2. Why you want to do research?
• REASONS you want to do research
List down 5 reasons why you want to do research
3. How does research feel like?
“A scientist in his laboratory is not a mere technician: he is
also a child confronting natural phenomena that impress him
as though they were fairy tales.‖-Marie Curie
Exciting
(EUREKA!)
Additive
Potential
to change
the world
FUN
Difficult
FrustratingRESEARCH
4. What is research?
• Research is the search for new knowledge
by scientific methods and/or finding new
applications with new found knowledge.
5. What is a scientific method?
Scientific method
Gathering
Data via experimentation
&
observation
Formulating
&
Hypothesize
&
testing
Logical
reasoningLaw of nature
Interpreting
data
unbiased
Peer review of results
and methodology
Duplicable
predicting
6. Scientific Process
• Define the question
• Gather information and resources (observe)
• Form hypothesis
• Perform experiment and collect data
• Analyze data
• Interpret data and draw conclusions that serve
as a starting point for new hypothesis
• Publish results
• Retest (frequently done by other scientists)
7. What is a good research?
IMPORTANT
PRACTICAL
RAMIFACTION
SIGNIFICANT
INTELLECTUAL
CONTENT
BEST
BUT
―Scientific discovery and scientific knowledge have been achieved only by those
who have gone in pursuit of it without any practical purpose whatsoever in view.‖-
Max Planck
8. I want to build a time-machine, it is
a ‗great research problem‘ but……
Research
Problem
A good research problem must have an ATTACK.
Without ATTACK, you will not able to solve the problem.
“The worthwhile problems are the ones you can really solve or help solve, the ones
you can really contribute something to”- Richard Feynman
9. How do find a good research
problem?
Good research
problem
RESEARCH
TALK TO
EXPERT
READ
ATTENDING
SEMINAR
This assumes that you have had a good starting point for your
research. This is often the responsibility of your advisor.
11. How to read?
• Feature and review articles best place to
start research on a new topics.
• Look at the papers published in high
impact journals and highly cited
papers.
• It is very important to have questions in
your mind which you think reading journals
would help you to find the answers or
make the questions clearly.
12. Reading old books and papers
Graphite is a conductor
According to text book
Graphene
15. What is impact factor ?
• Citation of a given journals. A measure of
relative importance of the journal within its field.
All Journals
http://www.sciencegateway.org/rank/index.html
Material science
16. How to solve a research
problem?
• Expose and challenge hidden
assumption.
assumption
Simplify
conversation
It happens
too often
Everyone
should have
known
“Conclusion is as good as assumption used to reach there.”- Tom Chalko
misconception
Belief system
17. Case study: Expose and challenge
hidden assumptions
Fact
1. That the stars, sun, and planets appear to revolve
around the Earth each day.
2. Common sense perception that as the Earth is solid
and stable it is not moving—but is at rest
Earth is in the centre of the Universe
It is assumed and believed to be true because of it is
common sense.
18. Case study: Expose and challenge
hidden assumptions
Galileo
Jupiter
The stars just appear and disappear from the background
with respect to Jupiter?
Venus
Why Venus changes shape?
19. Case study: Expose and challenge
hidden assumptions
Galileo
Challenge the view that the Earth is not the centre of the
Universe. The belief is so deeply rooted that no one believe
him at that time.
20. How to solve a research
problem?
• Treat inconsistencies as opportunities
INCONSISTENCY
Instrumentation?
Misconception?
Belief system?
Assumptions?
New law of physics?
You must have a good tolerance of the ambiguity
21. Case study: Treat inconsistencies
as opportunities
If the earth is not the center of the universe, the
earth must be ‗flying‘ across space but why the
earth is not moving and appear solid?
There is an inconsistency with Galileo
conclusion. Because of that lots of people think
that Galileo was incorrect.
22. Case study: Treat inconsistencies
as opportunities
• Newton noticed the inconsistencies and he
delved deeply in the matter.
And hence
Newton's law of universal gravitation
“Inspiration comes from the prepared mind”
23. How to solve a research
problem?
• Investigate anomalies
anomalies
New discovery?
Procedure error?
Instrumental
Error?
Great discovery often happened by accidents.
Don't kick it under the workbench.
Construct an example or experiment to emphasize
the anomaly and bring it into clear view
Accident?
24. Case study: Investigate anomalies
• In 1928 Fleming left the lid off the top of
one of his Petri dishes.
• He went for vacation
• He returned and notice…….
FUNGUS
(contamination)
Bacteria Fleming trying to
grow in agar dish
(Staphylococcus )
25. Case study: Investigate anomalies
• Lucky Fleming is observant enough that he
didn‘t through away as he saw regions without
Fungus!!
• Fleming concluded that the mould was releasing
a substance that was repressing the growth of
the bacteria
• He grew a pure culture and discovered that it
was a Pencillium ( the most powerful antibiotic
for curing serious disease)
26. How to solve a research
problem?
• Examine extreme cases.
You can learn a lot about a problem by pushing it to
extremes. Make numbers big, small, zero, equal to each
other, etc., to see what you can learn. These special cases
may expose what the solution looks like around the
edges.
27. Seek simplicity and distrust it
• The law of nature is governed by simple laws.
Most amazing equations are often the simplest.
maFmcE 2
•But in REAL world, the law of physics are often
interacting on each other, a simplistic view often
doesn‘t describe the real word.
28. Making others research papers
obsolete
• ―The value of a paper is related to the number of
earlier papers that it renders obsolete‖- Hilbert
Displace previous work by introducing new points of view
,developing new techniques, refining thought processes and
etc
29. Build doors and bridges
• The real value of an advance or solution is the
number of doors that it opens for future
research.
Developed in 1947 at Bell Labs by
Shockley, Brattain, and Bardeen
Modern
Electronics
and advanced
material and
methodology for
Semiconducting
research
30. Reinventing a better wheel
• Don‘t reinvent the wheel since it wastes time and
resources.
• But if you found yourself doing something very
similar to others, go beyond other researchers'
work by putting your individual perspective, any
specialized tools you develop along the way.
Improve upon it.
―Great discoveries and improvements invariably involve the cooperation of many
minds. I may be given credit for having blazed the trail, but when I look at the
subsequent developments I feel the credit is due to others rather than to myself.‖ –
Alexander Graham Bell
31. Case study: Reinventing a better
wheel
WIRELESS ENERGY TRANSFER
Tesla intended for the tower to demonstrate how the ionsphere could
be used to provide free electricity to everyone without the need for
power lines. Project not completed because of the lack of funding
1900s
32. Case study: Reinventing a better
wheel
Martin Soljačić from MIT,
along with a lab
demonstration of their
technology — used here to
light a 60 W bulb
Efficient transfer energy transfer over long distance in
the presence of extraneous environmental objects.
33. New discoveries are marginal at
first.
• The first light bulb only burned for a few
seconds. Some may conclude it is useless but
others might see it as a first step for light at
night.
• Realize that new ideas and results are often
weak at first, and they need to be nurtured and
defended in order to compete with established
techniques and vested interests. That takes
courage and perseverance
34. Studying examples
• There is virtually no textbook for a research
topics. You have only journal papers.
• Studying examples or research found within
your field would illuminate theories behind
provide guidance in developing new results.
35. Beware of what is uncertain
• Research is venturing into unknown and you will
encounter things that you are not completely
sure about including your supervisor.
• Try to find out more about the uncertain area by
reading and/or experiments.
• Believe that something is true but it is, in fact,
false (some published results may be wrong or
you may have made an experimental,
computational or logical error in your own work),
then your thinking can be severely distorted.
36. Use your tools wisely
• Familiarize by reading manual of the equipment
and understand the limit and usefulness of
information that can be obtained.
• Use the correct tools to solve your problem.
• Using too powerful tools can make finding
solution becomes very difficult.
37. Develop necessary tools
• In the history of Science, developing of a new
instrument has always resulted in new
understanding of reality.
• Since the result you seek is novel and not yet
known by others, you cannot expect to use
readily available off-the-shelf equipment.
• Once you have those tools and techniques, then
you are in a position to do things that no one
else has done.
• Good tools can be extremely powerful
“Measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not so.”-Galileo Galilei
38. Case study: Develop necessary
tools
Gas Discharge Visualisation (GDV)
Based on Kirlian Effect is a visible electro-
photonic glow of an object in response to
pulsed electrical field excitation.
In early days, Kirlian images were
recorded on photographic emulsion.
Since the sensitivity of a photographic
emulsion varies greatly with environmental
factors such as humidity, recordings were
not reproducible. As a result, some
scientists dismissed the Kirlian effect as
useless.
39. Case study: Develop necessary
tools
Gas Discharge Visualisation (GDV)
Modern GDV instruments developed by Prof Korotkov use glass
electrodes and their recordings are highly reproducible in a wide range of
environmental conditions.
Stimulated
electrophotonic GLOW
recorded seems to
contain information
about nearly every
major organ, function of
human organism and
human consciousness
Indirect instrumental detection of ultraweak, presumably electromagnetic radiation from organisms
Author(s): Berden, M; Jerman, I; Skarja, M
Source: ELECTRO- AND MAGNETOBIOLOGY Volume: 16 Issue: 3 Pages: 249-266 Published: 1997
40. Automated your measurement
system
• With the advent of computer control, why not
safe your painstaking measurement time by
automated your measurement. Very useful when
measurement are performed again and again.
41. Ask good questions
• The answers you get are determined and
limited by the questions you asked.
• Do ask questions on questions you want
to find out the answer
42. Be innovative and creative
• Most scientific discoveries and
technological advancement are fuelled by
innovative and creative thinking.
―I believe in intuition and inspiration. Imagination is more important than
knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the
entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. It is, strictly
speaking, a real factor in scientific research‖- Albert Einstein
43. Where do innovative and
creative ideas come from?
• Sudden spontaneous visions.
• Dreams
• Cross-pollination from different
fields .
―If you want to have good ideas you must have many ideas. Most of them
will be wrong, and what you have to learn is which ones to throw away.‖-
Linus Pauling
44. Case study: Cross-pollination from
different fields
Optical tweezer
A focused laser beam to provide an attractive or repulsive force
depending on the refractive index mismatch to physically hold and
move microscopic dielectric objects.
Arthur Ashkin -optical trapping to trap atom
Steven Chu- laser cooling on atoms
Arthur Ashkin- move biological objects with optical trapping
-won Nobel prize
-won Nobel prize
45. Creating New Solutions
• Ordinary creativity consists of conscious activities,
represented as linear processes
• Extraordinary creativity involves unconscious mental
processes consisting in interactions between various
regions in the associative cortex bypassing
consciousness
46. Creating New Solutions
Get the problem reasonably clear and then refuse to look at
any answers until you've thought the problem through carefully how you
would do it, how you could slightly change the problem to be the correct
one.- Richard Hamming
47. How do I nurture my creativity?
• Exploring in depth a new area
• Be eclectic to exploit outside knowledge
• Think interconnectedness and holistically
• Know when to work more deeply or to move on
• Daily meditation
• Practicing day dreaming
• Make strange familiar and the familiar strange.
• Open minded
48. How do I nurture my creativity?
Recognize when you're mentally tired and rest
Inspiration often comes when you are relaxing or doing something else
49. How to become a good
researcher?
• Be technically excellent and work hard.
• Don't fear mistakes.
• Have a vision and defend it
• Don't get discouraged and (almost)
never give up.
• Learn from the past
• Be passion with your research
―I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step
forward‖- Thomas Edison
50. How to become a good
researcher?
• Think interconnectedness and
holistically
• Sell your ideas
• Develop ability to tolerate ambiguity
“If you believe too much you'll never notice the flaws; if you doubt too
much you won't get started. It requires a lovely balance.‖ -Richard
Hamming
52. Characteristics of High Impact
paper
• The work you have done something
important to advance towards a solution of
one of the big problem.
• You have solved the big problem in your
field.
• You have discovered something important.
53. Characteristics of Good paper
• Show deep fundamental understanding
(mechanism ,etc) of the research work.
• Show details of logical and coherent
explanation of the investigated
phenomena
• Show that what you have done is different
from other people.
54. Reasons for paper rejection
• Lack of mechanistic and fundamental study
• Lack of novelty. Your conclusion is very similar to
what it has been published previously even though
there are differences. It does not provide any
significant original contribution to the community
• Wrong format of submission.
• Your study is not complete. Ie, you need to have
more conclusive experiment to back your data up
and be more specific .
• There is a flaw in your experimental process and
your interpretation of your results.
55. Writing good paper
• Ensure novelty.
• Ensure it can provide significant original
contribution.
• Strong fundamental and mechanistic
study.
• Back up your data with experimental
evidences that reach your conclusion.
56. Writing good paper
• Make sure you are in continuous development of critical
thinking. An individual or group engaged in strong
critical thinking gives due consideration to:
• Evidence through observation
• Context
• Relevant criteria for making the judgment well
• Applicable methods or techniques for forming the
judgment
• Applicable theoretical constructs for understanding
the problem and the question at hand
57. Writing good paper
• Critical thinking employs not only logic but
broad intellectual criteria such as clarity,
credibility, accuracy, precision, relevance,
depth, breadth, significance, and fairness.
59. Safety
• MSDS -material safety data sheet is a
form containing data regarding the
properties of a particular substance.
• Take precautious when dealing with
dangerous chemicals, high voltage , class
II,III, IV lasers and etc
• In doubt, ask your supervisor
60. Scientific Misconducts
Intentional distortion of the research process by fabrication
of data, text, hypothesis, or methods from another researcher's
manuscript form or publication
Obfuscation - The Omission of critical data/ results
Fabrication – the actual making up of research data.
Falsification – manipulation of research data and processes in order to reflect
or prevent a certain result.
plagiarism – the act of taking credit for the work of another
self-plagiarism – or Multiple publication of the same content with different titles
and/or in different journals
the violation of ethical standards
stealing the work and results of others and publish them
61. Scientific Misconducts
“If you're doing an experiment, you should report everything that you think
might make it invalid — not only what you think is right about it... Details that
could throw doubt on your interpretation must be given, if you know them.‖-
Richard Feynman
63. Credibility :
soundness of logic, scientific process,
conform with common belief
Honest mistakes in judgment and errors in interpretation
made in good faith are not regarded as scientific misconduct
64. More advices on doing research
• Science
• http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/
• Nature
http://www.nature.com/
- Advices by experienced researchers and Nobel laureates
can sometime be found on the above magazines
- You and your research by Dr Richard Hamming , a Bell lab
scientist,
- http://www.csee.usf.edu/~zheng/hamming-research.pdf
“If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants.‖- Issac Newton
65. My 2cent
• Doing research is like cultivating thinking skills.
• You do experiments/ modeling to check what you
think is correct/incorrect.
• You constantly improve your thinking skills. You
gain new practical experience so that you have
more means to verify your thinking/ideas.
66. Hope you are smarter after this lecture.
You will get significantly smarter at the end of your
research. Maybe smarter than me.
For those who are doing PhD, I am sure you
will get your Permanent Head Damage.
67. The END
HAVE FUN with your research
―All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child ―-
Marie Curie
