1.Chengxiang Zhai(翟成祥):General Steps to Define a Research Problem:Generate and Test
Generate:Raise a question
Test:
Novelty test: Figure out to what extent we know how to answer the question
There’s already an answer to it: Is the answer good enough?
Yes: not interesting, but can you make the question more challenging?
No: your research problem is how to get a better answer to the raised question
No obvious answer: you’ve got an interesting problem to work on
Tractability test: Figure out whether the raised question can be answered
I can see a way to answer it or potentially answer it: you’ve got a solvable problem
I can’t easily see a way to answer it: Is it because the question is too hard or you’ve not worked hard enough? Try to reframe the problem to make it easier
Evaluation test: Can you obtain a data set and define measures to test solutions/answers?
Yes: you’ve got a clearly defined problem to work on
No: can you think of anyway to indirectly test the solutions/answers? Can you reframe the problem to fit the data?
Every time you reframe a problem, try to do all the three tests again.