아이디어 구상부터 초안 작성, 수정, 제출 준비에 이르기까지 연구 수행에 대한 실용적인 안내서.

Main idea: A research paper should answer one (or more) question using evidence.

What is Academic Research?

Most research starts unclear and becomes clearer through iteration.

In a nutshell, academic research is an iterative process of:

Questioning: Ask clear, structured questions
Experimenting: Systematically investigate those questions
- through experiments
- and data analysis
Communicating: Report your findings in a clear and compelling way

This process can be visualized as a cycle:

Question → 2. Understanding → 3. Experiment → 4. Data Analysis → 5. References → 6. Writing → 7. Revision → (back to 1)

Core Stages of the Research Process

Start with a Question.
What problem are you trying to solve? Write it in one sentence.

1. Choose a Topic

Identifying a general area of interest that is:

Specific enough to investigate
Open to unanswered questions
Feasible within your available time & resources

Need help? Ask an LLM for suggestions:
See more in Unit 9 →

I am a university student looking for research paper topics related to
[ your major or field of study, e.g., computer science, engineering, psychology, etc.].

Please provide me with a list of 10 potential research topics that are 
relevant, interesting, and feasible for a student to explore. The topics 
should be specific enough to allow for focused research but broad enough 
to find sufficient resources. Additionally, please include a brief 
explanation (1-2 sentences) for each topic to help me understand its 
significance and potential research questions.

2. Form a Research Question

A research question is the CENTER of the entire project.

A good research question is FINER:

F – Feasible: Do you have the resources, time, and expertise?
I – Interesting: Is the answer intriguing to you and your peers?
N – Novel: Does it provide new info or confirm/refute old findings?
E – Ethical: Will an institutional review board (IRB) approve it? (See also Unit 10 →)
R – Relevant: Does it matter to clinical or scientific progress?

Examples:

❌ “What is AI?”
✔ “How does chatbot feedback affect student learning outcomes?”

3. Background Research (Literature Review)

Study what others have already learned.

The primary goal of background research is to understand the field:

Understand key concepts and the latest discoveries
Identify gaps or open problems
Avoid repeating existing work

Key skill: reading papers efficiently, not deeply at first.
See also: Unit 2 →

4. Design your Experiment (The Method)

Decide HOW you will answer your question.

Defining a good research method is important in helping you collect data to analyze. Research methods may include:

Experiments
Surveys
Simulations
Case studies
Data analysis

Key point: Your method determines what kind of answer you can get.
See also: Unit 3 →

5. Collect Data

Gather evidence.

Data can be gathered in a variety of ways:

Experimental results
Survey responses
Observations
Datasets

Almost all data will fall into one of two categories: quantitative or qualitative.

Quantitative data (numbers and logic) is like a microscope (zooming in on specific, measurable parts).
Qualitative data (meanings and experiences) is a wide-angle lens (capturing an entire scene and the “why” of your experiment).

When collecting data, remember the following key principles:

Be consistent
Be transparent
Avoid bias

See also: Unit 3 →

6. Analyze & Interpret your Data

Interpret the data you collected using logic, statistics, or reasoning.

We can use various methods to analyze and visualize data, but the following questions will help you interpret your data:

What patterns are present in the data?
What does the data actually show?
Are there alternative explanations?

It is important to remember that numbers and graphs alone do not help others understand your data. Data interpretation requires more than mere reiteration of numbers and graphs. It may require one or more of the following:

Narrative interpretation connects your data to the real-world
Contextual analysis answers the “why” behind trends
Actionable insights can help drive decision-making

Key point: Always aim to answer the “So what?” question for your audience.
See also: Unit 3 →

7. Conclude your Research (When Writing a Paper)

Connect your results back to your original question.

After performing an experiment and analyzing data, if you report your methods and results in a research paper, you will finalize the paper with a Conclusion section. Good conclusions:

Answer the research question directly
Acknowledge study limitations
Avoid overclaiming results

See also: Unit 4 →

8. Communicate your Results

Research is not complete until it is communicated.

There are various ways to report your research findings. These may include:

Blog posts
Reports
Conference Posters
Conference Presentations (oral)
Conference Research papers
Research journal articles
Book chapters
Full books

Key point: If no one understands it, your work doesn’t function as research.
See also:

Unit 4 → (Writing Papers)
Unit 5 → (Presenting at Conferences)
Unit 6 → (Publishing in Journals)
Unit 7 → (Capstone Design)

Key Concepts

Hypothesis vs Question

Question: what you want to know
Hypothesis: your predicted answer

Correlation vs Causation

Correlation: two variables move together
Causation: one variable directly affects the other

Correlation does not necessarily mean causation.
See also Spurious Correlations | 가짜 상관관계라?

Validity, Reliability, & Reproducibility

Validity: Are you measuring what you think you are measuring?
Reliability: Would you get the same result if repeated?
Reproducibility: Can someone else repeat your process and get similar results?

Common Beginner Mistakes

Choosing overly broad topics
Skipping literature review
Changing the question too late
Collecting data without a clear method
Jumping to conclusions too quickly
Ignoring negative results

See also: Unit 8 →

Think of research as: “A structured argument supported by evidence.”
Not: guessing, opinion writing, summarizing information

Understanding the Academic Research Process