Research Plan

Joey M.'s picture

I think that the Thomson Handbook has a great definition of research in saying that, “research projects typically involve posing problems and answering questions about a subject that you want to learn about or that you think others should understand better.” In my eyes, that is probably the best definition of research that I have ever heard. I know that I personally hate to do research for schoolwork and assignments, but if it is something that I am genuinely interested in than I thoroughly enjoy learning more about a subject that I like. For me, I find it very hard to research and write well about something that I think is boring or if I really don’t care about it. That situation is the exact last thing that I wanted to do for this project, and that is why I suggested and chose the topic of Smart Phones/PDAs for our project because they interest me and I would enjoy to learn more about them.

I am not exactly sure what research I will have to do for this project yet, but if I had to guess I would say that it would most likely deal with the technical specifications of the actual phone itself and on the physical aspects of the phone. My research plan would most likely start with looking at the phone service provider’s website where they give descriptions and general information about the different phones (ATT.com, Verizon.com, Tmobile.com). From there I will probably try to go to the actual phone manufacturer’s website to see if I cannot get any more detailed specs or more information than at the phone service provider’s website. My last real option would most likely just to search Google for interesting articles on the phone itself and its features. No matter what topic I have to research for the phones, the order of my research will most likely be the same.

I thought it was interesting that the book said something about procrastination and how that is the last thing that you want to do for a research project. I think one thing that will help me in this project is the fact that I really do not procrastinate at all.

Procrastination

Kristin's picture

It's definitely going to help you to not procrastinate with this project! I'm not a procrastinator either, but I've seen what it can do to research projects ... I think procrastination can be really detrimental to research projects because people just start finding sources to find sources, and may miss critical information that they didn't take the time to find. It's also a really easy way to let your white paper get one-sided, I think, since you're just trying to get down some information at the last minute, instead of taking the time to thoroughly figure out what's going on with each option (or your particular section, as it may be).

Kristin

Urgency

Isaac's picture

I agree that procrastination is detrimental to a research project. But I also liked how the Thompson Handbook mentioned working with a sense of urgency. Just recently I was working on a project for my machine design class. I started early on the work and thought I was on the right track to finish on time. I ended up working form 6pm to 4 am then night before, and waking up at 7am and working until noon and still didn’t finish it. With research, it’s never as easy to find exactly what you’re looking for. It seems like you can always scan a few website early and think it’s going to be a piece of cake and put it off until the last minute. Then in the last minute you can’t seem to find anything you need and end up not sleeping that night.

Even worse...

Joey M.'s picture

My first semester at college definitely taught me that procrastination is the last thing that I should do. After seeing what procrastination did first hand to my roommate my first semester at college, I knew that procrastination was the number one thing that would ruin my roommates and many of my friends GPA’s.

Not only is a research project bad for procrastination, but especially a group research project. It is very hard to get one person not to procrastinate, let along four or five of them. Throughout my time here I have found that it is hard to work with people who procrastinate because I am always so used to getting things done early. This project will prove to be difficult because there is normally always one person in a group who procrastinates, if not more.

Pressure

dbasso's picture

I think procrastination could be a good thing sometimes. It makes you work under pressure and see if someone can handle a lot things at once. I understand what you mean on doing a project on a subject that you like. It is so hard to concentrate on a project that has no influence in your life. I think that your group's project on the smartphone is an interesting project because of how many are coming up right now. There is just an endless amount of smartphones that get come out everyday and reading a white paper about them will give me enough information in my upcoming shopping.

More on Pressure

Zebulon's picture

For some people they thrive on pressure. In a lot of cases the type of pressure can effect how the person works. With procrastination some people work more efficiently, doing the same amount of work in less time. Some people will nick away at a problem for one week where as if they put it off until the last minute they will work quicker. The only downfall to this system is reviewing and checking your work. There is often some projects that you can not procrastinate on due to the fact if work just takes a long time to do. Eg. solving engineering equations that take up a couple of papers for one problem.

Zebulon Rouse

focusing

DigitalSHU's picture

I agree with what you said about researching a topic that you are interested in. When you find a research topic that interests you, it’s easy to stay on task and stick to the plan. You actually become immersed in the information and want to learn more. I know when I’ve had to research for projects I wasn’t interested in, it took me forever to get anything done. I would be cruising along and then get distracted and end up doing something else for an hour or so, not exactly being efficient. Also, I think technical specifications of the phones being tested are a must, but doing some research on what functions, buttons, and GUI layouts people like are very important too.

Specs versus user ratings

TANoNati's picture

To add to what SHU said, it seems to me like the main question of this project is which device will provide the most function and be the most usable to the user. I think technical specs take a back seat to user ratings in this project. Of course, things like battery life and downloading speed are important, but those are just numbers. If you focus on the numbers, then at the end of the day you are relying on your own judgement to decide what's important.

I think if you focus on consumer ratings and reactions to the product, you will get a better idea of how useful and functional users of the product have actually found it, which is a step beyond just compary technical specs.