Getting Ideas for a Study
Why is this Important?
One of the most maddening things I hear as a professor is when a student comes
to me and says: "I don't know what to write my paper on"
As a student, one of the most maddening things is when a professor says to
write a paper and leaves you clueless for topic matter. When you talk to the
professor, he or she will probably say: "Do something interesting from the book
or apply the principles to everyday life".
This predicament can be terrifying when you are in graduate school and you
have to do your thesis. Many folks are paralyzed and can’t come up with an original
idea. They freeze and might even drop out with out appropriate mentoring and
guidance.
It might get worse, if you decide to become a professor - you will have to
publish articles. Your chair will yell at you if you don't write. Nevertheless,
you don't have a clue what to do!
So, how to you get ideas for studies?
The Crucial Big Idea
Observe the World through the Eyes of the Curious and With Knowledge of Your
Discipline!
If you are not curious, don't bother to be a researcher.
Scientific curiosity is the most important attribute you can have. All the
other things, we will discuss are just techniques.
So that's the speech but it's the place to start. Let's be more precise. There are three major ways to get research ideas:
Observation
This is any easy one. Just look at world and notice interesting coincidences or phenomena. For example, look at the topic called the "Weapon Focus" effect. The idea is that after a crime, the witnesses can't report what the criminal looks like - they were all looking at the gun or knife. Someone had to notice this and say, "Hmm - let's do a study to see if this is a reliable effect!"
Experts
You can get expert opinion - ask your professor. If you are a graduate student or a new professor - ask your mentor. If you are an old seasoned professor - ask colleagues.
Informal networking is a powerful way to find ideas and bounce them off others.
There are several ways to do in a more formal fashion
Use the Internet:
There are newsgroups and mailing lists for people in the social science disciplines. There are ones for eating disorders, color vision, forensic psychology and many more topics. Books and website can lead you to them. For example, check out http://www.healthy-resources.com for Internet resources.
Conventions
- specialized ones for each discipline.
There is nothing like a major convention to get your intellectual juices flowing. Seeing other students, hearing research presented and meeting prominent members of the discipline can generate too many ideas, sometimes! Conventions are organized by learned professional societies. For a good reference to those in Psychology - check out http://psych.hanover.edu/Krantz/psy.html Psychological Societies.
What conventions should you go to?
Regionals:
As a beginning student, you might want to attend a regional conference like the Western Psychological Association, Southwestern Psychological Association, Midwestern Psychological Association, Rocky Mountain Psychological Association or Eastern Psychological Association. These have lots of students and student papers.
Majors:
Another possibility is the major annual meetings for all of Psychology. Check out:
