indi-
cates that it is the effort towards discovering something that is not obvious,
where the answer is covered or embedded.
Wikipedia defines research in terms of creative work and says, “Creative
work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of
knowledge of man, culture and society and use of this knowledge to devise
new applications”. From this definition, there are two observations to be
made: that research is local (to a society or culture), and the systematic
basis for research. This is evident over centuries, when Europeans discov-
ered parts of the world that were already inhabited, it was discovery for
the sailor, but not for the local residents. It is essential to observe that
such discoveries require systematic planning and methodical execution of
the plans.
The other key word in the above is; systematic. Research requires the
methodology to see the detail that was not observable before. Key to research
is the systemic process and it is not performed accidently but requires careful
planning. It establishes or models observations and leads to improved under-
standing. It requires critical review of what is already known and builds on
current knowledge. Research is an evolutionary process; what is research
today would be obvious tomorrow, and thus no longer be considered as a
research topic. It is essential to note that it is a process rather than an outcome,
or philosophically speaking, the journey and not the destination. The outcome
of research are based on multiple of parameters but what is most important is
the plan and the path.
Good research is characterized by creative experimentation for identi-
fying differences that were not evident to others. It requires careful obser-
vations and analysis. It requires interpretation of the results to understand
the phenomena and precise comparison with works reported in literature. But
most important, good research requires thorough literature review and careful
 1.2 Research and Development: What Is the Difference? 3

planning followed by determined effort in the execution of the plan. Research

is not by accident, but meticulous planning, hard-work and knowledge of
what the others have done and are doing. One key to effective research is
the attention to detail, from literature review and planning to experiments,
analysis and the interpretation.

1.2 Research and Development: What Is the Difference?

Many industry have departments referred to as R&D, short for Research
and Development, and thereby suggesting the synergy between the two.
People often use the two together as if to suggest that these need to be
only together, or that these are synonymous. In many contexts, the two
words, research and development are combined and mentioned in one breath.
However, while the two words have some commonalities, these are not
the same.
Research is often used broadly and may refer to a wide range of activities:
discoveries, inventions and sometimes even the process of prototyping. In
such broad context, it refers to discovering new knowledge, and implement-
ing the knowledge to invent something novel, or doing something novel
using a refined method. It is defined in terms of the systematic investigative
process and its aim is to enhance knowledge by discovery of events, things
or relationships. Research can often be considered to form two categories:
basic and applied. While basic research is about the discovery and inquiry,
applied research is the utilization of the discovery. One common thread in
research is that it is digging in the unknown, where there is significant risk of
the outcomes.
Scientific development is the systematic use of scientific and technical
knowledge to meet specific objectives or requirements. Some may argue that
development is the same as applied research. While the two are similar,
in my opinion these are different because inherent to all research is a risk
factor. Research comes with the risk with a level of uncertainty and there
being something that is unknown. Thus, while applied research is focused
towards an application, there are significant scientific unknowns while in
scientific development there are no scientific unknowns. The above in no
means suggests that development is trivial in comparison to research, and
more often that is not the case. What it suggests is that scientific research
needs to have the unknown, the unproven scientific hypothesis.
Development is the implementation of the knowledge or new methods
which may have been discovered by research. It utilizes what is already
4 What Is Research?

known, while discovery is about finding something that is unknown in

the context. Discovery is about expanding our current knowledge and
development is about using the knowledge to develop devices or applications.
Often the development combines multiple research outcomes for a specific
application, which itself may require significant efforts.
Consider some examples:
1. The electromagnetic phenomena discovered by James Clerk Maxwell
(Maxwell equations) and the development of the wireless communi-
cation by Guglielmo Marconi. The discovery of the electromagnetic
phenomena is a discovery because this was not known to human-kind
before this. While this may have appeared to be useless at that time, it
was applied towards the vision of wireless communication by Marconi.
However, even though this was an application, there was significant level
of unknown.
2. The discovery of electricity by Benjamin Franklin and invention of the
light bulb by Thomas Edison. Here again, when electricity was first
discovered, the applications were not evident, but when the effect of
heating was discovered, Edison had the vision of using this to create
the light bulb. Based on the earlier discoveries, he was able to develop
the first bulb, which would be referred to as an invention. While we can
play with the choice of words to describe each type of work, what is
essential to note is that there is a significant difference in the risk profile
and experimental design to achieve the two.

1.3 Research, Development and PhD Students

The aim of this book is to get you equipped to help you do your PhD, being
productive and happy. It is essential to be aware that the purpose of doing
your PhD is to train you to become an independent researcher and the first
step towards this was to help you define the context relevant to you. Hence the
earlier section helped you ponder on the word, research so that you can define
it for yourself. Different people will have their own interpretation of this term
and this book is not intending to make everyone have an identical meaning or
even understanding. The intent is to make you aware of your understanding
of this term and potential differences between different people. It will help
you understand what is your role and identify things that you wish to do, and
those that you are not too keen about.
 Tasks 5

Some people enjoy building things while the others are desiring to
understand the mysteries of the universe. Both, research and development
are essential components and these work in partnership to have a real impact
to our society. What is important is that you should identify your role, your
preferences and work towards it. This will help you develop the vision of
your PhD and you can make your long-term goals. Without having a vision
and long-term goals, we researchers loose the focus and the ability to enjoy
our victories and be happy.

Tasks
1. Is your PhD focused towards discovery or invention?
2. What is your passion; discovery or to build something?
3. Which famous scientists do you hold in high esteem? Why?
4. What is your definition of a successful researcher?
 2
Why Are We Researchers?

Abstract
We the readers of this book are researchers, but many of us may not have
pondered on why we chose this profession. Often we end up reacting to our
daily issues and soon we find ourselves confused and unhappy. This chapter
investigates the question, and concludes that we all have our own reasons for
the choice of this profession. It is not designed to give you the answer, but to
facilitate you to explore the question for yourself. It provides a framework,
and shows that though our reasons and circumstances may be unique, it is
essential to continue to keep this question in our sights.

2.1 Introduction
There are number of professions, but we, the readers, chose to be researchers.
Is this just a job for us so that we can pay our bills? Is this profession anything
different from other professions that we could have chosen? Why did we get
attracted to this? It is essential to identify our connection with the profession
to ensure that we can perform suitably.
Many times during our careers, we will doubt our abilities, regret our
decisions to join research, and curse the day we decided to enrol for our PhD.
We will find that researchers, in general, do not become rich while many of
our colleagues who joined the industry soon after their bachelors are making
significantly more money. We will also notice that the boy (or girl) who was
the bottom of the class in school is driving a fancy car while we are travelling
in a train.
Many times we will suffer the continuing stress of rejection of our
publications; when we have spent hundreds of hours writing the papers, and
the editor sends a standard polite letter telling us that the paper is not suitable
for the journal. And the reviewers may not even be polite and may tell us
nasty things of what we considered as our great work.

7
8 Why Are We Researchers?

Worse still would be when we are working on yearly contracts and waiting
for the grant bodies to accept our proposals. In the current climate, while
the number of researchers is increasing exponentially, the pool of funds is
shrinking and the probability of success is reducing, we would often wonder
why did we join this seemingly losing race. Our grand ideas of solving the
world’s water or environment or health problems, written over many sleepless
nights, seemed to be considered to be unsuitable for any funds. While our
friends who joined the industry seem to have stable careers, we are stuck in
the year to year stress, unable to purchase a house or have a family. We sure
will feel our lows and stressed, but most of us would not leave and continue
to be in this profession. Why? I have asked myself this question many times.
It is when we are questioning our role in this profession that it is essential
for us to go back to the fundamentals, to the square one, to remember what
urged us to become scientists and researchers. It is very easy to get stressed
and then neither are we productive, nor comfortable, and that is when it is
essential to remember the original reason to be in this profession.
There is a combination of reasons why we chose our profession and many
of these may be very personal. Many of these were unplanned and things just
happened, while there are others that were deliberate. More often, it would
be a combination of multiple reasons and outcomes of events. For many of
us, we just walked into this, and often have never thought about how and why
about it.
Over time we evolve as researchers and our reasons for continuing to be
researchers may change. The purpose for a young PhD candidate may be
very different from an experienced researcher who is tenured and heading the
laboratory or is the chair of a center. Our perspective of the topics change, and
over time new research topics get added while some of the earlier topics seem
to disappear. Research and our relationship with it is dynamic. For the sake
of our sanity and to ensure we are productive, it is essential to be aware of our
reasons. We should also be aware that our reasons would be combination of
social, financial, and altruistic or even habitual. Being mindful of these helps
us improve the outcomes of our research.
To perform at our best, and enjoy being researchers, it is important to
observe our connection with our profession. The reason why we became
researchers often is very different from the reason why we continue to be
in the profession. However, reality is that there are multitude reasons that
are simultaneous and not divorced from each other. Research allows us to
be creative, not have a well-defined job, pays our bills, is more interesting
than other jobs, opens international opportunities and gives us an opportunity
 2.2 What Is the Aim of PhD? 9

for long-term employment these are some of the reasons why I became a
researcher, and I am certain that this list is not complete.
For most people, the first step in becoming a scientific researcher may
have started earlier than we imagine; an assignment during our high school
may have been the trigger or a project during our undergraduate education.
Or it may be because we saw an opportunity which suggested a useful
product may result if we could solve some problem. Or, we heard of someone
suffering bad health because doctors could not diagnose the problem. Or,
we were confused by the way things seem to be happening and we wanted
answers. While the first seed may often be forgotten, for most of us the formal
start of the journey as researchers would have started with the enrolment as
PhD candidates. And, when we walked down that path, it is often difficult
to stop and change. We continue to be enjoying the privileges of being
researchers: be it in industry, University or even as entrepreneurs.

2.2 What Is the Aim of PhD?

Most scientists in the present day would have started their research careers
as PhD candidates. But perhaps many of us would not know the meaning of
the term, PhD. The commonly accepted understanding of the term is that it is
‘doctorate’ which is usually based on 3 years or more full time graduate study
and requires the submission and examination of a dissertation, commonly
referred to as thesis. It is the highest degree that is awarded and the doctorate
represents the original contribution to knowledge.
There are number of opinions of where and to whom the first PhD was
awarded, and even lack of agreement to what is the expansion of the term,
PhD. There are opinions whether PhD could be from Doctor of Philosophy
or an acronym for ‘Philosopher of Doctrine’. There are also views whether it
was originally only for students of the Christian texts or for scientific fields.
However, the fact is that now we can get a PhD in nearly anything under (or
over) the sun and for all intent and purposes, PhD is no longer considered an
acronym but a word by itself.
In most cases, the thesis is the major and perhaps the only milestone
of PhD. However, there are differences in the way it is managed: while
in some Universities the thesis is the only examinable component, in other
Universities there are demands for course-work and seminars.
Universities are now striving to increase the number of employees with
PhD and desiring for enrolling more candidates. In most parts of the world,
this has a strong support from the respective governments that fund these
10 Why Are We Researchers?

Universities and thus the PhD candidates. While there are many different
strategies and styles for supporting PhD candidates in different countries,
there is a global push to increase the numbers of these students and pro-
vide them with some financial support. Majority of Universities around the
world waive the fee for their PhD candidates and provide them with some
fellowship or scholarships to cover the basic living costs. In some countries
this support may be in the form of a salary, where the candidate has to
do their research and serve as an assistant on a project, the laboratory or
participate in University approved research or teaching activities. Often, there
may be significant overlap between the projects they are employed for and
the research related to their PhD candidature which makes the process very
efficient. Some Universities also offer conditional employment to faculty in
the University while they complete their PhD before their confirmation or
promotion.

2.3 University and Their PhD Students

The style of supporting PhD candidates and expectations from Universities
often opens a box of confusion regarding the purpose and responsibilities of
PhD candidates, their supervisors and the University. While some Universi-
ties have considered and attempted to formalise this, many Universities and
their candidates seem to ignore this problem. Often, the general statements
that are used to describe the PhD programs are; ‘foster original and scholarly
research’, ‘enable students to advance research or create new knowledge’.
Perhaps the more accurate description of PhD program is in a pdf on IIT-D
website (https://www.iiitd.edu.in/∼jalote/GenArticles/DoingPhD.pdf) which
states the primary aim of PhD program is to produce competent researchers.
Similar sentiments are also echoed on the Australian government website and
that of many other Universities which declares that the aim of PhD is to train
independent researchers.

2.4 Causes of Stress for the Candidates

It is essential that PhD candidates are trained and not just used for short-
term benefits. Student centered approach for PhD candidates is obviously the
appropriate way forward. Such an approach will provide trained researchers
for the future prosperity and well-being of the countries and the society.
This would indicate that the PhD candidature should be process focused
where the journey is towards developing the independent research skills
 2.4 Causes of Stress for the Candidates 11

of the candidate. However, there are demands on the academics and the insti-
tutions for research outcomes and this leads to pressure on the supervisors to
produce outcomes such as publications, devices or software and the outcome
of the research can becomes the focus. Process focused PhD candidature
slows down the outcomes, while outcome focused approach could make
candidates being a just a part of the machine for mass-production of papers
with the independence may be compromised. The pressure on the supervisors
and the laboratories can sometimes lead to the focus the PhD candidature to
be towards the research outcomes where the process is not important. This
become more direct when the funds for the students are coming from an
industry or are industry focused. Thus, there are two compounding factors
that play a role during the PhD candidature: the necessity to train independent
researchers and to show measurable research outcomes. If the focus simply
becomes the measurable outcomes, the students may appear to only satisfy
the short-term goal of the supervisor but not get trained to become an
independent researchers.
12 Why Are We Researchers?

These seemingly contradictory factors can make the life of the PhD
candidate stressful and the resultant graduate has limited scope and capability.
This may not result in a researcher who is trained to be independent and
the leader of future research. The resultant researchers would then have to
struggle to become independent and many such people appear to be tied
by invisible strings with their earlier supervisors. This can have number
of negative repercussions for the supervisors, the candidates and research
community in general. However, can the PhD student do something that can
prevent this from happening? The answer to that is Yes. But the first step is
to identify the problem.

2.5 Shortcomings of Output Focused PhD

When the PhD candidature is focused on the output rather than the process
of training the candidate, there can be shortcomings for all stakeholders. The
supervisors get the candidates who often behave like assistants, and become
the doers rather than the thinkers, or as is sometimes said, the candidates
become the lab-rats. However, this approach appears to be useful because the
supervisors can get their ideas tested and get research outcomes. Often they
can use the results to write papers, and supervise multiple students on similar
projects, leading to mass-production of doctorates. However, the candidates
are dependent on the supervisor who has to be the sole thinker and this makes
the outcomes sub-optimum. After-all, how many new ideas can one person
have, however clever he or she may be. A smarter supervisor would channel
the creativity of the candidates rather than using them only as lab-rats which
only utilises their working capacity. This only gets them an assistant and does
not allow them to expand their own knowledge and generate new ideas. From
the creativity point of view, it becomes a team of one.
For the candidates, this seems to provide some very good outcomes at the
start because it helps them start conducting the experiments and co-authoring
papers very early in their candidature. They can learn as they go, while
following the instructions of their supervisors and the sponsoring agencies.
Such candidates appear to complete their degrees in time with a healthy
length of publications and other research outcomes. However, the difficulty
comes when they need to become independent and build and lead their own
teams. They end up being the doers but not the thinkers because they were
never allowed to think during their candidature and this can lead to poor
outcomes.
 2.6 Managing the Short-Term Demands 13

The process where the supervisor tells the candidates what has to be done
will often appear to give excellent outcomes to the University and the society
in general. With the scholarship rather than a salary of a researcher, the super-
visor and thus the University can generate significant outcomes such as papers
and patents along with large number of doctorates inexpensively. However
these short term gains lead to long term losses because as the research leaders
age, the new researchers lack the independence and creativity to think outside
the box.
Our fast-paced ever changing research atmosphere demands fast-tracking
of the research outputs and this is not going to change any time soon. Perhaps
it may only become worse and more specific, allowing even less freedom for
the students. The cycles are becoming shorter, fund-pool is becoming smaller
and the number of candidates seems to be increasing. It is now important
that within this system, the candidates have to develop their independent
research capabilities and the supervisors have to generate new ideas from
their candidates.

2.6 Managing the Short-Term Demands

It is essential for the candidates to work within the system while training
to become independent researchers. We can wish that the system should be
doing something different, but reality is that the current system appears to
demand short-term goals from all the key stakeholders. Little will be achieved
to stand-up and fight the system, especially when we are starting the journey.
We have to accept the system demands and use it to the advantage. Rather
than feel victimised, if we were to take the ownership of the situation, we can
work it towards our advantage. It is essential to be proactive, smart and well
planned.
One option is to identify our own short-term goals that will satisfy
the other stakeholders such as the supervisor. In general, the supervisor
requires the outputs that are reportable or publishable. If we plan our own
research tasks such that we can segment our candidature to represent a
series of milestones, it will give ourselves a motive while also satisfying the
requirement of the laboratory. It will also facilitate the supervisor to have
realistic expectations and a plan. And all this, while allowing us to become
and demonstrate our capabilities to be independent researchers and future
leaders.
The single biggest cause of this plan going astray is when our planning is
not based on solid evidence; our literature review is not sufficient. Our plans
14 Why Are We Researchers?

for the future are based on the foundation of the knowledge of fundamentals
and of the current state of the art. It is essential that we have learnt from
the mistakes of others. But it also serves another essential purpose: allows us
to develop the plan that is based on the experience of others. And because
it is based on the strength of literature, other people are less inclined to
disagree.

Tasks
1. What is your personal reason for doing PhD? Write it down somewhere
and see it regularly.
2. In your opinion, what is Research?
3. Do you believe that your supervisor understands what is Research and
purpose of PhD?
4. What benefits will you get when you finish your PhD?
 3
Attributes of a Researcher

Abstract
What are the attributes of a good researcher? Are we born with these
attributes, or can we imbibe these? Can we be trained to conduct research,
or is it something that comes to some of us naturally? Do all researchers have
to behave similarly, and is there a common method to train them? This chapter
teases out the answers to these questions, and suggests some methods to help
us become good researchers, and provides the reader with short questions to
identify the method that is most suitable for the individual.

3.1 Introduction
The fundamental purpose of PhD is to train the students to become inde-
pendent researchers. After completing their PhD, the graduates are expected
to take leadership roles and supervise other researchers. At the same time,
during their candidature, they generally work in teams while being supervised
to do very specific tasks in well-defined projects. It is essential that during
their candidature, they receive the training that prepares them for their future
careers where they can take leadership roles and think outside the box.
An independent researcher is one who has the ability and courage to
take responsibility in leadership roles, propose new projects, observe the
world from a different view-point and lead other researchers. This requires
knowledge, creativity, self-confidence and ability to communicate. It is also
essential for such a person to have time-management capability, be self-
motivated while being flexible and be resolute in ever changing situations.
In many cases, the inability to take leadership roles and become indepen-
dent can be attributed to the individual rather than blamed to the external
factors.

15
16 Attributes of a Researcher

“When a man tells you that he knows the exact truth of anything, you
are safe in inferring that he is an inexact man”, (B. Russell, The scientific
outlook, 1931). This is so true here; as the PhD student grows to become a
seasoned researcher, so does the ability to realise how little he or she knows. A
confident and independent researcher does not hesitate to say, ‘I don’t know’,
which may be very difficult for a young student. This chapter discusses some
of the attributes and suggests methods to enhance our capacities to take a
young PhD student to become confident and an independent researcher.

3.2 Knowledge and Creativity

The two very obvious key attributes of a researcher are: knowledge and
creativity. A researcher has to marry knowledge with creativity, or some
would say, to take advantage of the left and the right hemispheres of the brain.
Not only are these essential for a researcher, these qualities are also required
for a successful teacher, an academic and a leader. Often the perception has
been that a successful artist is the one who is creative, while a successful
researcher in the field of engineering, science and health are largely judged
by their knowledge. However, neither a fine arts artist performs well without
knowledge or a scientist conducts quality research without creativity. When
a researcher attempts to only use their knowledge, it may lead to quality
engineering but that is missing creativity. But while these two attributes are
essential, these are not sufficient.
A highly creative and knowledgeable researcher requires two more
attributes: self-discipline and good communication skills. A researcher has
the luxury and duty to think outside the box, and this can only be successful
when there is discipline and robust structure. Unlike other professions where
it is easy to monitor progress, research requires careful planning and working
with abstract goals, often contributing a small increment in a narrow topic.
Working in a narrow topic and being the source of a small increment in
the knowledge that most other people will not be able to appreciate requires
communication skills. Often researchers do not feel appreciated because the
audience does not understand the problem or their specific contribution. Thus
it is essential for the scientist to have the skills and communicate effectively
with their audience.
It is essential to realize that research in general is not conducted in
isolation. Advances in research require partnerships, trust and networking.
An important attribute of a successful researcher is the ability to develop
partnerships and gain trust of colleagues, fellow scientists and industry.
 3.2 Knowledge and Creativity 17

While each of these are important attributes, in my opinion the attribute

that makes a scientist stand out of the crowd is the one who is bold and
courageous but not outrageous. This is the person who is willing to try and
experiment new ideas and is then willing to face up to the consequences. Such
is a scientist who makes a difference. However, the outrageous one is the fake
who pretends and is soon found out.

3.2.1 Researcher Attribute – Knowledge

One of the best established attribute of a researcher is the knowledge of the
topic. Knowledge comes in two forms: the fundamentals and the advance-
ments literature review. When studying our courses, we may have passed the
exams, but have skimmed over either the concepts or the details. This would
often allow us to do the needful to answer the examination questions, but
would not be sufficient to critically evaluate the topic. And the fact is that
even when we understand a topic but don’t use it regularly, we can forget
it. It is not like swimming or cycling or walking, that once we know, we
will remember it for life. Scientific concepts require regular brushing up; to
remove the cobwebs that form, and to ensure that we are current. How often a
simple concept like Fourier Transform that the researcher has studied multiple
times but is not understood critically.
For a scientist, it is essential to go in the depth of the topic. While in some
other professions where the work is repetitive, superficial knowledge may be
sufficient, a scientist needs to have the capacity to be critical and exact in the
topic. This requires detailed and conceptual understanding. In my opinion,
a senior scientist who hesitates to open the old books, or ask a colleague to
explain the concept is in the wrong profession.

3.2.1.1 Ideas vs. literature review

There is another aspect of knowledge for the scientist: to know what other
people in the field are doing. It is essential for scientists to be knowledge-
able of the current trends in the field. This process, commonly referred
to as ‘Literature Review’, is so obvious but is so often ignored. When a
researcher tells me of their original ideas, I generally see a person who
has not done thorough literature review. For a person who has decided to
become a researcher, it is essential that they have to regularly and religiously
review the latest literature for their entire career, and they should study
regularly.
18 Attributes of a Researcher

Many times, we researchers like to believe that we are the first person
who has got this great idea. However, such feelings should be quickly brushed
aside and we should check the literature. There is nothing wrong in borrowing
ideas from others, while ensuring that you do a better and more detailed job.
When we believe that we have the greatest idea, we can get obsessed with it
and rather than a badge of honor, it becomes a burden. But if we had done
careful evaluation of the literature, we may sometimes realize that the idea
had been discarded by others a long time ago.
As a researcher, it is essential to make a habit of reading the journals
and publications in your area, and also the scientific magazines that are in
the related areas. We are now living in the world of information overload
and most journals are providing free access to researchers who are associ-
ated with Universities or other research institutions. Thus, downloading the
publications on our tablets, phones or laptops and reading these at leisure or
reading these publications in any other style are the essential attributes of a
researcher.

3.2.1.2 Literature review: Attention to detail

In our world of easy access to information, we may often get tempted to
skip the details when reading publications. Many editors and reviewers will
be happy to share the stories when it is evident that the authors have cited
publications without reading the complete paper but perhaps only the abstract,
or worse. There are people who may even try to cite the papers when they
have only accessed the title or the abstract. While this is highly unethical, it
is also very dangerous. It is essential that you should be critically evaluate the
papers you cite; not only understanding the abstract and conclusion, but the
details of the experimental design, methodology and analysis.
You have to be critical of the papers you read and cite. That does not mean
that you should disagree with the work of other people just because you can,
but be aware that “Even when all the experts all agree, they may be mistaken”.
(B. Russell, The Collected Papers, 1927–42). You have to remember that
each time when a new discovery has been made, the (earlier) experts jointly
disagreed with the author, and agreed with the incorrect notion. Education and
science is all about overcoming the previously held incorrect or imprecise
beliefs and this is always to be met with resistance and challenges. These
challenges are not only natural, but are necessary to ensure that the changes
are for the better. Quoting Russell again, (A liberal Decalogue, 1954) “Do
not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once
eccentric”.
 3.2 Knowledge and Creativity 19

3.2.2 Researcher Attributes: Creativity

Creativity is obviously a very important ingredient for conducting interesting
and impactful research. But what is creativity? It has been defined in terms
of the ability to observe and explain the world in novel ways, or to identify
relationships between events or things which were not evident to others. It
may also be considered to be means for problem solving, of finding solutions
to problems which were not known, or were inefficient. Another aspect of
creativity may be to identify problems that were not known to even exist.
And then it is the ability to combine knowledge from different disciplines to
solve a problem or create wealth. While all of these may appear to be very
diverse, the commonality is that it requires the ability to make observations
or outcomes that were not described before. Thus, these observations or
inventions were not based only on knowledge.
Creativity is different from knowledge. However, it is essential to note
that creativity is not devoid of knowledge, where the knowledge is essential
component for creativity to produce any real outcomes. While “There is an
artist imprisoned in each of us. Let him loose to spread the joy” (Russell-
1967), however creativity only flourishes when it is backed with knowledge.
Creativity is not just having a unique idea, but the ability to work the details
of the idea; the attention to detail.

3.2.2.1 Fostering creativity

Creativity cannot be enforced but fostered and mentored. It has been
observed by many thinkers that creativity thrives when the people are fee-
ling confident, both from within themselves and with their surroundings.
Universities, and the senior academics, supervisors and mentors have to
ensure there is the feeling of strength and support leading to confidence
that will ensure productivity from the researchers who can then perform
at their best. This requires the perception by the members of the strength
of the organisation and knowledge of its principles and connectivity with
them. Confidence also requires personal connectivity of individuals with their
peers in the organisation and two-way communication channels. However,
many of the leaders in such organizations are mediocre people and to quote
Einstein, “The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who
refuses to bow blindly to the conventional prejudices and chooses instead
to express his courageously and honestly”. Thus, true researchers are often
confronted by the mediocre and have to be confident to live with such
criticism.
20 Attributes of a Researcher

Researcher is creative when he or she is confident. Confidence is not the

knowledge of all that is to be known, but the courage to make mistakes, be
wrong, and accept the consequences. This requires the strength of knowledge
of the fundamentals of the topic. Another essential factor is to be engaged
with other people in the field, get feedback and know what they are doing in
the field.
Creative people need a purpose and not just a goal. We can write a list of
tasks but we can always find excuses to deviate from the plan. And even if
we have developed a plan towards a goal, we may soon find that we question
the goal itself. However, if we have a bigger purpose, we are more willing to
think outside the box and take chances and that is when creativity flourishes.
As new researchers, we have to identify our own purpose of the research,
and then we are self-driven. It provides us with our own rhythm and does not
require others to acknowledge or appreciate us.

3.3 Research Attributes: Resilient and Self-Confident

A researcher who is going to excel has to be self-confident. One of the key
factors for conducting research is to conduct the well-planned experiments
and be comfortable with the results. There is inherent uncertainty associated
with research, and there are obviously number of unknowns. This means that
for a researcher to conduct quality research, they have to be confident to live
with the outcomes of the experiments. When they are lacking the confidence,
the experiments will be compromised. They will not try to find out what is
the true outcome but what they had hoped at the start.
Researchers should not be fearful of criticism but instead should seek
critical feedback and use it to make corrections, and should also be willing
to discard their own pet theories if shown to be incorrect. They are going
to regularly face obstacles and failures. This is going to happen in the
laboratories, from journals in response to submissions, from granting bodies,
future employers and in their personal lives. It is essential for the researchers
to be resilient and that comes when they are confident.
Confidence does not indicate that you are always correct, but that you
have the ability and courage to accept the outcomes of the experiment. You
have the ability to conduct the experiment and be prepared to accept the
results. This requires the individual to believe in themselves; to be in the
present and have the ability to take responsibility. A confident person is not
knowing all, but has the courage to face the consequences.
 3.3 Research Attributes: Resilient and Self-Confident 21

Confidence requires courage, the ability to accept that I may not be correct
at all times. It needs the courage to accept that I may not know things and I
have to learn from someone else. No one was born knowing how to even
walk, let aside the knowledge of solving Maxwell’s equations. Research is
about going beyond the current knowledge. Thus, it is important to realise
that we are experimenting and do not know what is the possible outcome.
Someone who wants to be always correct is better off being an administrator
than a researcher.
A confident researcher is resilient and willing to take the chances that
are essential for big breakthroughs. A researcher needs to take risks, propose
new projects and submit manuscripts for publications, and very often will get
rejection letters. It is important to learn from the rejections and start again.
This requires resilience, self-confidence and courage. Often a successful
researcher gets more rejects than the unsuccessful researcher, but is willing
to try again.
The level of self-confidence is not the same for all people, neither does it
remain the same at all times for an individual. Some people appear to be more
confident, or as they say, blazay and willing to take the chance while there are
others who appear to be more cautious. Researcher confidence is not judged
with the swagger during their walk, or their blase attitude, but the strength of
their confidence is evidenced during their planning.
Another factor that helps the researcher be confident is the external cir-
cumstances such as the support that is available. The support that is available
to the researcher is the responsibility of the supervisor. This need not only
be the financial or technical support but the planning prior the experiments
and attitude after the results are obtained. One of the biggest cause of lack
of confidence is the feeling of the unknown, resulting in fear. Often the
researchers appear to be at the bottom of the food chain and thus are fearful
of the University policies and what happens behind the closed doors of the
supervisors. One of the methods that University can improve the confidence
of the researchers and thus their output is to improve transparency. While it
is often not possible for any Institution to give guarantees to the researcher
or offer them long-term careers, what is essential is to make the process
transparent such that the researchers understand the process.
Another aspect that enhances the confidence of the researcher is the
feeling of belonging. When Universities, institutions or companies are just
places for working and getting the salary or scholarship, people are not
creative. Social gatherings and non-academic events are important for the
researchers to belong, to network and enjoy their presence in the University.
22 Attributes of a Researcher

3.3.1 Supporting to Develop Self-Confidence

A confident person tends to be decisive because they are willing to live with
the outcomes. They have the self-belief and high self-esteem. A self-confident
person tends to be more transparent than people who lack confidence. They
are also willing to trust and are sensitive to the needs and limitations of other
people, and thus more suitable for working in teams. This is an essential
quality of a good researcher and the research environment because successful
research outcomes are only achieved by teams and not individuals. It is in the
interest of the leaders of the University to foster self-confident researchers
which will lead to high impact research. This is not divorced from healthy
competition between peers, which could be also used effectively to develop
their confidence.
Perhaps the biggest cause for researchers to be in the profession is because
they believe that can do something useful and important to society: make
an impact. This requires them to have an audience of people they can trust
and thus an essential attribute for the supervisors is to be good listeners.
Sometimes supervisors appear to reject the ideas of their younger researchers,
and may even do this before the idea has been voiced. The researcher have
the responsibility and the capacity to communicate appropriately to the senior
researchers and mentors. It is also the responsibility of the supervisors to
listen and to encourage this behaviour. Not only does this give the researchers
their self-confidence, often it leads to novel ideas and solutions.
The phenomenal growth in the number of people enrolling for their PhD
has been very recent and rather sudden. Less than 100 years ago, the typical
researchers who did their PhD were wealthy individuals with secure finances
and pursued their PhDs for the love of knowledge or for being the best known
name in the field. History seems to suggest that they were self-motivated and
oozed with confidence. However, things are very different now.
In our current climate, research is now a profession and most researchers
are professionals. A typical researcher is from a middle class background
and does not have a secure job. While such an individual has the desire for
knowledge, for helping the world and making an impact, however it is not
possible for the person to pursue their research degree as a hobby. They need
to use this as a stepping stone for paid employment.
The need for the research students to be employment ready has neces-
sitated the need for Universities to recognize the need for supporting the
candidates and provide forums where the presentations by the candidates are
some of the activities designed as a support mechanism for these researchers.
 3.4 Research Attributes: Planning and Discipline 23

It facilitates them to communicate and share their ideas with their peers and
others and show-case their work. Universities also find it convenient to use
such forums to observe and evaluate the progress of the candidates. However,
when such double-dipping takes place, the focus of such meetings is lost and
the outcome can be very confused, and the original purpose may have been
lost. It is important that there should be forums where the peers, supervisor
and other academics should listen without judgement and such gatherings
should be focused and only for training the candidates.

3.4 Research Attributes: Planning and Discipline

All people have the best ideas, and we all seem to have the ideas to change the
direction of our world. Every individual believes that he or she has the unique
set of ideas that can solve all the problems. However, the difference between
such a dreamer and the scientist is that the latter makes it happen. You need a
researcher to make the effort, discover the unknown and put the knowledge to
an application. It requires effort and discipline. Creativity is useful only when
there is discipline which requires planning.
Planning is key to all major events, and discovery of new knowledge
requires careful planning and execution. Even in nature, where things appear
to be unpredictable, things are not random but chaotic. Planning is an
essential attribute of a researcher to achieve success.
Scientific research requires a methodical investigation to test a hypothesis
or answer a specific question. This requires careful planning of the project,
the start of which requires the need to define the aim and identifying the
unknown. Discovering the unknown has a level of uncertainty and this makes
it impossible to predict the outcome. What is essential if for the researcher to
commit to a plan rather that the outcome.
One major attribute for researcher is to develop a plan for the research
project which breaks down the project in smaller sub-components. The suc-
cess of the project is dependent on the quality of the plan and the ability
of the researcher to follow it up. Plans made on the back of the envelope
or in the head are not plans but random thoughts. For a plan to have the
chance to succeed requires to be documented with a time frame, measurable
milestones and well defined tasks that clearly show the starting point, the
responsibilities and dependencies. A successful plan is one where the author
has paid attention to detail.
A good plan is useless if there is lack of discipline to pursue the plan
while keeping attention to detail. It is very tempting to allow ourselves to
24 Attributes of a Researcher

deviate from the plan because it may be inconvenient. However, one purpose
of the plan to guide us through the phase when things do not appear to be
going smoothly. While a research plan is not set in stone and there are always
changes to be made and it requires to be tweaked, but it is important that this
is done in a very disciplined way. In general, it is a good idea to sit with the
supervisor before making major changes to the plan.

3.4.1 Time Management

All of us go through different phases – we self-motivated and eager at
one moment, greedy on another and lazy on other days. None of us like
the other person or people to tell us what to do or to criticize us. But we
are likely to go through the phase when we are feeling down and out and
unproductive. If we can develop a method to monitor our own selves and
our own motivation, it is likely that other people will have less opportunities
to be critical to our behaviour, and we will not be very hurt when they do.
While we require regular feedback, when the our own plan provides us with
regular feedback, then we are on the path of becoming independent. Thus,
it is essential to embed a time frame in the project that identifies specific
measurable deliverables that are time and situation bound. It allows us to
monitor our own progress and we can also use it to identify necessary changes
to the plan.
Most of us have made plans and timetables but allowed these to be for-
gotten. We make our new year resolutions but these get forgotten in January.
Often this happens slowly and we do not even realize that we have forgotten
our timetable. By the time we may remember this further down the track, it
appears to be too late. It is at that time, we will generally find it convenient to
justify our inability to stick to the time plan. However, if we have dependents
such as children, we expect them to stick to their time schedules and excuses
are not permitted. In terms of managing our time, it is essential to be strict
with ourselves.
One important rule for managing the time of our research plan is to keep
it visible so that you see it every day. It may be a good idea to write the
next week plan every Friday evening and see this every morning. There will
be times when it is necessary to make changes to the timeline of the plan.
However, it is essential that this is done after due consideration. Write down
why the previous plan had to be modified and identify to yourself the root
cause of the change. Was the task bigger than you thought, or did you get
diverted to doing other things? Were there other barriers in the progress?
 3.6 Researcher Attributes: Communication 25

It is essential that you are truthful to yourself and write it down so that
you understand what is truly happening. If it is kept in the mind, it is soon
forgotten and the project plan becomes very irrelevant.

3.5 Researcher Attribute: Flexibility

Research is about the process and not just the outcome. The PhD candidature
should be a well planned journey that develops the candidate who makes the
discovers. It is a journey that takes us to discover the unknown, and while
there may be hope of getting to prove the hypothesis, it is very likely that the
actual results are to the contrary. However, the research should be considered
to be successful when the plan is executed well, whatever be the outcome.
Often research is defined in terms of blue sky research, pure discov-
ery, applied research and development. However, the presence of the word:
research, should indicate that the outcomes are unknown, and cannot be
predicted. What is relevant is the process to ensure that we have followed
the appropriate procedure and not compromised on that. However, many of
us get fixated to a specific outcome and this can result in stress, and may also
compromise the actual research activity. Thus, true research is when we are
flexible with the outcome, but disciplined with our execution of well planned
research.
One cause of stress is when we want one specific outcome without
worrying about the research plan. Research is about conducting experiments
and testing hypothesis and not building things. Even the applied research is
about testing a discovery for an application, but it is not about development
of a device. Thus, it is essential for the researchers to be open-minded, and
have the flexibility for the outcomes. A good researcher should ensure that
the experiments are well planned and correctly performed.

3.6 Researcher Attributes: Communication

The ability to communicate accurately is an essential attribute of a researcher.
This should not be equated with public-speaking, or addressing large crowds,
but it is the ability to deliver a precise message to the target audience. It
may be oral or written, and formal or informal. Research students need to
communicate with their supervisors, colleagues, journal reviewers, granting
bodies and may even be expected to communicate with the popular media.
Thus, they need to communicate with a range of people, from experts in their
26 Attributes of a Researcher

field to lay people. Very capable people of sciences may remain unknown and
unemployed if they lack the ability to communicate.

3.6.1 What Is Communication?

Communication is not about telling but ensuring the target audience have
understood the message as was intended. There is no purpose served when
a person speaks (or writes) but the audience have no idea or interest in
the speech or text. It is essential that the speaker has to have a message,
understand the audience and identify with their purpose. The audience may be
co-located with the speaker and physically present in the room, or they may be
elsewhere in an audio/video link or may be reading the report or publication.
It is essential to find out who are the audience and their expectations.
Language skills are essential for good communication but this is one
relatively small aspect for successful communication. Complicated sounding
equations, fancy terms and jargon are often distractors and in most cases
not the best way to communicate with the audience. However, using the
terminology relevant to the topic and the audience is essential. If the audience
have medical background and the speaker uses engineering jargon, this is
wasting the time of all concerned and the audience will not be impressed.

3.6.2 Clarity of the Message

It is essential to have a clear message for the specific audience and situation.
It is the thoughts flow clearly and there is focus. This requires a plan which
in essence is not dissimilar to the essay planning taught in schools. Once
the audience capacity and expectations are identified, it is essential to write
down the purpose of the communicate. It is essential to identify the one single
message that needs to be conveyed. This is true for all communicates; written,
informal meeting or formal presentation. This is even helpful when sending
a text message because when there are multiple messages, the receiver or the
audience get confused.

3.6.3 Ability to Listen

Another very important attribute for good communication is the ability to
listen and to observe. Our speech and writing is understood in context, and
it is essential to have contextual awareness when communicating. However,
if someone begins to write a response to an email, or make a statement in
a meeting without paying attention to what is being said, they can end up
 3.7 Research Attributes: Partnership and Networking 27

looking silly. This can result in saying the wrong things and causing dishar-
mony and can be especially damaging when it happens routinely between the
student and supervisor or with colleagues. This may, however, become more
challenging when giving a prepared presentation such as at a conference.
In summary, it is essential for researchers to develop their communi-
cations skills. These include formal and informal; writing and oral. Good
formal writing skills are required for publications and reports while informal
writing skills are necessary for emails and similar. Informal oral skills are
necessary for meetings while formal are required for presentations. In each
of these, there is the need identify the main important message, understand
the audience, have a plan for delivering the message and train to listen and
observe.

3.7 Research Attributes: Partnership and Networking

It is a common belief that artists, scientists and researchers remain isolated
from the rest of the world. However, successful research requires partnerships
where the research community gains from the combined knowledge rather
than isolated pieces of work. Successful scientists have connected with their
peers and for this purpose organize and attend meetings and conferences.
Some people may consider such conferences to be junkets for wasting time
and money; however, that is very far from the truth and these can be very
useful.
There are many benefits for researchers who make the effort to net-
work with peers and other stakeholders; They gain access to resources,
new employment opportunities and significantly wholesome research expe-
rience. In the current climate of seemingly diminishing research resources
and rapidly evolving higher-education scenario, there is an urgent need
for identifying non-traditional research opportunities and developing new
partnerships.
There can be differences in the status of two partners; one may be senior
while the other is starting the career. Developing partnerships in general
should lead to benefits to both the partners and it would not be sustainable if
it was one sided. In general, partnerships can lead to number of opportunities
and lead to amazing benefits.
There are some very obvious research partnerships while then there are
others that appear to be not so obvious. Partnerships may be within the disci-
pline or multidisciplinary. Let’s first consider the ones that are very evident.
Take the example of a team of ophthalmologists who are working on the
28 Attributes of a Researcher

retina images to identify methods to study the changes due to hypertension.

And there is another team of computer science researchers who are wanting
to test their image segmentation algorithms on complex images. While the
ophthalmologists have developed this amazing database, they are unable to
do much more because the images need to be manually graded (analysed)
and this is too expensive and time consuming. The computer scientists have
their amazing algorithms but with no challenges to prove the efficacy, it is
not going to go very far. Put the two teams together and now they can analyse
thousands of images very quickly, see the trends and conduct important needs.

3.7.1 Networking with Other Researchers

Networking and partnerships among researchers is essential for supporting
students to get more wholesome research experience. It does not even matter
how good are the facilities where the students are located and how knowl-
edgeable are the supervisors; there are always benefits with the experience
of other laboratories and research projects. Research and education requires
being pushed outside the comfort zone, and it is essential to go into situations
that are new. Familiarity breeds complacency which prevents us from new
discoveries. Networking and partnerships help in fostering the abilities of the
PhD candidates to work in teams and in different environments, an essential
for their careers.
Another benefit of networking is that it can lead to employment oppor-
tunities for the PhD candidates, funding opportunities for the academics and
employee selection for the industry. Many short-term positions are not adver-
tised, and often these may lead to more permanent job opportunities. The
investigators are interested in getting on board someone they are comfortable
with. Thus if you have been to their laboratory and spent a few months, they
are likely to take you for the project because they are familiar with you.

3.7.2 Partnership with Industry and External Agencies

Many years ago, the demand for PhD graduates outstripped the supply and
most of the graduates who went to non-academic careers did so because
of different lifestyle or opportunities. However, currently there are many
more PhD graduates than positions in the University. Significant number
of graduates will need to find employment in industry or attempt a start-up
company.
 Tasks 29

There are significant differences between the research atmosphere and

opportunities in industry compared with University. When undergraduate
students join the industry after finishing their University, they are expected
to be ‘raw’ and many industry provide in-house training to ease them into
their workforce. Numbers of countries have well developed programs that
facilitate the entry of these youngsters in the industry and many Universi-
ties have developed partnerships with industry to help their undergraduate
students gain the experience. However, there are no major programs in most
Universities that seem to target the PhD graduates. To make the matters more
difficult, the PhD graduates are not treated similar to the undergraduates by
the employers who expect them to be experts in their field and have the
professional maturity. They are more matured and are expected to take greater
responsibilities than the undergraduates. However, most PhD graduates have
no experience working in industry. Often they may have been the lab-rats who
performed a single task during their candidature, and have not been trained
to be effective managers, or even have the experience in managing budgets.
Often PhD candidates may find themselves feeling unemployable after they
complete their thesis, even if they are the highest skilled individuals in their
field. Unfortunately, technical experts may often be overlooked when seeking
jobs, or later, when seeking promotions because they may lack professional
maturity. It is important for PhD students to participate in industry and
government research forums and begin to network early.

Tasks
1. Write down in dot-points why you are doing your PhD? Be honest, and
do not share this with others. But keep this safely with yourself.
2. Do you consider yourself to be creative? Or knowledge focused?
3. How regularly do you conduct literature review? How often do you read
textbooks to understand the concepts?
4. Do you have a time-plan? If yes, how often do you refer to it?
5. Write down the list of activities you did during the past 2 days.
6. Conduct an experiment where you explain your work to three people,
and each person independently records what they have understood.
Compare their notes and see if these are the same.
 4
The Supervisor and the Supervised

Abstract
Research students, and young researchers need supervision and thus a super-
visor. Often the selection of the student and supervisor seems to happen acci-
dently, and the two people have to learn about their roles over time and adapt
to each other. However, despite best intentions, there may be tensions, leading
to disputes. Such situations may lead to high dropout rate among research
students. To overcome disputes that may take place, Universities have
attempted to develop rules of the dos and don’ts. However, reading the list
of the rules developed by some of the Universities makes one remember the
classic, 1984 (Orwell).
This chapter is written for helping the reader understand the relationship
between the research student and the supervisors. It discusses the expecta-
tions of both, the supervisor and the student and methods to get the mutually
beneficial outcomes. It also suggests techniques that could be used for iden-
tifying the most suitable supervisor for a student and is written to benefit the
student and the supervisors.

4.1 Introduction
Bertrand Russell remarked in 1926; “Cast iron rules are above all things to be
avoided”, and that is so important in the relationship between a student and
the supervisor. A PhD student and the supervisor will always end up having a
very special relationship and what works for one may not work for the other
pair. This relationship requires flexibility and maturity on behalf of both: the
supervisor and the student.

31
32 The Supervisor and the Supervised

I have been observing how PhD applicant and the academics start the
journey, and join hands to become a team called ‘the supervisor and the
supervised’. In most cases this process is seemingly random, specially when
the student is from another state or country. A common scenario is that
the student has finished or is nearing completion of the earlier degree and
searches the internet. At this stage, it is possible that he or she may have
some research ideas but more often these are relatively vague and appears
to be a whim rather than anything concrete. The ideas may have developed
based on some family members expertise, an event or just a news item. Or
it may be more opportunistic and they saw an advertisement of a scholarship
and realised that they could be suitable candidates.
Many times the PhD applicant may only have identified a set of keywords
that describe their interests but without details and all very fluid. Or they may
have made a wish-list of the big problem they wish to solve, without a plan or
any idea of who else is working in the space. At this stage they may not even
have decided on the country they would go, and thus the search on the web is
amateurish and similar to a fishing expedition in the dark. Some candidates
resort to sending bulk emails and hope to find some receptive academic who
will respond. However, not all candidates are in the unknown, and the other
end of the scale is where the candidates who appear to be very focused; know
the University they wish to go, the laboratory they wish to work in and the
specific project they have in mind. The reality is that despite the focus or lack
of it, the match-making exercise between the supervisor and the student is
quite arbitrary.
When an undergraduate student is enrolled in the University, the student
experiences large number of academics and laboratories. There is no single
academic who has the sole responsibility or authority for the student, and
in most cases they will barely recognise each other outside the classroom.
However, when the PhD student joins the University, it appears to be joining
a single laboratory and with one or two academics having sole responsibility
for their candidature. Thus, the student has joined a 4 year program to
be connected with a single laboratory and single academic. Similarly, the
academic has taken the responsibility of the student without knowing the
student other than having seen the undergraduate grades. Such a situation can
lead to opportunities and strengths, but can also be the basis of difficulties and
complications. This chapter discusses some of the methods that can ensure
this relationship is positive. It also recognises that there are possibilities of
conflicts and suggests methods that may reduce their impact.
 4.2 Student and Supervisor 33

4.2 Student and Supervisor

In most Universities, the PhD student needs to have a very close relationship
with the supervisors, and often the supervisors need to rely on their PhD
candidates as the backbone of the laboratory and projects. The first step in
the process of success for the research project and for the PhD student is to
ensure that the student matches with the supervisor and the project.
The student and supervisors have desires of the attributes of the other
person. However, the reality is often very different from the ideal conditions.
The sections below tease out the differences between the ideal and real
supervisors, students and facilities.

4.2.1 Supervisor and the Student; Reality Check

The relationship between the student and the supervisor is very close and
with significant dependencies between their goals. The student is dependent
on the supervisor for advice, positive feedback, support towards scholarship,
submission of manuscripts, and to get referee letters for employment. The
supervisor is also dependent on the student; timely completion of the project,
publications, and towards credit points that will lead to their promotion. In
the ideal world, the student and supervisor should be the ideal match, and the
outcomes of the candidature should be very significant for the supervisor and
the student. However, often the relationship is opportunistic; supervisor is in
a hurry to fill in a position, and the student is looking for a scholarship. Then
there is the expectations of the student and the supervisor and often there can
be a mismatch between the reality and the expectations. Such mismatch can
lead to suboptimal outcomes. To begin with, it is helpful to understand what
may be the expectations of the student for an ideal supervisor, and what may
be the expectations of the supervisors for their ideal students. Later sections
will then tease out what the real supervisors and students can be like, and
highlight the differences between the reality and expectations.

4.2.2 An Ideal Supervisor

The PhD students may have given up their lucrative careers, prospect of
family life and could be living away from home on a frugal scholarship
with little creature comforts. Many of them could be struggling socially and
many times every day they may question the wisdom of their decision to
pursue their PhD and wonder if it was the correct one. The students would
find themselves dependent on the supervisors and before they joined the
34 The Supervisor and the Supervised

program, may have had a vision of an ideal supervisor; one who is patient,
knowledgeable, understands the students’ needs and is able to manage the
resources for the benefit of the student. Such a supervisor should have an
open door and the student can walk in when and if they have any problems,
and should have the patience to listen to their problems and respond to their
questions with knowledge and wisdom.
In general, strong-willed students who are seeking to become independent
researchers of the future wish for independence and choice. Thus the ideal
supervisor would allow the PhD student to undertake the project of the stu-
dent’s choice, be kind and considerate, and not be harsh when students make
a mistake or even destroy the equipment. They should respond immediately
to the emails of the students but be patient if the student does not respond
to their emails. They should never criticize the students for poor analysis
or badly written text but edit the ill planned papers written by the student
with ease and immediately after they receive it from the student. And after
they have written the paper for the student, they should not be disappointed
happy even if the student decides to publish the paper without including the
supervisor as a co-author. While this list looks a little exaggerated, it is not
very far from the wish-list of many students. Many of them may not voice
their demands, but the expectations are real.

4.2.3 An Ideal Student

In many Universities, supervision of PhD students is desirable but not manda-
tory and often may not be included in the workload of the academics. While
the academics enjoy the role as supervisors of their research students, it
may often be on top of the teaching and academic duties. They also have
to make efforts to procure equipment, maintain the research laboratory and
find money for scholarships. Thus it is not uncommon for the supervisor to
believe that supervision was ‘an extra’ and out of generosity. Many of them
may even consider the supervision as a favour towards the students and could
be justified in having expectations from their PhD students.
If we were to look from the viewpoint of the supervisors, it is not
totally unjustified for them to want their PhD student to be; knowledgeable,
imaginative, hardworking, who takes responsibility and understands time-
management. Going further down the list, the students should have energy,
be tireless and focused, while being flexible to always accommodate their
supervisor and willing to participate in other projects. They should be willing
to take the responsibilities of the laboratory, conduct experiments, and even
manage the documentation for the sponsors of the projects.
 4.2 Student and Supervisor 35

The list of the desirable qualities of this super-human ideal student is

longer. Supervisors would like them to be independent but not questions the
wishes of the supervisor. They should be self-motivated for their project, and
willing to help for teaching activities and any administrative roles as may be
required. They should be the secretary and the scientist built in one who is
in the laboratory before the break of dawn, be toiling into the night and work
independently on the projects approved by but without requiring any help
from the supervisor. He or she would manage even if the supervisor is not
able to attend to the meetings, and manage meetings, writing manuscripts and
conducting experiments, all at the same time. Such a student should produce
high impact publications, deliver research outcomes that makes the laboratory
famous, and should be respectful. And above all, should always consider the
supervisor as the first author.
The closeness of the supervisor and the student also leads to personal
expectations such as being respectful, and understanding of personal situa-
tions of the supervisors. They will also hope that this student understands
when the supervisor is busy or does not respond to emails, while be very
prompt in responding to any question or demand from the supervisor. This
list is made to sound unrealistic, comical and exaggerated. However these
unspoken expectations are real for many relatively inexperienced supervisors.

4.2.4 The Real Situation

The difficulty arises when the reality is very different from the expectations.
When the expectations become demands and these are unrealistic, there is
potential of clash between the two people. The reality and the expectations
between the two people are never the same and the gap leads to resentment,
anger and conflict. Once there are underlying differences, one small issue can
trigger a full-blown conflict. Often little can be achieved after the flood gates
of the emotions have opened.
One of the best methods is to prevent this from happening is to conduct
a reality check and identify if the expectations are appropriate. From this,
it is possible to evaluate whether the situation is really as bad as you think.
Chinmayanand famously said, “Quite often people suffer more out of fear
than actual happening”. Thus, the first step is to come to realise what is the
reality, and what we should expect. The next section suggests what can be
expected from many supervisors and students. The intent of this section is
not to condone any bad behaviour or poor productivity but it is useful to do a
reality check and understand what is common, and what could be considered
acceptable in many situations.
36 The Supervisor and the Supervised

4.2.5 The Real Supervisor

The reality is that most academics enjoy having PhD candidates who are
interested in their field of expertise. In fields such as science and engineering,
the research strength of an academic is generated by their research students
and staff as it will be difficult to work in isolation. Most academics are
passionate about their laboratory and the research but have many other things
that keeps them very busy. Some of these are professional, then there are the
personal issues and then there are other divisions such as office politics. It
may be the personality of the supervisor or the lack of experience. Below are
some of the issues that the student may find to uncomfortable.
• The supervisor does not appear to have the time for the student or the
project.
• The supervisor appears to be unreasonable in the expectations of the
student.
• Supervisor does not appear to have the knowledge of the topic.
• Supervisor does not appear to be interested in the student or the topic.
• Supervisor makes personal remarks or invitations.
• Supervisor lacks emotions or is too emotional.

4.2.5.1 The supervisor does not appear to have the time

for the student or the project
In many Universities academics have to spend significant time towards under-
graduate teaching because that is the primary role of most Universities. They
have to prepare the lecture material, mark assignments and exams and often
spend a lot of time with the underperforming students. Another large chunk
of their time is devoted towards administrative tasks and attending meetings.
These are real tasks that the academics are employed to do and would always
take precedence over meetings with their PhD students.
There can be personal issues that may divert the attention of the supervisor
away from their PhD student. Many young professional in all professions
have to juggle between family and office, and need to find time for children,
spouse (partner) and parents. Often a young professional has to work around
the school timing of the children, medical appointments of the parents and
office commitments of their partners. In general, academia is considered to
be the profession with flexible timing and most academics will be expected
by their family to take such roles whenever necessary. The reality will be that
if the child is sick at home or there is a school holiday, the academic will miss
the meeting with the PhD student or not pay full attention to an email from
the student.
 4.2 Student and Supervisor 37

There may be many other issues that could affect the response of the
supervisor such as their personal financial problems and may prioritize the
payment of the mortgages ahead of reviewing the paper sent by their student.
Family problems such as divorce may consume the individual and they may
not be very productive.
There are also other potential difficulties such as the supervisor goes on
long leave, or takes a sabbatical. Such a condition can take the supervisor
away from the laboratory for an extended period. Or it may be worse and the
supervisor may decide to change the University or leave academia and join
industry, or retire. While none of these are desirable for the students, these
can happen in the real world.

4.2.5.1.1 Suggestions to the student

In an ideal world, the supervisors should provide the necessary support for
their PhD students, irrespective of their personal circumstances. It is not
the fault of the student who should not have to suffer because of personal
problems of the supervisor. However, reality is that such things do happen,
and as a student, you must first become aware of these issues. However you
also have your own challenges, and you cannot solve the problem for the
supervisor.
As a student, you have to be aware of the situation, and observe its effect
on your progress. It may be a good time to engage with the second supervisor
in more earnest. Also, if the problem is short-term, and it appears that things
will settle down quickly, it is best to skip over it. However, if it appears
that the distractions are going to cause major delays and you believe that
it compromises your work, check if your fears are justified. The first step
should be to talk to your colleagues and determine if your expectations of
the supervisor are real. If you believe that there is significant delay, get real
numbers; often your expectations may not be real or the problem exaggerated.
Also, identify if there is a trend or are you being over sensitive.
If the delay in response to emails, or review of manuscripts or meetings
being cancelled is happening very frequently, and you are unable to meet with
the supervisor even during the scheduled meetings, raise it with your supervi-
sors by any means you can; email, telephone, text or any other. Mention this
politely to the supervisor directly or to the second/ joint supervisor. Try and
take control rather than having self-pity take over. Do not wait for things to
go terribly wrong for your work and do this as soon as you are certain of the
trend.
38 The Supervisor and the Supervised

During your discussion with your supervisor, you should spell out the
problem as you see it clearly but without attempting to put the supervisor on
the back foot. Have a mature conversation and importantly, suggest a realistic
alternative option if the problem appears to be long-term. The alternative may
be that you spend more time with the second supervisor, or in the event that
things are really going bad, maybe change the supervisor. Or if it is possible
and you can manage, work independently. But ensure that when you go to the
supervisor and raise the issue, provide a solution. When the person is loaded
with their own problems, the last thing they need is yet another problem.
It is possible that despite your attempt, things do not work out and then
you have consider changing the supervisor which may lead to confrontation.
However, if you start the confrontation with your supervisor, you should have
a plan, and be aware of where it could lead. There is no point in getting into an
argument and come out a poor loser, while having annoyed your supervisor.

4.2.5.2 The supervisor appears to be unreasonable

in the expectations of the student
Supervisors have expectations from their students. While some of these are
related to their research or other expectations such as laboratory management,
assisting in teaching or support for other unrelated projects. It is essential to
realize that these expectations are not necessary bad but it is important to see
these in context.
The research expectations may be that the supervisor is expecting the
outcomes faster than can be delivered by the student. This is a common
difficulty and may arise because of multiple reasons: the supervisor lacks
experience, the student is not capable or the supervisor is simply in a hurry.
The first step is for the student to measure the expectations against the
research plan that was developed at the start of the candidature. It may be
possible that the supervisor is basing the expectations from the proposal and
in this case, it is best to have a detailed discussion with the supervisor and
ensure that the plan is corrected.
Incorrect expectations by the supervisor may be because of the lack
of experience of the supervisor with the specific experiment, equipment or
conditions. This is often the case and is to be expected because the role
of the supervisor progresses from conducting experiments to supervising
people who conduct experiments. In such a case, the best option may be to
give feedback to the supervisor and discuss the matter to describe the actual
complexity of the project, and if possible with a demonstration. However,
some supervisors may take this personally as a challenge to their authority
 4.2 Student and Supervisor 39

and in this situation it is a good idea to discuss it with the second supervisor
or politely invite the supervisor for a demonstration. Be assertive but not
aggressive and things generally work out.

4.2.5.3 Supervisor does not appear to have the knowledge

of the topic
It may happen that the supervisor may lack the knowledge of the topic. In
most cases, there are two or more supervisors and if one does not know the
topic, identify the one that does. It is important to understand that the role
of the supervisor is not to teach the PhD student but to mentor and train
them to become independent researchers. There is nothing evil or sinister
about this situation and if the supervisor is a confident individual, he or she
will acknowledge this. However, if the supervisor is relatively new or lacks
confidence, they would like to appear to be on the top of the topic. While this
can be bothersome, it also can be used to the benefit of the student.
When faced with the situation that the supervisor is not an expert in the
topic, use this as an opportunity to become an independent researcher. There
are three typical reactions of a supervisor to this situation: encourage, pretend,
or put obstacles. Most experienced or proactive supervisors will encourage
the student to take the lead and realize that they will benefit with a progressive
and independent student. This is an ideal condition for the student who should
take the lead, but without becoming arrogant. The role of the supervisor is to
mentor and no supervisor can be expected to know all the topics that are
relevant to the project. However, most supervisors will not be comfortable
with students who are disrespectful or arrogant.
Then there will be supervisors who may try to pretend to know the topic
but will be struggling. This situation is more challenging for the student who
now has to learn to be independent but include the supervisor’s pretenses.
The meetings not only become fascicle but also a waste of time. However,
my advice to the student will be to continue the ritual and very soon the
situations will change. And such supervisors would often go out of the way
to support the promising students.
The third category is the most difficult one, where not only the supervisor
does not understand the topic but does not allow the student to pursue it either.
The first step for the student is to seek independent and confidential advice
to confirm the two points: student is on the correct path and the supervisor
appears to be lacking knowledge on the topic. The next step should be to
discuss the issue directly with the supervisor and ask the motivation. If the
motivation is not the benefit of the project, then it is time to look for a new
supervisor.
40 The Supervisor and the Supervised

4.2.5.4 Supervisor does not appear to be interested

in the student, the topic or the outcomes
There are number of times it may appear that the supervisor is not interested
in the student or the topic or even the project outcomes and this may be due
to number of reasons. They may be the supervisor has just lost the mojo and
is not enjoying the work. If this is the case, the student has to do a feasibility
analysis without the drive of the supervisor and if possible, to continue
through the project while training to become an independent researcher.
However, it may also be that the supervisor no longer trusts the student or
his/her ability. In such a situation, it is best to have an honest dialogue and try
to get things on track, failing which to look for change in supervisor. It is also
a good time to reflect and figure out if the reason could have been genuine,
though an experienced supervisor should have clearly explained this to the
student.
Another cause of the supervisor losing interest may be because there are
many new projects that appear to get all the attention, or the topic is no longer
current and exciting. The role of the supervisor is to train the student and an
experienced supervisor would have a dialogue with the student to explain this.
It is possible that it may be too late for the candidate to change the direction or
the candidate may not wish to change the topic. However, many supervisors
may not have this dialogue and in such a situation a proactive student would
raise the issue and clarify. While ideally the supervisor has personal interest
in the project, but this is however not necessary for the success of the PhD
candidature.

4.2.5.5 Supervisor makes personal remarks or invitations

The supervisor and the student can be in close proximity over extended period
of time. In many cases, the supervisor or the student may drop the formality
of the professional relationship and may make personal remarks, or even
forge a personal relationship. While this can cause some difficulties in some
situations, in most cases it can be harmless but if managed appropriately.
One of the difficulties that may be encountered by a PhD student could
be if the supervisor may make personal remark on issues such as dressing. In
most societies such remarks are not appropriate unless there is an expected
dress code for the tasks. For example, if the student is expected to be meeting
with patients, there is an expectation of a formal dress-code. Or if there
are rotating machines, loose clothings are not permitted because there can
be an accident. However, there may be less defined codes such as wearing
‘revealing’ clothing, or clothes that are not clean or smelly or inappropriate
 4.2 Student and Supervisor 41

in the local society. Often the issue may not be the supervisor, but colleagues
who may make statements on behalf of the supervisor.
In such a situation, it is best to first do a self-assessment and identify if the
concern raised are genuine or more often there could be a misunderstanding
on the part of the student or the supervisor. If you are convinced that the
remark was inappropriate, then let the other person know, preferably by email,
that you were uncomfortable with the remark. It is essential to do this with a
cool head and very accurately so that the message is very clear. Do not add
your emotions to the situation, but state that you were uncomfortable with the
remark. The email is useful as it makes the student think appropriate issue to
be raised, prevents any emotional outbursts, and is in the record which may
be required if this has to generate an official complaint.
The next step is to identify the frequency of these remarks. If it was a
relatively harmless remark made once in three years, or is it regular, or there
is a trend. If it is routine, or there is a trend, it is better to take a decision
sooner than later. Take the matter to the appropriate level and ensure that you
have all the proof and it is not a slinging match of ‘you said, I said’. And,
when in such a situation, be aware that it is very likely that the relationship
will breakdown and you should be prepared to find an alternative supervisor.

4.2.5.6 Romantic liaison

Another issue that has to be considered is romantic or physical relationship
between the student and the supervisor. These two people often work together
for extended periods of time and may even travel together and such proximity
can lead to emotional bonding and romantic involvement. There have been
number of famous cases where the supervisor and the student have become a
couple.
In our society with historical male domination, it is very common that the
supervisor is male who is older than the student and the student is younger
female, though the romantic liaison may happen in any other combination.
From the supervisor and student relationship viewpoint, age and gender has
little relevance as both are adults.
There is nothing incorrect when two people who work together to get
emotionally involved. However, this is not correct if any of the two people
find the relationship to be inappropriate or one appears to be taking advantage
of their position. In general, there is nothing inappropriate for a romantic
emotional bond or physical relationship between two adults that is on mutual
terms as long as the circumstances are appropriate. However, the situation
can often lead to stress and confusion, and it is important that a few important
issues should be considered before going down the path.
42 The Supervisor and the Supervised

It is essential to acknowledge that the relationship between the supervisor

and the student is that of dependency and the situation can have real or
perceived exploitation of the student by the supervisor. Another issue is
that it can result in the other students or members of the laboratory to have
concerns of prejudices and bias, leading to the atmosphere within the group
to becoming uncomfortable. Yet another concern is that when the supervisor
and the student are in an emotional relationship, there is an obvious bias and
it is difficult for the examination of the thesis to be without concerns for the
authorities.
In relatively conservative societies the response is to ban such relation-
ships. However, we know that when such things are ‘banned’, these would
be more likely to happen secretively which can be more stressful and bother-
some. In the more progressive societies, the response to this is complex and
most administrators would prefer if they were not faced with the problem. In
my opinion, the first appropriate response for this situation will be to be public
about the relationship, or at the least to explain the situation to the immediate
colleagues and members of the group. This will prevent the rumors and is
more likely to keep things under control.
The second response must be the change in supervisors. Most universities
will be uncomfortable of the relationship between the supervisor and student
because it will become difficult to argue the impartiality of the examination.
If this change is initiated by the supervisor or the student, it will prevent
any uncomfortable situation. It will prevent gossip and conflict of interest
conditions.

4.2.5.7 Supervisor personality type; Lacks emotions

or is too emotional
Real supervisors are real people with their own personality traits. While some
people are very logical, the others work with their heart. Both of these styles
can be considered as strengths and weakness and are necessary for quality
research outcomes.
It will be very unfair for the student to expect the supervisor to change
their fundamental personality trait. However, what is important is that the
supervisor does not treat the student badly and forget the appropriate eti-
quettes. and the behaviour is not nasty such as shouting at the student, or
discredit the student for being emotional. The reality is that most of us are
ranging somewhere between the two extremes and our state is not fixed.
While the individual may have some predominant traits, the difficulty is only
when the person is at any extreme end of the scale.
 4.2 Student and Supervisor 43

Emotional people as supervisors can be a significant strength and be

beneficial for research projects and for training PhD students. In general, they
have more patience and are compassionate which is essential for encouraging
the students who are starting their research careers. Such supervisors are
more likely to be very encouraging and provide the ‘mother’ figure in the
laboratory. However, these strengths can sometimes lead to indiscipline in
the laboratory and come at the cost of poor productivity.
The other end of the spectrum or the other extreme are the supervisors
who are very methodological and logical but lack emotions. These are said to
respond with their head and not their hearts. They provide a logical basis of
the work, have focus, follow routine, and are very methodological; they are
very goal driven. Such supervisors can benefit the project and their students
because their style can often lead to high productivity. However, such people
may lack patience and compassion. They would not understand the ‘personal’
issues in the lives of their students and would equate delays with laziness. And
it is believed by some that such style rarely leads to major discoveries, though
this is highly debatable.
Most supervisors will not be on the extreme ends of the scale but
somewhere in between. However, even if they happen to be on the extreme
ends, the student can benefit from both these styles and personalities of the
supervisor. And often the second supervisor can provide the balance. What is
important to realise is that while as a student, things may appear to be outside
your control, how not to be the victim, but the victor.

4.2.5.8 Personality clash

Occasionally there may be clashes between the student and the supervisor
due to the differences in their personalities. The problems may be due to
the significant differences in the personality types of the supervisor and the
student. Further, the second supervisor may not be actively participating,
or be subdued in the presence of the senior supervisor, or may also have
a similar personality. The problem may even become bigger if the student
has a strong personality with confrontational traits. All of these can cause
difficulties where the feedback to the student may be too harsh or too soft and
mild. Both these extremes can be detrimental to the project and the training
of the PhD student.
In most cases, it is quite acceptable for the supervisor and the student to
have their unique personality which may also be changing based on many
other circumstances. However, if there are regular and unpleasant conflicts
between the student and the supervisors, or the progress of the project is
44 The Supervisor and the Supervised

seriously compromised, it is time to look for change supervisors. It is essential

to note that while the supervisor and the student themselves may be very
decent people, their personality types may make them incompatible and in
such situations and it may be mutually beneficial to consider changing the
supervisor. However, this may not always be possible because of number of
reasons. For example, if the funding of the project and scholarship is via the
supervisor, the student cannot leave the project without losing the scholarship.
In such situations, and it may be best for the student works closely with the
second supervisor. However, it is essential to realise that differences with the
supervisor will not be resolved with an argument. There is an old wise saying;
“Both parties loose an argument”.

4.2.6 Real Research Student

You may remember the list of qualities of the ideal student mentioned
earlier in this chapter. However, most realstudents are not ideal and have
significant differences from that list. The reality is that most students lack
experience, and often are unsure of the purpose of their degree. The reality
is also that most PhD students need to relearn what they studied earlier,
and may not meet the expectations of the supervisor. There is nothing
really wrong with this, as the purpose of the PhD candidature is to get the
training.
Another reality is that most PhD students have a life outside the labo-
ratory. They have relationships, friends and family, and enjoy social events
and going for parties. They are short of money and often attempt to
work during their spare time. And they may be lazy, may procrastinate
and may even be losing interest in the research topic or their candidature
itself.

4.2.6.1 Transition from undergraduate to post-graduate

Some students join for their PhD after completing their undergraduate, and
often they may remain in the same University. This is strength as there
is the sense of familiarity and belonging. However, it can also be a big
weakness because they may continue to behave like undergraduates, and
not transition to being a PhD student. Going from undergraduate will give
freedom, but it comes with responsibilities and there are expectations. Based
on their individual personalities and that of the supervisors, these students
may enjoy the freedom and the scholarship but ignore the rest of the
baggage.
 4.3 Selection of the Supervisor and Student 45

Students who may change their University or even city can be seen to have
the advantage of fresh start. However, they have the challenges of discovering
the differences between their earlier University and the current one. Not only
are the buildings and the city different, the attitude of the people and the rules,
both written and unwritten can be very different.

4.2.6.1.1 Change of expectations

A typical undergraduate student works with class-mates and the institutions
do not have any expectations from them other than to study and do their
course-work. And many of them would be staying with parents who cook and
clean for them. Thus, they are centered on themselves. Things change rapidly
from that state to becoming a PhD student. While the building may remain the
same and the Professors may also be the same, the expectations are different.
They are now expected to contribute towards the facilities, and expected to be
taking responsibilities. They are no longer working with the class-mates but
have to be independent. And often by now they may have moved out of their
homes and now have to manage the cooking and the cleaning. While their
colleagues who go to offices have a different environment that enforces the
change, the PhD students are in the same setting but in a different role and
this can be confusing.
There is no simple answer that will make the transition any easier. Perhaps
one thing that can help is to be aware of this change. Another important
aspect is to be disciplined and follow a routine even if the supervisor or
the laboratory does not demand this. Instead of rolling to the laboratory at
a convenient time, fix the time and follow a dress-code. This helps the start as
in the beginning the PhD plan has not yet been developed and it is very easy
to not realize that many unproductive months have gone by.

4.3 Selection of the Supervisor and Student

The process of match-making the supervisor and the student appears to be
truly random, perhaps more random that marriages in our internet societies.
While there are exceptions to the rule where the student may be matured, most
PhD students are in the mid-twenties, who have either just completed their
course-work qualifications or joined the industry and got disillusioned. And
in engineering and science, in many universities a significant percentage of
the students are from another country. However, in most cases, the supervisors
and the students manage and projects go well. However, there are some that
have problems.
46 The Supervisor and the Supervised

4.3.1 Background of Student

A small number of PhD students will be from the University where they did
their other qualifications and this comes with the advantage that they have
some knowledge of the academics, the laboratory facilities and the general
culture of the place. While this can be a disadvantage in many ways, it does
help in the process of selection of the supervisor and the project. It has also
benefits the supervisors who are aware of the strengths and weakness of
their graduates and can evaluate the students better than most other people.
However, this has a major weakness; there is limited new experience and to
a significance extend it is ‘same same no different’. The student may learn
new technology but the other soft-skills, the life skills, may not develop
significantly beyond what they learnt before. It also has a disadvantage to
the supervisor who does not get fresh ideas and this would greatly limit the
output.
The bigger challenge is for the international students who are often
coming from a very different culture and may not be in the best position to
evaluate the website. Different cultures have the ability to state facts in ways
that could be termed as exaggeration in other cultures. It is not necessarily
the words but the style that is unique to a society. Often the big challenge
for the student is to identify with the proposed academic and similarly for
the academic to evaluate the technical, communication and life skills of the
student.
Whether the student is local or international, it is quite common that stu-
dents tend to be attracted to academics with whom they may share common
ethnicity, have similar cultural background or may be of the same gender.
They find it easier to communicate with people having a name type they
may be more familiar with and this is especially for international students
who would find this to be in their comfort zone. I am not aware of any
research but I am absolutely certain that academics with Persian names get
more applicants from Iran, and with Polish names attract Polish applicants.
While this may not be the ideal situation, this is usual and can be expected.
In my opinion, selecting a suitable project and supervisor/student is very
important for the success of the PhD candidature and for future employment
of the student. One of the biggest mistake is when the students or supervisors
jump into the relationship in a hurry. This could be because of number of
reasons; student may have the grades and the academic may have a very
impressive CV. However they may not match and the outcomes are not going
to be very good.
 4.4 Networking 47

I believe that one solution is that the research proposal should be devel-
oped by the student and in close collaboration with the academic before
joining in as a student. In general, a few phone conversations can also be very
useful in testing the feasibility of the relationship. However, many times these
things may not be possible, such as when an academic has a scholarship, the
project needs to be started urgently, and the student needs that scholarship.

4.4 Networking
4.4.1 Networking with Other Professors
It is essential for students to network with academics other than their super-
visor. Make an effort to identify other academics from within the University
or from other Universities. It gives a wider perspective of research and
academics, while also enhancing likelihood for future employment. However,
it is important to be sensitive of the relationships between these academics
and the supervisor. There are personal or professional relationships between
two colleagues and these can help or harm the student. Often the supervisors
may be more insecure than the students would imagine.
When developing friends and networking with other academics, it is most
important to follow your instincts. It is also important to be transparent
with your supervisor and ask pertinent questions that can be helpful. You
don’t want to lose the trust of your supervisor, and the last thing you want
to do is to give your supervisor an impression that you are doing some-
thing behind the back. Be transparent and in most supervisors may be very
helpful.

4.4.2 Industry Partnership: Support for Students

Some academics have industry experience or may be well connected with
industry, though it appears that this number is gradually diminishing. Signi-
ficant numbers of excellent scientists may lack the connectivity with industry
or other organizations outside of academia or their research institute. How-
ever, for the sake of their PhD students it is essential for them to provide
leadership and support the PhD students to familiarize themselves with
industry and develop partnerships. This will prepare the students for their
future, and may also provide the academics with new opportunities. It could
very useful to the supervisors, the laboratory and the University. The stu-
dents could help their supervisor overcome lack of time or inclination to
make contacts with industry. A wise supervisor will foster their students to
48 The Supervisor and the Supervised

take independent steps towards building such partnerships, and history has
shown that such partnerships may also lead to the personal income of the
supervisors.
Many governments, industry and Universities are realizing that there are
number of highly skilled but not very employable PhD graduates. They are
waking up to the need for supporting these highly educated citizens to become
useful in industry and in some countries, there is a trend for taxpayer funded
support to industry for employing PhD students to work for a short projects.
Such opportunities are beneficial for the industry that get an expert scientist
to work on their problem while the students get rich experience. It allows the
industry to undertake short-term projects and they get to observe a potential
future employee.
The candidates get an amazing opportunity to work in the industry and
observe first-hand the industrial operations and style. This may be to some
of the obvious differences between the University and industry such as the
time discipline, dress code, monitoring and reporting of the project outcomes.
They can compare their own capabilities on the industrial yard-stick but most
importantly they are able to see the real applications of their knowledge and
research. If handled well, this can give them the confidence and get them
job-ready.
Partnerships between university with industry will contribute to improv-
ing the learning experience of their undergraduate students. While in the
yester-years, the students were taught based on the expertise of the Professors,
it is now important for the students to gain from industrial leaders. Such part-
nerships lead to the industrial partners giving seminars, supporting student
projects and providing opportunities for student internships and placement
which are essential for the success of the University.

4.5 Dispute Management and Resolution

4.5.1 Causes of Disputes
Good scientists need to be assertive and it is not be uncommon for two people
to have different views. Researchers and highly educated people are likely to
disagree because they are generally highly skilled, hold strong opinions and
have a strong sense of self-belief. Good science deserves a dialogue between
people who disagree. In general, a disagreement between two scientists is
healthy for science and the society as these are essential for new discoveries.
However, if the disagreement becomes a dispute, that can be a problem.
 4.5 Dispute Management and Resolution 49

4.5.1.1 Expectations
A disagreement becomes a dispute when either or both of the parties have
strong expectations and these are being challenged. The underlying cause
may be an impulsive reaction or something that has developed over extended
period and many times the cause may appear to be very trivial. One per-
son may have a dispute with the other person due to two major reasons;
expectation of the other person or inability to accept a challenge to their
opinion.
When people have a strong expectation of the behavior of the other person
and this is challenged, the individuals may get very emotional and this would
lead to a dispute. Often the cause of disputes may be seen by the third party
to be trivial but the individuals involved in the situation see it to be very
serious indeed. One of the most important method of managing disputes is
to identify the truth of the seriousness of the situation; is it really something
worth getting upset about?
In the setting of a PhD student in a University, a typical example could
be if the supervisor has an expectation that the student will always come to
meetings at the time convenient to the supervisor, but the student is unable
to come for early morning meetings and this could lead to a dispute. There
could also be social expectations in certain cultures where the supervisor
may have expectation of student to demonstrate personal respect. While these
seemingly trivial matters can lead to major disputes, it can be easily managed
by either or both the parties. Changing the meeting time is often not too
difficult, and coming to the office early is also not impossible. However,
if there are genuine reasons such as the supervisor needs to go for some
other activity later, or the student needs to drop the kids to the school before
coming, then it is best that these are clearly communicated. Most people are
very reasonable when the reason is explained to them.

4.5.1.2 Challenge to research outcomes

The other form of dispute is when people are very connected and obsessed
with their opinion which gets challenged, especially if the challenger has
lesser authority such as their student. A senior researchers may have spent
extensive time and discovered a phenomena and becomes devoted to the
theory. However, experiments conducted by the PhD student could shed a new
light and challenge the earlier held beliefs and this could be very shattering to
the supervisor. This can also happen the other way around, where the student
may have invested heavily in their new discovery only to be shown by the
supervisor an error in the judgment.
50 The Supervisor and the Supervised

4.5.1.3 Personal beliefs and desires

There can also be disputes that are generally considered to be unethical such
as the desire of the supervisor or the student for personal benefits. There can
also be the issue of personal beliefs such as religious or political that can lead
to friction between the student and the supervisor.
In general, we cannot and should not want the world to have all people
to have similar beliefs and faith; it will become a very boring world. It will
also become a very unstable world because diversity leads to stability. One
major purpose served by education is to enjoy the richness and strength in
diversity among people, their opinion and their style of operation. However,
strong opinions can sometimes lead to an uncomfortable situation. At this
stage, it is important to look at the bigger picture and focus on the purpose of
the professional relationship. If the situation appears to be getting strained, it
is helpful to communicate and voice the concern if required it is important to
bring the focus back to the research and away from the personal issues.

4.5.2 Resolving and Managing Disputes

The world is a real place where despite all efforts and systems, disputes are
not uncommon. In most of the cases, two people can resolve their disputes
without requiring an audience. It is important for both the parties to realize
that both loose when there is a dispute; it is in no one’s interest.
The first step is to acknowledge that there is a disagreement or a problem.
The next step is to do a reality check: how big is it? If you have a scale of
1 to 10, is it something that is out of the range, and there is no possibility
of compromise, such as unwelcome physical contact. When you are certain
that compromise is not an option, discuss with a colleague if you need to, but
report the matter to the appropriate authorities. It generally helps if you can
take in your trust a colleague and keep a record of everything from there on.
While really nasty events do happen, thankfully these are very rare and
most of the conflicts are simply disagreements. This is especially the case
when highly skilled people work in close proximities and often have strong
opinions. When this happens, it is best to take a break from the event and do
reality check. When you are getting angry, it is very likely that the discussion
will become an argument and everyone loses an argument.
In my opinion, the biggest cause of conflict in research environment is
poor communication. Both, the student and the supervisor have expectations
from the other, and when these are not met, there is frustration and can result
in conflict. Many times, this happens because the two did not communicate
 4.6 Communication – Supervisor and the Supervised 51

this expectation to the other person but assumed that the other will know
about it. There can be number of reasons for this such as difference in culture,
or the individual style of operation.
I remember one of the very bright and hardworking student who started
slipping, and missed deadlines. When I asked, there was no response, and
finally one day there was an emotional outburst. I had no idea what had gone
wrong, and it took me a significant effort to find out that it was a breakdown
of his relationship with his girlfriend who was also the breadwinner. The
student expected me to have the sixth sense to understand this, but I was too
involved in other issues to take any notice. In general, it helps to be direct and
communicate.
It is essential that there is regular and open communication line between
the supervisor and the student. Clarifying the expectations on either side
goes a long way to making friends and preventing enemies. Often we do
not speak out with the hope that the other person will somehow understand.
It is essential to realize that any two people perceive the same situation very
differently, and have different circumstances. Thus, what may be usual for one
person may be catastrophic to the other. This happens in all relationships, but
in a supervisor to student relationship it can cause significant damage because
it is difficult to quickly get out of it.
Despite good communication, there are times when two people may find
it very difficult to work together. In such a situation, it is essential to identify
and write down the real problem and real options. Once on paper, it is easier to
judge these more objectively, design the strategy and develop the plan going
forward.

4.6 Communication – Supervisor and the Supervised

The above sections have covered topics that should be helpful to manage
communicating by a PhD student with the supervisor. However, this is a topic
that can result in stress and conflict, and hence is worthy to be considered as
a separate section.
One key to healthy and useful communication between the student and
the supervisor is to remember that a supervisor may be friendly but is not
your friend. It is essential that the student should keep that little distance
and respect for the supervisor, even if the supervisor appears to behave
very friendly. This is also relevant and perhaps more important when the
supervisor is younger in age than the student. This avoids any social embar-
rassments and also ensures that the student gains from the supervision.
52 The Supervisor and the Supervised

When communicating with the supervisor, it is important to be friendly but

with the appropriate level of formality as is socially acceptable where located.
Communication has often been labelled into three categories: assertive,
aggressive and passive. In all forms of communication, it is important to
be assertive, but terrible to sound aggressive. This is very important when
communicating with your supervisor. Often there is only a thin line between
the two but the results are very different. An assertive person indicates
confidence and someone who is not hesitant to learn, while an aggressive
person is one who is wanting to start a fight.
The assertive person has a dialogue while the aggressive one has an
argument. In an argument, both parties tend to lose, but the student would
lose greatly because of the inherent hierarchical difference. A wise supervisor
should encourage the student to avoid an argument, however, this may not
always be possible because of other circumstances. A PhD student should
avoid the argument at all costs, and this does not in any way suggest that the
student needs to agree to everything the supervisor says.

4.7 Being Mindful with Supervisor

PhD students and their supervisors often work in close proximity, and this can
lead to a level of informality to come between the supervisor and the student.
In this situation, it is common for the students and supervisor to develop a
bond and share information that may be beyond work.
The student may be faced with questions that may relate to topics such as
about other students and colleagues, or about issues between the supervisor
and the University, or about the University that are generally not of concern
for the student. While an experienced supervisor would generally avoid this
conversation with students, however it is not unusual for such topics to come
up in conversations between the student and the supervisor. Sometimes the
supervisor may even ask for advice from the student.
In the first instance, this may appear to indicate that the student is enjoying
a high level of confidence from the supervisor. However, it may be due to
number of reasons such as the supervisor being unprofessional or simply
exhausted and wishing to confide in someone. Nevertheless, these situations
are reasonably common, and as long as it is not becoming too personal, while
unprofessional, these are generally not ethically wrong.
The student may or may not wish to participate in this discussion and
there may be multiple reasons. The topic may be getting too personal that
may be uncomfortable for the student, or it may involve discussion about
 Tasks 53

someone the student know well, or it may be because the student is keen
to maintain professional distance from the supervisor. Irrespective of the
reasons, the student always has the right to tell the supervisor to conclude the
topic. However, if this is done aggressively, and the student challenges the
situation or asks the supervisor to keep quiet, it will lead to an uncomfortable
situation. The other extreme is to communicate passively where the student
does not tell the supervisor to end the discussion but is not comfortable.
It is important to be mindful of the situation of the supervisor and
identify the cause of this outpouring of emotions or information. The response
from the student will depend on the actual circumstances and historical
relationships. However, it is essential to be polite and mindful of the supervi-
sor’s situation. Politely requesting the reason for the question can generally
be very helpful. The most appropriate response may be to remind the
supervisor of the lack of your experience in such situations. Sometimes,
the best response to communicate in such situations is to listen without
saying much.

Tasks
1. Write down (in confidence) what are your expectations of your super-
visor? Are they realistic?
2. What do you believe are the expectations of your supervisor? Are they
realistic?
3. What if any are your issues with your supervisor? Can these lead to
conflict with your supervisor?
4. How well do you communicate with your supervisor? How exact does
your supervisor communicate with you?
5. Is there clarity of the purpose of a meeting? Is there an agenda?
6. At the conclusion of a meeting, do you feel confused or is there clarity?
7. Write down your interpretation of the terms; assertive and aggressive.
When are you assertive, aggressive and passive?
 5
Responsibilities of a Researcher

Abstract
Researchers are often those who were the best and most curious students
in the University. The start of PhD is their first step in the long journey
towards becoming professional researchers and scientist. While other people
have to do work that are repetitive, researchers have the luxury to sit and do
interesting things while getting paid.
Most scientists, researchers and artists are going to live simple lives
because they will never make big buckets of money. However, even the small
amount that is the typical wage of a researcher requires justification to the
agents of the tax-payers. They are responsible to the taxpayers, but also the
global community, the localized society, and to themselves. What is essential
is that they get trained to be independent thinkers and researchers while
working in teams towards the social benefits.

5.1 Introduction
Scientific, medical and social discoveries have resulted in amazing inven-
tions which distinguish our modern society from the traditional societies.
Researchers have delivered many new gadgets, facilitated us to live long
and productive lives, and propelled us to this new and amazing world where
we can reach the moon and hope to touch the sun. However, we have also
created many new problems on the way. Now it is our responsibility to better
understand our physical and emotional world, and learn from history with
improved tools and devices. Thus, we researchers have significant challenges
ahead of us and these will keep us occupied for very long time.
All major discoveries and inventions are met with resistance without fail
because these are changing the earlier beliefs and conventions. To quote
the famous English philosopher, Bertrand Russell, “Conventional people are

55
56 Responsibilities of a Researcher

roused to fury by departure from conventions, largely because they regard

such departures as a criticism of themselves” (B. Russell, The conquest of
happiness, 1930). Whether it be the discovery of electricity, or the vastness
of the Universe, these require discarding the older notions to embrace the
new discoveries. While what is noted is the seemingly final step, these are
incremental and dynamically improve on the previous discoveries.
Discoveries are not accidental or by chance but by well-planned experi-
ments and thought through analysis with attention to detail. These discoveries
are built on a strong base developed over years, and often unnoticed till
the final step. Thus, two attributes of the successful researchers are; team
spirit and independence. While they may sound contradictory, these are
essential for major outcomes. Each of us have our pet-topics, but being a team
member requires contributing and participating in the research work that may
have been conceived by others. Big outcomes require many capable team
members and researchers have to embrace the mission of the team and keep
personal ideas for the back-burner. A responsible supervisor has to mentor
the PhD student to do research while being trained to become an independent
researcher who is also a team player.
Another major quality of a researcher who achieves greatness in the
field and makes useful discoveries or exciting inventions is the ability to
communicate. A discovery that is not well communicated does not make any
impact but would be a wasteful document or device located in the corner
of the laboratory. Capable researchers communicate their research to lay
audience and to experts in the field, and a key responsibility of the supervisor
is to train the student to communicate at all levels. This includes oral and
written communication, and both, formal and informal styles.
PhD students have the responsibility to support the research activity of
the supervisor other than their own project. This is essential for the growth of
the supervisor and for their own growth as it gives them the training to work
with other people.

5.2 Accountability
5.2.1 What Is the Need?
The employers of the researchers are institutions such as the Universities.
They have an obligation to ensure that their employees are performing
appropriately: research projects or training of the students. However, the
difficulty is in defining and quantifying the word; performance. Unlike many
 5.2 Accountability 57

other professions such as manufacturing or marketing where the outcome and

performance is easy to define and quantify, measuring research performance
is not a simple task.
There are number of stakeholders in the output of researchers. In addition
to the Universities, the sponsors of the research such as the granting bodies
or industry are keen to measure the research output, and this is a challenge. It
is not uncommon that the sponsors and funding bodies of the research are not
experts of the topic, and often they may not even understand the problem
or the significance of the work in detail. Research is highly focused and
often there may be only few people in the world who would truly appreciate
the work, its outcomes and have the capacity to evaluate it. The rest of the
stakeholders may only have superficial understanding and that is often not
helpful when being used for evaluating the research outcomes.
The other difficulty is that organizations which are employing the
researchers would like to monitor them. Then the difficulty is also in the
definition of the word, Work. While it is reasonably straight forward to
monitor the output of a worker in a manufacturing plant, or in marketing,
how to measure the work output of a thinker?

5.2.2 Comparison between Researchers

Institutes and granting bodies are regularly faced with the challenge to com-
pare different researchers. Research has become very competitive and this
comparison may be required for decisions regarding research funding, jobs
and space: all of which are at a premium.
The comparison of researchers is also made by future research students,
postdoctoral fellows and even would be partners. Quality candidates are keen
to assess their potential supervisors to ensure that the output of their research
will be of high impact. People are also keen to ensure that they partner with
most suitable researchers such that the impact of their research is high.

5.2.3 Challenges in Measuring Research Outcomes

Often research is blue-sky where there is high risk of outcomes and that
may have no immediate commercial or social value. A large portion of the
effort made in such research is difficult to quantify and the work performed is
neither easy to define nor measure. In many modern scientific endeavors and
major research efforts, there are no major physical efforts or developments
and no physical work that has to be performed. There is no rock that has
58 Responsibilities of a Researcher

to be moved and no building to be built. While earlier researchers were

trusted, in the current climate of corporatisation, many research organizations
that follow the corporate style of management are faced with the dilemma:
how to ensure that these researchers people are doing the right thing?
The organisations need to know if the research employees or students are
doing what they should be doing and not being slackers on the taxpayers
money.
 5.2 Accountability 59

There are number of examples where lack of measure of research work

can lead to misunderstandings and cause difficulties for the researchers.
One example is when researchers are travelling for work and often this
can be stressful for the traveller. However, some members of their office
administration team in the parent institution may get the impression that
they have gone on a holiday. Figuratively speaking, while the researcher
believes that they have an uphill task of lifting the massive boulder, others
believe that they are in the sun on the beach in a hammock. This can be
very frustrating for the researchers and is the case where there is the need
for demonstrating outcomes by researchers to the administrators. And with
the erosion of trust between the administrators and the researchers, this
is becoming more relevant than ever before. But the difficulty is how to
achieve this. The diversity in research and difference in operation between
researchers makes the task of quantifying research outcomes extremely
challenging.
60 Responsibilities of a Researcher

5.3 Measuring Research Outcome

There are number of puritans who would disagree with the concept of mea-
surable research outcomes and outcomes driven research. They may argue
that the researchers should be trusted and it is only this trust that can lead
to major discoveries. However, most people are realists and will agree that
there is the need for measurable research outcomes that can keep the system
reasonably honest and everyone is satisfied. We may complaint about the
system, but my advice is to accept it: whether we like it or not, research
outcomes are now being quantified and it is in our interest to use this to our
advantage. If you wish to challenge it, do so by all means, but enjoy its benefit
while the imperfect system exists. I would not like you to suffer due to the
existing system, but work the system to your advantage.
In many industries, the outcome of the work can easily be measured based
on physical production, or based on budgets and sale targets. In some sectors,
the work could be measured in terms of the hours spent in the office and
for this purpose the workers are expected to clock-in and clock-out, thereby
recording the actual time spent in the office. However, such methods would
not be suitable for creative professions and research.
The quality of the outcomes is another important measure of the
researcher. While comparison of the quality of the output may be possible
within a single discipline, it is impossible to compare the quality of research
outcome between different fields such as computer science with pharmaco-
logy. Even in the government managed research laboratories of the Soviet
era, senior researchers and scientists were not expected to be constrained
by time. It is well accepted that it is impossible to measure the quality of
research activity directly, and measuring the research outcomes are more
appropriate.
People are well aware of the drawbacks in quantification of research
outcomes, but the increase in competition for research opportunities has
meant that there is a demand for such a measure. This has necessitated the
need for measuring researchers and their outcomes, and many measures and
methods have been developed for this purpose. While some are qualitative
and are based on statements of impact of research, others are very quantitative
and completely numbers driven. However, most are hybrid approaches which
combine the qualitative and quantitative measures.
 5.3 Measuring Research Outcome 61

5.3.1 Some Measures of Research Impact

Measuring the impact of research in terms of the social or commercial
outcomes is often impractical because the duration to realize such impact can
be significantly longer than the cycles of most organizations; often annual
or even shorter. The most convenient quantifiable and measurable research
outcome is based on publications. This measure was well accepted but with
the recent growth of online very commercial journals and conferences, this is
no longer considered to be a robust measure.
There are number of internationally acceptable measures of significance
or impact of research and these are used by Journals, individual researchers,
Universities and even national bodies. Each have their own biases, strengths
and weakness, but the fundamentals are quite uniform and simple: how many
peer-reviewed publications and how many peers have referred to these in their
own work.
Each of these measures have merits but carry their own bias. These can be
manipulated and thus are open to misuse. There is also the difference in their
purpose; while some are targeted to identify the top tier research teams, while
the others are for recognising the mid-ranks from the lower ranked research
groups. The reality is that there is no perfect measure of research. Though no
measure is going to satisfy all members of the research community, many of
these are routinely used for jobs, grants, and promotions.
One common thread in most research outcome measures is based on the
strength of acceptance of the work by independent experts such as reviewers
for journals, conferences and government granting bodies. This is largely the
number of publications or successful grant applications.
The other important factor is based on the measure of the impact of the
publications. This is based on how many people report the usage of the work,
and is commonly referred to as the citations of the publication. Based on
the number of publications and citations, number of algorithms have been
developed but these seem to evolve rapidly. No purpose will be served by
describing a few of these measures as these appear to change and the choice
of the measure is based on factors such as the field of research, the University
preference and national policies. As a young researcher, it is important to
identify with the one that is most acceptable by people around you and work
towards improving your score in that.
62 Responsibilities of a Researcher

5.4 Need for Peer Review

All organizations and industry are looking for a winner; the research that
is going to have the greatest impact for comparable amount of money and
resources. While most researchers believe that their research is critical,
relevant and important and should get funded, the funding bodies need to
evaluate the applications based on number of criterion. The source appears to
be shrinking and the number of applicants seem to be increasing. There are
very few researchers who are altruistic and would recommend funding for
other projects in place of their own. The questions that funding bodies and
institutes need to answer are:

• How to rank the researchers and select those worthy of an award?

• How to identify researchers capable of conducting the research?
• Which proposal is worthy of funding?
• What is the importance of a topic in the current situation?

It is impossible for any single person to be unbiased and an expert even across
the range of different topics within a single field. The only real option is to
get independent peers to participate in the review process. Ideally the people
who would be reviewing the work would be independent of the authors.
While this is highly desirable, it is often impossible to achieve this because
many scientific communities tend to be relatively small, especially within
national boundaries. However the strength in peer review process is based
on the inherent nature of scientists. Scientists have been trained to be critical
thinkers and are inherently critical of the work of other people. This helps in
the evaluation process where the peers identify all the possible errors in the
submission.
The critical nature of the reviewers and comparing the scores of multiple
reviewers in general is an effective method for identifying the strong candi-
dates and suitable projects. However, everyone realizes that this process is not
perfect; there are many imperfections, and it is important that as an applicant,
the setbacks should not be taken personally. As a researcher, it is important to
learn to use the reviewer comments to improve the submission for the future,
but not get disheartened. You also have to learn to filter and ignore what you
understand are incorrect comments. It is beneficial not to be dismissal or too
sensitive, but use the peer review process to your advantage, knowing that it
has number of flaws.
 5.5 Publications for Spread and Growth of Knowledge 63

5.5 Publications for Spread and Growth of Knowledge

The fundamental reason for society to support research is for the evolution
of mankind based on growth of human knowledge. It is to foster this growth
of knowledge which supports the invention of devices and methods that are
beneficial to the world. Our current knowledge is inherited from our ancestors
and from the publications of other researchers who came before us. Spread
and growth of knowledge, and even successful commercialisation are based
on published works.
Progress in science, technology, and even philosophy is only incremental
and wild, descriptive ideas are generally just figment of imagination. This
incremental growth requires researchers to publish the work to help other
people understand the outcomes. However, how to identify what is relevant
for being published? There is the need for not disclosing the intellectual
property that can be commercialised while it is important to share discoveries
that support scientific growth.
It is essential that the research which is published is relevant, and repro-
ducible. In our world where jobs and grants are dependent on publications
64 Responsibilities of a Researcher

and research impact, it is not unthinkable that some people may try to
publish incorrect or irrelevant work, and this makes it difficult for the reader
to identify work that can be the basis for further research. It is essential
that researchers trust the publications in a journal. For this purpose, it is
essential that there is the credibility of the journal and this is developed
based on unbiased and expert opinions which are sought from the peer
reviewers.

5.5.1 Review Process: Spread of Knowledge

One thing that all researchers will agree is that there is the need for a
transparent process that will select the suitable publications and grants. This
is to ensure that the readers can trust the publications and there is spread
of knowledge without fear or favour. With the large diversity in research
topics, and the affiliations of the authors, it is necessary that the reviewers
are independent and their voice is strong. For this purpose, the option that is
adopted by most journals is to keep the reviewers hidden from the authors to
ensure there is no potential clash or inducement. Such a system ensures that
there is spread of knowledge with diversity of topics and authorship.

5.6 Review Process

The process of selection of papers, and grant applications are very similar
across the board; these are reviewed by our peers. While it is well acknowl-
edged in the scientific and literary community that peer review process is not
perfect, and has many flaws, the reality is that it seems to be the best option.
Often the reviewers are young researcher while the senior researchers do not
have time. Thus the very important work of reviewing papers and even grant
applications sits on the shoulders of the junior researchers who may not fully
understand the process or the underlying science and are often unsure of what
needs to be done. While things are improving, there is no proper training or
induction that is given to the review process.
There are other shortcomings in the process such as lack of expertise of
the reviewer. In many cases the reviewer is knowledgeable of the field and
knows about the related science but is likely not to be an expert of the specific
topic. This is to be expected because research projects often have very narrow
focus and it is very unlikely that there are many people working in the narrow
field.
 5.6 Review Process 65

The other difficulty is the time commitment by the reviewer for the
assessment of the submission. It is not uncommon that the reviewer spends
insufficient time for participating in the rejection/selection process and this
can reduce the effectiveness of the review process. The devil is in the detail,
and when the review process is done in a hurry, the subtleties are missed.
In most cases the review process is unpaid and unrewarded and the time
spent by the reviewer is personal and often very brief. It is in this short
time that the manuscript has to catch the attention of the reader, prevent
the reviewer from finding any mistakes and appreciate the outcomes of
the work.
The review process is designed to prevent bias and prejudice but despite
the efforts of the editors, there may be prejudice and bias due to the reviewer’s
personal research ideas. When we are conducting research, there are bound
to be differences in opinion and if the reviewer has strong differences to the
manuscript which can lead to unfair criticism.
The name and affiliation of the authors can influence the decision of the
reviewers. One difficulty is that the reviewer may also use methods (often
unethical) to assess the manuscript such as seeing the author’s profile on
websites such as Googlescholar or Scopus. This can lead to unfair biases
and prejudice people who do not appear to have a significant record of
accomplishment.

5.6.1 Managing the Review Process

The above section highlights the several shortcomings in the review process.
There are two options; to complaint about the process or to use it to the
advantage. Complaining will not be very useful and hence it is the second
option that is the only real option.
We know that the reviewers are generally young and inexperienced
researchers who have little time and no training for the process. It is also evi-
dent that they may search for the authors on the various websites to evaluate
the authors or applicants. Thus, it is essential that the authors should write the
manuscripts targeting such audience. It is essential to ensure that the reader
gets engaged with the manuscript, and trusts the author from the very begin-
ning. Do not expect the reviewer to do any homework to promote your work,
but be prepared that they may try and search to find reasons to disqualify your
work. It is a good idea to get the manuscript reviewed by colleagues before
submission.
66 Responsibilities of a Researcher

5.7 Summary of Responsibilities of Researchers

Researchers enjoy independence and freedom that most other professions
will envy. This comes with the responsibility to ensure that we are being
productive and not wasting the resources. However, it is often very difficult
for us to communicate our research outcomes to lay audience or even other
researchers who may not be in our narrow field of research. It is essential
to get our work validated by other experts and this process is referred to as
Peer Review which is the backbone for publications and research grants. Peer
review process provides us with feedback that is essential to improve our
work, and it provides the certainty to the reader that the work is quality and
has been conducted responsibly. However, there are many flaws in the peer
review process and it is important for researchers to use the review process
constructively without taking the comments personally. It is important to
become familiar with the how the peers review works of others which will
prepare us when preparing the submissions.

Tasks
1. Do you believe that it is appropriate to measure research success by
counting publications or citations?
2. What do you believe should be the best method for measuring research
outcomes?
3. How would you compare different researchers? How will you determine
who should get an award?
4. Have you reviewed any manuscript for a journal or conference? Were
you given any guidance of the process?
5. Should researchers be accountable to the administrators of your Uni-
versity or similar institution when they do not have the expertise in the
field?
 6
Continuing to Be a Researcher: Motivation
Issues for Researchers

Abstract
After initial enthusiasm, many researchers feel disheartened. During under-
graduate studies students are expected to attend regular classes, submit
assignments and take exams and these force discipline. However, the research
degrees offer greater freedom and flexibility. While this freedom is an essen-
tial component of research, it can lead to delays and chaos, leading to drop
in motivation and heightened stress. This state is so common that it now has
a name; ‘mid-candidature blues’. This chapter explores some of these issues
and suggests methods to prevent getting in this state.

6.1 Introduction
Many of us researchers start our projects with enthusiasm and vigor. There are
new ideas, there is the desire to make a difference, and wish to climb moun-
tains that have never been climbed. We are confident that we will be changing
the world, becoming the biggest name in science, soon be head-hunted by all
Universities and then heading the largest technology conglomerate the world
has known. And even if that is not the purpose, just the charm of the new
problem, new ideas, and new facilities may be exhilarating and make us very
excited. However, soon the routine hits and every day seems to merge with the
next. The new ideas have now become old, and the details of the experiments
are quite exhausting. And to top it all, things do not seem to go the way we
had planned.
At the start of the research project and research studies, we lack the
experience rarely know what to expect and do not understand the research
process. The trigger that may have started us down this path could be very
personal and range of reasons very diverse. Perhaps someone in the distant

67
68 Continuing to Be a Researcher: Motivation Issues for Researchers

family had a PhD and seemed to be doing exciting things, or the title of
Doctor seemed to be important.
This positive note for research may continue when we join the University.
Often the supervisors may have been very caring to their new students and
everything felt so good. Our friends, and even our supervisors supported
our belief that we were brilliant, capable and special. We were expecting to
be doing some exciting experiments and working in high-tech laboratories.
However, soon the honeymoon may be coming to an abrupt end and we
realize that things are different.
Very soon we realize that our supervisor does not have large amount of
time or patience for us. We are not the super bright kids we thought we were,
and we may not even have a proper desk, or access key to a simple laboratory.
It also becomes clear that we lack many essential skills and knowledge and
things that appear to be simple require attention to complicated looking
equations. While we had passed our exams with flying colours and were
at the top of the class, we find that we are unable to respond intelligently
during our meetings with the supervisor or other members of the lab. We may
have known how to solve many equations but are unable to understand the
significance of these equations.
The end of the early euphoria and the honeymoon period wakes us to
what appears to be the cruel reality with hurdles everywhere. However, we
learn to cope and most of the early blockages appear to be manageable. We
confidently are able to overcome these difficulties to start our research journey
in true earnest. By this time we have reconciled to the fact our work may
influence total of ten people in the world. We have also accepted the reality
that there are many shortcomings in our own knowledge and limitation of the
available resources. Time appears to move very swiftly and we end up doing
some experiments and early stage analysis. Things seem to be going well and
on track. By now, research has become a routine affair with few challenges
we cannot surmount, but there are no new creative ideas that are coming out
of our heads. It soon starts to feel like a routine job, but with less money and
no corporate job structure. And then it sneaks in and before we know what
has happened, we are now feeling confused. No longer is there the desire to
come in the morning, nor the fun of celebrating the week on Friday evening.
One day, while walking down the street we notice that our colleagues
from the undergraduate days are enjoying fancy dining or cafes. These are
the students who were at the bottom of the class and barely passed the exams.
These are the people who are now driving fancy cars and wearing trendy
clothes while all we can afford are unbranded jeans and the train ticket. Our
 6.2 Mid-Candidature Blues 69

colleagues from school sit in fancy cafes discussing the latest films or about
possible promotions and new job opportunities, but we are thinking of the
lengthy equations or the data management. And, then nothing seems to be
happening, with every day being dreary and dry, similar to yesterday and
tomorrow. We had thought of the grand celebrations of solving the world’s
problems, but here things are looking really slow and uphill. Just if we could
invent the time machine, we would go back in time, not enroll in the research
degree and go to industry. But alas, if we could build the time machine, we
would be famous anyway and we would not need to go back and make any
changes.

6.2 Mid-Candidature Blues

What went wrong? What happened to our enthusiasm? The fact that this
happens commonly is not good enough, though this can be reassuring and
convincing, that the end of the world is not now. This knowledge confirms
that I am not alone and others have had to bear this as well. It helps establish
that the world is not against me, and while we may feel the victim, we are
70 Continuing to Be a Researcher: Motivation Issues for Researchers

not the only one. However, having a better understanding will help us from
feeling stressed and it is useful to explore the reason for this change in our
attitude towards our research.
When we begin any new endeavor, there are doubts and uncertainties,
but there are also the thrills and challenges. While there is the fear of the
unknown, being selected to join the elite group gives a sense of fulfillment
and along with that is the adrenaline rush for doing something purposeful.
However, like always the devil is in the detail, and soon comes the realisation
that most of the research tasks are repetitive and appear to be mundane.
The reality is that most people who start their research degrees do not
understand the details of what we will be doing during the next three or
four years.
There is large variability between individuals and situations, but we
soon realise that the reality is that most tasks are repetitive and not very
exciting. Many of us may feel uncomfortable and question the wisdom of
becoming research students. When this happens, we may have the feeling of
helplessness and loneliness. We may find that there is no one to go to because
the experienced researchers such as our supervisors may appear to ignore
our emotions, and seem to lack the required interpersonal skills. One of the
obvious mechanism to cope with the problem is to play the blame game,
and in this situation, blaming the supervisor, the laboratory or the University
seems very logical. However, while blaming the supervisor or the laboratory
is convenient, this does not resolve any problem. The answer is something
which is intrinsic to us and what we can do quite easily. The next few sections
explore the possible causes and suggest methods to ensure that the time as a
research student is productive.

6.3 Why Do We Get the Blues?

Research is about discovering the unknown and this means that the outcomes
may be ambiguous and different than what may have been expected. The
best intentions and efforts can lead to research outcomes which may be
different than the predicted and may not even be well understood at that
time. When the outcomes are as planned, things are less challenging but when
things are not exactly as predicted or desired, there appears to be confusion.
However, major discoveries are when the outcomes are different from the
expectations.
 6.3 Why Do We Get the Blues? 71

When the outcomes are different from what we were hoping for and
expecting, we may feel confused and disheartened. We would be unsure of
the next step and may wonder if the project should be discontinued and is
dead and gone.
Such confusion may also happen when things are going exactly according
to plan; we may still be confused. When the project is going according to
plan, the activities can soon become repetitive and there appears to be lack of
challenge. People who are seeking excitement may soon find it to be boring,
without competition and too routine.
One of the biggest difficulties that associated with research projects for
PhD students is that the significant outcomes are only realizable after a
significantly long period such as three years. This period is long enough for
us to lose the focus and we may forget the actual purpose of the journey. We
struggle to reach our office in the morning, and are confused of our progress.
The mundane starts creeping in and we begin to develop distrust of people
around us, especially the supervisors. When we have lost the focus, we may
start considering that the project is a waste of time and effort. We simply seem
to just plod along, with one day fusing to the next. This can be irrespective
of the results being as expected or otherwise, and our manuscripts being
published or otherwise. If things go according to plan, there is no challenge
and the work appears to be irrelevant and trivial. If the reverse is the case, the
world appears to be stacked against us.
The good news for all the researchers is that this is a very usual and
perhaps natural phenomenon. Thus take comfort in the fact that we are neither
to be blamed for feeling miserable nor we are alone. Having accepted that this
is nothing unusual, it is then essential to identify techniques to help us tide
through the period. However, some supervisors may not seem to understand
this state to be natural and may not be very accepting. The problem may also
be complicated if the student is unable to accept it to be a natural progression
and become very serious about it.
The following section describes some of the methods that may be useful.
These are not to be considered to condone any inappropriate behavior; of the
supervisors or the student. It should also not be considered as an alternative
to seeking professional help if required. The section is suitable for the PhD
students and their supervisors to help better understand the issue and suggests
some mitigation strategies. However, this is very general in nature and not to
be considered as professional advice.
72 Continuing to Be a Researcher: Motivation Issues for Researchers

6.4 Motivating a Researcher – Suggestions

for the Supervisor
Our moods and temperaments change with time. We may be alert and active,
self motivated, greedy or simply lazy. All people go through different phases
and there will be days when a research student will not be productive and lack
the mojo. And there will also be times when they may be working very hard
but still not being productive. We would be jumping and running like on a
treadmill but not reaching anywhere. Both conditions can be disastrous for the
project and the student. When the researcher is feeling low, how to motivate
this researcher? When we are simply running around without a focus, what
can be done to improve the productivity? Can we follow the principles of the
corporate world and offer financial incentives or other such benefits? Or can
we threaten punitive actions?

6.4.1 Corporate Style Carrot and Stick Approach

In the corporate world, greed and threat of punishment are considered to be
two most important methods for improving productivity. While there may be
some merit in that for the corporate world, it is less effective in the research
and creativity atmosphere. The stick approach, or the threat of punitive
actions is often counter-productive because when threatened by punishment,
people may make greater efforts but under duress and lacking confidence. In
such a situation, the researchers may work but will lack creativity. Having
said that, it does not mean that punishment for researchers should never be
considered, but it means that the risk of poor outcomes of such a method
are high. It may have to be effective under some conditions or may be
necessary in some situations but should not be considered as the major driver
for motivating the researchers.
The other effective method of motivating workers in the corporate world
is the carrot approach where there is offer of some benefits such as financial
rewards. Many Universities have begun to consider this approach and it often
appears to be effective. However, using greed to foster creativity can often
lead to unhealthy and sometimes unethical behavior which in the short term
appears to be effective but in the long-run may cause disasters. And, even if
it is ethical, often it is wasteful effort such as when the Universities offer a
financial reward for publications, the number of submissions increase but not
the number of publications.
 6.4 Motivating a Researcher – Suggestions for the Supervisor 73

Creative people are less motivated by money or a paid holiday than

hard-working people in other industries. Giving these incentives to improve
productivity may cost the institution without real rewards. Such enticements
can lead to unwanted and unethical behaviour. There are number of recent
observations where it has been seen that when Universities give financial
encouragement to publish in high impact journals or to produce patents,
people have reported experiments that were later found to be not reproducible.

6.4.2 Accolades and Shaming

The other method that has been attempted is the use to peer-based accolades
and shaming. While controversial and difficult to manage, this has been
shown to be effective when used by small groups but may not be effective
in large Universities and Departments. In large institutions there is often the
lack of connectivity between members from different groups and this makes
such methods less effective.
The Universities and institutions continue to develop methods for moti-
vating their researchers and PhD students. While some of these may be
effective in the local context, many of these have limited success. The
desirable situation is when the students are self-motivated without requiring
any interference from the supervisor or other members of the University.

6.4.3 Finding Motivation is Personal

All people know that each person is special and unique and this belief seems
to be even stronger among the scientists and researchers who are keen to high-
light this. While we may acknowledge that we share number of similarities
with our colleagues, but we are convinced that our intellect, circumstances
and problems are unique. Thus, having a one-size fits all technique to moti-
vate researchers is not the optimum solution. I have supervised many PhD
students and realised that it is essential to relate to the individual and not treat
the students as if they are all the same. While they have similarities, each is
keen to be unique and it is important to identify the factors that are uniquely
important to them.
A watchful supervisor should be able to identify the basic driver for the
student: greed, fear or self-motivated. It is also important to be aware that this
changes with time and while there are some common traits, things can change
very significantly over time. Thus, a supervisor in addition to being an expert
in the science and technology, should also be observant of the personality of
the team members. What may work for one person may backfire for the other.
74 Continuing to Be a Researcher: Motivation Issues for Researchers

All of us have our personal preferences and style, and we tend to gravitate
towards and interact with people that we are most familiar and comfortable
with. However, this may not be suitable for the student or the supervisor or the
project and hence a successful supervisor needs to evolve with the student. I
have found that when our observations are kept in the head, we soon forget
the reality and find excuses. Thus, it is important for the supervisor to observe
and write down their observations of the student in a safe place, and develop
methods that may be used to encourage them. In parallel to recording the
progress in their field of research, it is also essential to make a note of their
style of operation and what may the best way to motivate them. Besides
helping the students, this will evolve the supervisor to becoming a leader.

6.5 How to Motivate Yourself?

Researchers are generally high-intensity, highly motivated people who are
eager to sit in the laboratories, read journals and write papers. We enjoy
our research and while most of us need the money to pay the bills, most
researchers would be happy doing their work as long as they are able to pay
their bills and there is no financial stress. Most of the times, we do not appear
to need any extra motivation and we appear to be comfortable in doing our
work. Most PhD students appear to come to the laboratory early and work till
late without requiring the supervisor managing their time. Unfortunately, this
does not happen all the time and there are times when we struggle to do our
work. There are many different reasons why this may happen and it is helpful
when we can understand the cause of our predicament.
We human are dynamic creatures and our physical and psychological
states continuously change. While every moment can be considered as
unique, our states of being can be broadly categorized in three groups: self-
motivated, greedy and lazy. Our states change from one moment to the next,
and we behave differently for different tasks. We may be feeling greedy for
our dinner, self-motivated for reading a journal, and lazy for cleaning the
house. These tendencies are in the state of flux and change: but there are
some inherent properties of an individual and that is often the driver for the
choice of profession and lifestyles.
People who join creative professions such as research tend to have
the disposition towards critical thinking and self-motivation. Such people
generally do not require supervision and many such people will find the
supervision and rules to be obstacles and may carry inherent resentment
towards the authority. Such people have different drivers to those who enjoy
 6.5 How to Motivate Yourself? 75

working in the corporate world. Often corporate styled administrators will

have difficulties in appreciating the researchers.
Creative people require their own space and work at our own pace, and
the profession works well with self-motivated individuals. However, while
we may be self-motivated at many times, we would have phases of other
conditions. It is in these states that we may feel that the world is stacked
against us. These are the conditions where stimuli are necessary to keep
us going. The first step in the process of managing our motivation is to
understand the state we are in. Broadly speaking, there are three states of
our being: creative state, active state, or lazy and unproductive state.
76 Continuing to Be a Researcher: Motivation Issues for Researchers

6.5.1 Identifying the Different States

When we are motivated by the passion of the task, we are in the creative
state. While the rewards are important, the reward itself is not the driver of
our efforts. A typical example would be students who are in this state will
be happy to study even if there is no exam. A person who is self-motivated
will not see a difference between hobby and work, and will not need anyone to
monitor their progress. When we are self-motivated, we will be delighted with
the task, be willing to try new ideas and be open to new concepts. While a pat
 6.5 How to Motivate Yourself? 77

on the back is always good, when we are self-motivated, we do not even need
any acknowledgment from others. We will be happy to work for the pleasure
of the work without needing to win a competition, and will be competing with
our own-selves. When we are self-motivated, we are relatively stress-free as
we do not need any reward or victory.
The next state of being is when we are active, but active for the sake
of a reward. This is the most common state for professionals and when we
are in this condition, we are ready to compete with our neighbours. We
are continuously seeking rewards and acknowledgement and this makes us
stressed. A person in this state needs to be shown a carrot and we will
chase it. The person in this state will appear to be like the hamster on
the wheel, and will be in the state of hyperactivity and stress can be our
hallmark.
Then there is the state of inertia, where we want to do the minimum and
procrastinate. We will hesitate to take decisions even when overdue and be
lazy. We feel tired, exhausted and grumpy and not willing to try anything
new. We will not even be greedy and prefer sleep to a bigger pay-packet and
perhaps will be driven only by fear. Someone should tell us the specific tasks
to make us do something useful and we may respond to stick than carrots.
Simply put, in this state we are lazy and will find all excuses to condone our
laziness.

6.5.2 Lazy and Confused State: What Happens?

There are days when we just do not want to do anything. Getting out of bed is
a torture, and even when we attempt, nothing just seems to happen. We lack
the concentration to read, cannot remember things, and everything appears
to be an uphill battle. On such a day, reading a good scientific paper is such
an utter waste and we wonder if it will ever get better. The first step is to
recognise this to be our condition.
When we are in the state of laziness or dullness, fear and authority is our
driving force. This is where we need some help from the supervisor, mentor
or friends. It is important to be realistic; if we are in the lazy and unproductive
state, there is no use in trying to be creative. When we sit to think, we will
just waste our time feeling low or gossiping.
If you cannot ask your supervisor, or do not trust your friends to acknowl-
edge that you are feeling unproductive, lazy or dull, just get up, and do
something. When feeling down and out, get up and do something that is
not subtle and thoughtful, but something plain and physical that is easy to
78 Continuing to Be a Researcher: Motivation Issues for Researchers

quantify and measure. Clear your desk, do your filing, manage your computer,
whatever that needs to be done without requiring you to think and plan. In this
state, thinking or planning will not happen, but procrastination will.
These are the days when not only we are not productive, even our
environment seems to be against us. Things go wrong in our experiments,
the telephone stops working and virus attacks the computer. In simple words,
the world seems to have ganged up against us. We simply wish that the day
would be just a bad dream. But it is all real, and things seem to go from bad
to worse.
Many times it is possible to associate some event to our state. It may be
the monthly cycle for some people, or problems at home or the supervisor
or the equipment. Or simply the luck factor or whatever you can find to
blame. However, many times it is not possible to identify the cause of this
which can make us even more miserable. Often it can lead to the feeling of
guilt and despair. The reality is that we are in this condition, and trying to
find someone or something to blame is not going to help. We have to face
the reality.

6.5.2.1 Lazy and confused state: What to do?

How to deal with such a situation? Many times, we try to do things harder
than ever before but it appears that we are simply making it worse. We do
not have the capacity to be creative and we end-up day-dreaming or come up
with some useless and unproductive ideas. Attempting to sit down and digest
serious science puts us to sleep. And, then, we know that we have to meet our
supervisor or our colleagues to discuss progress.
The first step is to recognize this condition. This should not be considered
to be a problem as long as it is not our regular routine. All people go through
this occasionally and it is not limited to any gender or age or the date in the
month. It happens to all of us. Often it may appear that only happen to us, but
the reality is that we only notice it when it happens to us. When it happens to
others, we just ignore them.
Having recognized our condition of laziness or utter confusion, it is now
essential to take some serious steps. If it is possible, let others know that
you are not at your best. For example if you have a meeting with your
supervisor who you think would be understanding, request for postpone-
ment of the meeting. Most people would not hesitate to agree if it is not a
regular phenomenon. It is important to remember that this is only a phase,
 6.5 How to Motivate Yourself? 79

and it will soon end. Just like it often comes without notice, it also goes away
without any logic or reason.
It is the next step that is the most important one. Open your research
plan and identify what you had planned for that day or week: be dogmatic.
Identify all the activities that are measurable and routine; ones that you can
perform without requiring creativity, thinking or planning. If you are unable
to find something in your research plan, there will always many such tasks
which you would have postponed, such as managing the folders and files,
clearing your emails, or simply cleaning up the lab and making some space.
All of these things are important and necessary, and can often be done without
having the zeal and full attention.
Undertaking serious literature review will not be a useful exercise and
we may discover after 5 hours realizing that we spent the time reading some
celebrity gossip column. This is the time when you should not plan or think,
but just do the simple, bull-work. Try to avoid going to read the online
newspaper or doing some searching on the net because you may find that
you get hooked into an advertisement and time will fly you by.
The next step is to identify your actual progress. In most cases, we would
have done significantly more than we realize and things will not be as bad as
we may have it in our head. Open your research plan and identify your actual
location on this chart. Observe all that you have achieved and if you forgot to
do that earlier, tick the boxes against all you have done and achieved. Do not
hesitate to pat yourself on your back.
If you think that this state seems to becoming longer or more frequent,
it is now a good idea to discuss this with someone whom you can trust. In
the ideal world, your supervisor should be a person who should be able to
help you and guide you through this ‘low cycle’. However, for your own
good, find someone whom you trust, who is not a relative and to whom you
can download your feeling low. And remember, do some action, preferably
something physical when you are feeling low and down.

6.5.3 In the Active State

Ambitious professionals tend to belong to this state for extended periods
of time. They are simply geared up to do things and at times even with-
out planning. Even rest and entertainment is based on some activity or
engagement. If managed well, this can be a very productive time of our
being. However, people in this state can also be very counter-productive.
80 Continuing to Be a Researcher: Motivation Issues for Researchers

When they have a focus, they will be the assets to the laboratory while when
they lack direction, they would be playing politics and become the nuisance
to the place. They have the energy but need direction.
The first indication of this state is that they are restless, stressed and
appear to be in a hurry. They are keen to start the experiments without
planning the details, and start the analysis even before the data collection
is complete. Often they will want to start the work without detailed literature
review or in-depth understanding of the problem.
People in this condition could be described by phrases such as ‘the
hamster on the wheel’ or ‘a headless chook’. They simply are keen to be
busy, even if there is no one else is watching. The intent is to be busy and
be ahead of the pack. However, they may not have a focus and direction, will
be stressed and often they will appear to be causing discomfort to others and
themselves.
This state can be very useful if their energy can be appropriately chan-
neled. However, people in the high energy state need to appear to win
competitions and get acknowledgment with a pat on their backs. They need
to work towards some future reward and need appreciation; they need the
carrot to run after. This is the condition where an earlier documented plan
can give the focus and direction, and engage positively when they achieve
the milestones. When in this active state, the student should keep their eyes
on the milestones and ensure that they are ticking the boxes when these are
achieved.
The supervisor can participate with the student to improve their producti-
vity by celebrating the achievements. Another factor that should be
considered is that when the student is highly active, it is best not to make
any major change to the direction. Micromanaging such a student and looking
over the shoulder of the student may be counter-productive. Recognizing their
achievements and their success in the milestones can be helpful and give the
students the extra boost. It is also useful to discuss their future milestones
which will keep them focused. Students and researchers in this state only
require focus and will chase the milestones without requiring any push or
reminders from the supervisors.
A well-defined plan that highlights the milestones can help the students
to be productive and focused. Students will typically focus on their short-
term goals and celebrating their achievements will be very helpful. Thus, a
research plan is an important document for students to be productive when
feeling restless and active.
 6.5 How to Motivate Yourself? 81

6.5.4 The Creative State

People have confidence and motivation. They have enhanced creative abilities
and think freely outside the box. They are neither hyperactive nor lazy, and
may spend significant time in thinking, reading, planning and being in the
moment – in the Now. This is a good state for people working in creative
professions.
People are creative when they are highly focused and confident, and
such students perform the best when they are left to themselves. This is the
condition when the supervisor may feel quite redundant and best outcomes
may come if the supervisor just observes the student. The student will be able
to make exciting observations and the work will appear to be done with very
little effort. While sometimes they may appear to be very easy going, that
should not be considered to indicate laziness.
82 Continuing to Be a Researcher: Motivation Issues for Researchers

These are times when the students and researchers can feel the creativity
coming from within. They can see details, identify things that they could not
notice earlier and they are at their creative best. In this state, they may not
need external drivers to push them and the drive and satisfaction is internal.
Often, they will compete with themselves and not with others.
We can identify this state when we feel comfortable with our self. How-
ever, while we may be confident in our research, not all aspects of our life may
be going smoothly. While things may not be great in all fronts, the research
may be focused. When in our creative state, we are relaxed and confident
without being restless and competitive, nor wanting to be lazy.
The state of creativity is most suitable for planning, new ideas, to
get a fresh perspective on some experimental outcomes or taking another
interpretation of the literature. While this condition may only be short-
lived and hence it is a good idea to take down the notes of the ideas and
plans. This is the time when there is no need for any monitoring, acco-
lades or awards, and is the perfect time to visit the plan and make changes
if required.

6.5.4.1 Stating the vision

The best way of channeling your creativity to achieve outcomes is to develop
your long-term vision in regards to the research topic. Push the horizon as far
away as you can; 1 year, 10 years, as far as you can. See how you can link this
to your own future life when you are about to retire. Identify the importance
of what you can achieve and be courageous to think outside the box. This
will help put the perspective of your current research project and give it fresh
meaning. It is very important not to keep this all in your head, but write it
down. Only then will it have any real value.

6.5.4.2 Planning for the vision

The next step is to make a plan to realise the vision. This needs to based
on the the long-term goals and develop the strategy to reach there. The next
step is to develop the strategy and the process to achieve the goal and list
the tasks that you need to undertake to realise the vision. While this may be
done informally, it is essential that it is penned; it may only be some dot-
points. Enough information that is suitable for you to understand what has
to be done. The next step is to estimate the time and resources for the tasks,
remembering that this is a dynamic document that is going to evolve and
change.
 6.5 How to Motivate Yourself? 83

At this stage, decompose the large tasks to small chunks, things that
can be done in a month, a week or even a day. Look for clues to show
you what would be the outcomes of each of the tasks and identify your
short-term goals. When you are feeling down and dull, it is these list of short-
term goals that will get you started and make you become productive. These
short term goals will provide the focus when it appears that things are going
everywhere.

6.5.4.3 Short term goals

The purpose of these short-term goals is to give you reasons for celebrating
success and not to be punitive. Describe these in detail so that these are
clear when you are in a different setting. Making generic statements such
as ‘Doing experiments’ is not enough. Describe the experiment and number
of repetitions or whatever else so that there are no ambiguities.
It is important to remember that the planning document is dynamic and
things are going to change. The purpose of the document is to give focus, help
you monitor your progress and develop your judgment of the complexity of a
task. This is not to be used to blame yourself but to examine your conditions.
When you are feeling good and creative, this list will evolve, but it is essential
to be used for feeling good when you are low and down.
It is important to have short term goals. While vision and long-term goals
are essential, the short-term ones are that help you when feeling low. When
you are low and dull, use this list and measure your success against what you
wrote when you were full of energy. Most of the times, you will be pleasantly
surprised at your achievements.
The plan and Gantt chart are dynamic, but it is important to try and stay on
the path and work towards the short-term goals. If you need to make changes,
do so, but document the changes and be well aware of these. I strongly
recommend that involve someone else and have a discussion when making
changes.
The aim of PhD is to train the researchers to become independent, and
hence it is essential that they are not micro-managed. However, when there
is the feeling of apathy when starting the day, with the desire to go back
to bed the short-term goals and the Gantt chart get you going. When you
feel lack of purpose and direction, you need to follow the plan to remain
on track. When there is feeling of helplessness, the recognition of the short-
term goals and milestones makes one realise the achievements and the feeling
of success.
84 Continuing to Be a Researcher: Motivation Issues for Researchers

6.6 How to Become Productive?

The first step is to acknowledge the state we are in, and in order to do this
properly, we have to do this without judgement. We have to be aware that
these are valid states of being and we should observe ourselves to identify
what we are currently experiencing. The problem happens when we start
trying to judge ourselves, and judge ourselves based on these such as good,
bad and evil. When we start the judgement, we will soon start looking for
excuses and justifications.
How to identify how we are truly feeling? It is important to identify what
state we are currently in. For this purpose, the first step is to understand that
there are multiple states of our being, and that of all others. When you see
other people being full of action and getting things done, remember that they
would also be having their dull moments. Everyone is in their own state and
has their own time, and you do not have to worry about the others, but just
observe your own-self. If you are feeling low or lazy, acknowledge it and then
it is possible to find methods to change it.
After we have observed our own state of being, the next step is to use this
to become productive. Starting from the state of inertia, which is the state of
laziness, the only way to become productive is to follow a detailed plan or to
allow the supervisor or others to micro-manage us. When we are feeling lazy,
it is best to let the others tell us what to do, and this will get us up and going.
It is also essential to realise that when we are in such a condition, we are not
equipped to take major decisions and undertake planning.

Tasks
1. Do you work best (1) under pressure, (2) when there is a reward or
(3) because you enjoy the work?
2. Identify the kind of person you are: restless, lazy or chilled?
3. Would you continue to be a researcher even if you won a very big
lottery?
4. What are your levers? What are the circumstances that make you get
angry? What makes you feel happy? Write these down and save it
securely.
5. What are your long-term goals? Have you thought about them?
 7
Research Proposal

Abstract
There are many myths which suggest that major discoveries are an outcome
of spontaneity of an individual genius. However, reality is very far from this,
and successful research outcomes are based on rigorous planning, discipline
and teamwork. Successful research student requires to spend significant time
in evaluating the work of others, identifying the problem, designing an
alternate solution, recognizing the hypothesis, developing the tasks against a
time frame, conducting the experiments and finally undertaking the analysis.
When researchers in their excitement start their experiments a little too early
without adequate planning or literature review, things often go wrong. Careful
planning of the research and communicating this with others such as your
supervisor is an essential aspect of research and this document is referred to
as the research proposal.
Research proposals may be written for diverse reasons. A PhD student
may write a brief proposal to declare their intent and the topic of interest
to find a suitable supervisor. A formal research proposal is submitted after
they enrol in their PhD program and this is expected to be detailed with list
of tasks and milestones. There are also the research proposals that would
be submitted when applying for scholarships, grants or employment. This
chapter describes the reason and the process of developing a diverse range of
research proposals.

Task Before You Start This Chapter

1. Have you developed your research proposal? Why?
2. Do you have a vision of the research project? Does your supervisor have
a vision?
3. What is your long-term goal of the research project?
4. Have you identified short-term goals for your project? What is the
time-gap between different goals?

85
86 Research Proposal

5. Have you developed the methodology for your project? Is it sufficient

detailed for it to be reproducible?
6. Do you have a timeline for your project? Do you believe in it?
7. Have you identified milestones?

7.1 Introduction
English language is contextual language and hence I start this chapter by
defining the word, research in the context of this chapter. While there are
number of usage of this word, one definition that is relevant to this chapter
is given by Creswell who described it as “A process of steps used to collect
and analyze information to increase our understanding of a topic or issue”.
Based on this, it can be considered to have three distinct steps: identify the
question (or issue), data-collection to answer the question and analyse the
experimental results to answer the question.
Researchers or artists appear to have the luxury of ‘sitting around’ and
sipping cafe lattes, and some people from the corporate world may even
consider them to be bludgers, idle and not carrying their weight. However,
if it was not for the thinkers of the society, we would still be living in
the remote past. Bertrand Russell, one of the pillars of western philosophy,
in 1935 wrote his famous essay; “In Praise of Idleness”. In this essay, he
describes the necessity of people to have time to think and reflect rather
than perform work such as the task of moving objects in space, or in today’s
style of controlling a computer. He shows that such time is necessary for the
purpose of developing new ideas, and scientific discoveries. It appears from
some of the letters exchanged between Russell and the scientific greats such
as Einstein that these ideas were considered important and the backbone of
the progress of humanity not only by philosophers but by scientists. However,
in casual reading of the essay it is very easy to be confused and interpret it to
be the justification of laziness. A careful reading of Russell’s essay suggests
the need for planning, focus and dynamism.

7.1.1 Dynamic Idleness

In his essay, Bertrand Russell is referring to the need for having time to reflect
and contemplate rather than simply to perform physical work. His statement
comes in the context of challenging the aspect of hierarchy in the traditional
society and describes the need for such ‘idleness’ for all members of the
society to have the potential to grow and innovate. However, such idleness
comes with a big responsibility and is referred to as ‘dynamic idleness’,
 7.1 Introduction 87

a state where the individual is able to be creative and generate new knowl-
edge. This gives an opportunity for clear thinking, and requires careful
planning. It is essential to realize that the state of seeming idleness does not
produce any useful outcomes if it is not fueled by dynamism and planning.
Bhagavad Gita describes that there may not appear to be any difference
between a lazy person and a philosopher (Tamasic and satvic) but for the
inner dynamism. For the seeming idle person to achieve any outcome, it is
essential that there is dynamism; a plan and ideals. Seemingly unplanned
artist would have a definite plan and purpose; a vision of what they would
like to communicate in their masterpiece.
Dynamic researchers require a plan that will guide them to their goal.
While a student who is studying and doing courses has a plan that is
developed by the University, researchers have the serious responsibility for
developing their own plan. The plan by creative artists or researchers may not
be similar to the one by industry or a business, or even that of a course in
the University, but having a well-defined plan is important for their success.
However, research plans need to be flexible and dynamic where not only
the path but even the goal-posts need to be readjusted over time. Having a
detailed plan serves number of purposes and the most important purpose of
these plans is for providing the individuals the ability to monitor their own
progress during the dynamic idleness.

7.1.2 Mid-Candidature Blues

Mid-candidature blues are one common problem faced by PhD students.
While they believe that they are putting in their maximum, the outcome does
not seem to be evident to them or their supervisors. This can result in an
unhappy student, which can lead to to student burnout and poor productivity.
While there can be diverse number of reasons why this may happen, one
method to prevent it from it becoming a problem is by having a documented
research plan. Not only does such a document clarify the expectations of
the student and the supervisor, it clarifies the steps and provides measurable
short-term goals.
This chapter describes the process of developing the research proposal to
ensure that the research will lead to high impact outcomes. It is designed to
help you identify the long-term goals of your project and the short-term goals
that help realise this goal. The next few sections describe structures which
can be used by the researchers to monitor their own progress. Another aim
of such a proposal is to ensure that there is good understanding between the
supervisor and the supervised.
88 Research Proposal

7.2 Purpose of Research Proposals

Successful and useful research projects require rigorous planning, disciplined
effort, appropriate experiments, suitable analysis and detailed conclusions.
Research outcomes require focus, scoping, discipline and attention to detail.
Good and successful research detailed planning after extensive literature
review.
Developing the research proposal is one of the most essential aspect of
research and when shortcuts are taken, often the outcomes are poor. It starts
with the wish-list and generic aim, and then helps the researcher to scope the
project, develop the hypothesis, list the tasks and make the plan.
Research proposals and plans are different from project proposals because
research is about generating or applying new knowledge with inherent cre-
ativity and with several unknowns over the project. While the research may
be for commercial or altruistic purposes, there are always the unknowns and
thus the embedded uncertainty. The success of the research proposal is not
based on the outcome but the plan itself.
Another major purpose of research proposals is to provide the focus to the
researcher and prevent the feeling of hopelessness. It allows the researcher to
identify the short-term goals and this ensures that there are successes to be
celebrated even when the long-term goal appears to be far away. It serves to
remind us of the vision and prevents us from the confusion of the purpose of
being a researcher.

7.3 What Is a Research Proposal?

There are number of reasons why people write research proposals. In many
Universities, these have to be developed by PhD applicants before they enrol
as students, and then again after they have enrolled. The proposal that is
written before enrolment is required to announce the desire to work in a field
and get the attention of the supervisor with the intent for being selected for
doing PhD. These proposals are normally brief, sparse on details and often the
wish-list of the candidate. The expectations of the readers for these proposals
is generally low and the academic is only seeking to identify the overall
research direction and gauge the candidate’s ability to write. Most academics
would not take it very seriously but use it to confirm the candidate’s desire to
be working in the research field.
After the student has enrolled, most Universities expect the student to
develop a detailed research proposal. This is often mandatory and is a major
 7.4 Developing the Research Proposal 89

hurdle before the confirmation of the candidature of the student. This is

expected to be detailed and formal which will be reviewed by a research
committee consisting of academics who would take a decision. In this docu-
ment, the researcher should demonstrate that they have a definite plan going
forward, and have conducted significant literature review.
Many students may consider this document to be a formality and some
may even consider it as a waste of time. However, this should be taken as
the guide over the candidature period and a well formulated proposal goes a
long way to help excellent research outcomes. To make it an effective guide,
it is essential that it is unambiguous, describes the work-plan and lists the
relevant milestones. It is also important that this is a dynamic document
and the researcher uses it regularly and manages this over the candidature.
It should highlight the vision of the student and the supervisor and indicate
how it will take the student from being a student to being an independent and
employable researcher.
The research proposal is a very useful document for the student as it
documents the plan and prevents misunderstandings between the student and
the supervisor. Often the project may be based on the wish-list of an inexperi-
enced supervisor, which can result in an unending list of tasks. The formality
of this document scopes the project and clarifies the agreed end-point of the
research and thus avoids any ambiguities.
One fundamental purpose of the research proposal that is often over-
looked is that it is a document to be celebratory rather than punitive in nature.
As a researcher, there will be many times when despite the best efforts things
look gloomy and dull. It is at these points where the proposal is useful to
test our actual against the proposed performance. Many times researchers
forget to celebrate their success, and revisiting the proposal is very helpful in
remembering all the achievements.

7.4 Developing the Research Proposal

A well-designed research proposal will identify the specific research ques-
tions and associated hypotheses leading to the methodology and clearly
identified milestones. It should outline the action plan, define the starting
point and the state of the art literature review. It may also identify details
such as anticipated dates for manuscript submissions.
When developing the research proposal, it is important to keep the long-
term goal of the student in focus. Is the student intending to go to industry,
become an entrepreneur, join academia or go down a different path? Once the
long-term goal is clear, it is easier to design the project details.
90 Research Proposal

The next step in developing the project proposal is to identify the purpose
of the project. Who will benefit from the outcomes, who is the reader of the
document, and what is its purpose. The following text describes the process
of developing the research proposal. While the process is generic, the aim
is to facilitate the PhD candidates who are developing their formal research
proposals at the early stage of their candidature.
In general, research proposals of PhD candidates is written for their
supervisor and the research committee. The committee will be broad based
and it is a good idea to provide the background, but without making people
think you are running a tutorial. You need to communicate to them without
appearing to be talking down to them. While they may not know your
topic, but they will be experienced researchers and have seen many research
proposals. They also have easy access to the internet and have the authority
to ask you to explain.

7.4.1 Title
Many times people write the title at the last minute and pay little attention to
this. However, the title is very important because it is what the other person
sees before they begin to read the details, and if this is not interesting, the
reader is already in the negative gear.
I would recommend to the author of the proposal to put themselves in the
shoes of the reader of the document. Imagine who would be the reader of
the document, mentally develop a rapport with them and get them interested
in your work. Try to understand their purpose of reading the document,
the amount of time they will most likely devote to the document, and their
keenness. If it is possible, read the proposals of other people and observe the
time and patience you have for their documents.

7.4.2 Aim
The proposal needs to have a well-defined aim. Often in the first draft of
the proposal, this may be vague but it should get well defined over multiple
iterations. When you start your first iteration, this may simply be the penning
down the wish-list based on the dialogue between the supervisor and the
student. This will evolve over multiple iterations and may be significantly
different from where you started.
When considering the aim of the project, it is essential to identify what is
the purpose of your research. Please do not try to solve the world’s problem
 7.4 Developing the Research Proposal 91

nor should you sound like the used car salesman. The biggest beneficiary of
your research proposal is your own self, and you should believe in your ability
to achieve what you have stated. Being direct and to the point is generally
good; be crisp, precise and articulate the aim clearly. Do not expect the reader
to read between the lines on your behalf.

7.4.3 Objective
Many formats will have the aims and objectives placed under one sub-
heading, but I have separated the aim from the objectives. The aim can be
generic and often a string of key-words and occasionally even a motherhood
statement (not advised), but the objectives of the research should narrow
down to the precise research outputs you hope to achieve. So, while the
aim of the research may be to identify early symptoms of lung cancer, the
objective may be to investigate the difference in the speech of healthy people
and people with early stages of lung cancer.

7.4.4 Scope
It is essential to scope a project because no one can do research without
boundaries. The purpose of scoping the project is to identify the boundaries
which is an essential part of the research proposal. While the overall study
by itself may be very big, scoping identifies what you will explore in this
proposed study. It also states what you will not be doing and clarifies the
problem statement for your own self and the audience. It is necessary to
identify and declare the extent of the problem that is relevant to your work.
This declares what you would be actually doing, and also states what is not
within the scope of your work.
Research project for PhD is time-bound and needs to declare the end
clearly. It is essential for PhD students to recognise their progress and when
the project has been completed. Having generic aims that are not scoped is
not appropriate and it is essential to determine the specifics that are expected
be achieved.
It is important that the scope of the project is narrow but gives room for
future changes. If it is too narrow, the outcomes are highly limited to specific
conditions and thus the work may not be very useful. If on the other hand
it is too wide, effective research may not be achievable. A careful balance
between the two is very essential.
Scoping of the research declares the intent and choices made by the
researcher and the boundaries for the proposed study. It is essential to do
92 Research Proposal

this prior to developing the methodology as it gives the focus to the project.
It also identifies the responsibilities of different individuals in a project when
there are multiple stakeholders.

7.4.4.1 Example to explain scope

Continuing from the earlier example, consider that the aim of the research
was to identify early symptoms of lung cancer and the objective was to
investigate the difference in the speech of healthy people and people with
early stages of lung cancer. This would require a team with candidates with
clinical and engineering expertise. For a candidate who is an engineer and
interested in developing speech analysis algorithms, cancer detection is out an
application. For such a candidate, the scope of the project will be to develop
the speech analysis on an existing database and not to record the data directly
in a hospital. It is essential to do the scoping because it now clarifies that the
candidate will spend all the energy in algorithm development. Thus, while
the aim of the project may be for cancer detection, the candidate may not be
working directly with the cancer patients but using an existing database. It is
important to declare this at the start so that the reader understands the intent
and the focus of the project.

7.4.5 Research Questions

The purpose of a research question is to inquire a specific issue which
needs to be answered to achieve the desired objective and the outcome is
fundamental to the project. It provides the basis for the hypothesis which
needs to be developed to respond to the research project while the purpose
of the methodology is to test this hypothesis. The research question focuses
the study and guides the different stages of research: inquiry, experiments to
record data, analysis of the data, and interpretation.
The research question is generated when the objective is tested against the
current state of knowledge. Thus, the development of the research question
requires extensive literature review. When the first draft of the aim is gener-
ated, it is essential to identify the barrier between what is known and what is
required to be known to achieve the objective: what is preventing someone
from achieving this aim? What knowledge or discovery is essential to solve
the problem?
Research questions are the basis of the research project and when these
are hurriedly developed, it invariably lead to poor outcomes. Meaningful
and strong research question require knowledge of the topic and is based
on extensive relevant literature. The question has to be focused and precise.
 7.4 Developing the Research Proposal 93

It is important that it should not be based on the work of a single researcher or

group, but preferably should be based on the works of multiple researchers.
It has to be the argument based on the literature and with the focus on the aim
and objective of the research project.
A well designed and formulated research question is the cornerstone
of the research project and the guide of the process. It should provide the
logical and knowledge basis of the project. However the research question
may evolve over the project based on new knowledge and ideas.
PhD projects can be designed such that each research question would
correspond to one thesis chapters and one major publication. In our current
scenario, most major Universities in the world are expecting the PhD can-
didates to have 3 chapters and publish 3 or more major publications. Thus,
the research proposal of a PhD candidate can be streamlined if it has 3 or 4
inter-linked research questions.

7.4.5.1 Example of research proposal

Consider the earlier example where the objective of the candidate was to
develop speech analysis algorithms that are suitable for detecting early stage
lung cancer from the speech. For this objective, we need to identify a research
question. In the table below, we can brainstorm and tease out a few examples
of the possible research questions and investigate each of these;

1. Is there a difference between the Now let’s consider the 1st question: Is there
speech of healthy person and a difference between the speech of healthy
one with lung cancer? person and one with lung cancer? This
question is too wide and does not appear to
be focused. It seems to suggest that the
author has not done sufficient literature
review.
2. Can we find the difference in the This question just does not sound correct
speech of healthy person and because it is subjective. The question has to
one with lung cancer? be objective and should not be based on the
individual. The other difficulty of this
question is that it is too generic and its
answer would not have great value. Yet
another difficulty is that it would not be
possible to come up with a precise
methodology for this question.
(Continued)
94 Research Proposal

Continued
3. How to detect the difference This question is too generic and shows that
between the speech of healthy the author is unsure and does not know what
person and one with lung to do. It appears that the candidate has
cancer? converted the aim into a question without
detailed literature review and planning. It
does not provide the focus to the project
and seems to indicate a fishing expedition
in the dark.
4. What is the difference between This question lacks focus and would not
the speech of healthy person and guide the researcher for the research. To
one with lung cancer? respond to this question, the candidate
would need to test all possible speech
analysis algorithms on the data base and
even then the answer is not definite, because
there may be differences that the known
techniques do not show.
5. What features of the speech are This question is too generic and does not
suitable for distinguishing indicate that the candidate knows where to
between the speech of healthy start. If this was the question to work with,
person and one with lung how would the work start? To effectively
cancer? respond to this question, the candidate will
need to analyze all the speech recordings
using all possible speech analysis techniques
and then test the results for the difference.
The question does not focus the research and
hence is not an appropriate research
question.
6. Is there a statistically significant This question is focused and the researcher
difference in the periodicity of appears to be committed to the project.
the speech of healthy and lung The researcher has declared the analysis
cancer patients observable in the technique, the database and the method to
public databases? observe the difference. It indicates that
significant literature review has been
performed and based on earlier work, the
researcher has got a logical basis for the
research. However, it is also important to
be aware that the validity of the question is
based on the demonstration of the logic
and knowledge that underpin the details.
 7.4 Developing the Research Proposal 95

7. Is there a statistically significant What is the problem with this question?

difference in the four cepstral This is a very precise question and focuses
speech features between the the research exactly. The researcher knows
speech of healthy and lung exactly what has to be done and how to
cancer patients that can be measure the difference. The difficulty in
observed by naı̈ve Bayesian such a question is that it is too precise, and
analysis? it appears to be more like a laboratory
assignment and not a research question. It
looks as if the exact answer is already known
and the experiment is not going to discover
anything new.
There is also another major shortcoming
in the 7th question: it is questioning the
method but not the fundamentals. Cepstral
analysis is one specific measure of the more
fundamental parameter, periodicity.
Similarly, naı̈ve Bayesian is one of the many
techniques that could be used to differentiate
between two groups.

7.4.6 Developing the Hypothesis

A hypothesis can be considered as the prediction of an experiment and
should be designed to get the answer for the research question. The hypoth-
esis should be an informed guess and based on prior knowledge generally
obtained from literature, and should serve the purpose that it teases out the
answer to the research question. It should be a statement that is testable by
finite and doable experiments.
Good research is based on a very well thought through hypothesis. It
may be an intelligent deduction that is based on information obtained from
complementary sources. Often the source of some of the information may
have only recently come to be available. Another basis for a new hypothesis
may be based on the availability of new resources such as devices or methods
that allow investigation in greater depth and details.

7.4.6.1 Example for developing the hypothesis

If we consider the earlier example of speech analysis for detecting the
difference between cancer patients and healthy people, and consider the
question: Is there a statistically significant difference in the periodicity of the
speech of healthy and lung cancer patients observable in the (specified) public
databases? One option for the hypothesis matching this question could be;
96 Research Proposal

“Lung cancer significantly affects the periodicity of speech.” It is essential

that this should be logical and based on works reported in literature.

7.4.7 Developing the Methodology

The methodology section describes the details of all the tasks that have to be
performed by the researcher to complete the project. Each research project
is unique, but most science and engineering projects can be considered to
belong to two broad categories; pure discovery and application. However,
most projects will be something in between these two extremes. Discovery
research projects are generally based on the hypothesis that have to be tested
and the methodology is designed for this purpose. The application based
research is more likely to be based the outcomes and is generally based on
the earlier discoveries.
In the case of the discovery projects, the purpose of the research method-
ology is to test the hypothesis. The outcomes of the experiments can range
between pure numbers and quantitative to completely qualitative, Engineer-
ing projects tend to be quantitative while disciplines such as psychology
and humanities lean towards qualitative. What is an essential factor in the
design of methodology is that it should be described in detail such that it is
reproducible by other people who are distant from the researcher.
One essential part in the methodology section is to provide the argument
for conducting the experiments, or for obtaining data from other sources such
as a public database. It is important to provide the basis which can help the
reader appreciate the purpose and put it in context.
An important part of number of research projects is to conduct experi-
ments and record the data. When planning or reporting these experiments,
it is essential that all the relevant parameters of the experiments that may
have an impact on the outcomes should be described. Details such as the
brand and model of the devices that will be used have to be listed because
these will ensure that the experiments are reproducible. If it is relevant,
the ambient conditions such as temperature, or the time of the day may be
required to be specified. Experiments have their unique factors and hence it
is the responsibility of the researcher to describe in sufficient detail such that
the results are reproducible.
If the researcher is intending to use the database that is available either
publicly or provided by the supervisor, it is important that this is clearly
stated. While the data is not being recorded by you, using this data makes you
 7.4 Developing the Research Proposal 97

responsible for its integrity and you should know the details. Just because it
is a public database does not remove the onus from you.
An important aspect of the methodology is to provide the details describ-
ing the data analysis. This could include the statistical analysis but different
disciplines may have their own data analysis techniques and preferences. It is
not only essential to describe the analysis method, but to provide the argument
for the choice of the method. While there are significant differences between
disciplines, some of the basic criterion are regarding the significance of the
results. It is important that the outcomes are not random but reproducible and
this means that the output of the data analysis should clearly state the level of
the significance. More details on this topic are covered in Chapter 8.

7.4.8 Time Frame

Once the tasks that are relevant to the project are described, the next step
is to give it the time-frame. While the time-frame needs to be detailed, it is
also important that it provides the researcher with flexibility. One of the best
aspects of being a researcher is the flexibility and that cannot be sacrificed.
There are no regular exams and assignments to be submitted and this gives
the researcher the ability to think outside the box. However, it is essential for
our own sake and for the sake of people watching us that there is a plan with
timeline to ensure that the progress can be monitored by ourselves and others.

7.4.8.1 Project timeline

Putting a date on the task is an essential part of the research plan. Most of
us start projects with enthusiasm and are very excited when we start a new
journey, but soon this may fizzle and the project may become a drudgery. This
is nothing unusual and rather than wish it away, it is best to be prepared for
this change that may happen over the duration of the project. When we start
the project, we seem to be going on full throttle and start multiple tasks, but
soon after that there is confusion and lethargy and other stakeholders such as
the supervisor may get diverted to other projects. This is when it is important
to have dates against the tasks, milestones and deliverable. The timeline keeps
us on the path and prevents us from getting sidetracked.
It is essential that the timeline is well described and sufficiently detailed
so that we can monitor ourselves and our progress. It should provide us
with specific tasks and dates so that we know what we are expected to be
doing on a specific day or week, and the outcomes should be measurable. It
is also important that the outcomes should be largely independent of others
98 Research Proposal

and should be things that you can manage largely yourself. This is important
because otherwise our minds will begin playing the ‘Blame-Game’ and the
purpose of the plan is lost.
There is no point in having the timeline for ‘reading papers’ but be
specific about how many papers you will critically evaluate over the period
of time. If you are conducting experiments, try and quantify the number of
experiments you will conduct in a given time period.

7.4.8.2 Regularity in timeline

When developing the timeline, the outcomes should be placed at reasonably
regular intervals such as weekly. This gives enough time to overcome bouts
of ill-health, or other temporary distractions while small enough to prevent
the project and the thesis from unreasonable delays. It is important to ensure
that the time-line is achievable by your own self. When I make my research
plans, I use these with the celebratory note rather than look at these with the
negative view. I will, for example, tick the box that I have completed the task
I had planned. This gives me the justification to celebrate and feel good.
Treat the timeline with respect. While you are the author of the document
and perhaps no one else is going to read it, do not be casual with it. There are
number of software that can help you develop it and place it such that you can
view it regularly. I would recommend that you should make it colorful with
pictures such that it looks nice and decorative so that you can view it daily.
Print it and place it somewhere you and you alone can view it.

7.4.8.3 Changes to the timeline

The timeline tells us what we should be doing now and can help us pace
ourselves. However, research is dynamic and often we will need to make
changes such as the duration of a task or the task itself, and most times that
is perfectly legitimate. The research plan has to reflect new knowledge and
better understanding of the complexity of the task and this means that it will
continue to grow over the duration of the project. However, we are all very
human and can easily get distracted or sometimes we may wish to increase
or decrease the work without due consideration. We also may misinterpret or
misunderstand the experimental outcomes or simply have a bout of laziness.
When any of these happen, we may be tempted to make changes to this
dynamic document.
It is essential to remember that research plan is a very important document
that guides through the project and it is essential that its sanctity is main-
tained. Thus, while making essential changes is appropriate, it is essential
 Tasks 99

that these are well-thought through. I would always recommend that when
making these changes, discuss this with your supervisor. However if you are
uncomfortable to discuss this with the supervisor, do it with a colleague you
can trust and who understands the project. Write down the reason for the
change, even if it is as obvious as travel to a conference, breakdown of the
equipment, too many parties in the week or that you needed to take the extra
tutorials for the supervisor. When you write these down, you are able to take
control of the project and it will not slip away.
Treat the timeline of the research proposal with respect. It is the most
important document you will work with, and if you follow this closely, you
have strong likelihood to becoming a successful researcher. If you trust a
colleague, share it with them so that you can share the celebratory drink for
each successful milestone.

7.4.9 Milestones
Milestones are the anticipated measurable outcomes at specified times that
help monitor the research progress. These provide the researcher with the
short-term targets and provides means to check the plan and make appropriate
changes to fine-tune it if required. It may be also useful for the supervisor who
may use it to observe the progress of the student. However, its main purpose
is to reconnect the researcher with the aim of the project and keep in focus the
long-term goal of the project. This is very important because most research
projects can mid-way become monotonous and one day appears to merge
with the next. Having clearly measurable and periodically timed milestones
that remind you of the long-term goal of the project ensures the focus and the
drudgery is avoided.
Milestones are not the outcome of the experiments but the measure of
timely and accurately performing the experiments. Research requires extend-
ing beyond the current knowledge and hence while the outcomes of research
projects can be anticipated but these cannot be predicted. The methodology
should have been well thought through and planned but the outcomes of the
tasks cannot become the milestones.

Tasks
1. Do you need to revisit your research proposal?
2. Write your vision of the research project and share it with your
supervisor.
100 Research Proposal

3. Write down your long-term goal of the research project.

4. Identified your short-term goals for your project even if you have yet
not submitted your research proposal? Ensure the time-gap between
different goals is ‘short’.
5. Check if the methodology for your project has sufficient detail for it to
be reproducible.
6. Redevelop the timeline for your project which you believe in.
7. Are your milestones measurable?
 8
Planning the Experiments

Abstract
Typical research projects have experiments and analysis as key components.
While many of these will require recording of data, some will be reliant on
the database generated by others. What is essential is that the outcome of
the research should be reproducible and verifiable. In most cases, statistical
analysis is performed on the results to test the significance of the results.
Planning to ensure that the results are statistically significant is an important
step in the design of the project. This chapter introduces you to this topic and
provides you with the basics that may be useful in the experiment design and
result analysis.

8.1 Introduction
Researchers perform experiments; in this context I use the word, experiment
in a very generic sense. Experiments are not only conducted by white gown
wearing scientists in their laboratories but also by people reviewing work of
other people or conducting interviews. An experiment is an act where the
outcome is not definitely known. What is essential is that the outcome of the
experiment gives a definite answer. Planning the experiment is an essential
skill of the researcher.
In many cases, the outcomes of the experiment are not definitive and not
black and white but all shades of gray. Another difficulty with many experi-
ments is the repeatability and reproducibility. Good experimental planning is
key to ensure that we understand and convince others of the significance of
the results and understand the limitations which would lead to suitable appli-
cations. This chapter discusses some of the facets of experimental design, and
while it is generic in a sense, it targets engineers and scientists.

101
102 Planning the Experiments

8.2 Focus and Scope

Having unplanned experiments that are very generic rarely lead to significant
outcomes. It is essential that the experiments are focused and respond to the
research questions that were identified in the proposal. Occasionally there
may be serendipitous outcomes on the way, but that should not be the focus
of the experiment.
It is not unusual that the focus of the project gets diverted due to number
of reasons such as lack of resources or poor literature review. A well planned
experiment is one where the researcher paid attention to detail during the
design phase of the experiment. Such an experiment is focused and most
importantly is based on critical and thorough literature review. The proposal
of the experiment would have identified the resources that are required to
conduct the experiments, discuss the number of repetitions that will be
required and has the potential of being a success. Thus, for the success of the
project, it is essential that the proposal describes a focused and well scoped
project where the number of repetitions and thus the required resources are
well understood.

8.3 Inferential Statistics

Inferential statistics uses techniques which consider random samples taken
from a large population to make inferences and reach conclusions. The aim is
to perform generalizations on the overall population based on the samples that
were investigated. It is essential when we only have access to a sample of the
entire population that is to be investigated. There are two broad approaches
used for this purpose: estimation of parameters and testing of statistical
hypotheses.

8.4 Descriptive Statistics

Descriptive statistics quantitatively summarize the features of the samples
that are being analysed, though not to provide inference for the entire popu-
lation. In general, these identify the trends of the data which has an inherent
stochastic nature and are valuable to describe the overall data in a simplified
but quantitative form. The descriptive statistics can be broadly classified in
two: central measure tendency and dispersion of the data.
 8.5 Significance 103

8.4.1 Central Tendency

These describe the central position of the frequency distribution of a group
of data. It can be described using different methods, such as calculation of
mean of the data, median or mode of the data. For example, to describe the
distribution or pattern of marks obtained by a group of 100 students from
highest to lowest can be done by the measures of central tendency.

8.4.2 Dispersion
This is the measure of the spread or distribution of the values around the
central tendency or value. The two common measures of dispersion are: range
and standard deviation (SD). While the range is difference between the lowest
value from the highest value, standard deviation is an estimate of dispersion,
which shows the relation of the set of data values to the mean of the data set.
One significant weakness with the use of range to describe the dispersion is
that it is very sensitive to any outliers.

Range = highest value − lowest value

sP
(X − X)2
Standard deviation =
(n − 1)
Where
X – each value in the data set
X – mean of the data set
n – total number of values

8.5 Significance
In most natural science and humanities experiments, the outcomes of multiple
repetition are never identical. However much we may try to control the
conditions, there are large number of variables that are outside the control
of the experi- menter. While there may be common trends between multiple
experiments, there may be large number of variations between the results. In
general, what is important is the trend and not the individual differences. To
identify these trends while ignoring the random-like variability, it is essential
to repeat the experiment multiple times. This will reveal the differences to
ensure the observations are not because of inherent variations but are based
on real effects.
104 Planning the Experiments

Consider an example where the examiner would like to know if there is

difference in gender based difference in the height of members of a club. For
this purpose, the examiner, conducts the experiment where she records the
height of two of her colleagues; one male and one female and measures their
height. Her female colleague is 180 cm while the male is 175 cm and based
on these results, she states that women are taller than men. As most of us
would agree, this appears to be a flawed experiment. While politicians and
some media reporters may enjoy reporting such results, we scientists would
all agree that the experimental design is flawed and can lead to incorrect and
sometimes dangerous conclusions. What is evident is that the experiment
should have been repeated sufficient number of times. But the question is;
how many? What is enough? Would the experiment be valid only if all
the possible outcomes were obtained and measured? Obviously that is not
possible as we see in the above example. It is not possible to measure the
height of every man and woman on the planet or even the club. What are the
considerations when determining the size of the experiment? To identify the
suitable number of experiments, statistical tests have been developed which
can be used by the examiner to plan the experiment.
Our experiments can also lead to poor outcomes when we have not
investigated some key factors that may influence the outcomes. Lets consider
that we are interested in measuring the change in the boiling temperature
of water when a newly developed chemical has been added. We conduct
detailed experiments and discover that the water with the new substance
has the boiling point lowered by 8◦ C. This is great news and we repeat
the experiment multiple times and get the same outcome. However, our
results are different from the other researchers and we begin to explore
the difference. Perhaps we have ignored the altitude; our experiments were
conducted in the mountains while the others did the experiments on sea level.
The above example highlights that lack of careful and critical literature review
can lead to poor experimental design. Had we conducted careful analysis
of the literature to identify the methodology of the previous experiments
and of previous work where the effect of altitude on boiling point had
been examined, we could have planned the experiments better. Thus, good
experimenter would perform exhaustive literature review and identify all the
factors that are already known. They also have to be creative in identifying
the relationship between different factors.
Experiment planning requires determining the hypothesis that will be
tested. To ensure that the outcome of the experiments can be evaluated
statistically, it is essential to develop the statistical hypothesis.
 8.7 Measuring Significance 105

8.6 Statistical Hypothesis

A statistical hypothesis test is a method of inferential statistics, wherein
two statistical data sets are compared and a hypothesis is proposed on the
relationship between the two data sets. Consider the problem of determining
if the two datasets (populations) are same or they are different. To test
this requires two statistical hypotheses; (i) the distribution of values in the
two populations is the same and (ii) the distribution of values in the two
populations is not the same. While the first is the null hypothesis, the second
is termed as experimental or alternative hypothesis. All the statistical tests and
calculations are made assuming the null hypothesis to be true. For example,
there is a new drug to be tested for its effect on asthmatic patients against
the existing drug. In such a situation, the null hypothesis would be ‘The new
drug has the exactly the same effect on the patients as the existing drug’
(or, in other words, there is no difference between the new drug and the
existing one).

8.7 Measuring Significance

When an experiment is performed, the outcome is considered to be significant
if there is a level of certainty and it is not because of inherent randomness.
Such significance is measurable using number statistical significance tests.
Statistical significance plays an important role in hypothesis testing and these
tests are used to determine whether the null-hypothesis should be retained
or rejected. By default the null hypothesis is the assumption that the two (or
more) groups are similar or the pre and post event conditions are the same and
nothing has changed. If the null hypothesis is rejected, the observations rep-
resent changes. The statistical significant tests return the value of similarity
which is then compared with a predefined threshold.
Statistical significance is used to determine whether the null hypothesis
is to be accepted or rejected. Thus statistical significance is achieved when
the observed p-value is less than or equal to the defined significance level,
thus rejecting the null hypothesis. If the observed p-value is more than the
significance level, the null hypothesis is accepted, thus concluding that the
results are not statistically significant.
To determine whether a result is statistically significant, a researcher has
to calculate a p-value, which is the probability of observing an effect given
that the null hypothesis is true. The null hypothesis is rejected if the p-value is
less than a predetermined level, α. α is called the significance level, and is the
106 Planning the Experiments

probability of rejecting the null hypothesis given that it is true (a type I error).
It is usually set at or below 5%.

8.7.1 p Value to Test Null Hypothesis

p value is the measure of the probability which quantifies the difference
between the populations. It determines the fraction of the results in which
the difference between the populations is equal to or larger than what was
actually observed, under the assumption of null hypothesis. Thus it is often
used to draw conclusions about statistical significance of the results of the
experiments.
Consider the example; there is a new drug to be tested for its effect on
asthmatic patients against the existing drug, the null hypothesis is ‘The new
drug has the exactly the same effect on the patients as the existing drug’. This
suggests that there is no difference between the new drug and the existing
one. The p value would answer the question; ‘If the null hypothesis were true,
what is the chance that the effect of the new drug would be equal to or larger
than the difference observed in this study?’

8.7.2 What Is Significance Level?

Significance level (α) is defined as the probability of rejecting the null
hypothesis (under the assumption that it is true). Consider a condition with
α is set to 5%. This is the probability of rejecting the null hypothesis when
it is actually true. This will indicate that with α = 5%, the test will identify
the difference between the two groups when the difference is only by chance
and there is no difference. Another way of understanding this is based on the
conditional probability of a type I error, given that the null hypothesis is true,
is 5%, and a statistically significant result is one where the observed p-value
is less than 5%.
These can be considered to be in one side of the distribution and examined
using tests such as one-tailed test, or may be partitioned to both sides of
the distribution and tested using two-tailed test, with each tail (or rejection
region) containing α/2 of the distribution.
The use of a one-tailed test is dependent on whether the research question
or alternative hypothesis specifies a direction such as whether a group of
objects is heavier or the performance of students on an assessment is better.
A two-tailed test may still be used but it will be less powerful than a one-
tailed test because the rejection region for a one-tailed test is concentrated
on one end of the null distribution and is twice the size (α vs α/2) of each
 8.9 Types of Statistical Tests 107

rejection region for a two-tailed test. It is important to note that the one-tailed
test is only more powerful than a two-tailed test if the specified direction of
the alternative hypothesis is true.
Effect size is a measure of a study’s practical significance based on the
number of examples. A statistically significant result may have a weak effect.
To gauge the research significance of their result, researchers are encouraged
to always report an effect size along with p-values. An effect size quantifies
the strength of an effect, and measures the distance between two means.
One measure is Cohen’s which is the difference in the mean divided by
standard deviation which helps normalise the difference. Other measures
include determining the difference in the correlation between two variables
or its square.
While the statistically significance is a measure of the significance, how-
ever result may not always be easy to reproduce. Further analysis are essential
for this purpose.

8.8 Reproducibility
Replicating an experiment, or reproducibility is the ability of an entire
experiment or study to be duplicated, either by the same researcher or by
someone else working independently. This is the fundamental pillar of scien-
tific method and anything that is not reproducible can be considered for being
discarded.
A well-designed experiment should be repeatable and reproducible. Such
an experiment would have suitable sample size and include all the reported
parameters that can influence the outcome of the experiment. While the
repeatability of the experiment is tested when all the conditions are the same,
the reproducibility is regarding arriving at the same conclusion. Two well-
informed experimenters should get similar results (not same) but be able
to reach the same conclusion. For the experiment to be repeatable, it is
essential for the experimental methodology to describe all possible details
of the experiment.

8.9 Types of Statistical Tests

8.9.1 Parametric Tests
A large number of statistical tests are based on number of assumptions such
as the samples are from a very large dataset (infinite) and the distribution
108 Planning the Experiments

of these is normal. These assume that the distribution of values can be

defined by parameters and hence these are referred to parametric. Examples
of Parametric tests is Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) which assumes that the
differences among the means of the populations have been selected from a
normally distributed population. Other examples of parametric tests include
paired and unpaired t-tests. While these assumptions are nearly valid for
many cases, there are number of examples when these are not appropriate.
For example when the data set is small, such assumptions are not accu-
rate. These assumptions also affect the outcome if there are outliers in the
data set.

8.9.2 Non-Parametric Tests

Non-parametric tests are those statistical tests that do not assume the distri-
bution of the dataset. The first step of the test starts by ranking the values
from low to high, and considering the data based on ranks of the values in
the data set, irrespective of the actual values. This step removes the impact
of the outliers on the outcome. These tests are required when the data cannot
be assumed to follow a normal distribution or when the number of samples
is small.
There are number of nonparametric tests and one example of a nonpara-
metric test is the Mann-Whitney test is which is used to compare two unpaired
groups and compute the p value. It first ranks all the values irrespective
of the groups and sums up the ranks in each group. The next step is the
calculation of the mean rank of each group, and computing the p value
for the null hypothesis. The p value will determine the probability when
the difference between the mean ranks would be equal to or more than the
computed p value if the distribution of ranks between the two groups is
random. Examples of nonparametric tests are Mann-Whitney test, Wilcoxon
matched-pairs signed-rank test and Spearman’s rank correlation.
The choice of parametric or nonparametric tests depends on the sample
size. If the sample size is large, more often it is safe to choose any test suitable
for the application. Even if the distribution is not normal, but the sample size
is large, parametric tests are generally suitable and robust if the deviations
from the normal distributions is small. However, if the sample size is small, it
is better to follow the tests in their ideal conditions, i.e., parametric tests for
the data following a normal distribution and nonparametric tests for the data
which are not normally distributed.
 8.11 Statistical Tests 109

8.10 Confidence Band, Confidence Intervals

and Confidence Levels
These are three seemingly similar terms that are used to describe the data
characteristics but have very different interpretations. Confidence band is the
level of uncertainty in the estimate of the function (or a graph) and can be
considered to be proportional to the level of noise in the recording.
The confidence interval is the range of values that represent the estimate
of a parameter of the dataset. The measure of percentage of fraction of the
interval shows how frequently the true parameter is within this interval and
is the confidence level (CL). While CL could be chosen to be any number in
the range 0 to 1, most common used for medical and earth sciences is in the
range of 0.9 to 0.99. The most common is perhaps 95% confidence level and
it means that there are 95% chances that the true parameter will lie within the
confidence interval.

8.11 Statistical Tests

Some of the common statistical tests used have been described below.

8.11.1 Correlation
Correlation defines statistical relationship between two sets of data samples
by quantifying the degree of extent to which they have a relationship with
each other. This value is called as correlation coefficient, and usually takes
a value between 0 and 1, with 0 showing no linear relationship between the
two sets of data samples and 1 showing the highest degree of relationship
between them. The most common correlation coefficient used is Pearson’s
correlation coefficient which measures the linear relationship between two
sets of samples.

8.11.2 Regression
Regression Analysis establishes the relationship between two sets of data
samples by fitting an ideal mathematical model to the data available, wherein
one variable (dependent variable) becomes the function of the other variable
or variables (independent variables). It is widely used for prediction and
forecasting of the data. The common regression methods are linear regression
and ordinary least squares regression.
110 Planning the Experiments

8.11.3 t-test
The t-test is a statistical hypothesis test which determines if the mean of
the two samples are “significantly different” from each other. Thus if the
mean of the two samples are significantly different from each other, the two
populations from which the samples are taken are also significantly different
from each other. The parameters that are considered for statistical significance
are the size of the difference between the mean of the two samples, the sample
size and the standard deviations of the groups. A t-test is usually applied when
the samples follow a normal distribution. The limitation of t-test is that it can
be performed for samples from two populations only, at a time. There are two
types of t-tests: unpaired t-test and paired t-test.

8.11.3.1 Unpaired t-test

Unpaired t-tests are used when the values in the two groups are not matched
or paired. They are done for random and independent samples which follow
a normal distribution. The assumption made for unpaired t-tests is that the
two data sets are sampled from populations which have identical standard
deviations, hence identical variances. There are two types of unpaired t-tests-
1 sample t-test and 2 sample t-test.
The 1 sample t-test tests whether the mean of a single population is
equal to a target value. For example, 1 sample t-test would be used to find
if the mean age of female PhD students is greater than 28, where female
PhD students belong to the single population and 28 is the set target value.
The 2 sample t-test tests whether the difference between the means of two
independent populations is equal to a target value. For example, if it were
to find out whether the mean age of female PhD students differ significantly
from mean age of male PhD students, and if the difference between the mean
age of female and male students is 5 (5 is the set target value).

8.11.3.2 Paired t-test

Paired t-tests are used to test whether the mean of the differences between the
paired observations is equal to a target value. Paired observations are obtained
when the experiment is done on the same subjects or objects before and after
an intervention. Such kind of data cannot be analyzed with an unpaired
t-test. For example, if the weight of male students in a college is measured
before and after they start working out in a gym, paired t-test would find out
if the mean weight loss (where before weight and after weight are the paired
samples) is significant enough to conclude that working out in the gym works
to reduce weight.
 8.12 System Performance Measure 111

8.11.4 Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)

ANOVA is used when the mean of a large number of population samples
(usually more than two) have to be compared. It is used to analyze the
differences (or variance) among the means of the populations. The obtained
variance has two components: first, the variation arising from the difference
among the populations, and second, the variation arising from the differences
among the samples within each population. Like t-test, ANOVA also assumes
that the samples have normal distribution.
Consider the example; the aim of the experiment is to investigate the
effect of 4 exercises on men and 40 volunteer men have been recruited for this
study. The experimental design assigns 4 groups of 10 men to the 4 types of
exercise for a duration of 1 month. In such a situation, t-test is unsuitable and
cannot be used for analysis since the number of factors or parameters under
consideration (exercises) is more than two. However, multi-factor ANOVA
may be appropriate to determine whether there is a significant difference
among the effect of 4 exercises.

8.12 System Performance Measure

8.12.1 Accuracy, Sensitivity and Specificity
Many research report the system performance measures using terms such as
accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of the work. These are generally used
to measure the performance of a predictive technique or for identifying
the suitable feature set. Each of these have a different purpose and this is
highlighted in the example below.
Consider an example where there are two groups: one consisting of dia-
betic patients and the other group consisting of people with no diabetes. The
glucose fasting blood test, which is considered to be the gold standard test, has
been performed on all the subjects to verify their disease status. This example
is to validate a new test which has been developed by these researchers; it was
performed in an unbiased manner without the knowledge of the examiner
of the group membership. Based on the results, they have been labelled as
diabetic and normal by the research team and statistical test has been per-
formed on the data collected from this test. The aim of the statistical test is to
measure and quantify this test with respect to the Gold standard i.e. the actual
results.
There are four terms which are very frequently used in measuring the
performance of the diagnostic test: true positive, true negative, false positive
112 Planning the Experiments

and false negative. True positive (TP) measures the fraction of positive
data correctly classified as positive. True negative (TN) measures the frac-
tion of negative data correctly classified as negative. False positive (FP)
measures the fraction of negative data wrongly classified as positive while
false negative (FN) measures the fraction of positive data wrongly classified
as negative.
With respect to the above example, the true positives would consist
of the fraction of data wherein the diabetic patients have been correctly
identified as diabetic, and true negative would consist of the fraction of
data where the healthy subjects have been correctly identified as healthy.
It might also happen that some of the healthy subjects would be classified
as diabetic, which would fall under the category of false positive, while
the diabetic patients wrongly identified as healthy would count in the false
negative.
Accuracy measures the fraction of the data that has been correctly identi-
fied in terms of the labels; positive and negative. While useful, this has several
shortcomings such as giving 100% accuracy if the new diabetic tests were
totally wrong.
Sensitivity of any test is its true positive rate (TPR), also called as
the recall, whereas the specificity of the test is given by the true negative
rate (TNR) of the test. Inverse of the sensitivity indicates the number of
positives that were missed, while the specificity indicates how good is it at
rejecting the wrong ones. The formulae of the above terms have been shown
below:
TP + TN
Accuracy =
TP + TN + FP + FN

TP
Sensitivity (T P R) =
TP + FN

TN
Specif icity (T N R) =
TN + FP

FP
F alse positive rate (F P R) =
TN + FP

FN
F alse negative rate (F N R) =
TP + FN
 8.12 System Performance Measure 113

8.12.2 Confusion Matrix

Confusion matrix represents the performance of a diagnostic test in the form
of a specific table which allows visualizing the statistical measures of the test.
It carries the similar information as sensitivity and specificity but presented
in a different format.

Predicted Conditions
Total Population Total Positive Total Negative
True Total Positive TP FN
Conditions (diabetic patients) (Type II error)
Total Negative FP TN
(Type I error) (healthy subjects)

8.12.3 Statistical Power

There can be two types of errors when performing the statistical hypothesis
test: type I and type II errors. Type I error occurs when null hypothesis is
rejected when it is true. It is also called as a case of “false positive”. The
probability of making type I error is predetermined by the significance level
(α) set for the hypothesis test. For example, if α is set to 0.05, it means
there is a chance of 5% to make an incorrect conclusion of rejecting the null
hypothesis when it is true.
Type II error occurs when the null hypothesis is accepted when it is false.
It is also called as a case of “false negative”. The probability of making a
type II error can be reduced by ensuring that the sample size is large enough
to detect the difference between the samples, if it truly exists. This probability
is β and depends on the power of the test, defined as below:

P ower of test = 1 − β

This value is the probability of rejecting the null hypothesis when it is

false.

8.12.4 Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC) Curve

While evaluating a diagnostic binary test, a threshold has to be set so as
to separate or correctly identify the two groups. This threshold should be
determined very carefully so that it is neither too high (identifying more
114 Planning the Experiments

healthy subjects and missing out the ones with mild form of diabetes, leading
to higher specificity and lower sensitivity) nor too low ((identifying more dia-
betic patients and missing out the healthy ones, leading to higher sensitivity
and lower specificity). However, in any case, the final outcome could either
have higher sensitivity or higher specificity.
Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC) curve marks the tradeoff between
high sensitivity and high specificity by plotting sensitivity versus specificity
in a graphical plot, where each point of the curve represents a different
possible threshold value which defines the test result. The area under the
curve, also called as AUC, gives the accuracy of the test. AUC of 1 represents
a perfect and ideal test, and as the value of AUC starts to decrease, the
accuracy of the test also decreases, until AUC of 0.5, which represents a
worthless test.

Figure showing an ROC curve. The solid line shows the trade-off of the
sensitivity versus specificity. The dotted line shows the expected ROC curve
for a method that has no predictive value (e.g. flipping a coin).
 Tasks 115

Tasks
1. Are you familiar with experimental design techniques?
2. Do you believe that there is any need for statistical analysis while
planning your experiments? Or is it required when you are analysing
the results?
3. Have other authors in your field presented statistical analysis when
presenting their work?
4. Do you believe that you can challenge the conclusion statements of other
papers? If yes, what types of statistical analysis could be useful?
 9
Communication Skills

Abstract
In our world overloaded with data, and many communication options, it is
essential that researchers should master their skills to communicate with their
supervisor, colleagues, and industry. Good communication skills does not
equate to good language skills or oral wizardry but it is the ability to make
the audience understand the topic and appreciate the research outcomes. This
is an essential strength for the success of the project and for a successful
career in research. The fundamental strengths for a researcher to communi-
cate their research are based on effective transmission of knowledge to the
audience.

9.1 Introduction
Research is a creative profession and researchers are expected to explore the
unknown. While workers in industry have to work as members of teams,
many people in the creative sectors seem to be loners, enjoy solitude and have
the reputation of not always being communicative in the conventional style.
While they may not be very talkative, good communication is an essential
quality of a scientist.
The exchange of facts, ideas and opinions or expressing our emotions
is generally defined as communication. It consists of transmission of infor-
mation, ideas and thoughts. We communicate for number of reasons such as
to inform, influence, express feelings and perform social interactions. In the
context of a professional researcher, the purpose of communication can be
narrowed down to successfully transmission of facts, and influencing others
based on this information. Communication may be by formal documents
such as thesis, reports and publications, or relatively informal such as oral,
presentations and emails. This chapter addresses the later; oral, presentations
and emails.

117
118 Communication Skills

The next section of this chapter describes the necessity for researchers
to be effective communicators and methods for developing the skills for oral
communication. The following section explores some of the major aspects of
effective oral communication; planning, engaging with audience, listening to
the audience, assertive style.

9.2 Need to Communicate for Researchers

Scientists, artists and other creative people have long held a reputation of
being absent-minded people who live isolated from others and in their little
world. It is said that in the past, researchers lived in their ivory towers and
did not need to communicate with other people who could not understand the
depth of their work. While I am unable to verify this statement, I can state
that it is not the way things are now.
While it is common for researchers not to participate in small-talk, not
to be the center of a party, and appear to live in their own world, they need
to communicate with people at all levels of expertise; the experts of the field
to the lay people. One of the necessary strengths of successful researchers
is their ability to communicate with people across the spectrum, ranging
from experts in the field, their peers and to lay people. This ensures that
the research outcomes are useful to the society, to help receiving grants, to
receiving accolades and for publishing their work.
In our modern world researchers are expected to explain their work to
the rest of the world as well as to other experts. With heightened competition
for limited research resources and opportunities, it is no longer enough for
researchers to be undertaking exciting research which is understood only
by other experts, but it is essential that this is validated by peers, conveyed
to popular media and explained to industry and financial leaders and even
politicians and celebrities. Universities have realised this need for the past
3 decades and many of them have been developing the communication
abilities of PhD students and other researchers. However, the major effort
appears to be directed towards improving and assisting with English language
skills, which while important, are only a small part of the problem.

9.3 Essentials for Effective Communication

Language skills are extremely important when we are communicating.
However many people with excellent language skills are very poor in commu-
nicating because communication is not about the ability to tell the audience
 9.4 Developing Oral Communication 119

but make them understand. The measure of good communication skills is not
the strength of the diction or the perfect grammar, but whether the recipient
understood. “Telling” is when the facts are spoken or written, but this need
not be communicated.
Language skills significantly improve the ability of the person to tell, but
communication is deeper than just telling. It requires understanding the needs
of the specific audience or recipients and clarity of the message. It is essential
that a precise message tailored for the specific audience is delivered for
making a specific impact. Ill-planned lectures, manuscripts, emails or tweets
not only waste the time of the speaker or the author but also the audience
or the readers. Most of us have had several experiences of the long windy
lectures and seminars that only serve the purpose of putting the audience to
sleep. It is important to learn from the mistakes of such people.

9.4 Developing Oral Communication

Oral communication is when the major form of exchange between two or
more people is verbal, though this may also be supported by other modalities.
The audience to the speaker may be a single person or a room full of people.
While there are number of obvious differences between the two conditions,
there are also many similarities.
The purpose of professional communication for researchers is about
clearly articulating a specific message related to their work to inform and
influences the target audience. It requires the speaker to be well versed of the
topic, and have command of the language. However, while these are essential,
but they are not sufficient for successful communication.
Some people appear to have natural ability to communicate while major-
ity of us have to work hard to develop this capability. People who are invited
to give seminars or present at a conference are accomplished experts in their
fields and recognized for their expertise. However, some highly acclaimed
researchers have not always demonstrated their abilities to communicate
effectively. While this may have been acceptable in the past, it is no longer
acceptable now, and researchers are expected to have excellent communi-
cation skills. To learn how to communicate, the first step is to identify the
major shortcomings that reduce the effectiveness of communication. At this
stage, we will assume that the speaker has the expertise of the topic. Some
of the shortcomings of poor communicators are: unplanned, unfocused and
unconnected with audience.
120 Communication Skills

9.4.1 Planned and Focused

An important first step for communication of the message is to develop a
definite plan which is focused and has a specific message. You may wish to
share diverse ideas with the audience, but such an attempt generally results in
a disaster. You may have multiple issues that you would like to raise, but it is
essential to stick to only one focused topic. At the end of the conversation or
seminar, an effective communicator has left the audience with one message
which they will remember. When the speaker brings multiple messages, you
have confused the audience. They will only remember things with a biased
view point and the speaker would not have made any major impact.
It is essential to identify the purpose of the oral exchange; why are you
doing it. There can be many diverse reasons why you may need to make a
presentation such as you have been asked by the supervisor to discuss your
progress. Or you may be giving a seminar to an audience in a conference
or you have to give a formal presentation as part of defending your thesis.
It is essential that you remember this when planning your presentation and
not confuse the purpose. It is also essential that you remain focused during
the presentation. While you may need to divert from a planned speech, it is
essential that the focus is not lost. The purpose of speaking is not to have
other people hear your voice, or be in front of the audience, but to convey the
message.

9.4.2 Connect with Audience

We may be passionate about number of very important issues but if these
are of no interest to the current audience, these will not penetrate through
and the effort will be wasted. One important step before planning the talk or
presentation is to establish who are the audience and what is their purpose of
being in the meeting. It is also important to identify what is your relationship
with the audience and what are the expectations of the audience from you. In
most cases, this can be easily determined but if it is not obvious, it is safer
to ask than to walk in a situation where there is disconnect between your
planned talk and the expectations of the audience.
Understanding the expectations of the audience is essential because it is
important to be in line with their current level of knowledge on the topic; most
people are only comfortable with small incremental steps from where they
are presently. Your presentation should give them the message, but without
expecting them to change their views completely; do not expect people to
change their ideas and viewpoints significantly. Conventional people are
roused to fury by departure from conventions, largely because they regard
 9.5 Presenting to Your Supervisors 121

such departures as a criticism of themselves (B. Russell, The conquest of

happiness, 1930). The aim of the meeting or seminar is to convey the relevant
information and hence it is essential to determine the style the audience are
comfortable with. There is generally no purpose served by pushing them
outside their comfort zone on issues that are irrelevant to the context. Thus,
estimating the comfort zone of the audience in the choice of words, or even
the dressing style can help in effective communication.
People listen when they are engaged and not when they are lectured to.
When you, the speaker are engaged with the audience and paying attention
to them, then you can notice when you have their attention and when you
have lost it. If you do not have the attention of the listener, there is no
purpose in speaking. It is important to be sensitive to the people to whom
you wish to deliver the message. You can experiment this and develop your
skills at personal level by paying attention to your friends and family during
conversations.
Identifying the relationship of you with the audience is essential for
effective communication. Most PhD students will experience range of dif-
ferent audience and will need to develop their skills for each group. In the
next two sections, two most relevant audience are described: supervisors and
conference attendees.

9.5 Presenting to Your Supervisors

Consider the situation where you are presenting to your supervisors; the audi-
ence are your supervisors. Let’s consider the scenario that you have recently
started your PhD and you have been asked to present to the supervisors
during your regular bi-monthly meeting. In such a situation, the purpose of
the meeting is for the supervisors to evaluate your progress on the given topic
and confirm the completion of the agreed tasks at the previous meeting. The
expectation by your audience is that you will demonstrate the efforts you are
making and you may also wish to ask for advice. It is also relevant to realize
that your audience are not that close to your project as your own self and
hence it is generally a good idea to repeat some of the basics of your project. It
is quite possible that your supervisor may have multiple projects and students,
and may not remember the details of your project. In this situation, your style
of presentation is to demonstrate the tasks you have performed, the effort you
have made and the resultant outcomes. You are not presenting as an expert,
but with the expectation that your supervisors, who are the experts, will give
you new suggestions.
122 Communication Skills

Now consider another situation where you meet your supervisor to dis-
cuss the outcomes of some experiments of which you have developed the
expertise. In such a situation, the expectations are very different compared
with your regular meetings. Here you are not expected to demonstrate your
work but present the results in the capacity of an expert. While it is not a
good idea to be arrogant, it is important to realize that you are the expert in
this context and have to communicate the experimental details, the results and
the observations which may be obvious to yourself but may not be obvious to
others.

9.6 Conference Seminar

Many of us have sat through conference speakers who provide us with what
appears to be useless details. An example of ineffective communication is
when people give a seminar in a conference but focus on describing the
tasks they have performed in unnecessary detail and do not have the time
to describe the research outcomes the audience would like to know about.
Obviously they do not know what are the expectations of the audience who
are attending their seminar.
It is reasonable to expect that the attendees of a conference are expecting
the speaker to be an expert on the topic who is going to share the latest
discoveries. In general, the role of the audience in the seminar is not to be
judging if the speaker spends long hours in the laboratory or the difficulties
they have in organizing the experiments. In such a seminar, the audience
may be experts in related fields and would like to understand how your work
compares with their own. Spending time to tell them of what you did instead
of what you discovered is not desirable. The audience are not your supervisors
but in this context they are your peers.
Good communication requires connecting with the audience such that
they have learnt something they did not know prior to your seminar. Use the
style that will be most effective for the person or people in front of you and
you will find that the meeting may be a success even if your results are not
significant.

9.6.1 Example for Audience Focus

The supervisor and the student are working on the presentation of a paper
for a conference where there will be international forum of clinicians who
work in gait analysis. They have done some excellent work and developed
a new approach for wireless recording of the diagnostic quality gait pattern
 9.7 Listening and Observing 123

using smart-phones. This technology can be used to monitor the gait of the
patients without them having to come to the clinic. They have also identified
and proposed a major application for their research which would be to predict
and prevent falls among the elderly and result in significant reduction in the
number of avoidable hospitalizations of the elderly.
The project was managed by the supervisor while a research assistant
used the device to collect the data from the volunteers and the PhD student
was responsible for the analysis. While the analysis technique was jointly
developed, the student worked very hard to write the software for conducting
the analysis which took a good part of 18 months. Obviously, the actual time
for the analysis when using the software was very short.
The student wants to focus the presentation on the development of the
software because that was what took the most effort. He is keen to describe
the earlier mishaps when the software was written in one language and
the advantage when it was developed in C++. However, the experienced
supervisor does not agree with the student. Why?
The audience are clinicians who are not expected to appreciate the fine
differences between different software languages but are more interested to
know about the clinical details of the patients and sample size of the data.
They know of the problem related to accurate gait data recording and analysis
without the subject needing to be in the clinic and they are keen to see the
actual recordings. The aim of the speaker should be to satisfy them with what
they will appreciate and not bother them with the difficulty in the software
design. Once they have been impressed by the outcomes, they may ask for
more details. The student may lead the audience to the questions for the
details rather than begin with those.

9.7 Listening and Observing

Good communicator is a good listener and an observer of the audience. While
it is essential to know the topic, it is very important to listen and identify
with the expectations of the listeners. Listen or look for the signs from the
audience to see if you are engaged with them. One of the biggest hurdles in
our communication is that we talk to people rather than with them. When we
talk to people, they are no longer engaged with our talk. In such a situation,
we are speaking but not communicating. This is as valid for a one-on-one
meeting as with large audience.
Good communication requires your ability to listen and observe. If you
are in a meeting with small number of people, good communicators will listen
124 Communication Skills

to other people and identify the mood of the meeting and their expectations.
It does not hurt to allow others to speak first and you listen. In any com-
munication, it is nearly impossible to totally change the audience opinions
and hence it is essential to estimate their stance and their level at the start of
the meeting. You will be wasting your time teaching fundamentals to experts
in the field and your talk will not be well received when you are discussing
concepts the audience do not have the understanding. It is essential that you
pitch appropriate to the audience.
There are some simple rules that can be effective in improving your
communication skills. If you are in a meeting and there are 4 people and you
are not in the hot-seat, then try and speak for less than 25% of the total time.
If it is possible, try and let others speak first so that you can pitch better. If
you are speaking to a larger audience and it is your seminar, try and regularly
observe the audience to see if you are causing them fatigue.

9.8 Planning the Presentation

To have an impact on the audience requires that the message is structured.
This is mandatory for the audience to understand your message as intended
by you. It ensures clarity in the message without ambiguity and this is not
only necessary for formal presentations but also for one-to-one meetings.
In any communication, it is essential that there is a single line of thought
that is presented. Even if there may be multiple points, but these should all
piece together cohesively. This requires clear idea of what is the message to
be delivered and what is the purpose of the presentation.
Making a structure for the presentation or meeting is essential, irrespec-
tive of the level of your experience and lack of planning is very evident to all
concerned. Planning ahead of the presentation or the meeting is essential for
effective communication. Even people who are very experienced need to have
a plan for the presentation without which the outcomes are not very positive.
There are three major aspects that may be useful: (i) How to start, (ii) Content
and (iii) Conclusion.

9.8.1 How to Start: A Brief to Put in Context

It is essential that the audience are briefed of the purpose of what you are
saying before the actual content. One common fault of researchers when
communicating is that they expect that the other person is on their wavelength
and is keen to listen and understand the speaker. Consider a common example
 9.8 Planning the Presentation 125

where a student comes to meet with the supervisor and begins by showing the
results of some experiments. The student has made the effort to prepare the
slides and was very focused, but did not consider that the supervisor may
not recollect the details of this project. It is important that we do not assume
that the audience remembers the background and all it takes is one or two
sentences to paint the picture.
Do not take for granted that the audience, even your supervisor, will
remember the context and other relevant details of the project. Often the
problem arises from the familiarity with people we see regularly such as
colleagues and supervisor. For effective communication it is good idea to
give a brief that will remind them of your work. Below are a few examples to
help you understand these issues.

9.8.1.1 Example
Consider an situation where a PhD candidate walks in the office of the
supervisor, and begins to tell the supervisor, “I have solved it. There is big
change in alpha and this proves it.” And, the supervisor looks at him and
wonders if this alpha was the name of the ice-cream that he was planning to
purchase for tonight after dinner. The supervisor did not understand anything
of what the student said because though the supervisor knows the project
in detail, he has many other responsibilities as well. While the student was
hoping that these results will be celebrated by the supervisor and there will be
excitement and celebrations during the meeting, the supervisor shows signs
of confusion and annoyance. The reaction was definitely not what the student
had hoped for.

9.8.1.2 Example
Consider another example – A Professor walks to the lab where many
students are busy working on the computer, and he says aloud, “Have you
finished that job”. And each of the students look at the next one, trying
to figure out what is it that the Professor wants. The Professor wanted to
ask student A if the task X related to the analysis of data D has been
analyzed using both techniques, T1 and T2. However, the students did not
understand anything. While they may not have expressed their frustration at
being disturbed, they were not impressed.
Effective communication with the audience requires ensuring that the
audience understand the purpose of the meeting or seminar or email. Do not
surprise the audience and ensure they remember the context. It is important
that you announce the purpose to the audience so that their expectations are
in-line with what you will be discussing.
126 Communication Skills

9.8.2 Content
It is essential for you to realise that most people in the room are very often
distracted from what you are telling them. They may not be interested in what
you are saying, or they may get distracted by their smart-phones or just that
their thoughts wander away to the aroma of the coffee from next room. Thus,
it is important that your presentation does not require absolute attention of the
audience but there are significant redundancies so that they can understand the
main idea even if they have missed a significant amount of the content.
Some people listen while others respond to the written material. However,
very few will respond to a long list of equations. And if you go to the other
extreme and populate your presentation with jokes or cartoons, many would
not be happy with that either. It is important that the content are neither trivial
nor too detailed but enough to get them to understand the message you are
delivering.
The actual format of putting the content together will depend on the
topic, the audience and your personal style. But one major purpose of the
content of your presentation is to get the trust of the audience so that they
are comfortable in listening to you. One factor that most people will notice is
whether you have paid attention to the detail, and whether you have made
an effort for the presentation. No one likes to attend meetings where the
presenter has been casual.
It is important to realise what are your strengths and weakness in the
context of your presentation. For example, if you are not good in oration, or
the language of the meeting is not your first language, depend more on the
written text such as powerpoint or document.

9.8.3 Conclusion
The purpose of the content of the presentation or document is to lead the
audience to the conclusion statement of the author. It is this conclusion that
carries your message to the audience and hence having a clear and precise
conclusion is necessary. The rest of the content of the presentation is to justify
your conclusion.
Do not expect the audience to link different parts of your presentation
by themselves; they have spent a few minutes while you have been working
on this for years. You have to help them and do this on their behalf and
should be done throughout the presentation or the meeting. One mistake many
people make is that they assume others can understand the logic underpinning
their interpretation of the results or findings. While the researcher has spent
 9.9 Style of Communication 127

days and months working on their project, the listeners, even the supervisors,
may have only seen the results during the meeting and will be unable to
understand the conclusions. Hence it is essential to spell out clearly how you
have reached the conclusion from your results.
In many cases, it does not hurt if you engage with the audience to help you
make a conclusion. If someone offers you an idea for the interpretation of the
results which may be different from your own, please do not get worked up.
Just say a thank you and see if they may have a point or you may have made
an error. As a young researcher, you may have conducted the experiments but
all help should be welcome as it will improve your output. If you allow the
audience to help you with the interpretations, you will be the beneficiary and
may also win many friends. Remember that you do not have to accept all the
conclusions of the other people, but it does not hurt to listen. If you disagree
and the person is relevant to you, respond later with an email or similar but
avoid any argument at that time.
Another essential factor in oral communication, be it a meeting or a
seminar, is to know when to stop. Just because you have the chance to speak
should not mean that you take off with no intention of stopping. Remember
that the others have limited patience and capacity to listen to you and about
your work, however important.

9.8.3.1 Facts and opinion

When communicating your results, it is essential to clarify what are your
opinions as different from what are the facts. Do not expect the audience to
guess, but state it very clearly; “This is the result of the experiment”, or “In
my opinion . . . ”. And, when possible, request the opinion of the audience.
Involve others in the discussion. It serves two major purposes; includes their
experience in your research outcomes, and engages the audience. Once you
clarify the opinions as different from facts, the reader or the audience are
more likely to trust you and that is very important.

9.9 Style of Communication

Experts have defined number of styles of communication and these can be
broadly classified in three categories: passive, assertive and aggressive. Effec-
tive communication is best achieved when you are assertive. However, people
often confuse assertiveness with aggression, because it involves sticking up
for yourself, or lack of aggression to be passive. Below is a brief discussion
on each of these styles.
128 Communication Skills

9.9.1 Aggressive Communication

Aggression is when there is some force that is being used. In the situation
of the seminar, meeting or document, the speaker wishes to force his or
her opinion on the listener and this can borderline with bullying. When the
communication style is aggressive, the intent appears to be that only one point
matters and is important; the opinions of the other people are not relevant. In
many cases, aggressive communicators appear to be in-charge and are able
to bulldoze through the meeting but the meeting appears to be a war and the
outcomes appear to be similar to victory or defeat. A meeting where there are
multiple aggressive people soon becomes a debate or worse and the purpose
appears to be lost. In extreme cases, people may even resort to shouting and
misbehaving.

9.9.2 Passive Communication

Passive communication style is when you do not speak for yourself but allow
your opinion to be ignored. This may be because of different reasons such as
you may not value your viewpoint, or you are unsure of your work. Passive
communicators may also have reasons such as trying to please others or trying
to ‘maintain peace’. Such people may believe that they are supporting others
but the reality is that they are allowing themselves to be bullied or ignored,
which will result in poor outcomes of the project.
People who are passive communicators may speak very quietly or with a
hesitant voice, though there may be many exceptions to this. They may also
display body-language traits such as looking at the floor or shrugging the
shoulders. Passive communication can be damaging to the self-esteem of the
individual, cause disharmony to relationships and result in poor outcomes to
the project.

9.9.3 Assertive Communication

Assertive communication style is a positive style where the speaker considers
the needs and opinions of others as well as one’s own. The ideas need to be
articulated clearly but politely. The speaker is respectful and confident while
being aware of response of the listeners.
An assertive communicator is comfortable with the need to compromise
or to amend one’s own stance when faced with new ideas, data or opinions.
Being assertive is core to effective communication where you express your-
self clearly and using the language that is acceptable and understood by the
 9.9 Style of Communication 129

audience and in context. When the bigger aim is clear, you do not have to
have the victory or defeat attitude when communicating with other people.
Assertive communicators are good leaders and provide the basis for success
to research projects.

9.9.4 Examples: Aggressive and Assertive Communication

One supervisor tells her PhD candidate to conduct a specific set of experi-
ments; the details had been discussed earlier. She tells the student to give her
the results in seven days. However, the student believes that the experiments
are not suitable for her project and the work is outside the scope of her
project. Further, she is very close to performing some important analysis
which would result in the finalization of a chapter and a good publication
but these experiments will be a distraction. However, the supervisor is asking
her to do this experiment and she is hesitant to say no as it may antagonize
the supervisor. What should he do?
The example of aggressive communication is when this student
(student A) goes to the meeting and at the mention of this experiment by
the supervisor causes A to become angry. He does not want to hear anything
else and may even demonstrate anger towards the supervisor and reacts with
statements such as, “I will not do this as it is a waste of my time. Find
someone else to do it, or do it yourself. This is rubbish.” In this example, the
outcome for the student will be less than ideal. When the student A responds
aggressively, often the supervisor will also react angrily. It is possible that
the supervisor had a very legitimate reason that had unfortunately not been
understood by the student, or it may be that the supervisor is making an error
in judgement. However, when the argument has started, the supervisor will
most of the times come out the winner and the student A will not only conduct
the experiments but have an uncomfortable relationship the supervisor.
The example of passive communication is when the student (student B)
hears of the request from the supervisor, she responds, “Yes, I will do
it. Whatever you say.” The student is currently struggling with time and
spending seven days conducting experiments that are not part of her project
is not an ideal situation. She has no intention of conducting the experiment
and is hoping that by next week the supervisor may forget this. The realistic
outcome of this passive communication is that the supervisor will get upset
when she finds out that the work has not been done and there will be meetings
and unpleasantness.
130 Communication Skills

The example of assertive communication is of student C. This student is

also in a similar situation as A and B, but when she goes to the meeting, she
first listens and then says, “It may be a good idea. Can you tell me more about
this in context of my research? Would you mind if I do some literature review
and then start, so that I know what others have done.” This student has agreed
to nothing and asked all the relevant questions. It is essential to be precise and
specific.
Give the benefit of doubt to the other person because it may be that they
are doing this for your benefit. Do not start with a negative statement but
first listen to what is being said, and then if you do not understand, bid for
time. Unless there is a fire in the building, you do not have to react but
respond appropriately. Ability to listen goes a very long way in being able
to communicate with your supervisor.

9.10 Written Communication

Written communication is the most important form of professional com-
munication, and in our modern world filled with emails, texts and the like,
it has become the most common form of communication. It includes number
of modalities and styles that range from formal reports to informal emails,
messages and tweets.
There are many different types of written communique and new modal-
ities are evolving and continue to be developed. In this chapter, these have
been classified into three categories; formal, informal and very short. While
formal written communications are generally reports, manuscripts and thesis,
the informal are the email exchange and the very short are the text messages,
Facebook, short messages, tweets and other similar. The next two sections
discuss some of the methods for effective communication based on formal,
email and short messaging.
One common factor in all written communication modalities is that these
can leave a trail. Many times you may wish that it would just disappear, but it
is there for eternity. When you communicate with someone by writing it, you
should remember that it is now in the record for ever. Thus, think carefully
of the long-term consequences of what you are writing. Even a seemingly
harmless text can cause major problems at some later day.
One advantage with oral communication is that it allows the speaker to
observe the audience and get instant feedback. However, written communi-
cation does not allow this luxury. Even tweets which can be viewed by the
 9.10 Written Communication 131

receivers instantaneously do not allow the sender to observe the audience

reactions while sending the tweet. Thus it helps if you can spend an extra
moment to find out about the recipient of the message before sending the
message. Even if the message is being sent to someone you interact with
regularly, spend a moment to find out of their current situation and you may
prevent feeling awkward later.
Written communication has one big advantage over the oral method; it
allows the writer to ponder on the material before sending it. The writer can
re-read it, get feedback from colleagues and edit it prior to sending the mes-
sage. While the speaker needs to fill in the space with speech instantaneously
but there is no such pressure for the writer.
One major advantage of written communication is that it can be edited
before it is sent. For oral communication, you can plan and prepare, but
at the meeting, you have to speak and there is no possibility of editing.
Written communication has the luxury of editing, but many people are in
a hurry to press the send button. Two most important rules for successful
written communication are: patience and editing. Even if the message is a
one liner, it is always a good idea to write it, walk away from it, read it again
and edit it. You can never be certain who will read it, when will they read it
and what mood they may be at that time.

9.10.1 Informal Written Communication

The growth of social media has changed the informal written communication
in its entirety and the age-old memos have been archived. Many of these
social media options have even replaced oral exchanges and many young
people are uncomfortable with even a phone call.
The informal written communication is generally based on short mes-
sages which are delivered instantaneous. The ease in such communication and
the informal style can result in people sending and responding to messages
as if these were oral. However, while the oral conversations are generally not
recorded, the written messages, however informal, leave a trail. These can be
read by the targeted person or by many other people even at the later date and
even in a different context.
The benefit and strength of written communication is the ability to edit the
message before sending it. However with the instantaneous response style,
mistakes are made which cannot be amended. While mistakes during oral
conversation can be amended instantaneously, this cannot happen for written
messages.
132 Communication Skills

Another major concern of written communication is that it is open to an

infinite audience. While the oral text is limited to the specific audience, the
written message can be shared without even the knowledge of the original
author.
There can be no single method or style for informal written communica-
tion. Different written messages will need to be structured very differently.
They have different purposes and styles. However, one common word of
caution is that it is not a good idea to respond when in a hurry, or when
angry.
In today’s digital age, there are number of modalities for informal written
communication and new ones are emerging. It is impossible to cover all of
the current options and the next section covers emails which most researchers
continue to use. This should be considered as an example and the basic guide
for other modalities as well.

9.10.1.1 Writing emails

There are many different styles and purposes of emails. While many emails
are short and carry a single thought, there are others where there are multiple
and sometimes diverse questions and issues. In such a case, response to
some questions will require specific response while when there is a single
thought that threads through the entire message, a single one line response
may be sufficient. With the growth of emails, many people have developed
rules that are useful for ensuring accurate communication and preventing
miscommunication.
Many researchers will receive large number of targeted and many more
untargeted emails, often over 100 targeted emails every day. This has made
many people begin to ignore emails that do not seem to be important.
The importance is based on number of factors such as who is the sender,
what is the subject and any recent history of exchange. Thus, if you want
your email to get the attention of the reader, ensure that you provide this data
to ensure they open your email. If you have a doubt whether the recipient will
read the email, give them a call to tell them that you have sent the email.
One common problem with people sending emails is that they may send
it to too many people because it is so easy to do so. Many times, people
may simply click on the ‘Reply to All’ and there goes a flood of email. It is
essential that you identify who should be the recipients of your email. While
there may be some recipients who are added on the list due to the corporate
or University policies, there are others that would like to know, and then there
are the targeted audience. It is important to understand the expected protocol
and if in doubt, it is strongly advisable to ask the supervisor directly.
 9.10 Written Communication 133

It is essential to remember that emails do not die but remain on the

systems for ever, and can be found easily. Many people may even forward
it to many other people and thus an email you sent has got a life of its own.
It is important to remember this when writing an email. Thus, be careful with
the choice of words and style, as Email requires extra politeness, not less.
Try to make it easier for the recipient to manage your email, and follow some
obvious logic such as avoid sending large files by email and ensure there are
no spelling errors.
When writing an email, it is important that the spelling and grammar
is correct, and while it need not be structured like a formal document,
it should be appropriately structured. Do not treat an email any different
from a document and whenever possible, write it in Office word or similar
application unless your email system has facilities for spelling and grammar
checking.
Do not send email in a hurry, but take a moment to ponder on it before
sending it away. Remember that it may be read by anyone on this planet
and if you are sensitive to that, do not send it. I will strongly urge not
to send an email that has any gossip in it. If you wish to gossip, use the
phone.
Emails are relatively short messages and many people read these on
mobile platforms. Unfortunately many professionals respond or delete emails
before reading the entire text, and hence it is generally a good idea not to write
long emails; avoid emails that are longer than 5 sentences. If however, your
email has to be long, ensure the relevant points are within the first 5 sentences
to ensure that the recipient reads the complete email before responding or
reacting.
It is essential to categorically state what is the action you are expecting
from the recipient and do not leave that for them to guess. For example, you
may be asking for support to go to a conference, or expecting them to edit
a manuscript or simply sending the email for the purpose of information.
Remove the guesswork in the email and make it easier for the other person.
It is generally appropriate to specify a reasonable date by which you are
expecting the response. One idea is to add a reminder in the calendar of the
recipients, but be sensitive to the local cultures.
In majority of the situations, email response can wait for longer than
few minutes. Many confrontations could be avoided if only the recipient had
bothered to read the email in entirety and spent time in understanding the
message before reacting. And many more major problems would not have
become problems if the author of the email would have edited the email
134 Communication Skills

ahead of sending it. When you send the email, it is essential to remember
that the moment the sent button is clicked; the entire world can be viewing
the message. Spend that extra minute in ensuring there are no glaring errors,
any room for incorrect interpretations, and nothing that has been said which
may hurt later.

9.11 Formal Written Communication

Most of us may not have received snail-mail for a long time, and hand-
writing letters is a thing of the remote past. However, PhD students and
professional researchers do have to write presentations, progress reports,
formal communiques, manuscripts, reports, grant applications and thesis.
While the style of writing the manuscripts and thesis has been discussed
in detail in latter chapters, the next section touches briefly on techniques to
improve formal document writing skills for researchers.
In general, there are three main elements to written communication;
structure, style and content. It is also important that the document should
be focused and carries an unambiguous message. While the structure is the
layout of the document, its style is the way it is presented and content is the
actual material. These are discussed briefly below:

9.11.1 Structure
To have an impact on the audience (readers) of your document, the text has to
be appropriately structured. The structure allows you express yourself clearly
and this is essential for all documents. Irrespective of the level of experience
you may have, it is essential to make a structure and plan for the document.
An unplanned document lacks the flow, may give confused messages and
requires many more revisions compared with a document that was started
with a structure. It is essential that it maintains the theme throughout where
each paragraph carries a single idea and the paragraphs are sequentially
connected. The document should flow comfortably without surprises and
have a single thread throughout.
The structure of the document should be such that it is focused and should
clearly identify the message for the audience. The reader should not have
to guess the message because they will invariably guess something different
than what you intend them to guess. The reader of the business document
or communique is not reading the document in leisure but is in a hurry and
wants to get the message quickly. Come to the point as simply and easily as
 9.11 Formal Written Communication 135

it is possible. You are not writing a book for entertainment, nor are you are
politician.
Heading and subheading generally makes it easier for the reader to navi-
gate the document. It allows the reader to look for specifics in the document
that are of interest to them. However, overdoing this can be distracting and a
healthy balance should be maintained. One of the best ways to get the balance
is to take a printout of the document, walk away from it and then view it again.
If it looks like it looks cluttered with too many subheadings, then it is a good
idea to reduce them.

9.11.2 Style
The style of the document should reflect you and your organisation; all writers
have their own style and that is to be celebrated. However, there are some
simple rules that are helpful and these are irrespective of the style of the
author. It is important to ensure that the document is compact and precise,
there is the appropriate level of formality and it appears to be simple and not
convoluted. These are discussed below:

9.11.2.1 Compact
The style of the written message can be highly varied depending on the
modality, the purpose and the audience. Irrespective of the differences, it is
essential that the message demonstrates to the reader that some effort has
been made by the writer; reader likes to feel cared for. It should also be neat
and precise, where each paragraph and every word is important. It should not
appear that the writer has added words to fill space.

9.11.2.2 Formal
One key factor when writing a formal document is to remember that it is
going to be read by someone and not be spoken by the writer. There is a
distinct difference between spoken and written language. A written document
should have the necessary level of formality which is often not required in a
speech. It is also important to be aware that while a speaker may emphasize
and use pause, voice variations and gestures, these are not available to the
writer. Often authors write what is in the head which is more suitable for the
speech but not for a document. It is imperative that the document should be
planned and written formally.
One essential aspect of the formal document is to balance between too
much or not enough information. This should be based on the expectations of
136 Communication Skills

the readers. If there are multiple readers with different levels of expectations,
consider the structure such as use of appendix that will allow the reader the
details if required.

9.11.2.3 Simple statements

One common mistake by authors is when they expect the reader to be
interested in their document and to grasp the message. In general, the opposite
is the case and the reader has hurriedly squeezed a few minutes to read the
document. Consider a document such as research grant application, and the
agency wishes to know the aim and novelty factor. Use direct words and
sentences such as ‘The aim of this project is . . .’ and ‘The novelty of this
research is . . .’. While the document should not have bad grammar or sound
childish, it is not going to be judged for the language style. Keep the purpose
of the document in the focus; you are writing the document to get the grant
and not impress the reader with your language or poetic style.
There are few simple rules that are generally useful to keep the document
simple while making it direct. Avoid having long sentences, words that are
not commonly used by the expected audience and convoluted paragraphs:
these are not desirable and best avoided. Do not make long sentences but
keep the length of the sentences medium or short; I try to keep sentences
around 20 words length. While there are some very famous authors such as P.
G. Wodehouse who made an art-form of very long sentences, in general it is
best avoided. Similarly, very long paragraphs are also to be avoided. And do
not expect your readers to enjoy getting the dictionary which may be required
if you use uncommon words.

9.11.3 Content
It is essential to remember that the purpose of the document is not to
entertain the reader but to inform of the message. Most readers would like
to understand and judge the message easily, preferably in a single reading.
Thus, it is important that the content is written using the vocabulary that is
suitable for the audience.
It is important that the reader trusts the author and does not get an
impression that the statements are not accurate or irrelevant. The author
should always revisit the document and ensure that statements that appear
to be superfluous and irrelevant are removed. Many readers are comfortable
with a document that is crisp and precise.
 9.12 Some Points for Effective Written Communication 137

It is very easy for an inexperienced writer to be repetitive when writing

a formal document. Many readers will find this annoying and it may even
appear that the author may be lacking content. Repetition can be easily
avoided by having a plan before writing the document. Another easy way
to prevent repeating oneself is by revising the document. All documents can
be improved significantly and doing a revision will reduce repetition, make it
focused, carry the precise message and be better understood by the audience.
It is also essential that if there are any figures and diagrams, these are
well labelled, easy to read and can be understood by the reader. You should
not expect the reader to fish through the text to link the text with the figures
and tables; the relationship and the message from these should be direct.

9.12 Some Points for Effective Written Communication

There are some very common mistakes that are made by people that can cause
them future discomfort. In the age of computers, these are all very easy to fix,
and it is surprising how many people do not make the effort.
1. One of the most important aspects for good communication is the need
for getting the trust of the reader. Many readers make up their mind
about the writer in the first few lines of the document and it is essential
for the writer to gain the trust of the reader from the start of the
document. For this purpose it is important that you identify the facts and
separate these from (your) opinions. It is also imperative to be upfront of
the scope of the work as different from the big goals. This makes it easier
for the reader to develop trust who would otherwise discount the entire
document. The structure of the introduction of the document should be
targeted towards facilitating the reader to have trust and confidence in the
writer. Readers may be willing to ignore small errors in the documents
of the people they can identify with and can trust, while they can be very
harsh to the works of people they are uncomfortable with.
2. Good language does not always make a good document but poor lan-
guage will kill the document: it is essential that the document is written
well. The first negative impression of the reader will be the spellings,
punctuations and bad font management. The first rule is to ensure there
is no spelling error, and do not just depend on the Office Word or similar
software to do it for you. People are more likely to be warm towards a
document that presents well and the author has made the extra effort to
make it neat.
138 Communication Skills

3. Does the document have a flow? Does the reader know the purpose of the
paragraph in the sequence? A document where each paragraph appears
to stand-alone and the message from one paragraph does not flow to the
next makes the review process tiresome and annoying.
4. Is the entire document talking of one objective? The Harry Potter book
may describe many people and scenes but Harry Potter is the common
thread that runs through the entire book. It is important that we declare
the purpose of the document to the reader at the start and keep that focus
throughout the document.
5. It is essential that the document is simple and clear, such that it is suitable
for a person who may not even be keen to read it. Do not expect the
reader to be interested in your work and when writing, ensure that the
essential points are worded directly and easy to identify.
6. The purpose of the document is not to describe irrelevant details but to
make the reader appreciate the main issue or outcome. If the reader gets
interested in the main issue, they may come back for the details, but if
they got confused about the main issue, they will be negative to the entire
document and discount the message.
7. It is essential that the document has been edited several times, and
preferably by multiple people. When we view the document on the same
platform such as the computer screen, we may miss out the most obvious
errors simply because we have been seeing it for too long. It is a good
practice to take a print-out and read it the next day, and get a colleague
to give you an opinion.

Tasks
1. Do you make a plan when you are meeting your supervisor? Does the
supervisor have a plan?
2. Do you make a plan for your presentation?
3. Do you try to understand who your audience are and what is the purpose
of the meeting?
4. How long do you take to respond to an email?
5. Do you revise the text of your email before sending it?
6. Do you read the complete email before responding?
7. Do you have a plan for your document?
8. How many times do you revise the document before sending it?
9. How long are your sentences?
 10
Why Publish?

Abstract
Many researchers and their supervisors may wish to do some exciting
research and find the writing and submission of manuscripts to be distracting.
On the other hand, there are others who seem to be doing research simply to
publish their work. This chapter investigates the need for publishing and how
to determine a suitable balance.

10.1 Introduction
Researchers love to be conducting exciting experiments, discovering and
inventing things, or solving difficult equations. The ocean scientists love
studying the oceans while the zoologists may enjoy studying the animals in
their natural habitat. The biochemists would love to be in their wet-labs while
the computer scientists may enjoy playing with algorithms and numbers on
their computers.
Publishing our work can often become a distraction from doing exciting
research. Many early stage researchers would rather be sitting in the labora-
tory and conducting interesting experiments or performing the analysis. But
then their supervisors may push them to publish, and often there is resistance.
Writing formal manuscripts is not what many researchers may consider
the enjoyable task. It requires formalising the experimental outcomes, and
submitting manuscripts with potential for being rejected. So, the question is;
why is it necessary? Or, is it necessary?
There can be number of different reasons why some researchers may
hesitate to write papers and it is important for the supervisor to understand
this. Lack of confidence, fear of rejection, inexperience in writing a paper,
laziness or unsure of what to report are some of the drivers.
It is important to realize that the purpose of publishing is different for
different people based on their stage in life and individual personality. To

139
140 Why Publish?

ensure the integrity of research is maintained and quality of the output

is high, it is important to know our purpose and to be aware that this may
be different for different people. When we know our purpose for writing the
paper, it is easier to focus and the output is appropriate. A PhD student may
require a publication before a fixed date because of the rules while a senior
researcher may want to make an impact on the international stage because of
the invention.
Publications serve number of purposes but the fundamentals are three;
peer review, measuring research outcomes and sharing of knowledge. Pub-
lications are in general reviewed by volunteers who work in the similar
topic and thus the review provides a mechanism to obtain the peer review
of research. This helps validate our claim regarding the novelty and impact of
our research.
Publications give a window for the world to view our work, helps us get
recognition, and allows the universities and funding organisations to evaluate
the research outcomes. It allows the researcher to communicate the research
outcomes for the benefit to our world which is the most important purpose
of research. This chapter discusses these issues and helps the reader identify
with the purpose of writing papers.

10.2 Peer Review of Research

Peer-reviewed publications serve an important role for demonstrating
progress to the institute, the funding bodies and other stakeholders. In many
cases research projects are funded by Governments and there are very few
people who have the expertise in the specific field of our research. The
agencies could get the work reviewed by the experts on their panels, however,
they may lack the expertise. On the other hand, publications in peer-reviewed
journals can give the agencies the confidence of the research outcomes. It also
gives the researcher the control because they can select the most appropriate
journal for the work. Peer-reviewed publications makes it easier for the
funding agencies to evaluate, record the progress of the project and determine
how does your work stack-up on the international stage.
To put it simply, publications can play an important role to get the unpaid
feedback from reviewers who are in general independent from us and belong
to the pool of international panel of experts in the field. To some extent,
the selection process of these reviewers is influenced by the researcher by
the choice of the journal. However, it is important that we consider the
 10.3 Publications for Accountability 141

reviewer comments as a feedback rather than a criticism. While a successful

publication is always good, solid feedback is very useful.
Peer review can be deeply flawed but is essential for good research.
The peers who review the papers are also inherently our competition and
this is a major flaw. Peer review approach is often unsuitable for research
outcomes that are out of the box. Another aspect of publication is that it
can overlook the research outcomes with greater focus on the ability to com-
municate. There are also concerns of personal bias and prejudices towards
a topic of the reviewer. Unfortunately there are also number of unethical
factors where the reviewer may not have declared conflict of interest and may
have likes or dislike of the authors of the manuscript. But despite all these
flaws, this is still the only real option to get feedback, to get our research be
evaluated and for reality check.
Many times we may find our research very exciting and novel. Often
young scientists may believe in the uniqueness of their ideas, the simplicity of
the experiments and the greatness of the potential of their work. It is essential
to get reality check and determine how great is the idea before spending
significant time and money. This requires a peer to review the early stage
of the work, and in my experience the great ideas that I had were the ones
that had been tested many decades ago but my literature review had not been
exhaustive. I would recommend to a researcher to get the pilot study data
reviewed and read the feedback very carefully. While not all reviewers are
decent and not all reviews are useful, many are useful and I would recom-
mend that you should use the reviews to your advantage. Thus, one major
purpose of writing and submitting manuscripts is to see what others think of
our work.

10.3 Publications for Accountability

As thinkers such as Russell notes in his essay, ‘The Free Thought’, “there is
always the will to know, and this is often the opposite of the will to believe”.
However, in the distant past when industrial revolution started, the luxury of
knowing was reserved for the wealthy while the workers were expected to
till the land. Thus, thinking, being critical and creative was for the nobility,
the people who had land and resources which were tilled by the workers. The
workers were the ones who were expected to believe and be unquestioning
in whichever monotheism was handed to them. However history shows that
the nobility who were able to enjoy the luxury of idleness, most of these
142 Why Publish?

people wasted their opportunities while spending time dancing or getting

drunk. The others, or the plebs were on the other hand unable to attempt
this path and the output was small.
The big change has been the creation of the middle-class and today
things are very different. In many parts of the world, the middle class have
demonstrated their desire to question and discover, and shown their expertise.
However, other members of the society who have to work traditional jobs and
pay their taxes may look with envy and this leads to the need for accountabil-
ity. Unlike the times of the nobility, to be a researcher or follow other creative
arts is no longer a hobby but a profession with intense competition and need
for accountability.
In many situations, the work performed by the scientist does not appear to
be the regular work, and could be considered as idleness. While such idleness
is often necessary, to an outsider, there is little difference between the idleness
of the great thinker and scientist or a lazy person. Dynamic or otherwise, these
both appear to be idleness. Thus, there is the need by the funding bodies
and other such institutions to measure the success of the resources that are
being used to support Universities. Even private companies that have research
divisions need to monitor the use of their research dollars. However, often
there is only one person in an institute who is the expert in each narrow field
and this makes it difficult to understand the work being performed by an
individual. There needs to be a platform that is acceptable to most of the
people, is perceived to be independent and unbiased and is quantifiable.
Peer reviewed publications are generally considered to be reasonably
objective measure of the research outcomes. These also have the advantage
of being quantifiable and trackable. While their main purpose a few hun-
dred years ago was to disseminate knowledge, these are now often used as
barometer of success for a researcher. These also provide a global direction
to research thereby ensuring that major global research challenges can be
addressed.

10.4 Manuscript Submissions as Milestones

Industry or a classroom generally have definite milestones that are periodic
and closely spaced which keeps the people focused. A typical student attends
classes that have definite start and end time, and there are regular exams
where the outcomes are evident: marks or grades. Many of us may not con-
sider these methods to be perfect way to evaluate the student or educational
 10.5 Publications for Employability 143

outcomes, but we will all agree that these provide the time-frame for the
student to work towards.
The research project of PhD students is different than the classrooms
with regular outcomes. Consider a three-year research project where the final
outcome is at the end of three years. The project may be funded by industry,
the government or by the University or self-funded by the researcher. The
difficulty is: how to monitor the progress of the project? In some research
projects, it is possible to identify demonstrable outcomes and link these to
a time-frame. However, this may not always be possible, and peer reviewed
publications can play an important role in this situation. Thus, the submission
for publication itself can be a milestone. It helps develop the time-frame
and gets peer-review and feedback which can be very important during the
project. However, it is important that while the submission can be a milestone,
it should not be considered the purpose of research. And while publication is a
highly desired outcome of the submission, the feedback should be considered
very useful and the basis for the future work.
There is one major advantage of a manuscript submitted for publications
which many PhD students and supervisors seem to overlook this. One big
advantage of publications: a good paper is often a full thesis chapter. This has
significant benefits because the manuscript is generally developed in close
cooperation with the supervisors and often other colleagues, and is reviewed
by external experts and this ensures its quality. While a supervisor in general
may not be willing to edit the thesis of the candidate, they will readily
participate in the preparation of the manuscript. Thus, if the researcher is
paying attention, it will help them to improve their communication skills
while getting a chapter ready in partnership with their more experienced
colleagues and supervisors.

10.5 Publications for Employability

In the year 1910, just over 300 people in the world were awarded PhD. When
the total number of people getting their PhD was relatively small and the
demand was high, having a PhD, and thus the title of Doctor was sufficient
to open the doors for employment. There was very little competition and the
opportunities were plenty.
In 1990, in USA, the numbers were significantly higher, around 26,000/
year. The range was wider and competition for these to get jobs was appea-
ring. A slow trickle had also built up from Asia, USSR and South America.
But globally, this was the beginning, and in many countries till this time PhD
144 Why Publish?

was awarded to very few and by very few Universities. Things have since
changed rapidly and an estimate is that in 2014, global PhDs number was
greater than 500,000 compared with around 60,000 in 1990. Thus, while in
1910, about 1 in 10−6 people in the world had a PhD, in 2014, the expected
number is 1 in 0.5*10−3 . What this means is that having a PhD does not
automatically make you stand out of the crowd, and after our PhD, we need
to be judged and scrutinized by other people.
Judging another researcher is not an easy task. This is especially when the
first step in the judgment is performed by people who are often themselves
not researchers and in most cases not in the field of expertise of the applicant.
I have come across many researchers who would like to be viewed as individ-
uals and not just a number. We all would like to be considered to be experts in
the fields and others should accept our statement to this effect. However, the
same people who would like to be judged based on their statements, when
they judge others, would look at their internet profile based on measurable
factors such as citations, publications and such. While in principle what they
want for themselves is true and research is much more than a few measures,
the fact is that it is impossible for us to judge the work of another person
without a metrics. This is especially when the person is not working in the
field of expertise of the applicants. Rather than fight the fact that we are going
to be judged based on numbers, it is important to be aware of this and work
it to our advantage.
As applicants for jobs or grants, we have to stand-out from the crowd
and stand tall. Publications are essential to build your CV and get noticed.
Employers are comfortable to consider candidates whose work has passed the
test of peer-review as it indicates that the work is of quality and also confirms
the communication skills.

10.6 How to Stand Out of the Crowd?

Most researchers in our modern world are going to apply for jobs, grant
applications and promotions. The world is increasingly becoming a compet-
itive place and thanks to the internet, the national boundaries are ignored by
future employers. For the lack of any better term, we are in the market to sell
ourselves and we need to stand out of the crowd to gain the attention. We
have to use all the resources that we have at our disposal.
The competition for attention is not limited to the individual researchers
seeking employment but also to laboratories, centers, Universities and even
 10.7 Benefit to the Society 145

at the national levels. Universities and nations are keen to demonstrate their
intellectual might. With commercialization of education and research, not
only are laboratories and centers competing to demonstrate their strengths,
even nations are competing to show their ability to conduct research and
develop technology for jobs, society and security. In this busy marketplace,
how to stand out in the crowd?
There is yet another important factor that is relevant to show-case our
work and get noticed; to find partners. Real world problems are not solved
by people working in their silos but by teams, often which are highly
multi-disciplinary. For the team to work together, it is essential for the team
members to realize the strengths of the other team members, and this needs
to be show-cased.

10.7 Benefit to the Society

In most parts of the world, it is the taxpayer that directly or indirectly provides
financial support for research. Whether driven by politicians or bureaucrats or
even in partnership with industry, the funding is from the taxpayer and there
is an expectation from the society that our work will give the members some
benefits. Thus, there is the need for communicating to the society the quality
of our work.
There is one essential responsibility of the researcher; to ensure that the
world as a whole benefits from our work. It is essential that we tell our peers
of our achievements such that they do not repeat the work which allows them
to focus their attention on other important problems. Reporting the work also
leads to attention of the end-users and industry who would have the capacity
to translate the work to a product. And it is also important that we report
and warn our peers of repeating work that did not generate discoveries that
were suitable for helping people. That will save them the time and efforts and
perhaps help them better plan their work.
Research is incremental and while someone may make a novel discovery,
its outcomes are realised by incremental extensions. It is essential to realize
and accept this and work with peers rather than in isolations. Partnerships
are the only way to make significant research outcomes and this is only
possible when other people have reported their research outputs and the others
can understand what work they have been doing. Publications provide us an
opportunity to see the growth in our society based on knowledge built by us,
and it is a great feeling.
146 Why Publish?

10.8 Measure of Outcomes

Measuring research outcomes has always been a challenge and there is
no magic bullet that will give you the correct answer. Making everything
subjective has the difficulty that the measure simply becomes the measure of
writing skills or personalities while having only a metrics based approach
can take the heart away, where it is just about putting some numbers on
the board. However, while having a numeric-only approach is not ideal, it
is an important starting point and cannot be ignored. An experienced person
will not judge the researcher only on the numbers, but use a combination of
various factors, and the quantitative measures may be used to support other
observations.
Publications are an indirect measure of the impact of research. The real
impact has to be the social or commercial outcomes. However, these impacts
can take a long time such as decades while in our modern world the typical
timeframe needs to be no more than three years. Further, most of the social
and commercial outcomes are due to multiple efforts and rarely can be
attributed to an individual. Professional researchers participate in incremental
research and there is little likelihood of success in the short term.
The actual measure of the outcome may depend on the organization, or
by the individual researcher establishing the credibility of their work. There
are number of different measures of the research outcome and one of the most
effective method is the based around publications and over the years complex
formulas have evolved to measure the impact of research. While there are sig-
nificant differences between different disciplines, the underpinning measure
is based on the response by peers to the work.
Peers review is essential for publishing the work and subsequent peer
citations is a measure of the impact of the work. The more the people cite the
work in their published works, the higher is the citation and this makes the
work stand out. The impact of individual researchers is generally measured
in terms of their total citations, 5 year citation and their H index, a measure
of the number of papers written by the author that has attracted high citations
(value of H). All these measures have their faults and are far from being
perfect. While some of the imperfections are due to the style of measurement,
these also open the door for people to manipulate their publications and cases
of unfair partnerships leading to inappropriate mutual citations have been
reported.
There has been a recent trend to encourage commercialization of the
research outcomes and there is a push to support generating patents and part-
nerships with industry. However, such trends require significant investment
 10.9 Getting the Balance 147

from the government, the willingness of the commercial organizations and the
desire of the researchers. While there are pockets of success in some countries
such as Germany and Taiwan, these are still in the infancy. Researchers and
industry are notorious to have a very different world-view and often things
may start well but become sour soon after.
One significant difference between a researcher from a University and
the industry partner is the focus of the research. Researchers are seeking
new challenges while the industry is seeking the path of least resistance that
leads to commercially viable product or service. Commercial success does
not necessarily require the best or even the most useful technology but which
can attract the interest of the customers.
Another important consideration is the issue of intellectual property (IP).
Patents cost money, and also prevent the researcher from publishing the work
prior to the submission. However, only very small number of patents make
money while many devices and systems that are commercial success do not
have any IP protection.

10.9 Getting the Balance

Sometimes it appears that is the sole purpose of research is to publish. When
that happens, I believe that we appear to have missed the purpose of research.
Often the purpose for publishing is forgotten and lost, and it simply becomes
a number counting exercise. When this happens and the authors forget the
purpose of conducting research and focus solely on generating the papers, it
is sad and many times this reflects on the quality of their output.
It is difficult to justify publication to become the goal by itself. However,
it is important to realise that publishing the research outcomes is a very
important aspect of what a researcher does. A large amount of the time is
spent in writing, editing, reviewing publications and it is not surprising that
many researchers consider this to be their main activity.
Writing papers can be very time consuming and it is essential to be
aware of the time spent for this activity. It is important that there is a
balance between the time we spend in the discovery and the time spent
in telling others of our success by reporting it in a journal or conference.
However, the pressure publish is real; publications are the most important
quantifiable measure of impact of our research and the basis for jobs, grants,
and promotions. But it is essential to realise that publications are like exams,
which, though important, are only relevant when we have done something
and have something to share.
148 Why Publish?

The alternate to publications is to commercialise the research outcomes.

Many governments are pushing towards such outcomes and with number
of success stories, there is a trend towards this form of impact. While
commercialisation of research can be very useful and have real impact to
the society, it comes with number of challenges. There are many difficulties
with commercialisation of research such as high risk, low success rate, and
need for lots of money to start the process. These are not insurmountable,
but in general these work when there are large groups working on a project.
Large groups can take the research question from a hypothesis to a prototype,
and identify partners who can test and validate the outcomes. Such groups
are more likely to succeed in attracting partners for commercialization of the
outcome.

Tasks
1. Have you published? If yes, why?
2. How do you evaluate other researchers?
3. Do you think that publication is a waste of time? What other options
would you prefer?
4. Do you think you need a publication track record to get a job?
5. Have you identified the audience of your potential publication?
 11
How to Publish: Writing Manuscripts

Abstract
One of the most accepted measure of research progress is based on publica-
tions. These are essential for the recognition of the researchers and for them
to receive accolades. These are also required to report to granting bodies and
other stakeholders.
Good research does not automatically get published; it requires significant
effort to write the manuscript that communicates the outcomes to the target
audience. The impact of the research is only realised when the novel work is
appropriately communicated to the correct audience. This chapter discusses
some methods that can help early stage researchers to improve their chances
of getting published.

11.1 Introduction
High impact publication does not happen by accident but requires planning
from the start of the project. One of the most important factors is to identify
the audience of the work; who are the target audience? This is critical to
the research planning because each audience have many specific require-
ments and incorrect planning will lead to unacceptable outcomes for the
audience.
The other important factor is the presentation of the work. While language
skills are relevant for quality presentation, these are by no way the most
important factor. It is necessary to convey a direct message to the reader rep-
resenting the target audience and such a person should be able to understand
the work clearly. It is also essential that the appropriate reader engages with
the work and finds it useful.
A good paper is not a well written essay, nor is it a thesis but a formal
report written by an expert of the outcomes that are currently useful and

149
150 How to Publish: Writing Manuscripts

meaningful to the audience. It needs to be focused, engaging and easy to

interpret by the target audience using terminologies, quantities and method-
ology that is routinely used by the audience. The next sections will discuss
these topics with the aim to improve the ability of the PhD students to author
quality manuscripts.

11.2 Target Audience

A few decades ago most researchers worked in narrow fields of specializa-
tions and journals were specific to the field. There were few journals and
each had definite criterion. Things have progressed since those days and many
researchers are crossing the traditional boundaries of research topics and are
working in interdisciplinary fields. Even those researchers who are working
in their narrow fields are discovering the number of potential applications
in different areas and realising that there is need for their works to be
published in the relevant journals. One easy example is the field of medical
engineering where often the engineering developments are being applied to
medical applications. Another application is the use of IT for investigating
social behaviour and related applications. Or, the use of image analysis for
metrological and mining applications. The list is endless.
All of us like to be in our comfort zone and would be happier to reach the
audience who are in the field we belong to. We understand how they think
and talk and it is easier to interact with people in similar areas of research.
However, publishing the work in journals and conferences belonging to
fields other than our own has many advantages. The novelty factor in the
application of a recently discovered technology may be limited in the original
field because it will be now a secondary source and would not draw large
interest. However, if this is applied successfully to a different discipline, that
field would view it as the primary source and have a novelty aspect. For
example, the development of a novel algorithm for image processing would
have had significant impact in the journals related to image processing, but
its application to geology may not have the same impact to those audience.
However, such work would have an impact to people working in geology and
may have no knowledge of such a technique. Identifying suitable journals
with geologists’ audience may be useful.
The paper has to be targeted to the audience and the associated journals.
This is best achieved at the planning stage of the project because there
can be significant differences in the methodology styles between different
disciplines. For example, engineers working in the area of image processing
 11.3 When to Start the Manuscript? 151

may need the thrust of the work in the algorithm development but only
require few examples. However, if this is applied for medical image diag-
nostic applications, the audience may not appreciate the algorithm but will
require significant details of patient recruitment and require large number of
examples.
It is also important to observe the differences in the style of reporting
the data and data analysis between different research disciplines. Further,
there are also some preferences in specific journals. The list is large and it
is important for the authors to be mindful of these differences and plan for
the target audience and the journal. Again, if this is considered during the
planning phase of the project, the results are significantly better.

11.3 When to Start the Manuscript?

The first problem which is faced by an aspiring author is: how and when to
start? This is not only a problem for new researchers but many experienced
researchers and authors. While every manuscript is unique, there are some
steps that can be used as a guide before starting to write the manuscript and
are listed below.
1. The first step is to identify the current status of the project, and why is
this manuscript to be written. Often it is essential to write this manuscript
due to some deadline and in such a situation we have to start the process
by putting together the results. At this stage, attempting to write the
introduction, the abstract or even the literature review is not only a waste
of time, it can do damage to the manuscript. We only have the results and
it is important to put these together while all other sections will need to
come later.
2. The next step is to present the results in the style for the target journals.
While most journals may not be explicit about the style, this is generally
obvious from the examples of other published works. At this stage,
significant effort may be required for managing and analyzing the data
to match with the style of the journal.
3. Write down the observations from these results in dot points. This is a
difficult process because being the researchers, our observations may
be biased. It is highly recommended to get someone else to check
the validity of the observations. Ask the question whether the results
confirm or tolerate the observations. Is the deduction one of the many
possibilities? What is the strength of your statement?
152 How to Publish: Writing Manuscripts

4. If the response is convincingly positive, check through the literature if

others have stated something similar. If now the response is positive,
then is there any significant difference between these results and that of
others?
• If there is a difference, is it sufficient to be of interest to the
audience?
• If there is no significant difference, is there something that can be
added that will shed new light?
5. At this stage, a statement should have been generated that concludes the
results to a simple statement. This statement is the one-line statement
summarizing the research paper and has to be the focus of the paper.

11.4 Develop a Plan

The next step in the writing of the manuscript is to develop a plan. Having
obtained the focal statement of the research that will be reported in the paper,
confirm the relevance of this to the audience and the journal. If it appears to
be misaligned, it may be worth the while to revisit the choice of the journal
and identify a more suitable journal.
Different audience would have different expectations of the style of the
paper and hence the plan needs to be targeted to the journal and the audience.
A good paper requires planning of the document, focus and good language.
While these are similar to writing an essay, the process of writing the paper
is not the same as an essay. It is a formal reporting of the outcomes by an
expert using language and style that is meaningful to the identified audience.
This section gives a step by step guide to writing the paper. At the end of this
chapter is an example of a rubrics that may be used by reviewers to judge the
quality of the paper. Being familiar with the rubrics of the journal where the
manuscript will be submitted is very useful because it will possible to better
predict the reviewer response.

11.5 Typical Subheadings of a Paper in Science,

Engineering and Health
Papers in the discipline of Science, Engineering and Health, are commonly
referred to as ‘Scientific papers’. While there are always differences between
different disciplines and journals, most scientific publications have similar
 11.6 Starting the Manuscript 153

sub-headings. The section below list these subheadings and the next section
describes the steps to write these.
• The Title
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Theory
• Methodology
• Data analysis
• Results
• Discussions
• Conclusion
• Reference

11.6 Starting the Manuscript

Many people attempt to start the paper by writing its Abstract. However,
I have never been successful in writing the abstract before the draft of the
paper. The abstract summarizes the paper in its entirety which includes the
reason for the work, the hypothesis or the statement describing the study,
results and conclusions. Thus, in my opinion, this needs to be the done
after the paper is finalized. Even in journals and conferences that require
the abstract ahead of the paper, it is essential to make a very rough draft
of the paper before writing the abstract.
The next common response to starting the paper is the introduction
section. The introduction of a scientific or technical paper consists of the
introduction to the problem or argument based on literature to the reader.
Subsequently, the reader is introduced to the logic for an alternate approach
which is the basis for this research. While this seems to be the most obvious
place to start the paper, it should not be the start of the paper. The intro-
duction should be the place where the problem that was solved has to be
described. While the introduction should be written later, writing a skeleton
of this section can be helpful in getting the focus for the thoughts.
As a student when you start writing the manuscript, ask the question-
what do you have? In general, the results are available and you are hoping
that these are suitable for being published. Hence, the place to generally start
writing the paper is from the results section.
The first step is to write the results in the format that makes sense to
you and write down the observations. The next step is to analyse these
154 How to Publish: Writing Manuscripts

observations to make a conclusion statement from the list of observations.

At this stage it is useful to introspect and ask yourself a question if the
conclusions are ‘beyond doubt’?
View the results again, and ask; can someone else conclude something
else from the results? Is it a conclusion or is it one of the probable explana-
tions of the results? Or, can these be considered as ‘opinions’? In your field,
how do other researchers express their confidence (see Chapter 8)? There are
always differences between different disciplines and it is essential to cater in
a style that is most acceptable.
If there is the need for conducting any statistical tests before the conclu-
sion can be confirmed, conduct the (statistical) tests on the results and repeat
the above steps. Now identify the conclusion statement that you are confident
with and if possible, get this verified by a colleague or the supervisor. Ensure
that there is one statement that is simple and direct without any ambiguity.
This statement is now the main theme of the manuscript. Use this to write the
conclusion paragraph. Once the conclusion is written, start the introduction
because this should mirror the conclusions.

11.7 The Title

Many times it appears that the title of the paper is an afterthought and the
words were simply jumbled together at the time of uploading the manuscript.
Sometimes it appears that the authors did not think that reviewers and other
readers (if it gets published) would read the title. In our world many people
make a decision of the appropriateness of the paper simply based on the title
and an inaccurate or uninteresting title will neither help in getting published
nor will it get large readership if it did get published.
The title should not just a jumble of words but reflect the conclusion.
While the papers can be searched with the keywords, many times it is the title
that plays the part. Ensure that the title is grammatically correct and accurate
representation of the work. But it has to be more than that, it has to be exciting
and attractive to the target audience.

11.8 Abstract
Some journals allow the author to use their own style while there are others
that will specify the style of the abstract, typically having four subheadings;
Background, Methodology, Results, and Conclusion. Even if the journal does
 11.9 Writing the Introduction 155

not insist this style, it is very useful to follow this format. A typical abstract
will have one sentence or about two lines for each subheading.
Never underrate the importance of the abstract, because many people will
read the abstract and if it is exciting, they will read the rest of the paper. Often,
unfortunately the reviewers have often made up their minds by the time they
read the abstract. While this is generally to be written after the paper has been
finalized, it is not to be done in a hurry.
There are some common mistakes when writing the abstract and these are
listed below:
• The abstract is not a summary of the introduction but the summary of
the paper.
• The purpose of the abstract is to help the readers decide if they
would like to peruse the complete paper. It should not sound like an
advertisement blurb but a precise.
• In our age of Dr Google and short time-frames, the abstract is more
important than ever before and will get the attention of the reader. It is
not an afterthought but should be very carefully written.
The Abstract is a very important section of the paper and will significantly
influence the reviewer, and future citations. Definitely no motherhood state-
ments and flowery language that appear to be wasting the time of the reader.
Write the abstract very lean, and it is here that the reader begins to form an
opinion of trusting the author and the paper. It needs to be simple, focused,
precise and clear.

11.9 Writing the Introduction

The conclusion and the introduction need to mirror such that the introduction
identifies the question that has been responded to in the conclusion. It is
generally counter-productive if you begin with identifying number of prob-
lems which however you have not addressed. The introduction is the place
to briefly introduce; (i) the big picture, (ii) the background, (iii) the current
shortcomings and problem, (iv) your hypothesis and the plan of the paper.
Target to wrap the introduction in four or five paragraphs, with one paragraph
for each of the above topics.
Let the first one or two paragraphs describe the big picture. This is the
place to kick-start the manuscript with the wish-list, and is the paragraph
a reader who is aware of the field should be able to skip. Do not make
this paragraph to try and solve the world’s problems and in general, avoid
156 How to Publish: Writing Manuscripts

motherhood statements. If it is possible, measurable and quantifiable indi-

cators of the specific problem you have concluded are useful but only with
appropriate reference. Be specific so that at the end of this, the author knows
the bigger aim of your project.
Consider an example where you, the author is writing the manuscript
regarding detecting diabetic retinopathy from eye-fundus imaging using a
novel image analysis algorithm. You may begin by introducing the concept
of using eye-fundus imaging to identify diabetic retinopathy (DR) in this
paragraph and indicate the total number of people suffering DR. Identify the
limitations, cost and social impact of the current situation or system; the need
for expert evaluation of these images making the assessment expensive and
error prone with (the number) of misdiagnoses. At the end of this paragraph,
the reader is now aware of the bigger aim of the project; automating the
eye fundus image analysis for accurate DR detection. But do not attempt to
continue describing this big picture beyond a paragraph or so.
In the next paragraph, identify the specific problem you are wanting to
solve that is being reported in the manuscript. List some of the major efforts
that have been made towards the aim of your project and state the limitations
in their works. Overcoming these limitations becomes the objective of the
work being reported in this manuscript. It does not hurt to spell this out in
simple words what is the objective, and this is also a good place to indicate
the scope of your work. Convince the reader that your claims are realistic and
appropriate.
Next is your proposed suggestion/s that will overcome the above limita-
tions. Identify what is the unknown that lead to the limitations and then state
the hypothesis which can provide the solution. Give suitable references to
support the logic for your suggestions that forms the basis for the hypoth-
esis. Do not expect the reader to guess your intent and indicate clearly the
hypothesis.
Once the hypothesis has been stated, it is essential to spell out exactly
what needs to be tested. Use clear terms, and make it easy for the reader to
identify what is the hypothesis. Ensure that the logic to the hypothesis testing
is clear. This is generally the end of the introduction of the manuscript. You
may also state the structure of the paper in this paragraph.

11.9.1 Introduction – Some Common Mistakes

There are number of common mistakes that are made by authors in the
introduction section. These are listed below as dot-points:
 11.10 Theory 157

• Introduction is very generic with motherhood statements and not directly

relevant to the work.
Example (Continuing from the earlier Example): The author writes one
page about the growing international problem of diabetes, or about blindness
while the focus of the project is about image processing of the eye-fundus
images for diabetic retinopathy and the audience are engineers.
• Write a very long introduction.
Example: Discuss the social and economic impact due to lack of avail-
able ophthalmologists in the different parts of the world who can detect
diabetic retinopathy while the work being reported is about improved image
processing for eye-fundus images to detect diabetic retinopathy.
• Declare number of problems that you have not addressed.
Example: Continuing the above example, you mention about the problems
being suffered in the less affluent societies suffering a drain of their trained
doctors. While this has a relationship with the need for automated medical
diagnostics, the focus of the introduction is lost and the readers do not
understand the aim of the work.
• Write the introduction in generic terms and expect the reader to gather
the aim and objective of the research. If you do not explicitly declare the
aim, objective and hypothesis but expect the reader to pick these from
all the information you may have provided, many readers will find it
difficult to understand the purpose and may lose interest.

11.10 Theory
Only a few journals have this as a separate section. However this information
is generally required in most papers and may need to go in the introduction
or methodology sections. It is an essential part of your manuscript and it is
important to consider the purpose of this section.
One common mistake done is to when you give too much or too little
information to the reader. The purpose of this section cannot be to teach
the fundamentals of the science to a new comer; a book may be required
for that purpose. However, many authors attempt to introduce the theory of
a complex topic in this section. In general, that would be waste of time of
the person who is familiar with the concept and will not be enough for a
beginner.
158 How to Publish: Writing Manuscripts

The aim of this section is to put your proposal on a definitive platform and
provide it the rigor. It can serve the purpose of providing the basis for people
in the field with a brief specifically required for your paper.

11.11 Methodology
The purpose of the methodology section is to provide sufficient details so that
anyone in the field can reproduce the experiments. It is essential that details
that are provided are in context of the manuscript and you do not describe
irrelevant aspects of the experiment. It is also important that no useful aspect
of the experiment is ignored.
To write this section, it is essential to re-read the results section critically
and identify the sections of the experiments that are relevant to the results.
Often new authors such as PhD students attempt to describe the details more
in terms of their significant effort in conducting the experiment which is not
the purpose here. The reader is not the supervisor and the information should
be coming from an expert to help another person to understand how they
can replicate the experiments. It is important not to miss any details and not
to take things for granted. The reader is not familiar with your laboratory
or even the city, and all relevant conditions need that could influence the
experimental outcomes are important. It is also essential that you refer to
appropriate sources to justify some aspects of the methodology. However,
just because others have done it does not give you the license to do the same
thing if it cannot be justified by you. When you report it in your manuscript,
it is your responsibility.
An example: You may have conducted experiments with aluminum, and you
believe that the results would be the same for all metals. Thus when writing
the paper, you describe the material as ‘metal’. However, you have not tested
this for any other metal. In such a situation, mentioning the material to be
metal is not accurate and can lead to difficulties in the future. This point
however may be relevant in the discussion section where you may suggest
that the experimental results could be extrapolated to other metals.
It is important to give all relevant details, including the make and model
of the equipment used, the settings, and the conditions. The reviewer needs to
be satisfied that your experiment is reproducible and that the results were not
by chance. Ensure that you use the style the reviewer is likely to be familiar
with. Familiarise yourself with the style of the methodology section of other
papers in the journal and follow their level of details and use the same style.
 11.13 Discussion 159

11.12 Data Analysis

One major aspect of the data analysis is to ensure that the strengths and
limitations of the results are investigated. This is especially the case in clinical
and sociological journals where there are number of influencing factors and
it is essential to determine the strength of the conclusion.
There are large number of methods that are used to analyze the data, and
it is essential to find the one that is most suitable for your data and the target
journal. While no two methods are the same, different audience and journals
have their preferences and whenever possible, it is best to go along with that
style. Some of these may provide visualization of the data, while the others
will provide the strength of the relationship.
It is essential to give a brief justification of the choice of data analysis
method and the corresponding parameters used, even if these were the default
parameters. Clearly indicate the assumptions you may have made for this
method, and any modification of the generic technique. This ensures that the
results you are reporting will be similar if the experiment was repeated.

11.13 Discussion
Discussion section is a very important part of the paper. By this stage, the
reader has identified with the paper and is keen to understand the work in
context of the work by other people. In this section, it is important to highlight
the observations from the results and compare these observations with that of
other people. This is also the place to highlight the novelty of the work and
the difference with the work reported by other researchers. Please be direct
and in simple language state what is the novelty. Do not expect the reader to
guess or understand it by themselves.
In the discussion section, you need to tease out the relevance of your
work in relations to others and show the new insights. You have to argue the
differences and similarities of your results from that of others. It is essential
that this section is very well connected with the extensive literature review,
and with the results section. Do not expect the reader to find the correlation
between the observations discussed here with the tables and diagrams from
the results section, but spell these out for the audience. Lead the audience to
understand the relationship between your conclusion (how you started writing
the manuscript) and the results. While this relationship may be evident to you,
do not expect it to be evident to the audience.
160 How to Publish: Writing Manuscripts

This is the section where the actual results are discussed and there is no
place for motherhood statements. It is also important to ensure that you bring
out the relationship between your work and that of others. This is also the
place to scope the work and identify what remains to be discovered. Write the
scope of study and outline the limitations of the research. List the limitations
and discuss the methods to overcome these. Most readers will not consider
such a list to be a weakness but strength of the paper as it helps put it in
perspective. This will also help the reviewer determine its suitability to the
journal.
It is essential for the author to realize that there are many other people
who would be doing something similar. Thus, while being confident, it is
also essential to be humble. In this section, you should discuss some of the
applications that you mentioned in the start of the introduction section. It is
important to be direct and state whether you believe you have solved any
problem and explain the reason. Do not expect the reader to understand this
even though it may be evident to you.

11.14 Conclusion
Conclusion should be strong, to the point and clear. Your conclusion is not
that ‘we have achieved this . . .’, but that “we have concluded that . . .”.
Typically, this should mirror the problem statement in the introduction
section. While in the introduction section, the hypothesis was stated, the
conclusion is the confirmation or negation of that hypothesis. A simple
statement that clearly states the novelty of the work is very useful as it helps
the reader understand your claim.
Many journals expect the key limitation/s to be stated in this section. It is
also the section where you can list the future work that arises from the out-
comes and limitations you have listed. You can also list some of the possible
applications of this conclusion. However, it is important that the reader does
not see these as being too far-fetched. Try to think big but do not be perceived
to be a liar.

11.15 Paper Iterations

In our computer dependent worlds, many times people write and review the
paper on the computer and then submit it. Often the most glaring mistakes
are not picked up when this process is followed. It is important to carefully
review the paper in a different setting than used to write the paper.
 11.17 What Gets Published? 161

A recommendation is that after the draft is completed, take a printout of

the paper and read it the next day. Go through the entire text including the
reference list and identify errors. Once you have done this, make corrections
in the manuscript, and email it to the other co-authors. Do not be surprised
when authors correct their own previous changes.
After you get the response from all the coauthors, now send it to a
colleague who has volunteered to review. Many of us do not wish to send
the paper to our colleagues because we fear criticism. However, when the
paper has been reviewed internally by a colleague, it has larger likelihood of
acceptance and strengthens the submission.
As a rule of the thumb, if the first draft of the manuscript is completed in
N days, add additional 2N days before this can be submitted. This is the time
you will need to review it, make corrections, review it again and get feedback
from other people. If you do not have this amount of time, it may be a good
idea not to submit the paper. Be prepared to review the paper many times.

11.16 List of Authors

Submitting the paper will need to list all the authors and many journals will
also require you to state the contribution of the different authors. This is the
time when you could make an error that may be very expensive. It is also
important to be careful in not adding names of people who may not have
contributed significantly towards the research.
While there are always uniqueness of the circumstances for each student,
I find that the best way is to circulate rules of the authorship for the journal
and politely ask each of the stakeholders to state their contribution towards
the paper. This would help clarify their suitability of being a co-author on
the work. It is important to be aware that the results are not necessarily the
biggest effort in the research outcome or in the development of the paper.
This ensures that the claims are in writing and most people will be hesitant to
make outrageous claims.

11.17 What Gets Published?

Your manuscript is more likely to get published if you are weighing in on
a current debate with fresh evidence is often something that journals like to
publish. In such a situation, identify your entry point in the debate and without
being dogmatic provide the evidence. It is essential to be upfront and declare
162 How to Publish: Writing Manuscripts

the outcomes without being afraid if the referee is in the opposite camp. Try
to be upfront without being brash, and there is greater likelihood of getting
an acceptance than if you try and not make a statement.
A paper that states the problem clearly with evidence and the problem is
current has a greater likelihood of getting accepted. Papers that demonstrate
incremental improvement in the current science in the field of that journal
would also have a better chance. Such papers may show a new approach to
the problem and is more likely to get the attention of the peers. Identify what
your novelty is and if possible, state it in so many words. Do not expect
the reader to pick up these points, which, while being obvious to you is not
evident to the reader. Remember that while you have spent years doing the
work and months writing the manuscript, the reviewer is going to spend a few
minutes to first decide if they like or dislike the manuscript.
A highly focused paper that identifies one very specific issue is likely to
make a mark on its audience and has a higher chance compared with a paper
that appears to be doing too many things. If you are keen to publish multiple
outcomes in one paper, it may help to identify the direct outcome and the
secondary or indirect ones. Or, it may be wiser to split it and write 2 papers.
Another factor that is necessary for a paper to get accepted is clear
evidence that the results are real, methodology is repeatable, and there is
evidence of the data. Most reviewers would not be familiar with the details of
the work of the authors and it is difficult for them to evaluate if the results are
genuine. It is essential for the journal to trust the authenticity of the work. As
an author, it is important to describe all the relevant details, provide photos
and when possible, to offer to share the data.
References can often be the cause of papers getting rejected. Most jour-
nals are keen to see that the list is current and most papers are not very old.
It also helps to see if work from the target audience have been considered.
Often the barometer of this could be that there are relevant references which
are cited from the target journal. The audience of the journal would identify
with the work. The best way to demonstrate this is if there are similar works
that have been published in the recent issues of the journal.
All reviewers like to see well written papers that show attention to detail.
Some minor things that can be easily managed in our digital world are
sometimes forgotten during submission are; spell check, font size, and labels
of the figures. Ensuring that the figures are labeled well, and the numbering
is correct does not require extensive time and demonstrate that the paper is
easy to read and has the professional feel.
 11.19 Post-Submission of Manuscript 163

11.18 What Gets Rejected?

There are number of reasons why good work may not get accepted, but there
are some factors that seem to get a negative score from the reviewers. Some
of these points that are easy to avoid are listed below:
• A paper that attempts to solve the World’s problem; remember that the
reason your paper will be published will be to give the reader a specific
message that they can cite in their work. If you are making motherhood
statements or lack focus, it does not appear to have a focused message
and can be viewed negatively by the reviewer.
• A paper that is being defensive; your paper should be written by the
expert for the global audience and not for your supervisor to read. The
paper that appears to be on the defensive is not what the editors want to
see in their journals.
• A paper that has number of different ideas without a clear and well
defined argument is easy to be rejected. It is essential that the purpose
and novelty of the paper is very clearly identified. Makes it very easy for
the reviewer to review. Be upfront.
• Entirely original ideas need significantly more efforts than papers that
provide incremental improvement unless you are well known in the
community.
• The topic is not relevant to the audience of the journal. If you are in
doubt, send the editors a query letter with the abstract of the paper and
ask their opinion before submission.
• The style of the paper is not suitable for the audience.
• The papers that is difficult to read for the audience. Poor grammar and
language, or if the language is too flowery are reasons for getting the
paper rejected.
• The language should be simple and clear. Scientific papers are not lit-
erary works and should not be written for demonstrating your language
skills.
• Cite the indirect rather than direct references.

11.19 Post-Submission of Manuscript

In the rapidly expanding research landscape, good journals are receiving large
numbers of submissions and the editors have to struggle to find suitable
reviewers. Despite the best efforts, papers can get rejected, and sometimes
164 How to Publish: Writing Manuscripts

the reviewers seem to have done a terrible job. While not very common,
unfortunately this does happen sometimes. It is essential not to take rejections
personally, be resilient and move on.
In most cases, there is little benefit to go and complain about the review
to the editor. Most editors will not act on such complaints. The best outcome
after the paper is rejected is to read the review comments and identify
improvements and corrections. It is important to realize that in all probability
the reviewer does not care who the author is and their comments are largely
based on the views of a person who did not fully understand the importance of
the work. This may indicate the incorrect audience or communication skills.
However, if you are convinced that the reviewer has been biased, then it is
important that you write a letter where you clearly articulate the facts. Before
you do that, it is a good idea to run it past a colleague who can give you a
second opinion regarding the reviewer comments.

11.20 Difference between Thesis and Manuscript

There are number of similarities of the paper and the thesis; both are formal
documents that are reporting the research outcomes to an expert audience.
However, the purpose of the two documents are significantly different.
A thesis is a formal document written by the PhD student to conclude the
degree which has to be examined by experts in the field. This is different
from a paper which is reporting a single outcome and is written by an expert
for other people to read. While the thesis is the document based on which the
candidate is examined by experts, the paper is reviewed by experts to confirm
that it is an authentic work which is of interest to the audience.
A PhD thesis in the field of engineering, science or health generally
consists of number of chapters. There are number of ways to piece the thesis
together. One is to have the initial chapter identify the research questions and
concluding chapters conclude the response to these questions based on the
experiments and work reported in the thesis. Often each of the other chapters
correspond to a single research question. In such a thesis plan, each of these
chapters may approximate to a single major publication.
It is quite common for a PhD thesis to have three connected research
questions with three major chapters and with the expectation of three major
publications. While there can always be significant differences between dif-
ferent research projects, breaking down the work in three research questions
gives three major milestones over the three year duration and is helpful in
 11.21 Review Process 165

managing the work. Having a single question can be discomforting over the
duration of three years, and having many small questions can lead to loss of
focus.

11.21 Review Process

Reviewing the manuscripts for journals and conferences can be very helpful
in improving the ability to write good papers. It can be used to learn to
undertake critical analysis of papers, and it also helps identify what are the
measures of a journal when selecting a manuscript for publication. While
there are differences between how manuscripts are reviewed by journals,
there are many similarities which would help train the student in manuscript
writing skills. An example of the metrics that is used by some major
journals is:

Heading Description
Presentation Is the manuscript well written or does it have errors in
presentation? Has the manuscript been written in the
language suitable for the audience? Are the figures
neat and easy to understand? Has the author
demonstrated the knowledge of current literature?
Innovation Is the manuscript reporting something novel and
interesting to the audience?
Methodology Can the average audience of the journal replicate the
experiment based on the information that has been
provided?
Results Are the results well documented and have these been
described in a manner consistent with the journal and
its audience? Has the statistics been done
appropriately?
Discussion Have the results been interpreted in terms of the
Suitability to the Is this manuscript reporting work that will be of
Audience interest to the audience?
Impact Will this work have an impact on the audience?

While the above rubrics is useful and most commonly used, below is a rubrics
that could make it easier for the author to understand the expectations of many
journals:
166 How to Publish: Writing Manuscripts

Scholarly Selective 2: Monograph Assessment Sheet – Quantitative Study

Topic Question Score

Abstract Is the abstract a clear summary of the paper?
How likely would it get the reader’s attention?
Does it contain the key methods, results and
significance?
Introduction Is the introduction focussed? Is the aim clearly
stated?
Does it contain a concise background leading to an
explanation of context and perspective?
Are the hypotheses clearly stated and are these
linked to the literature?
Is the introduction too long and wordy?
Is the problem current and suitable for the audience?
Methodology Is there a clear description and justification of the
methods?
Is the method reproducible?
Is there anything special in the equipment or the
experiment?
Is the data available for scrutiny?
Data Analysis Are the statistical analyses appropriate and clearly
described?
Results Is the data clearly presented?
Are the results arranged logically?
Have appropriate visuals (graphs and tables) and
stand-alone legends (containing no errors) been
used?
Discussions Has a concise and logical discussion been
presented?
Is there a critical discussion of the results?
Have the results been compared and contrasted to
published reports?
Have the limitations of the study been provided?
Have future directions been presented?
Conclusion Have the key findings/arguments been presented?
Has the significance of the study been stated?
Has a vision for the future been provided?
 11.22 Managing the Review Process 167

Organisation Have the references been cited correctly in the text?

and
Presentation
Has the reference list been formatted correctly?
Is the layout attractive, with clear subheadings and
illustrations to emphasise ideas?
Are there any typographical and grammatical
errors?
Has appropriate, discipline-specific language been
used?
Has the correct formatting been used?
Is the word limit within the guidelines?
Innovation Is the work innovative?
Target Is the manuscript style suitable for the target
Audience audience?

11.22 Managing the Review Process

After you submit the manuscript, it is very rare that it is accepted as is. In
general, the reviewers will either reject it, ask for major revisions or ask for
minor revisions. If you get the second or third one, you should be happy. In
any case, study the reviewer comments carefully and peacefully. The reviewer
is not your enemy but is doing what he or she thinks is appropriate.
If the paper is rejected, use the comments to see what can be improved or
if the comments highlight some major shortcomings, you may have to repeat
some experiments. If the paper has major or minor changes requested, then
work through each comment and address each separately. Clearly indicate
what changes you have made, and refer to the page number and line number
so that the reviewer can quickly scan through and see the changes. In general,
it is a good idea to keep the track-changer On, while also submitting a final
version.
In any research activity, there may be two opposing views on a specific
topic, and people can start having tribal behaviors. While in the ideal world of
science and research, this should never happen, but it is not uncommon that
people may have strong opinions and not be open to differing viewpoints.
This can lead to reviewers supporting or rejecting manuscripts or grant
applications based on such falsehood. However, if the author is aware of such
strong opinions in the field, it is possible to manage the situation by reporting
168 How to Publish: Writing Manuscripts

the results without being very negative. I believe that a good author has the
art of not being negative but not necessarily having to agree with different
opinions.
If you disagree with the comments of the reviewer, state it clearly and
politely but based on the strength of the literature review and facts. Do not be
aggressive but assertive.

Tasks
1. Get your hands on the manuscript in your field that was rejected. Now
use the rubric and review the paper. What score did you give?
2. Review a paper that has been published and using the rubric, score it.
3. If you have written a manuscript, review it again using the rubric and see
how does it score.
 Appendix

Some Historical Facts Regarding PhD Candidates

• By 1910, USA had the largest number of PhD/year with about 300
PhDs/year. This increased over the decade with an estimated 500/year
by the end of the decade. Most were male, and the research topics were
largely Science based.
• In 1990, the numbers of PhD students in USA were significantly higher;
around 26,000/year and over a wide range of topics. In Australia in 1990,
1400 received their PhDs. Globally this was around 40,000.
• A significant competition for the PhD students to get jobs after comple-
tion began to appear around 1990s.
• In 2010 in USA there were about 44000 PhDs with both genders being
well represented.
• By 2014, global PhDs number was greater than 500,000 compared
with around 40,000 in 1990. In Australia, there were around 6000 PhD
awarded.
• The topics became wider, and PhD were awarded in a range of topics,
including hotel management and administration.
• Total number of academic positions going up by a factor of around half
the rate, around 5 times since 1990. However, number of increase in
Australia is less than a factor of 2.

Changes over Time

• When there were few PhD, most candidates were employed during their
candidature, and got absorbed in the Universities as soon as they got
their thesis.
• In 1970, number of PhDs were less than number of academic jobs
in Aus.
• By 1990, there was the need to have a demonstrable track-record, and it
was important to publish to get an interview call.

169
170 Appendix

• By 2000, it became essential for researchers to have their publications

on the internet and their research measured by websites such as Scopus.
• By 2010, having a research profile with numbers such as citations and H
index became essential. It is very common for people to verify the status
of other researchers using such index prior to job interviews, research
meetings or similar.
 Index

C R
Communication skills 16, 117, Research evaluation 18, 62, 156
144, 164 Research Methodology 96
Research proposal 47, 85, 88, 93
P Research track record 169
PhD candidature 10, 25, 40, 44
PhD supervision 34, 51, 74 W
Publishing 118, 139, 147, 150 Writing papers 140, 147

171
 About the Author

Dinesh Kant Kumar did his B.Tech. from Indian Institute of Technology,
Madras (Chennai) in Electrical and then his PhD in Biomedical Engineering
from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. After a brief stint in the industry,
he became an academic in 1997.
Dinesh Kant Kumar is a Professor in Biomedical Engineering at RMIT
University, Melbourne, Australia. He has graduated to completion 24 PhD
and 6 Masters by research students, and has published over 400 papers. He
has also got three patents and been successful in the translation of technology
by starting start-ups. He loves meditation, reading, trekking in remote parts
of the world and horse-riding. But his passion is to experiment with life itself,
and to explore the definitions of Time, Space and I.

173