Research methodology - What is a PhD?

Research MethodologyInteractive Art PhD

Escola das Artes da UCPPorto, Portugal

Luís Gustavo Martinslmartins@porto.ucp.pt

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PhD Seminars

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What is a PhD?

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What is a PhD?

5http://danny.oz.au/danny/humour/phd_lotr.html

The Lord of the Rings Allegory...

What is a PhD?“Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated to PhD, or Ph.D. in

English-speaking countries, for the Latin philosophiae doctor, meaning "teacher in the love of wisdom", is an advanced academic degree awarded by universities. In most English-speaking countries, the PhD is the highest degree one can earn (although in some countries like the UK, Ireland, and

the Commonwealth nations higher doctorates are awarded). The PhD or equivalent has become a requirement for a

career as a university professor or researcher in most fields. The academic level of degrees known as doctorates of

philosophy varies according to the country and time period.”

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PhD

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What is a PhD?

• Imagine a circle that contains all human knowledge...

Matt Might, http://matt.might.net/, http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/7

What is a PhD?

• By the time you finish elementary school you know a little...

Matt Might, http://matt.might.net/, http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/8

• By the time you finish high-school you know a bit more...

What is a PhD?

Matt Might, http://matt.might.net/, http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/9

• With a bachelor's degree, you gain a specialty...

What is a PhD?

Matt Might, http://matt.might.net/, http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/10

• A master's degree deepens that specialty...

What is a PhD?

Matt Might, http://matt.might.net/, http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/11

• Reading research papers takes you to the edge of human knowledge...

What is a PhD?

Matt Might, http://matt.might.net/, http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/12

• Once you're at the boundary, you focus...

What is a PhD?

Matt Might, http://matt.might.net/, http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/13

• You push at the boundary for a few years...

What is a PhD?

Matt Might, http://matt.might.net/, http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/14

• Until one day, the boundary gives way...

What is a PhD?

Matt Might, http://matt.might.net/, http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/15

• And, that dent you've made is called a Ph.D.!

What is a PhD?

Matt Might, http://matt.might.net/, http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/16

• Of course, the world looks different to you now...

What is a PhD?

Matt Might, http://matt.might.net/, http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/17

• So, don't forget the bigger picture!!

What is a PhD?

Matt Might, http://matt.might.net/, http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/18

• We (YOU!) must keep pushing!!

What is a PhD?

Matt Might, http://matt.might.net/, http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/19

• PhD Milestones:

• qualifying exams / program acceptance

• thesis proposal

• thesis defense

• Thesis proposal is the trickiest!

• (if you apply for a FCT grant, you’ll know what I mean)

What is a PhD?

http://matt.might.net/articles/advice-for-phd-thesis-proposals/20

• A thesis proposal is a contract!

• It must include:

• A clearly defined thesis

• A specific plan for demonstrating that thesis

• Everything else in the proposal (related work, prior work, challenges) exists to support the plausibility of the thesis and the plan.

• You will be judged by this contract later on in your defense!

What is a PhD?

http://matt.might.net/articles/advice-for-phd-thesis-proposals/21

How to define your PhD thesis?

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How to define your PhD thesis?

• So, where do good ideas (and so, good thesis) come from?

• They may start as a “hunch” (aka educated guess)...

• They need time to incubate...

• They need to “colide with other hunches”...

• Collaboration!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NugRZGDbPFU

http://www.ted.com/talks/steven_johnson_where_good_ideas_come_from.html23

How to define your PhD thesis?

• A research topic can be chosen based on:

• how relevant the topic is nowadays

• the available literature

• the current state-of-the-art on the topic

• your personal interests

• your R&D/University research interests

• funding...

• ...

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How to define your PhD thesis?

• A thesis statement is a single sentence!

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How to define your PhD thesis?

• A thesis statement is a single sentence!

• active, declarative, defensible

• make it as short as possible

• ... but avoid turning it too general!

• The thesis statement answers the question:

"What did humanity learn as a consequence of this dissertation?"

Remember, in a PhD, a novel contribution is MANDATORY!

http://matt.might.net/articles/advice-for-phd-thesis-proposals/26

How to define your PhD thesis?

• An example: my thesis

• “A Computational Framework for Sound Segregation in Music Signals”

The main problem this work tries to address is the identification and segregation of sound events in

monaural (i.e. single-channel) real-world” polyphonic music signals [using a computer]

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How to define your PhD thesis?

• An example: my thesis

• “A Computational Framework for Sound Segregation in Music Signals”

• This thesis segmented my dissertation into four parts: related work, theory, experimentation and application.

• Related work defends novelty.

• Theory and experimentation defend feasibility.

• Application defends usefulness.

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How to define your PhD thesis?

• An example: my thesis

• “A Computational Framework for Sound Segregation in Music Signals”

• doesn't say anything about what technical mechanisms I used to prove sound segregation using a computer is possible

• I developed a software framework to support my thesis. But, those were just the means. Sound segregation was the end.

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How to define your PhD thesis?

How interesting is my thesis?!

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How to define your PhD thesis?

student or postdoc reads, discusses, andplans. The state of mind is focused onbeing rather than doing. The temptationto start working arises, but a rule isa rule. After 3 months (or more), a celebra-tion marks the beginning of the researchphase—with a well-planned project.Taking time is not always easy. One

must be supported to resist the urge:‘‘Oh, we must produce—let’s not wastetime, and start working.’’ I am under noillusion that everyone is free to choosetheir own problems, or has the timeneeded for an extended search. Takingtime can be especially difficult when fund-ing is insufficient and grant deadlinesapproach. In such difficult situations,nurturing is not enough, and you need tofind support and do all you can to getinto a better situation. Even so, for manyof us dealing with the difficulties ofrunning a lab, taking time to choose prob-lems can make a huge difference.

The Subjectivity of the Interest AxisLet us now look in more detail on the axisof problem interest. Who decides how torank the interest of problems? One ofthe fundamental aspects of science isthat the interest of a problem is subjectiveand personal. This subjectivity, however,makes things confusing. The confusionis due to the mixing of two voices—oneis a loud voice of the interests of thosearound us, in conferences, in our depart-ment, etc. The other is a faint voice inour breast, that says, ‘‘This is interestingto me.’’ Ranking problems with consider-ation to the inner voice makes you more

likely to choose problems that will satisfyyou in the long term.The inner voice can be strengthened

and guided if one is lucky enough to havecaring mentors. A scientist often needsa supportive environment tobegin to listento this voice. One way to help listening tothe inner voice is to ask: ‘‘If I was the onlyperson on earth, which of these problemswould I work on?’’ An honest answer canhelp minimize compromises.Another good sign of the inner voice are

ideas and questions that come back againand again to your mind for months oryears. These are likely to be the basis ofgood projects, more so than ideas thathave occurred to you in recent days.Another good test: When asked todescribe our research to an acquaintance,how does it feel to describe each project?It is remarkable that listening to our own

idiosyncratic voice leads tobetter science.It makes research self-motivated and theroutine of research more rewarding. Inscience, the more you interest yourself,the larger the probability that you willinterest your audience.

Self-ExpressionWhat is the essence of the inner voice?The projects that a particular researcherfinds interesting are an expression ofa personal filter, a way of perceiving theworld. This filter is associated with a setof values: the beliefs of what is good,beautiful, and true versus what is bad,ugly, and false. Our unique filter is whatwe bring to the table as scientists. Amulti-plicity in styles and questions, based on

the uniqueness of scientists, is the basisof a viable and creative science.

To choose a good problem, therefore,we need to reflect on our own worldview. And, as mentors, we can helpstudents in the late phases of their PhDor in the postdoc stage to strengthen theirinner voice. Amentor can help by listeningto a student describe what they like inscience, in life outside of science, whatmoment made them decide to becomescientists, and what scientific work theyadmire. We sometimes begin to seepatterns in what the student is talkingabout. There emerges a map of values,in the way that deep rocks in an oceanare discernable by the waves made onthe surface. Is this student motivated byvisual aesthetics or by abstract ideas?By supporting the dogma or by undermin-ing commonly held truths? Likes tech-niques or logical proofs? Basic under-standing or applied work? And so on.This can help the mentor select a projectin which the student has the potentialfor self-expression. As mentioned above,when one can achieve self-expression inscience, work becomes revitalizing, self-driven, and laden with personal meaning.It may also have a better chance ofdiscovering something profound.

The Schema of ResearchWhat happens after we choose aproblem? Before we end, I’d like to dis-cuss the mental picture or schema wehold of what research will look like (Fig-ure 2). A common schema is expressedin the way papers are written: one starts

Figure 1. The Feasibility-Interest Diagram for Choosing a ProjectTwo axes for choosing scientific problems: feasibility and interest.

Molecular Cell

Forum

Molecular Cell 35, September 25, 2009 ª2009 Elsevier Inc. 727

Alon, U. (2009). How to choose a good scientific problem. Molecular cell, 35(6):726–728. 31

How to define your PhD thesis?

student or postdoc reads, discusses, andplans. The state of mind is focused onbeing rather than doing. The temptationto start working arises, but a rule isa rule. After 3 months (or more), a celebra-tion marks the beginning of the researchphase—with a well-planned project.Taking time is not always easy. One

must be supported to resist the urge:‘‘Oh, we must produce—let’s not wastetime, and start working.’’ I am under noillusion that everyone is free to choosetheir own problems, or has the timeneeded for an extended search. Takingtime can be especially difficult when fund-ing is insufficient and grant deadlinesapproach. In such difficult situations,nurturing is not enough, and you need tofind support and do all you can to getinto a better situation. Even so, for manyof us dealing with the difficulties ofrunning a lab, taking time to choose prob-lems can make a huge difference.

The Subjectivity of the Interest AxisLet us now look in more detail on the axisof problem interest. Who decides how torank the interest of problems? One ofthe fundamental aspects of science isthat the interest of a problem is subjectiveand personal. This subjectivity, however,makes things confusing. The confusionis due to the mixing of two voices—oneis a loud voice of the interests of thosearound us, in conferences, in our depart-ment, etc. The other is a faint voice inour breast, that says, ‘‘This is interestingto me.’’ Ranking problems with consider-ation to the inner voice makes you more

likely to choose problems that will satisfyyou in the long term.The inner voice can be strengthened

and guided if one is lucky enough to havecaring mentors. A scientist often needsa supportive environment tobegin to listento this voice. One way to help listening tothe inner voice is to ask: ‘‘If I was the onlyperson on earth, which of these problemswould I work on?’’ An honest answer canhelp minimize compromises.Another good sign of the inner voice are

ideas and questions that come back againand again to your mind for months oryears. These are likely to be the basis ofgood projects, more so than ideas thathave occurred to you in recent days.Another good test: When asked todescribe our research to an acquaintance,how does it feel to describe each project?It is remarkable that listening to our own

idiosyncratic voice leads tobetter science.It makes research self-motivated and theroutine of research more rewarding. Inscience, the more you interest yourself,the larger the probability that you willinterest your audience.

Self-ExpressionWhat is the essence of the inner voice?The projects that a particular researcherfinds interesting are an expression ofa personal filter, a way of perceiving theworld. This filter is associated with a setof values: the beliefs of what is good,beautiful, and true versus what is bad,ugly, and false. Our unique filter is whatwe bring to the table as scientists. Amulti-plicity in styles and questions, based on

the uniqueness of scientists, is the basisof a viable and creative science.

To choose a good problem, therefore,we need to reflect on our own worldview. And, as mentors, we can helpstudents in the late phases of their PhDor in the postdoc stage to strengthen theirinner voice. Amentor can help by listeningto a student describe what they like inscience, in life outside of science, whatmoment made them decide to becomescientists, and what scientific work theyadmire. We sometimes begin to seepatterns in what the student is talkingabout. There emerges a map of values,in the way that deep rocks in an oceanare discernable by the waves made onthe surface. Is this student motivated byvisual aesthetics or by abstract ideas?By supporting the dogma or by undermin-ing commonly held truths? Likes tech-niques or logical proofs? Basic under-standing or applied work? And so on.This can help the mentor select a projectin which the student has the potentialfor self-expression. As mentioned above,when one can achieve self-expression inscience, work becomes revitalizing, self-driven, and laden with personal meaning.It may also have a better chance ofdiscovering something profound.

The Schema of ResearchWhat happens after we choose aproblem? Before we end, I’d like to dis-cuss the mental picture or schema wehold of what research will look like (Fig-ure 2). A common schema is expressedin the way papers are written: one starts

Figure 1. The Feasibility-Interest Diagram for Choosing a ProjectTwo axes for choosing scientific problems: feasibility and interest.

Molecular Cell

Forum

Molecular Cell 35, September 25, 2009 ª2009 Elsevier Inc. 727

Alon, U. (2009). How to choose a good scientific problem. Molecular cell, 35(6):726–728. 32

How to define your PhD plan?

• A thesis proposal is a contract!

• The plan details the conditions of that contract.

• If a student words the plan right and gets it approved, her defense will go smoothly.

• If she leaves the plan vague or inspecific, she leaves herself vulnerable to the committee's interpretation of her plan.

http://matt.might.net/articles/advice-for-phd-thesis-proposals/ 33

How to define your PhD plan?

• A good plan contains:

• a fictional schedule

• a list of remaining milestones and anticipated dates of completion.

• If the plan contains a claim to be validated, it needs to explain how the student will conduct validation of that claim.

• A good plan also contains contingencies.

• A good plan is not a sequence, but a tree.

• The leaves of the tree form a spectrum from "best possible outcome, give me a Ph.D. and a professorship" at one end to "back to the drawing board" at the other.

http://matt.might.net/articles/advice-for-phd-thesis-proposals/ 34

How to define your PhD plan?

• A good plan contains:

• The possibility of failure

• Real research is inherently unpredictable, and failure is always a possibility. If failure is not possible, it must not be research.

• The proposal needs to create the impression that failure is unlikely.

• A good plan also provides the criteria for recognizing the completion of a milestone

• e.g., submitted for publication, accepted for publication, survey completed, chapter written.

http://matt.might.net/articles/advice-for-phd-thesis-proposals/ 35

How to define your PhD plan?

at point A, which is the question, andproceeds by the shortest path to point B,the answer. There is a danger, if oneaccepts this schema, to regard studentsas a means to an end (an arrow to B).Furthermore, for those that hold thisschema, any deviation from the path(experiments that don’t work, studentsthat become depressed, etc.) is intoler-able. Deviation causes stress because ofthe cognitive dissonance between realityand the mental schema.

However, one can adopt a secondschema, one that resembles more thecourse of most projects. As before, onestarts at point A and moves toward thegoal at point B. Soon enough, thingsmove off course, and the path meandersand loops back. Experiments stopworking, all assumptions seem wrong,

and nothing makes sense. The researcherhas entered a phase linked with negativeemotions that may be called ‘‘the cloud.’’Then, in the midst of confusion, one

senses a new problem in the materials athand. Let’s call this new problem C. If Cis more interesting and feasible than B,one can choose to go toward it. Aftera few more detours, C is reached. Theresearchers can pause to celebrate beforetaking time to think about the nextproblem.In this second schema, the meandering

of research is seen as an integral part ofour craft, rather than a nuisance. Thementors’ task is to support studentsthrough the cloud that seems to guardthe entry into the unknown. And, with thisschema, we have more space to see thatproblemC exists andmay bemore worth-while than continuing to plod toward B.

In the nurturing schema, we celebratethe courage and openness of scientists.Sailing into the unknown again and againtakes courage; seeing there somethingdifferent from expectations, and usuallymore richandstrange, requiresuncommonopenness.In summary, take your time (recall the

3Month Rule) to find among the problemsavailable the one that is most feasible andmost interesting to you rather than toothers. A good project draws upon yourskills to achieve self-expression.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The ideas in this essay were presented to me asgifts in conversations and books, or are the fruit oflearning from my mistakes, and are collected hereand again offered as a gift. Especially memorableare discussions with Ron Milo; Galit Lahav; BeckyWard; Yuvalal Liron; Michael Elowitz; AngelaDePace; Evelyn Fox Keller and her writings, espe-cially Reflections on Gender and Science; andwith members of my lab and colleagues who toldme stories of mentoring and problem choice. Iwould also like to thank my parents; Galia Moranand our daughter Gefen; and mentors I. Balberg,Dov Shvarts, David Mukamel, and Stan Leibler;Harvard’s Positive Psychology taught by TalBen-Shahar, 2008; Dan MacAdams for his booksThe Person: A New Introduction to PersonalityPsychology and The Narrative Study of Lives; AmirOrian and The Open Circle approach to theatreand creative arts, classes of 2005/2006; JonathanFox for Playback theatre and his book Acts ofService; Jerome Bruner for his book Acts ofMeaning, Erik Erikson for Childhood and Society;The Weizmann Institute for providing freedom toplay; Mark Kirschner and the Harvard MedicalSchool Department of Systems Biology for hospi-tality and a place to discuss these ideas witha well-prepared audience; and critical remarks byaudience members in Janelia Farms who helpedsharpen the message.

Figure 2. The Objective and Nurturing Schemas of ResearchThe nurturing schema includes ‘‘the cloud’’—a period of time in which basic assumptions break down.

728 Molecular Cell 35, September 25, 2009 ª2009 Elsevier Inc.

Molecular Cell

Forum

Alon, U. (2009). How to choose a good scientific problem. Molecular cell, 35(6):726–728. 36

How to define your PhD proposal?

• The remainder of a proposal exists to support the thesis and the plan

• A survey of related work supports the novelty of the thesis.

• a summary of prior work by the student supports plausibility of both the thesis and the plan

• A review of the research challenges and proposed circumvention strategies supports the intellectual merit of the thesis.

37

How to define your PhD proposal?

• Good proposals give the impression that between 1/3 and 2/3 of the work remains to be completed.

• Thesis proposals claiming that all of the work is already completed will be interpreted (rightly or wrongly) as arrogant, and trigger intense scrutiny.

• It's important to propose before all of the work is finished.

• If it's truly all done, a student should pretend the last third of it isn't.

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How to define your PhD proposal?

• A PhD proposal should be presented in written form!

• allows you to mature your ideas and iteratively improve the proposal

• allows you to use it as a “map” you can always refer

• try keeping a map in memory and it’s easy to see how quickly you can get totally lost...

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How to define your PhD proposal?

• A good thesis proposal document can be structured like a proposal for FCT funding

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http://alfa.fct.mctes.pt/apoios/projectos/concursos/2008/docs/FCT-GuiaoProjectos-22Jan09-v2_EN.pdf

http://alfa.fct.mctes.pt/apoios/projectos/concursos/docs/guiaoEN

How to define a chronogram

• Used to list deadlines, due dates, critical paths, schedule dates for maximum work impact...

• allows to propose a final date for work conclusion!

• Start with the big tasks

• problem definition

• choice of methodology

• experiments, data gathering, observations

• data analysis and interpretation

• report (papers, thesis, ...)

• define the smaller tasks later on

• add sub-tasks as the work progresses and as needed

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ID Task Name Duration

1 Phd Preliminary Activities 53 days?

2 PhD Web Page 25.88 days?

3 Phd WebPage implementation 1 mon?

4 Upload of 1st online version 0 days

5 Marsyas / CLAM Tests and evaluation 21.88 days?

6 CLAM study and evaluation 1 mon?

7 Choice of Analysis Framework 0 days

8 DataBase Preliminray Tests and Evaluation 10 days?

9 MySQL / Oracle Test and Evaluation 10 days?

10 Study and Evaluation of other technologies 40 days?

11 SDIF peliminar study 5 days?

12 XML preliminar study 5 days?

13 cppUnit preliminary study 5 days?

14 FLTK evaluation and test 5 days?

15 Doxygen study 5 days?

16 qwt study 10 days?

17 Software Development 170 days?

18 Audio Analysis Framework 120 days?

19 Beta 1 Development 2.5 mons?

20 Beta 2 Development 3.5 mons?

21 PITCH2MIDI 50 days?

22 Beta 1 Development 2.5 mons?

23 Speaker Identification / Recognition 3 mons?

24 Audio Segmentation and Classification 3 mons?

25 Audio FingerPrinting 3 mons?

26 VISNET activities 141 days?

27 Writting of D29 10 days?

28 D29 - Audio and Speech Analysis System Overview 0 days

29 Writting of D40 10 days?

30 D40 - Review of the Work Done in Audio-Video Fusion 0 days

31 Writing of D24 10 days?

32 D24 - Functional Specification of the Query-by-Humming S 0 days

33 Publications 7 days?

34 ISMIR 2004 paper writing 7 days?

35 ISMIR 2004 paper submission 0 days

36 AES117 paper writing 7 days?

37 AES117 paper submission 0 days

38 DAFX 2004 paper writing 7 days?

39 DAFX 2004 paper submission 0 days

40 Reports 7 days?

41 FCT/FEUP Report writting 7 days?

42 FCT/FEUP Report delivery 0 days

05-01

16-01

01-04

01-04

01-10

01-05

01-05

01-05

30-11

24 01 08 15 22 29 05 12 19 26 02 09 16 23 01 08 15 22 29 05 12 19 26 03 10 17 24 31 07 14 21 28 05 12 19 26 02 09 16 23 30 06 13 20 27 04 11 18 25 01 08 15 22 29 06 13 20Dec '03 Jan '04 Feb '04 Mar '04 Apr '04 May '04 Jun '04 Jul '04 Aug '04 Sep '04 Oct '04 Nov '04 Dec '04

Page 1

Literature Review

• If you are still looking for a research topic, the first literature review efforts will naturally be somewhat broad and erratic...

• this is normal, but should only last for a short period of time

• after this initial research and review of literature, the researcher should start to narrow her research interests and focus in a more specific topic

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Literature Review

• TIP: look for books, papers and articles that provide a review of the state-of-the-art in a field of your interest

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Literature Review• Allows you to:

• get acquainted with the state-of-the-art in a specific topic

• learn the main proposals from other authors working in the field

• discover who are the most influential/active researchers in the field, as well as the most cited works

• learn about the most accepted and established approaches in the field

• learn the terminology and concepts used in the field

• find out what are the most important journals and conferences in the field

• keep updated about the latest contributions to the field

• propose novel contributions to the field of research!

44

Literature Review

• Approaches:

• erratic reviews

• state-of-the-art reviews

• focused reviews

• follow-up reviews

• wide-band reviews

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Literature Review• Types of literature

• scientific

• peer-reviewed

• targeted to the expert reader

• divulgation

• targeted to a more broad audience

• usually establish connections between different fields

• technical

• technical reports and manuals focused on a specific topic

• news, interviews, opinion articles

• published in magazines, news papers

• mainly targeted to the general layman public

• (e.g. Wikipedia, Super Interessante, Exame Informática)

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Methodology

47

Methodology

http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/strucres.php

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• Deductive vs Inductive thinking

Methodology

Theory

Hypothesis

Observation

Confirmation

Pattern

Tentative Hypothesis

Inductive (top-down)

Deductive (bottom-up)

http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/dedind.php 49

Methodology

50

Methodology

51

10 reasons to fail a PhD1. Learn too much (fail to define a scope of research)

• requires focused learning directed toward an eventual thesis

• By the end of the third year, a typical Ph.D. student needs to have read about 50 to 150 papers to defend the novelty of a proposed thesis.

• some students go too far with the related work search, reading so much about their intended area of research that they never start that research.

• Advisors will lose patience with "eternal" students that aren't focused on the goal--making a small but significant contribution to human knowledge.

http://matt.might.net/articles/ways-to-fail-a-phd/ 52

10 reasons to fail a PhD

2. Get obsessed with Perfection

• Perfection cannot be attained. It is approached in the limit.

• "Good enough" is better than "perfect."

• Follow an incremental and iterative approach

• start simple, and add layers of complexity at each iteration

http://matt.might.net/articles/ways-to-fail-a-phd/ 53

10 reasons to fail a PhD3. Procrastinate

• ...

http://matt.might.net/articles/ways-to-fail-a-phd/ 54

10 reasons to fail a PhD4. Go autonomous too soon/too late

• The advisor-advisee dynamic needs to shift over the course of a degree.

• Going autonomous before the student knows how to choose good topics and write well will end in wasted paper submissions and a grumpy advisor.

• On the other hand, continuing to act only when ordered to act past a certain point will strain an advisor that expects to start seeing a "return" on an investment of time and hard-won grant money.

• Advisors expect near-terminal Ph.D. students to be proto-professors with intimate knowledge of the challenges in their field.

http://matt.might.net/articles/ways-to-fail-a-phd/ 55

10 reasons to fail a PhD5. Treat Ph.D. school like school or work

• Ph.D. school is neither school nor work.

• Ph.D. school is a monastic experience. And, a jealous hobby.

• Solving problems and writing up papers well enough to pass peer review demands contemplative labor on days, nights and weekends.

• Reading through all of the related work takes biblical levels of devotion.

• Students that treat Ph.D. school like a 9-5 endeavor are the ones that take 7+ years to finish, or end up ABD.

http://matt.might.net/articles/ways-to-fail-a-phd/ 56

10 reasons to fail a PhD6. Ignore the committee

• Some Ph.D. students forget that a committee has to sign off on their Ph.D.

• It's important for students to maintain contact with committee members in the latter years of a Ph.D. They need to know what a student is doing.

• It's also easy to forget advice from a committee member since they're not an everyday presence like an advisor.

• Committee members, however, rarely forget the advice they give.

http://matt.might.net/articles/ways-to-fail-a-phd/ 57

10 reasons to fail a PhD7. Aim too low

• A PhD is supposed to be a challenge!

• Aiming low does not pursuits “perfection”...

• ...and leaves no room for uncertainty.

• And, research is always uncertain.

http://matt.might.net/articles/ways-to-fail-a-phd/ 58

10 reasons to fail a PhD8. Aim too high

• A PhD is not the final undertaking. It's the start of a scientific career.

• A Ph.D. is a small but significant contribution to human knowledge.

• Impact is something students should aim for over a lifetime of research.

• A PhD is mostly about the journey, not so much about the final destination...

http://matt.might.net/articles/ways-to-fail-a-phd/ 59

10 reasons to fail a PhD9. Miss the real milestones

• In practice, the real milestones are three good publications connected by a (perhaps loosely) unified theme.

• Once a student has two good publications, if she convinces her committee that she can extrapolate a third, she has a thesis proposal.

• Once a student has three publications, she has defended, with reasonable confidence, that she can repeatedly conduct research of sufficient quality to meet the standards of peer review. If she draws a unifying theme, she has a thesis, and if she staples her publications together, she has a dissertation.

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10 reasons to fail a PhD10. Assume a PhD as an Artistic Project

• Being an artist (even if a well recognized one) does not necessarily make you a researcher

• Artistic creation by itself will not get you a PhD!

• It will only confirm you as an artist, not as a researcher...

• ...you still need a thesis, a plan and a proposal, and methodically work towards a novel contribution in your field!

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Productivity• Get to know the tools of your trade.

• Optimize transaction costs.

• Don't work from home.

• Eliminate temptation to waste time.

• Salvage dead time with technology.

• Get rid of your TV.

• Consolidate email accounts.

• Work from a laptop.

• Use a calendar system.

• Power-use a smartphone.

• Turn off instant messaging.

• Minimize collaboration costs.

• Use a citation/paper-management system.

• Procrastinate productively.

• Iterate toward perfection.

http://matt.might.net/articles/productivity-tips-hints-hacks-tricks-for-grad-students-academics/62

Productivity

• Extra Curricular Activities

• Not a bad thing, but get a grip...

• ...otherwise they may quickly turn into a source of procrastination!

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Productivity

• Always remember to backup!

• your thesis dissertation, data, code, etc.

• get a system (any system that suits you)

• and live by it!!!

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Writing a Thesis

65

Writing a Thesis

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http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/guideelements.php

http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/thesis.html#organisation

Writing a Thesis

1. Title Page

2. Copyright Waiver

3. Abstract

4. Acknowledgments

5. Table of Contents, List of Tables, List of Figures, Glossary

6. Introduction

7. Literature Review

8. Middle Chapters

(1) Materials and Methods

(2) Theory

(3) Results and Discussion

9. Final Chapter

(1) Conclusions and Future Work

10. List of references

11. Appendices

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http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/guideelements.php

http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/thesis.html#organisation

• Mandatory Sections in a Thesis

Writing a Thesis• Stylistic Elements

• I. Professional Writing

• First person and sex-stereotyped forms are avoided. Material is presented in an unbiased and unemotional (e.g., no "feelings" about things), but not necessarily uninteresting, fashion.

• II. Parallel Construction

• Tense is kept parallel within and between sentences (as appropriate).

• III. Sentence Structure

• Sentence structure and punctuation are correct. Incomplete and run-on sentences are avoided.

• IV. Spelling and Word Usage

• Spelling and use of words are appropriate. Words are capitalized and abbreviated correctly.

• V. General Style.

• The document is neatly produced and reads well. The format for the document has been correctly followed.

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Writing a Thesis

• How to cite?

• Different citation system exist:

• APA, Chicago, Harvard, IEEE, footnotes, endnotes

• http://www.library.cornell.edu/newhelp/res_strategy/citing/apa.html

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Harvard_referencing

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Writing a Thesis• Writing Tools

• LaTeX (http://www.latex-project.org/)

• commonly used in Sciences

• separates content from form (just like HTML and CSS)

• efficient, reliable, produces excellent typographic results

• uses bibtex for reference management

• steep learning curve

• free! (as in beer and as in speech)

• Lyx (http://www.lyx.org/)

• based on LaTeX, but substantially easier to use

• WYSIWYM (What You See Is What You Mean)

• free

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Writing a Thesis• Writing Tools

• MS Word

• Advanced (though somewhat slugish) user interface (WYSIWYG - What You See Is What You Get)

• Basic citation and bibliography features...

• Comercial, not free

• Apple Pages

• Does not support citation and References

• Does not support automatic Table and Figure numbering

• Commercial, free

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Publishing a Paper

• Allows you to present you work to the community / world

• get exposed to the critique

• get suggestions / corrections

• build a research reputation

• excellent way to exercise you for your thesis writing and defense!

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Publishing a Paper• Where to publish?

• From the Literature review you should already have identified the most important journals / conferences / workshops /festivals / events in your field

• Aim your submissions wisely

• exploratory / preliminary work should be aimed at workshops, national conferences

• More mature and validated work should be reserved for Journals or important conferences / events

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Publishing a Paper

• Paper Structure:

• Paper Title

• The Abstract

• The Introduction

• Related Work

• The Body

• Performance Experiments

• The Conclusions

• Future Work

• The Acknowledgements

• Citations / References

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Publishing a Paper

• Addressing Reviews

• always try to address them as positive and constructive comments

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How to present?

• PhD Presentation Guidelines

• Get prepared

• Identify your audience

• Rehearse your presentation out loud

• Control the time!

• At your PhD defense you’ll only have 20~30 minutes!

• Estimate no more than 1 slide/minute

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mastering_your_ph_d_giving_a_great_presentation/

How to present?• PhD Presentation Guidelines

• Start by clearly and quickly presenting your “thesis”

• Cite the state-of-the-art and contextualize your work

• State your hypothesis and assumptions

• State your (expected) novel contribution(s)

• Present the challenges

• Present your approach / methodology

• Present your experiments / projects

• Analyze your results

• Present your conclusions and future work

• All in less than 30 minutes!

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http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/fabian_hemmert_the_shape_shifting_future_of_the_mobile_phone.html

How to present?

• Make / keep your audience hooked!

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How long should a PhD take?

“No less than required, no more than necessary”

• 3 years minimum

• 4 years “maximum” (definitely, if you are a FCT grant holder)

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How long should a PhD take?

80

PhD Advisors

• You’ll develop a bipolar love-hate with her

• tip: she’s supposed to be your “best friend”, so she will be harsh and obnoxious

• always assume her comments as constructive!

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PhD Advisors

• Learn to decode you Advisor

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PhD Advisors

• Anticipate your Advisor’s negation Field

83

PhD Advisors

• Expect to get overwhelmed every time you meet with your Advisor

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PhD Advisors

• Your advisor is supposed to be your harshest critic

85

PhD Advisors

• Your advisor is supposed to be your harshest critic and may lack a sense of opportunity ;-)

86

PhD Advisors

• Expect your Advisor to regularly ask you “Mission Impossible”s

• She’s just “pushing your envelope”

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PhD Advisors

• Your advisor will make sure you iterate till “perfection” (although she nows that’s unattainable ;-))

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PhD Advisors

• Final Note:

• remember, your PhD advisor is in the same boat as you...

• but she’ll not get drown because she already has a PhD to use as a floating device in case you sink the boat ;-)

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So, are you ready? ;-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XViCOAu6UC090

References• Alon, U. (2009). How to choose a good scientific problem. Molecular cell,

35(6):726–728.

• http://matt.might.net

• http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/

• http://matt.might.net/articles/advice-for-phd-thesis-proposals/

• http://matt.might.net/articles/ways-to-fail-a-phd/

• http://matt.might.net/articles/productivity-tips-hints-hacks-tricks-for-grad-students-academics/

• http://www.academicproductivity.com/

• http://matt.might.net/articles/books-papers-materials-for-graduate-students/

• http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/index.php

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