Communication works for those who work at it.

Communicating information in science is a challenging task, so after giving feedback to undergraduate research designs, I realized that some simple bits of advice might help young researchers convey their points more straightforwardly. Are you curious about them? Then you are on the right track here.

1. Remind the reader of your arguments before jumping into operationalization and measurement. If we can forget our' parents' birthdays, do you think the memory is suddenly going to improve for some fancy hypotheses? No, it won’t, and it is almost a deterministic claim. Summarize your main points in one or two sentences and refer to particular hypotheses when naming your variables. Remember (from my perspective): your reader is lazy and does not want to overthink - instead, he/she lets you convince them. So, make your writing smooth and cogent.

2. Phrase your hypotheses as concisely as possible, so operationalize your statements properly. For instance, if you intend to examine educational performance, give it a number - in grades, hours of studying, or even the annual amount of money spent on tutoring. We do not need a perfect measure, but having a plausible one is a must.

3. Avoid using killer words, such as “different,” “broad,” “many,” “multiple,” and their synonyms, as they add unnecessary vagueness to your story. If you are trying to stratify the sample, use more precise descriptors to justify your choice. “Different questions” or “different levels of measurement” would NOT work out. Good practice: fill your research design writing with adjectives and quantifiers (numbers) to make it more succinct and more comfortable to read for a knowledgeable audience.

4. Write out numbers and entities, restrict abbreviations to the necessary minimum or avoid them at all: we expect “three hours of individual participation” and not “3 h.” Of course, your reader will understand your intention, but well-trained academic community uses reader-oriented writing style guidelines that you should stick to as well. Numbers always catch the reader’s attention by distorting the reading flow, so make sure that you use numbers only if they must be emphasized and not because of carelessness. Remember: the reader (or reviewer) is the king.

5. Justify, justify, and, once again, justify. Obviously, even sound research design strategies have shortcomings, so try to always attach a “because” to your claims even if they seem self-evident. By doing so, you will be less harshly criticized for flawed arguments. For instance, writing “I select 1000 respondents from each federal state” will not help. Writing “Sample sizes will be determined, proportional to the population of every federal state to increase sample representativeness” does.

6. Finish by discussing the limitations of your research design and speculating about alternative ways of studying your research problem. Social science is about cumulative efforts, so there is no need to expect that you invent something new. Instead, aim to enhance and deepen existing knowledge about how the world works than re-tell the entire mankind’s history in one scientific paper.

Want to know more research design insides? Take a look at my presentation from Fall 2020.