How to become a better researcher

[Raa]

There are a lot of researchers in this forum, so I thought I'd ask them.

Imagine you have a boy or girl in front of you who dreams of becoming an researcher in the future.
He/She asks you, "How can I become a better researcher?"
What advice would you give him/her?

As one of those boys who had such dreams, I have asked this question to many people.
Some people say, "Study classics" others say, "Study a foreign language," and still others say, more straightforwardly, "Write a book based on the archives and publish it."

At the very least, it's clear that can't become a researcher just by watching Netflix at home while eating chips.
Chasing silly myths and worn-out phrases that have been repeated in the past may be one way of being a researcher, but it is not "better".

What do the people and researchers in this forum think about what makes a "better researcher"?

 

[martinbayer]

It starts with the basic mindset - genuine curiosity and perseverance combined with critical thinking.

 

[Calum Douglas]

I`m writing a paper on it at the moment, I`ll let you know when its done.

 

[Mark Nankivil]

Interesting question. To me, the start of research comes from wanting to find the answer to something, whatever it is that has you wondering. So a personal interest is first and foremost as that will then define how long and how deep you will follow thru on finding the answer. The internet sure has made access to various archives far more available than days of old but not everything has been digitized and is readily available. There's nothing like digging into the boxes yourself to find the information, and finding in the process material that you didn't know you wanted to know more about.

Example - found out a few weeks ago that Clinton (Oklahoma) Naval Air Station at the end of WWII was a depository for aircraft to be sold or salvaged, much like Litchfield, Kingman, Walnut Ridge and others that were thankfully reasonably photographed by the likes of WT Larkins and others. Well, Clinton NAS was literally in the middle of nowhere - Oklahoma City would have been hours away. All I have found are a dozen or so photos on the Naval Historical Heritage Command (NHHC) site. Each had a sentence about a list of aircraft in storage but I could not find that list. I sent a request and happily received a nice e-mail the following day along with the a PDF of the list. An interesting list of aircraft types and some of the quantities are significant - see attached. I've tried reaching out to the local history groups though no luck there yet, and tried tracking down the company who salvaged the aircraft but have found they went out of business in the '60s. When I find the time, I will figure out where to look/ask next and if need be, make a detour to go thru the area on my next trip to Texas or parts West of there.

Others on the forum are far deeper researchers than I, but I do it out of personal curiosity and chasing down the answer to whatever made me curious in the first place. You do meet great people along the way and even make friends in the process.

Enjoy the Day! Mark

 

[ranmit11]

have you ever heard "ikigai" a japan philosophy the reason for living

in a nutshell,
do what you love, you should start with something that spark your curiosity and still fun for you to do, something that people need and getting paid for, so you can save yourself and make a better world.

 

[ranmit11]

also you should discipline to yourself, make your schedule, and lets see can you achieve the target

 

[martinbayer]

See also https://www.google.com/search?as_q=...&as_sitesearch=&as_occt=any&as_filetype=&tbs=

 

[Whisperstream]

Be patient, yet persistent. It's better to take the time you need to find accurate information than to rush to publication.

If someone tells you something is impossible, don't accept that at face value. I once asked a historian for a specific set of data and was told it was not present in their records. I then proceeded to find those data in their records.

Vet your sources! Make sure that individuals and documents are reliable and factually accurate.

Crosscheck and verify information. The wilder the story, the more necessary it is to verify the details. An individual once told me he had witnessed a particular event and several specific details sounded almost unbelievable. Fortunately, I was able to locate an official government issued report, and verified that those details were true and accurate.

Fact-check, even when you don't believe it's necessary. I once fact-checked some anecdotes provided by a pilot, where he described events in which he participated. I had no reason to question the validity or accuracy of his stories. I was very glad that I double-checked, however, because he had misremembered a number of significant details.

The internet is a great source of information...and misinformation. Use it wisely, and don't trust AI tools.

 

[Justo Miranda]

There are a lot of researchers in this forum, so I thought I'd ask them.

Imagine you have a boy or girl in front of you who dreams of becoming an researcher in the future.
He/She asks you, "How can I become a better researcher?"
What advice would you give him/her?

As one of those boys who had such dreams, I have asked this question to many people.
Some people say, "Study classics" others say, "Study a foreign language," and still others say, more straightforwardly, "Write a book based on the archives and publish it."

At the very least, it's clear that can't become a researcher just by watching Netflix at home while eating chips.
Chasing silly myths and worn-out phrases that have been repeated in the past may be one way of being a researcher, but it is not "better".

What do the people and researchers in this forum think about what makes a "better researcher"?

Passion

 

[southwestforests]

Let the evidence go where the evidence goes; beware of imposing your expectations upon that path and thereby pushing that path in a direction not congruent to the evidence.
Or, put another way, Park your pride outside.

Learn and understand that not all 'common knowledge' aka "everybody knows that" is accurate.
It may merely be an assumption sans evidence, and inaccurate.

(have recently run in to one of those in the health care field, it has long been assumed the living human brain is a sterile environment but now there is accumulating evidence that human and other mammalian brains have their own microbiome)

A different use of some of those words - sometimes in historical accounts of how to do a thing it has been written that such and such a part of the task "was done in the usual manner" or "common manner" likely because at the time the now historical document was written, the way it was done was common knowledge and therefore did not need to be documented, because, "well, hey, why do I need to write down this thing that everybody knows" and now that the future has arrived we have no known documentation of what that commonly known way of doing the thing was.

 

[southwestforests]

What advice would you give him/her?

Go and read this past thread the forum software just suggested,

12 September 2006

Add bookmark
#1

Scott, Tony and others have spent a lot of time researching unbuilt projects from official archives, whether company archives, patent office, FOIA requests etc.

Perhaps we could discuss the practicalities of doing primary research here.

How do you gain access to company archives?
How does one make an FOIA request, and what do you ask for?
Where are the archives for different companies located?

With forum members located all over the world, potentially we could visit most of the archives in existence.

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/researching-in-company-archives-and-other-primary-sources-how-to-get-started.761/

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

What do the people and researchers in this forum think about what makes a "better researcher"?

Like with all things, researching is what makes a better researcher.

Gather all the evidence and read it before coming to a conclusion. You can have an opinion going in, but beware of forming your views in advance and then cherry picking evidence that supports your thesis. Be open-minded and curious.

 

[edwest4]

All research starts with wanting to know something. This is followed by asking, Who might know about this? The starting point should always be original documents, followed by books and articles that use original documents. Once you know where to look, you collect all the relevant information. After reading it through, research is meant to be used and shared. Say you're writing a military history book, it should be as complete as possible. The final thing to learn is presenting the information in an easy to read way.

Archives are first but there are also professional journals. For the current and historical background to the development of nuclear weapons, there is the Nonproliferation Review. It contains articles and mentions of relevant books. As a professional journal, the articles are vetted prior to publication. It may even be possible to contact individual article writers to clarify certain things and/or to get suggestions about other places to look.

Things to avoid:

Personal bias. How you feel about related events are not relevant to the subject at hand. This is especially true regarding technical histories and certain events and campaigns. Your personal feelings should never be included. However, I have noticed an increase in personal comments. This always distorts the facts. Stick to the facts.

Dry repetition. Some researchers do not know how to write. I mean they can repeat the facts but those facts can be presented in a way that is both scholarly and interesting to read.

Wikipedia. The information is not vetted and can contain personal bias. It can be used as a source of references to look at, but that's it.

AI is a huge waste of time. Also, it turns off that part of the brain that comes to its own conclusions. It is not trustworthy.

Things to have:

Patience. The information you get can likely not be digested in a single sitting. There is a lot to sift through. Make sure you understand it.

Perseverance. You are not likely to get the exact information you are looking for at the first try. Keep looking. You might want to contact the archive you are using to get suggestions. Sometimes what you want may be scattered among different documents.

Footnotes. This is for the benefit of the reader and other researchers.

Once you've done a few research projects, it becomes easier if you decide to tackle other subjects.

 

[edwest4]

Be patient, yet persistent. It's better to take the time you need to find accurate information than to rush to publication.

If someone tells you something is impossible, don't accept that at face value. I once asked a historian for a specific set of data and was told it was not present in their records. I then proceeded to find those data in their records.

Vet your sources! Make sure that individuals and documents are reliable and factually accurate.

Crosscheck and verify information. The wilder the story, the more necessary it is to verify the details. An individual once told me he had witnessed a particular event and several specific details sounded almost unbelievable. Fortunately, I was able to locate an official government issued report, and verified that those details were true and accurate.

Fact-check, even when you don't believe it's necessary. I once fact-checked some anecdotes provided by a pilot, where he described events in which he participated. I had no reason to question the validity or accuracy of his stories. I was very glad that I double-checked, however, because he had misremembered a number of significant details.

The internet is a great source of information...and misinformation. Use it wisely, and don't trust AI tools.

I want to highlight the impossible part. I have found documents that show some "impossible" events did happen. Like anything else, show your work. Use multiple sources/documents to confirm the events. Then put it out there. It doesn't matter if some reject those findings as too fantastic or unbelievable. History is history. The documents you cite are neutral. They say what they say.

 

[that_person]

Learn how to use Google. I don't mean just put text in the search box, but learn how to use operators, quotation marks, properly phrase searches, etc

 

[publiusr]

If it isn't on paper, it isn't real.

Bring back microfiche, print everything.

We saw what happened with Aachen...

 

[martinbayer]

Passion

To this somewhat stereotypical hot headed Latin sentiment I would respond with the genuine Roman quote of "Sine ira et studio", see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sine_ira_et_studio.

 

[Justo Miranda]

To this somewhat stereotypical hot headed Latin sentiment I would respond with the genuine Roman quote of "Sine ira et studio", see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sine_ira_et_studio.

This forum has more gateways than you think

 

[Justo Miranda]

Post-2

 

[martinbayer]

This forum has more gateways than you think

I wasn't thinking of any gateways(?), I was only thinking of the basic fact that objective research is best done impassionately.

 

[Justo Miranda]

I wasn't thinking of any gateways(?), I was only thinking of the basic fact that objective research is best done impassionately.

Fleming could have had a quiet academic life without making any major discoveries, but one day when he saw that an experiment had been ruined by contamination, instead of discarding it for not conforming to established research standards, he said: This is fun... and saved millions of lives.

The need to know is passion, the medieval monks are routine.

 

[martinbayer]

Fleming could have had a quiet academic life without making any major discoveries, but one day when he saw that an experiment had been ruined by contamination, instead of discarding it for not conforming to established research standards, he said: This is fun... and saved millions of lives.

The need to know is passion, the medieval monks are routine.

As long as passion is tightly dominated and constrained by strict, impartial objectivity, I have no quarrel with your argument.

 

[Justo Miranda]

There are a lot of researchers in this forum, so I thought I'd ask them.

Imagine you have a boy or girl in front of you who dreams of becoming an researcher in the future.
He/She asks you, "How can I become a better researcher?"
What advice would you give him/her?

As one of those boys who had such dreams, I have asked this question to many people.
Some people say, "Study classics" others say, "Study a foreign language," and still others say, more straightforwardly, "Write a book based on the archives and publish it."

At the very least, it's clear that can't become a researcher just by watching Netflix at home while eating chips.
Chasing silly myths and worn-out phrases that have been repeated in the past may be one way of being a researcher, but it is not "better".

What do the people and researchers in this forum think about what makes a "better researcher"?

I'm not a researcher, just a collector who has fun drawing conclusions, but I've learned something over the last fifty years of practicing this hobby: Don't waste time doing something that a machine can do in the future, don't memorize, try to hone your sense of discrimination to filter out important data, scan as many documents as you can. The best contribution we can make for the future is to expand as much as possible the electronic knowledge base of humanity, that will live eternally, paper will not.

 

[Justo Miranda]

As long as passion is tightly dominated and constrained by strict, impartial objectivity, I have no quarrel with your argument.

Impartial objectivity does not exist, not even in machines that inherit the prejudices of their programmers.
We look different but we're in the same boat

 

[martinbayer]

I'm not a researcher, just a collector who has fun drawing conclusions, but I've learned something over the last fifty years of practicing this hobby: Don't waste time doing something that a machine can do in the future, don't memorize, try to hone your sense of discrimination to filter out important data, scan as many documents as you can. The best contribution we can make for the future is to expand as much as possible the electronic knowledge base of humanity, that will live eternally, paper will not.

I'm an aerospace engineer, and I fancy myself as somewhat of a pioneer for actively expanding human knowledge by introducing a new propulsive equation, see https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/th...ing-ascent-launch-vehicle-trajectories.38550/. I think this (at least to date) is the best contribution I can make for the future that will live eternally electronically.

 

[martinbayer]

Impartial objectivity does not exist, not even in machines that inherit the prejudices of their programmers.
We look different but we're in the same boat

While I *completely* agree with the second sentence, I truly think the first sentence is just a mumbo jumbo no sequitur.

 

[Justo Miranda]

While I *completely* agree with the second sentence, I truly think the first sentence is just a mumbo jumbo no sequitur.

Do you remember the first physics lessons?

First they told us a lot of stories and then they told us that formulas are useless because they do not take into account friction, the expansion of the materials, the ambient humidity or the speed of the wind.

Well, with Impartial objectivity the same thing happens, in real life the lines have thickness, the planes thickness and the volumes depend on the temperature.

 

[Archibald]

"She talks in her sleep !" Improvised on the spot by Sean Connery. Made the entire film crew die of laughter. They decided to keep it. Legendary punchline by a legendary actor.
...
"How do you knew she was a nazi ?"

@Justo Miranda : you know, I often think to myself - geez, Marion Maréchal Le Pen (the niece) so uncannily looks like Elsa Schneider: venomous fascist & aryan blonde. It's mind blowing ! https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Maréchal

 

[Justo Miranda]

"She talks in her sleep !" Improvised on the spot by Sean Connery. Made the entire film crew die of laughter. They decided to keep it. Legendary punchline by a legendary actor.
...
"How do you knew she was a nazi ?"

La femme fatale

 

[Archibald]

More seriously... take my little self, a walking bundle of conflicting contradictions. Not good enough in math and science to be a rocket scientist, still a space nerd (almost from the craddle), so : carefully self-taught basic rocket science.
Meanwhile graduated in archivistics / librarian / documentalist. Also translator and logistics. Also good in history, aerospace or not.

I've been absorbing aerospace documents like a sponge since 2002 when I got regular access to the Internet and stumbled on this wonderful website https://web.archive.org/web/20190318023609/https://www.pmview.com/spaceodysseytwo/spacelvs/index.htm

More generally: not easy to get valuable search results - because it is a matters of filtering the immense amounts of horse manure dumped on the Internet day after day by a whole lot of idiots and criminals

Some tips from my own searches

- One simple trick to filter an ocean of crap: browse only Pdf. The simplest way :

"rocket""staging" filetype:pdf - Google Search

-Google Scholar remains a good place for serious research and Pdf collection. Not encumbered (yet) by all the shitty trends making Internet a chaotic place (A.I, Pinterest and many others plagues). I mean, only science & engineering papers, peer-reviewed so mostly bulletproof.

-Google books is another fascinating tool. Provides glimpses on old papers that can then be found elsewhere. You can even restrict search by dates, for example 1963-1968. It's like a window in the past !

"space shuttle" - Google Search

-AIAA, SAE and other technical libraries: NTRS, NTIC

 

[Justo Miranda]

I'm an aerospace engineer, and I fancy myself as somewhat of a pioneer for actively expanding human knowledge by introducing a new propulsive equation, see https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/th...ing-ascent-launch-vehicle-trajectories.38550/. I think this (at least to date) is the best contribution I can make for the future that will live eternally electronically.

-Why does the ship continue to enter with a trajectory that is too flat?

-The weight of the rocks is missing, we have not landed on the moon.

Those little details that spoil everything.

 

[Arjen]

@Justo Miranda Your message is unclear to me, please elaborate.

 

[Hood]

Looks like the main skill in being a good researcher is staying focused on the topic of a thread and not wandering off into meandering tangents!

If your're studying history (beyond high school level) that should give you a decent grounding in how to do research, how to interrogate documents (of all media types, not just written records) to interpret them and avoid bias (remember that most sources are biased, its figuring out who is biasing them and why that's the key point). It's not just history of course, a lot of university level courses provide similar skills.

But you don't have to go to university to pick up these skills. Generally most people can pick up the rudiments of research to do a good job of it.
You need interest and a desire to discover more, maybe to answer a question you have or fill in the gaps or uncovering something that no-one else has touched. It's best not to come at a subject with your own angle but determine for yourself what is going on. Try to be as even handed as you can.

You need persistence when progress gets slow or dead-ends appear. Something will turn up, even if it's only a snippet in three years' time!

Language is an important point if you're dealing with foreign sources in another language. Translation tools have improved a lot, but highly technical text can be quite tricky.

 

[Nicknick]

It’s a bit unclear what is defining being a researcher. I did some public founded research project based on my ideas and several people did their doctoral thesis based on those, but not me (I never did any post gradient stuff…).Still I might consider myself being a researcher to some degree, but I’m more a developing orientated engineer.

Generally, I believe you should focus on topics you loved during your childhood or youth. Collecting information and thinking about new solutions should never feel like work. I used to sketch design ideas for engines and steam machines etc. since my early childhood and soaked up any information I could find (pre internet times...). I did my very best to design a Perpetuum Mobile when I was around 14 and ended up with the Carnot Process (shortly later, I found out, it has already being invented...). I’m not super smart (barely managed to pass my math exams during my studies….), but these early years made me creative and enabled me to think out of the box and find solutions for tricky engineering problems faster than the super smart guys…

 

[Justo Miranda]

@Justo Miranda Your message is unclear to me, please elaborate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fly_(1986_film)

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fly_(película_de_1958)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13_(film)
My apologies, I forgot to put the logo of the movie (Apollo XIII). In the first example the film is about a researcher who builds a viable teleportation machine, but unfortunately, during the human test, a fly enters the disintegration chamber and the subject is reconstructed with some of the insect's DNA.

In the second example, NASA engineers concerned about the thousand problems caused by the rupture of the oxygen tank and the removal of CO2, forget that the spacecraft weighs 50 kg less when making the trajectory correction calculations.

 

[martinbayer]

I`m writing a paper on it at the moment, I`ll let you know when its done.
View attachment 750939

Would you be willing to post your paper here? I believe it would be a most welcome and constructive contribution to this community.

 

[Mark Nankivil]

As long as passion is tightly dominated and constrained by strict, impartial objectivity, I have no quarrel with your argument.

Well said. Same goes for those who are the caretakers of collections. Best of the collection caretakers were the Vought Retirees - they were people who during their careers were involved with much of what was in the collection. And much of the collection existed because they took it home with them and dumpster dived every year to save this stuff from disappearing. They were great people to be around too - their personal stories may never made it to paper but to hear them talk about it was priceless. Taking care of the Vought collection was a passion for them all unlike some I have visited over the years where it is really only a job, with no particular interest, let alone passion, for what they are charged (and sometimes paid) to manage.

Enjoy the Day! Mark

 

[martinbayer]

Do you remember the first physics lessons?

First they told us a lot of stories and then they told us that formulas are useless because they do not take into account friction, the expansion of the materials, the ambient humidity or the speed of the wind.

Well, with Impartial objectivity the same thing happens, in real life the lines have thickness, the planes thickness and the volumes depend on the temperature.

Sorry, still not seeing your point. Thicknesses can be measured, and there are formulas that describe correlations of volumes and temperatures. What am I (possibly) missing?

 

[zen]

What do the people and researchers in this forum think about what makes a "better researcher"?

From my limited experience, nothing beats just trying and starting with digging out facts from books in your local libraries.
Reading others references and trying to find them.
It helps to have something you hold a strong interest in.

 

[martinbayer]

-Why does the ship continue to enter with a trajectory that is too flat?

-The weight of the rocks is missing, we have not landed on the moon.

Those little details that spoil everything.

I have absolutely no idea what point you may be trying to make.