Suggestions for improving your research process

Using a MUPPET to help chase down rainbows with your horse and cart

Who am I?

Started PhD at the end of 2003 with a Top Achiever Scholarship...

...the thesis will be submitted for review in a few months.

What was I doing during that time?

• I.T. consulting & programming

• Traveling

• Growing up

• Battling the research process

What I will cover

Identifying the horse, cart and rainbow within your research.

The missteps I took during my research and its consequences.

MUPPET: simple tips for keeping your research on track.

How MUPPET helped me formalise my research process.

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Chasing rainbows with your horse and cart

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ObjectiveOutcome, ambition

InterestPersonal, lifeblood

ProcessArgument, methodology

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Without a process you are not moving towards your objective, just enjoying your interest.

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Without an interest, research is a long hard slog and the outcome unsatisfying.

The interest sustains and the process leads

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...the interest drives the process?

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But what happens if...

Letting my cart get ahead of the horse

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Objective: “better” digital collaboration

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The technical diversity within the industry poses a problem

Or so we are led to believeBuilding Information Models result in better digital collaboration

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We currently do a bad job of recording the design story

BIM is a “perfect” record of an outcome, but the processes that led to it are lost or forgotten.

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Interest: applying Web technologies within architecture practice

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These Web-centric technologies are reshaping the way we communicate, acquire information and conduct commerce.

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The architecture industry has been slow to adopt such practices.

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Rather than develop a research process, I followed my interests.

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I blogged my thoughts and findings because in the context of the research it “made sense”.

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I developed and tested a software prototype embodying interesting Web technologies within an architectural collaboration environment.

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Principles are decision aids in a rapidly moving environment

Realisation - The industry lacks principles for digital collaboration

Gartner Group, 2006

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Proposed the principles of the Project Information Cloud

SimplicityUbiquityDecentralisationModularityContext SensitivityInformation AwarenessEvolutionary Semantics

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Problem: How to robustly justify the hypothesis of the principles without starting from square one?

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Using MUPPET to foster the research process

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M otivate

U ndertake

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E xchange

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Eureka moments only take you so far.

Write something research related every (other) day.

Consciously identify your rainbow, horse and cart.

Understand how your actions relate to the research.

Talk to everyone (relevant) about your research.

Evaluate what you have done & where you are going.

Motivate: Research is not a sprint but a marathon broken up by euphoric “eureka” moments.

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Undertake: Creating something tangible establishes a point of discussion and reference.

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Plan: Start developing your research structure immediately with the knowledge it will change.

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Ponder: Try not to blindly act but if you do, take time afterwards to assess its research value.

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Exchange: Develop the key research ideas through elevator, email and coffee pitches to peers.

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Test: No (research) plan survives contact with the enemy, be prepared to change or compromise.

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Applying MUPPET to improve my research process

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Eureka moment - the research actually dealt with broader digital collaboration principles.

Action: Take the time to analyse all the research results to develop a process that justifies this finding.

M otivate

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I was writing reasonably regularly about the subject but it was informal.

Action: Commit to writing “real” thesis chapters.

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I knew the high-level structure of my thesis but below this was patchy.

Action: Review everything produced, assemble it into a viable structure and identify its shortcomings.

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The prototype had inspired the eureka moment but experiments prove hypothesis, not create them.

Action: Determine how the prototype’s results prove the identified digital collaboration principles.

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Regular publishing of blog content and papers had built worldwide ties within the industry.

Action: Proactively engage with a broad range of people to develop the viability of the research.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/photochiel/

M otivate

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There was very little cohesion between the writing on the blog, the published papers and the prototype.

Action: Continually work through the argument until all aspects of the work have a consistent message.

In conclusion

• How I approached my research was not “right” but it was worthwhile.

• Select your research interest wisely as it will sustain you.

• Identify achievable and precise research outcomes.

• Formulate and follow a research process early on.

• Resist the urge to “see where your interest takes you”.

• If in doubt remember MUPPET:

Motivate, Undertake, Plan, Ponder, Exchange & Test