How to Plan and Conduct a Research Project: 12 Simple Steps

It is well known to everybody that a research plan should be made in a flexible manner but with milestones to beat off assists us in keeping ourselves in track and quite focused. The project plan is an important topic for graduates, post graduates and PhD students to complete their thesis in fulfillment of the degree they are pursuing, even helpful for all those who are working in research field. Today in this article we shall discuss about how to plan for a project and conduct it so that everything will go smooth and within time. We should have idea about what questions we should ask ourselves at each stage of a research plan, so that we will not get distracted from the track. One of the important things to prepare is the timetable template for planning the time and the checklist to check we are ready to start or not. When we plan before hand it assists us in developing a clear sense of direction right from the initial stage and supports us in establishing, planning and supervising the project well.

Let’s have a brief and clear discussion on what we should do for achieving success in our research project.

Well! For planning and conduction we have to go through following steps.

Planning

1. Topic selection

Many of us have a clear research topic of mind but some are also there who come up with various ideas. When we are in pressure, we often get panicked and anxious, therefore we should select topic well before time by following ways.

2. Discussing with others:
We should discuss with others (e.g., friends, lab mates, seniors, teachers and colleagues) about what they are mostly considering, what is sparking interest in us and whatever question arises we should freely discuss with others as their suggestions and comments will help us in refining our focus.

3. Having a look on other writings or previous people research topics: Books and journals are major sources of ideas. We can spend some time in library and get some idea on title of other research paper of recent years, or we can go through previous people research projects. Similar studies have also been published in journals. Those articles we have to collect and plan how to make a difference.

Now-a-days many things are available online from internet. Websites like Google, PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct and others are some of the best learning sources and provides latest information of research. We can search many related topics and finalize a plan.

4. Considering our own interest: Final and the vital point is considering our own interest like is giving us more interest. We can focus on that to find out whether that is covered in the syllabus. We should remain extra critical while choosing a topic so that we can find out which thing needs some extra studies. While choosing a topic certain points we should keep in mind like a research study can duplicate of already existing study in a completely different manner, extension of existing study, exploring the unexplored part, reviewing the knowledge in s particular field, application of theoretical idea to a real world problem.

5. Developing a research question

Once topic selection is done and it is accepted by department, we should start focusing on refining the topic and finding something like

• Issue for investigating
• What we want to prove, disapprove or discover
• Research limitations

6. Effectual planning of the research

• Writing a research proposal
  

  Well! Research proposal is the detailed explanation of the whole project that we are going to conduct. It is like a formal need. It should include your thinking about the research problem, all discussions with your guide and all initial findings on the topic.

• Developing a research plan
  

  This step will include strategies to manage the time and how effectively we carry out all tasks. A plan should be made in such a way that it should allocate required time for each and every task. For this we have to see how much total time we have and accordingly we will divide time for each task. It is vital to remain as much realistic as we can about the timing each task will take. The more focused we will remain at the planning stage the more hours we can save while carrying out task. Better to note down about all the resources we need in each stage like how much time we should spend in library, working hours, equipment lists, space required etc.

• Procrastination
  

  It is one of the common problems while conducting research and we should remain well prepared for it. For several reasons people procrastinate like for improper management of time, dauted by scale of the work, motivation loss, perfectionism, negative thoughts and many more. When we recognize these problems early, it will help us in minimizing it to larger extent. To avoid we should be realistic about when we should start, devote more time for planning and revising the research plan, allocation of proper time, highly focused etc.

Early identification of the signs of procrastination will give you the best chance of minimizing any negative effects. Once you suspect that you are procrastinating, it can be helpful to review what you are expecting of yourself, and check that those expectations are realistic. This is where planning is vital. After a research plan is made it is a better idea to show it to some other people of our team or our teachers/guides, who can help us in finding out some missing tasks, or some mistakes.

Conducting Research

After the planning stage is over now comes the time to conduct the research. Here also we should remain highly organized and methodical to achieve success. Let’s have a discussion on each step.