How to do Research II: What is a Dissertation, what are the pieces of it?

A dissertation is: 1) a long paper, focused on a topic of interest; 2) a review of "the literature" or studies that have been done on this topic in the past; 3) a project or something you actively do, to give you "data" about some aspect of your topic; 4) a write up of what you have done, written so carefully that anyone can read your dissertation and replicate your study 5) a written analysis of what your data tells you, or your "results" 6) a final essay on what your results mean, in the big picture of your topic. If you think of your dissertation as a long paper that includes these six concrete sections, you'll have an overview of the project.
The dissertation project: The "doing" part of the dissertation
Students tend to get frightened by #3, that is by the very idea of actually doing something, that will give them data. In fact this is the easiest part of the dissertation, its just doing research. We all do research all the time. If we're planning to go out for dinner with some friends we make a list in our minds of possible restaurants to go to. We might look up on the Internet one or two that we haven't heard much about. We might ask the friends we're going out with what they feel like eating. In this way we collect some different types of data, and then, based on time, energy, interest, preferences, mood, we make a decision. To decide on the restaurant we've done some research. We do the same thing when we're figuring out what movie to go to, or where to go on vacation, or what classes to take in a semester in school. Doing research for the dissertation is no harder. It might involve more steps, it might take longer, but the process is basically the same.

Doing your project
This part of the dissertation is the easiest and often the most fun. To help you on your way in terms of figuring out what you are going to do, what question you are going to pose and what methods you are going to use to find answers to your questions, it is wise to have a group that you meet with regularly. This is what happens in research groups, and is called the "lab meeting." Everyone fills everyone else in on what they've done that week, what ideas they've had, what they've read, who they talked to, where they're at in the research process. Lab meetings are fun. There is no "right" or "wrong" in a brainstorming session. There is certainly nothing to be afraid of in this part of the dissertation process. What you are going to do doesn't need to be remarkably creative. It often is just another tiny step in finding something out about a topic. Students tend to think they have to do something that is earth shaking, when all they have to do is study one small piece of a big problem. The smaller the objective of the dissertation, the more doable it tends to be. In figuring out what you are going to do, make it small, make it concrete, something you can visualize, imagine in detail.

Think of Outcomes (What is the desired outcome?) Think of Next Action (What is the next action?)
Early in the dissertation its time to start thinking in terms of "Desired Outcome" and "Next Action." What is the desired outcome of your project: Its a completed dissertation (as the large outcome), and at each step of the way, you have many desired outcomes. If you consider the desired outcome at each step of the way, you are then able to break what you need to do down into very concrete and doable "next actions." Learning to think of desired outcomes and next actions will make the whole process move smoothly and continuously. Instead of freaking out about the enormity of the whole dissertation, you will begin to think in a much more concrete and doable framework. Each week you can ask yourself 'what is the desired outcome" for the week. From there you consider "what is the next action" to lead you to your desired outcome. Your brain is a great information processing and planning machine. Whether or not you deliberately try to consider the next actions, once you establish a desired outcome for a piece of the project, or for a period of time, you will automatically begin to consider what might be your next actions.

How to do Research: Part I

The mystique of research
This is the first of a series on how to do research. Research carries with it a mystique, a vague reputation that it is very hard to do and that you have to be super smart to do it. Reality check here: Research is easier than most things that psychologists do, if you make a mistake its only some numbers and no one gets hurt, you can apologize and correct it. In clinical work if you make a mistake a client might get hurt, there are human lives involved in the endeavor. Research has no such hidden disasters, consequences are small and something anyone can deal with.

Finding a topic: Gathering data about interests
Research begins with ideas about topics, or research begins with topic. How do you find your research topic? You find your topic by being honest with yourself. One of the many myths about research is that you shouldn't’t do anything that is “too close to home” or of great personal interest. This is dead wrong. Most of the great scientists in our field have began with something of personal interest. Seligman began studying depression because his father lapsed into a terrible depression after he had a stroke. Sternberg from Yale had been studying intelligence. Then his marriage broke up and he fell in love with someone. Suddenly his research focus shifted to love. You need to choose a topic of great personal interest. Choosing a topic because you think it will be easy or convenient will never work. Choosing a topic because it is someone else’s interest will never work. I recommend that you walk around for a few months with a small notebook in your pocket. Whenever you find yourself thinking about something of interest, or worrying about something of interest, write it down in your notebook. When you go to a bookstore and you think no one is looking, where do you go? When you go to Amazon and you’re browsing, where do you go, what books are you looking at? When you’re browsing on the interest and time flies by without a trace, where are you anyway, what topic or ideas are you researching? Write these all down in your notebook, and you’re well on your way to coming up with a research topic.

Making a list
Read and re-read the topics you’ve identified. Type them all up on a giant list. If you dare, bring them up in a group and see what discussion ensues. A topic that starts a big conversation is likely to be one you’re interested in. The conversation follows from the excitement you have generated. If you bring up a topic and there is no response, chances are you aren’t really excited by it yourself, and doing research on it will be like pulling teeth.

Go back to your list of topics, and select the ones that most excite you. Remember not to worry about methods, or convenience. Methods will follow after you have studied your topic for a while, and will be derived from you research question, but that is still a way off.

A list of what excites you
Make a smaller list of topics that most excite you. Then go to Google Scholar and put in one of your favorites, use several combinations of words and see what comes up. Print it out. Get the articles that are easily available online. Go through your school’s library/Internet system to get access to the full text of those not readily available. Skim the abstracts of the articles you have. Pay attention to your heart as you skim them –are you instantly bored, or do you want to go back to Google Scholar to search for more articles?

Move on to the next topic on your “most exciting” list, and repeat this process. Do this a few more times, and pay attention to how your experience with each topic feels. Through this process you will discover the topic you want to study.