如何做科学研究英文

How to do high quality researchZheng-Hong Qin,PhDDepartment of PharmacologySoochow University School of PharmacyWhy do research?To explore an unknown To bridge gaps between existing knowledge To revise existing theoriesWhy do research Forfilment of graduation requirment At least one published research paper A way to demonstrate your critical thinking,skills and responsibilityWhere to start Discuss with supervisor about ongoing projects in his/her lab A project suitable for thesis work:An extention of previous works Expand a new direction of research Can be finished in 3-4 yearsWhere to start?Read literatures as much as possible Identify questions Construct hypothesis Conduct a pilot experiment Write a proposalBeginning with reading Getting a research idea by reading papers Ask while readingCan I extend this concept to my studies?Can I use these methods in my studies?Can I extend the methods by assessing something not assessed in the original paper,or increasing quality of assessment?Can I improve and extend this study using different strategy?Keep in your mind of these words:How What When Who Which Why Where?Formulating your research idea Getting your own ideas Develop many ideas simultaneously.Dont focus prematurely on a single idea Write down every idea that you get,good or bad.Identify a project which will be realistic,given the resources available to youConsider these when you formulate research idea:Is interesting to you,to your advisor,and to the research community.Is original(you must be aware of ongoing research in your field).Will address an important scientific issue.Can be finished quickly,its usually best to pick a narrow,well defined topic.Defining the questionThe question must be specific.Ask yourself:what do I want to know?What is the purpose of asking this question?What will the answer tell me?Can this question be answered through research?What do I expect to find once Ive conducted my research?Developing the hypothesis A hypothesis is an assertion subject to verification,testing or proof.A hypothesis should state precisely what will be tested.Formulating a hypothesis will help you design your experiment so that youll know what to measure or what data will be needed.Construct a Hypothesis:A hypothesis is an educated guess about how things work:If _I do this _,then _this_ will happen.You must state your hypothesis in a way that you can easily measure,and of course,your hypothesis should be constructed in a way to help you answer your original question.One sided vs two sided hypotheses If you expect that a change in either direction is possible and that changes in either direction are interesting,then you should use a two sided hypothesis.If changes in one direction are uninteresting and unpublishable,then use a one sided hypothesis.Also if a change in the unexpected direction is equivalent in practice to no change,then use a one sided hypothesis.Stating a hypothesis Generally,a hypothesis will have four major components:1.the subject group 2.the treatment or exposure 3.the outcome measure 4.the control group Locating Resources/Gathering Information&Materials Ask yourself:What do I know about my topic?What additional information would help me?How can I use different sources of information(experts,books,articles,computer databases)to gather the information I need?Where will I conduct this research?What resources are available to me-time,equipment,people,money,facilities,etc.?Identify essential assays that directly answer your question Do what will give you answers to the question stated in hypothesis All measurements must be directly related to your research questionsSome important issues Randomization Sample size Blinding Proper controls:normal,medium,negative,positive controlPlanning the Research/Developing Data Collection Methods:This step involves making a very specific plan about how you will conduct your research and collect your data(protocols).Ask yourself:How will I answer my research question/test my hypotheses?What data do I need to collect?How will I collect these data?What equipment or supplies do I need?Do I have a reference point(control)with which to compare my data?Planning the Research/Developing Data Collection Methods:To answer my question,do I need to manipulate variables?How many(samples,sites,tests,etc.)do I need?What record-keeping techniques(e.g.data sheet,journal)will I use?Are my data collection techniques organized and thorough?Are there sequential steps to my research?If so,what are they?How will I plan my time?Collecting data:Be sure that you write down all of the information(data)that could affect the answer to your research question.Ask yourself:Am I recording all relevant data?Can I read and understand my notes?Am I keeping track of what I did at each step?Am I being objective in my data collection?Organizing&Analyzing the Data:This step gives you the chance to pull together the data youve collected and look at it more closely.Ask yourself:How will I organize and summarize the data Ive collected?What do my data show?How should I present my data graphically so that others can see the results clearly?(e.g.bar graphs,tables,pie charts,line graphs,etc.)Are the results significant?What other data I need to get to conclude my study?Interpreting the Data&Drawing Conclusions:In this step,look at your dada more critically.Read references and decide what conclusions you can draw.Ask yourself:What alternative hypotheses might explain these results?Am I considering all relevant data,including extremes or oddball data in my analysis?How might my sampling or data collection methods have affected these results?What answer do my results provide to my original question?How do my results compare to what I expected to happen(my hypothesis)?What can I conclude from my results?How do my conclusions affect the community or big picture(implications)?Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion:Once your experiment is complete,you collect your measurements and analyze them to see if your hypothesis is true or false.Scientists often find that their hypothesis was false,and in such cases they will construct a new hypothesis starting the entire process of the scientific method over again.Even if they find that their hypothesis was true,they may want to test it again in a new way.Communicating the Results Writing:Academia runs on publish-or-perish.Writing down your ideas is the best way to debug them.If your work is to benefit anyone other than yourself,you must communicate it.This is a basic responsibility of research.You need constant feedback from other people.Comments on your papers are one of the most important forms of that.Communicating the Results Have I addressed all of the following components of my research in my communication?:Introduction to question,purpose of this research and why it is interesting or matters Description of methods used to collect data Results Conclusions What questions are raised by my research?How do others respond to my work?Communicating the Results Talk:An ability to stand in front of an audience and give a talk that doesnt make the audience fall asleep is crucial for success in terms of recognition,respect and eventually a job.Ask yourself:Who is my audience?What is the best way to communicate to my audience?(e.g.written report,oral or poster presentation,video,etc.)What visual aids will help my audience clearly understand this research?How to give a talk Know your audience Essential background information A picture is worth a thousand of words Be vivid End your talk 3-5 min ahead of schedule Answer questions,do not be afraid of saying“sorry I do not know”How to Organize your Thesis A Generic Thesis Skeleton 1.Introduction 2.Background information(optional)3.Research question or problem statement 4.Describing how you solved the problem or answered the question 5.Conclusions 6.References 7.Appendices Introduction This is a general introduction to what the thesis is all about.Briefly summarize the question(you will be stating the question in detail later),some of the reasons why it is a worthwhile question,and perhaps give an overview of your main results.This is a birds-eye view of the answers to the main questions answered in the thesis.Background Information A brief section giving background information may be necessary,especially if your work spans two or more traditional fields.That means that your readers may not have any experience with some of the material needed to follow your thesis,so you need to give it to them.Research Question or Problem Statement Engineering theses tend to refer to a problem to be solved where other disciplines talk in terms of a question to be answered.In either case,this section has three main parts:1.a concise statement of the question that your thesis tackles 2.justification,your question is previously unanswered3.discussion of why it is worthwhile to answer this question.Describing How You Solved the Problem or Answered the Question This part of the thesis is much more free-form.It may have one or several sections and subsections.But it all has only one purpose:to convince the examiners that you answered the question or solved the problem that you set for yourself.Conclusions Here you list the contributions of new knowledge that your thesis makes.Of course,the thesis itself must substantiate any claims made here.There is often some overlap with the Conclusions,but thats okay.Concise numbered paragraphs are again best.Organize from most to least important.I prefer you to clearly state your contributions,but do not to over state them!Conclusions You generally cover three things in the Conclusions section,and each of these usually merits a separate subsection:1.Conclusions 2.Summary of Contributions 3.Future Research References The list of references is closely tied to the review of the state of the art.Most examiners scan your list of references looking for the important works in the field,so make sure they are listed and referred to in your thesis.Truth be known,most examiners also look for their own publications if they are in the topic area of the thesis,so list these too.Appendices What goes in the appendices?Any material which impedes the smooth development of your presentation,but which is important to justify the results of a thesis.Masters vs.PhD Thesis There are different expectations for Masters theses and for Doctoral theses.This difference is not in format but in the significance and level of discovery as evidenced by the problem to be solved and the summary of contributions;A Doctoral thesis necessarily requires a more difficult problem to be solved,and consequently more substantial contributions.The contribution to knowledge of a Masters thesis can be in the nature of an incremental improvement in an area of knowledge,or the application of known techniques in a new area.The Ph.D.must be a substantial and innovative contribution to knowledge.A Model for Conducting Scientific Research 1.Defining the question 2.Locating resources/Gathering information 3.Forming a hypothesis/hypotheses 4.Planning research,collection methods 5.Collecting data 6.Organizing&analyzing data 7.Interpreting Data&drawing conclusions 8.Communicating the results几个实验设计的例子 Caspase-8线粒体定位 先观察到颗粒状分布免疫组化 推测procaspase-8可能主要存在与线粒体。关键实验有两部份：1 证明 procaspase-8存在于线粒体内2 功能意义？实验方案 线粒体定位：光镜 电镜 生化线粒体释放：试管内在体Mitochondria localization of pro-caspase-8Mitochondria localization of pro-caspase-8Mitochondria localization of pro-caspase-8Mitochondria localization of pro-caspase-8Release of pro-caspase-8 from mitochondriaRelease of pro-caspase-8 from mitochondriaRelease of pro-caspase-8 from mitochondria