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Top 10 Challenges Faced by Researchers on the Path to Excellence

The pursuit of research excellence is not for the faint of heart; you have to overcome several challenges faced by researchers to map a path to excellence. From formulating research questions to gathering data, writing research papers, and getting them published, researchers grapple with complexities that demand their unwavering dedication and perseverance. By shedding light on the challenges faced by researchers , we aim to help academics navigating the path of knowledge and foster a deeper understanding of the challenges in conducting research .  

A career in scientific research can be highly rewarding and fulfilling for those who enjoy intellectual pursuits, value continuous learning, and want to make a positive impact on society. It offers exciting opportunities to unravel the mysteries of the world, push the boundaries of knowledge, and contribute to the collective understanding of humanity. However, one requires dedication, hard work, and perseverance to overcome the many research challenges you will encounter along the way.  

Table of Contents

Top 10 Challenges faced by researchers  

While each research journey is unique, the challenges faced by researchers share common threads that bind them together. By acknowledging and understanding these research challenges , academics can equip themselves with the knowledge and strategies needed to conduct research effectively.  

1. Slow and time-consuming processes

 The scientific process is often slow and iterative, and progress sometimes can only be measured in small increments over many months or years. Research takes time to execute, and oftentimes the results are uncertain. This can be frustrating for researchers who may have invested significant time, money, and effort into these projects. By being patient and persistent and inculcating a willingness to accept failure and setbacks, you can overcome this researcher challenge and make important contributions to your field.  

2. Difficulty in getting grants and funds

One of the biggest challenges faced by researchers is securing adequate funding for their work. Grants can be highly competitive, and the process of applying can be time-consuming and complex. To secure research funding for your project, you need to seek out a variety of funding sources, including government grants, private foundations, and industry partnerships, and learn what is needed to write a successful grant proposal . One of the most common research challenges is writing a clear, concise, convincing grant proposal that outlines the goals and significance of your research and why the funding agency should support your project.  

 3. Juggling activities to ensure better time management

Managing multiple projects and deadlines successfully is among the most common research challenges . Careful time management , prioritizing work, and setting realistic goals and deadlines are simple ways for researchers to manage their many responsibilities. Experts suggest using strategies like breaking larger projects into smaller tasks and scheduling regular breaks to avoid burnout, a very real challenges faced by researchers .  

4. Active networking and collaboration

Collaboration and networking is essential for research, but it can also be a big challenge faced by researchers . It can be difficult to build a network when you are just starting out, especially if you are unfamiliar with the language or uncomfortable with public speaking. It doesn’t get easier when it comes to collaborations, especially in interdisciplinary research projects. Researchers have different working styles or conflicting priorities, which can lead to tension and conflict when working with larger teams. To overcome this challenge in conducting research , scientists should set the right expectations from the start, establish clear communication channels, and be willing to work together to achieve shared goals.  

 5. Managing and evaluating huge amounts of information

Managing and analyzing large datasets can be a time-consuming and complex process. To overcome this research challenge , researchers should develop effective data management strategies, such as using cloud-based tools for storage and analysis and implementing best practices for data security and privacy. The collection, analysis and management of research data is critical to scientific study and career advancement, which makes it important to know how to develop an effective data management plan for researchers .   

 6. Successfully publishing in impactful journals

Publishing research in reputable journals is one of the biggest challenges faced by researchers globally. Researchers have to learn to navigate the peer-review process, respond to feedback, meet strict formatting and style guidelines, and develop strong academic writing and editing skills. Experts suggest seeking mentorship and guidance from senior researchers and overcoming this research challenge by using AI academic writing assistants like Paperpal, powered by Researcher Life, to ease the process.  

 7. Securing intellectual property

Intellectual property rights protect your research ideas and work from being used unfairly or incorrectly by others. However, protecting intellectual property can be a critical challenge faced by researchers , particularly those working in areas with high commercial potential. It’s important to know that different laws related to intellectual property rights can impact research collaboration across boundaries, so discuss this beforehand. One way to tackle this research challenge is to be aware of your rights and responsibilities regarding intellectual property and seek out legal advice and guidance as when required.  

 8. Understanding and following the nuances of academic and scientific ethics

Research ethics are among the top challenges faced by researchers . Plagiarism, falsification, fabrication, missing ethical declarations and non-compliance with standard ethical guidelines are considered inappropriate and can have serious consequences for researchers. Overcome this research challenge by following all ethical considerations in research ; this helps to maintain the high standards of science and research, ensure accountability, prioritize transparency, and ensure trust and integrity in your work.   

 9. Staying abreast of technological developments

Researchers must keep track of and use technology effectively, but the continually developing landscape can also be a source of frustration. Today, there are several online tools, software, and platforms to optimize your academic writing, research reading, science communication, and more. Oddly, the challenge faced by researchers here is keeping up with technology trends, finding AI tools that are tailored for academics, and effectively integrating them into their work.  

10. Balancing work and life

One of the biggest and most common challenges faced by researchers is balancing the demands of a research career with personal and family responsibilities. PhD students and researchers must learn how to achieve a healthy work-life balance , prioritize self-care, and set boundaries to avoid academic burnout. Seeking support from peers, friends, and family is a great way to manage the stress that comes with a career in scientific research. Effective time management, pursuing a hobby, and taking breaks are other ways to find ways to take care of your mental health as a researcher.   

Editage All Access is a subscription-based platform that unifies the best AI tools and services designed to speed up, simplify, and streamline every step of a researcher’s journey. The Editage All Access Pack is a one-of-a-kind subscription that unlocks full access to an AI writing assistant, literature recommender, journal finder, scientific illustration tool, and exclusive discounts on professional publication services from Editage.  

Based on 22+ years of experience in academia, Editage All Access empowers researchers to put their best research forward and move closer to success. Explore our top AI Tools pack, AI Tools + Publication Services pack, or Build Your Own Plan. Find everything a researcher needs to succeed, all in one place –  Get All Access now starting at just $14 a month !    

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7 research challenges (and how to overcome them),  make a bigger impact by learning how walden faculty and alumni got past the most difficult research roadblocks..

Whether you are a current student or a doctoral graduate, conducting research is an integral part of being a scholar-practitioner with the skills and credibility to effect social change. Fortunately, many of the research challenges you will face—from choosing a topic, to finding study participants, to staying sane throughout the process, and every step in between—have already been addressed by members of the Walden community. Here, they share their insights on how to overcome seven top research challenges.

Challenge: Choosing the Right Topic

Your research topic is the foundation on which everything else rests, so it’s crucial to choose carefully. “You can’t do anything else until you figure out the basic focus of your topic,” says Dr. Susann V. Getsch ’08, who earned her PhD in Psychology from Walden. The topic of her dissertation, Educating Students With Pervasive Developmental Disorders: An Exploration of Government Mandates and Teachers’ Perspectives, was close to her heart—Getsch has a child on the autism spectrum. After first attempting to “take on the entire world” with her research, Getsch chose to focus on how special education teachers select the protocols for classrooms with students with autism in the context of No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. She shares her recommendations for choosing an effective research topic.

• Develop a doable topic. Determine what resources you have available—time, money, people—and choose a topic that you can do justice. Getsch scrapped an initial study idea of replicating another researcher’s study because it would be too resource-intensive.
• Read everything you can on the topic. Getsch “stumbled across” systems theory, an interdisciplinary framework for understanding systems in science and society. The topic was outside her required class reading, but ultimately provided Getsch’s theoretical framework.
• Find a theoretical basis to support your topic. The key is having an overarching theoretical context for your results. “I was really thrilled when I found these theories that fit my study like a glove,” Getsch says.
• Make sure the topic will hold your interest. You’ll be spending at least a year on a dissertation or any large research project, so it has to be compelling enough that you’ll go the distance.
• Look for a niche in which you can make a difference … My view is that you really should be offering something new to the field,” says Getsch.
• … but remember you can’t change the world with one dissertation . Getsch’s dissertation committee chair, Dr. Stephanie Cawthon, helped her focus on the crux of what she wanted to explore. “She gently pointed out that I couldn’t change the whole world with my dissertation, but I could add to the body of knowledge,” says Getsch.
• Let yourself shift gears. Getsch admits that the topic she started out with was “in no way” what she ended up with.
• Fine-tune your topic based on input from others. “Take every opportunity you can to pick the brains” of experts, Getsch recommends. “I went across disciplines. I drove people crazy. And each time, I would revise slightly based on what the last person taught me.”

Challenge: Choosing the Right Methodology

Once you’ve chosen a topic, you’ll need a methodology—a procedure for conducting your research—in order to move forward.

Dr. Linda Crawford, a faculty member in Walden’s PhD program, has received the Bernard L. Turner award two times for chairing outstanding dissertation recipients. She offers several techniques for getting on the right path when it comes to choosing the appropriate methodology for your study.

“The best way to choose it is not to choose.” In other words, Crawford says, “the methodology that’s used comes from the research question, not from your personal preferences for one design or another.” She recommends refraining from choosing between a qualitative or quantitative methodology until you:

• Complete the sentence: “The problem is …” Complete the sentence: “The purpose of this study is …” Formulate your research questions.
• Let your answers guide you.
• Determine what kind of design and methodology can best answer your research questions. If your questions include words such as “explore,” “understand,” and “generate,” it’s an indication that your study is qualitative. Whereas words such as “compare,” “relate,” or “correlate” indicate a quantitative study. The design comes out of the study, rather than being imposed on the study.
• Hone your study design. Once you become clear whether you’re going in a quantitative or qualitative direction, you can begin to look in more detail at the methodology. This will be determined by figuring out “from whom you’re going to collect data, how you’re going to collect the data, and how you’re going to analyze it once you collect it,” says Crawford.
• Be crystal clear. For a qualitative study, you might use focus groups and interviews, for example, to collect data, whereas a quantitative study may use test scores or survey results. Either way, the methodology should be so clear that any other trained researcher should be able to pick it up and do it exactly the same way.
• Be honest about your abilities. Ask yourself, “This is what the study demands—do I have the skills to do it?” says Crawford. If not, determine if you can develop the skills or bring together a research team.
• Take your time with the planning process. “It’s worth consulting other researchers, doing a pilot study to test it, before you go out spending the time, money, and energy to do the big study,” Crawford says. “Because once you begin the study, you can’t stop.”

Dr. Lynette Savage ’09, PhD in Applied Management and Decision Sciences, recommends assembling a network of advisors before starting your research:

• Solicit useful feedback. Savage suggests that you “cultivate friendships with people who are going to help you think critically” about your topic. These people are invaluable for helping you consider your idea from a different angle or perspective.
• Vet your committee. If you need a formal committee, choose your chairperson carefully, Savage says, “because you’re going to work closely with him or her for a while.” She recommends interviewing your potential chair and committee members to make sure there’s a match and discussing upfront what each party needs in order to go through the process. This includes asking whom your chairperson is comfortable working with—“The chair helps negotiate things if the committee can’t come to agreement, so he or she needs to get along with everyone else,” Savage explains.
• Be clear about your needs. Similarly, when it comes to finding mentors, or getting help for tasks such as creating a survey tool or writing your research question, Savage suggests being very clear about what you need from them. “People are very willing to help when you come structured and prepared,” she says.

Challenge: Finding Study Participants

Once you have your team together, it’s time to conduct your study, and that means finding participants.

Dr. Rodney Lemery ’08, PhD in Public Health, managed to overcome a big challenge to recruiting participants for his study: “Like a lot of epidemiology researchers, I was trying to target a ‘hidden population’—men who have sex with men,” he explains. Lemery shares how, through trial and error, he recruited 125 participants for his study.

• Don’t waste your money. Lemery first tried hiring a third-party email marketing group to send his survey to 50,000 self-identified men who fit his criteria. While email marketing might work in some cases, it’s a costly risk—Lemery spent $2,500 and got just four subjects.
• Leverage the power of a network. Lemery’s next attempt to reach his target group was more successful. He used what are called “snowball” sampling techniques—“targeting a particular group, locating advocates within that social network,” and then asking them to recommend others who might be willing to participate in the study. “You almost get a domino effect, if it works,” Lemery explains.
• Don’t be afraid to reach out. Lemery also approached established researchers in his field for guidance and networking. “I was very nervous, but I went ahead anyway and contacted two very well-known researchers, and one of them turned out to be a very key advocate in my research and recruitment,” he explains. “If I had listened to my fear, I never would have gotten 45 of my participants.” His advice to others looking for mentors: “Just go for it—the worst thing that can happen is that people can say no.”

Challenge: Getting Institutions to Participate

Sometimes recruiting study participants requires going through institutions, which may put up barriers, particularly if your research is controversial or sensitive, and this presents an additional challenge.

Dr. Eileen Berg ’09, Doctor of Education (EdD), conducted her doctoral study on the relationship between teachers’ unions and educators throughout schools and districts in Ontario, Canada, and came up against strong resistance due to the political nature of her topic. And Dr. Christopher Plum ’09, PhD in Education, needed to observe Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings—in which a plan is developed to help students with disabilities—in order to conduct his research. These meetings are often very difficult for parents and students, and getting access required permission from school districts, as well as the parents, student, and school psychologists attending each meeting. Berg and Plum offer suggestions for getting institutional buy-in:

• Don’t stop at the first rejection. “I went to one of the superintendents, and she said, ‘That’s interesting, but you’re not going to get any support from this school district,’” says Berg. “So I started to apply to different districts and got all these rejections—the influence of the unions in Ontario was so strong that nobody wanted to participate.
• Pursue alternate avenues. After extensive research online and networking, Berg eventually found an organization that would promote the study to principals and another organization that agreed to publish a notice about the study in its bulletin for teachers.
• Persevere. “If it’s an extremely hot topic, you’re going to have the doors blocked,” Berg says. “You need to persevere, you need to make contacts, you need to network with people and make phone calls and ask, ‘How can you help me?’ ... Just sending emails won’t work.”
• Build relationships. Plum agrees that when going through institutions to find study participants, the key “is trying to form relationships with the people who will help you gain access.”
• Learn to sell yourself. “You’ve got to do a lot of selling of yourself and what you’re trying to do,” Plum says. But, he warns, there’s a fine line between being persistent and not turning people off. “That’s the art,” he says. “You have to finesse it and understand the importance of building that comfort level. The people who are the gatekeepers have to believe that you’re coming in objectively and that what your research yields will potentially positively impact the institution in some way. How does this add value?”
• Be prepared. Plum also stresses the importance of having all of your forms and information—such as a copy of your abstract and a thumb drive with supporting documents—on hand at all times, in case someone wants more information.
• The importance of image. Finally, Plum says, “presentation is important—it all paints a picture in terms of how you’re going to come across.”

Challenge: Staying Motivated and Working Your Plan Sometimes, in the course of a large research project, the biggest challenge can be internal—maintaining the motivation to keep going despite obstacles in your research and the pressures of work and personal commitments.

Dr. Latrice Y. Walker ’08 completed her PhD in Education in just eight quarters (while also working “non-stop” on her business). She shares her strategies for maintaining an upbeat, confident attitude and staying the course with any large-scale research project.

• Follow your passion and your purpose. “The first component of motivation is working on something you’re passionate about, that you believe in,” Walker explains. “It’s cyclical—if you’re passionate about what you’re researching, the research will increase your passion to complete your research.” Passion, she says, comes from the belief that your work will have some kind of social impact, that an injustice in the world could be improved “even just 10 percent.”
• Monitor your attitude. “When there’s so much to do, attitude does make a difference,” Walker says. “There can be no doubt in your mind that you can do this. You must believe that you can make it through this process.” To stay positive, she suggests thinking of the mind like a garden: “We have to pluck out the negative thoughts like weeds and constantly plant positive thoughts.”
• Reward yourself. “Make rewards part of your work plan, and then give yourself those rewards,” Walker says. “It could be going to the movies, going out to lunch, spending time with your family—whatever it is, make it something meaningful to you.”
• Ask for help. Walker credits her family—especially her husband—with helping her handle all her commitments. “If you share your goals with those individuals you care about, they will get to buy in and help you achieve those goals,” she says. “But only share your greatest dreams and goals with people who are going to be positive and supportive.”

Challenge: Dealing With Your Data

When you’ve completed your study, the final challenge is knowing how to make sense of the data you’ve collected.

Dr. Ronald Paige ’07, PhD in Education, was faced with 900-plus pages of transcribed stories from the interviews he conducted. And Dr. Paula Dawidowicz, a faculty member in The Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership, is the author of Literature Reviews Made Easy: A Quick Guide to Success. Paige and Dawidowicz offer tips for working with your data.

• Ground yourself in the research. Paige realized that, to address his large volume of research, he had to connect his own research to the existing research. Grounded in a “huge survey of the literature,” he had the parameters to organize his research. Dawidowicz adds that your data should be presented in a way that demonstrates how your research adds to the body of knowledge.
• Get back to your methodology. Paige credits a course in research methodologies taught by his mentor and committee chair, Dr. Linda Crawford, with preparing him to deal with his data. “The books we had to read were excellent,” he says, “and we compared methodologies in class—that was very helpful.”
• Listen to the data. “When you have that kind of qualitative data, and you’re looking at it cold, the biggest challenge is not to look at it with any preconceived ideas—you literally have to step back and wait for the data to come alive and start speaking,” Paige says.
• Take advantage of technology. “The key thing in qualitative research is looking for patterns, and that’s where having a software program—I used one called HyperRESEARCH—was invaluable,” Paige says. “I couldn’t have done it without that.”
• Stay focused. Dawidowicz cautions against being distracted by irrelevant data as you do your analysis. She suggests “keeping a really close eye” on your research questions and your hypothesis, “because sometimes the data you collect will take you away from that.”
• Account for biases. Dawidowicz explains that, in a quantitative study, the researcher needs to address the biases of the individuals completing the survey before the results can be generalized to a larger population. Whereas qualitative work requires researchers to discuss “how their bias or interpretation may have played into their conclusions.”
• Let the data drive your presentation. Dawidowicz says, “The data should drive how you present what you’re doing. It’s your job to organize it around the research questions.”
• Draw on the details. “A good quote or a good point pulled from a quantitative survey—that information can always give us a greater sense of what actually occurred,” Dawidowicz says.

Research Support: The Walden Advantage

Because Walden is dedicated to creating scholar-practitioners who will make a difference in their fields, students in Walden graduate programs have an exceptional level of support for conducting research that can effect social change. In addition to the support provided by faculty members, mentors, and dissertation committee members, Walden graduate students have access to the targeted resources of the Center for Research Support and the Center for Student Success.

The Center for Research Support can assist students with many of the specific research challenges outlined in this article. For instance, when it comes to choosing a topic and a methodology, the center regularly updates its Web site with new resources about different content areas and offers poster sessions at the January and July residencies.

“These are good opportunities to see the research being done by Walden students and faculty and to talk to the presenters,” explains Dr. George Smeaton, former executive director of the center. Students can also discuss their research projects through the center’s Communities of Scholarship in Practice—an online forum for groups of people interested in the same topic to meet electronically.

Smeaton says that other valuable resources for conducting research include access to a large number of data sets through the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research and access to a participant pool of Walden students, alumni, and faculty for Web-based surveys. In addition, the center offers a statistics course for students who need to improve their skills to conduct research and provides guidelines and rubrics for developing theses and dissertations.

The Center for Research Support also offers graduate students assistance in pursuing funding for research projects, help with publishing research, and access to the Institutional Review Board (IRB), which ensures that Walden research complies with the university’s ethical standards and federal regulations.

More support is available through the Center for Student Success (CSS), which provides the following student-centered resources:

• Career Planning and Development: Practical online tools for complete career planning, management, and advancement cycle, as well as individual consultations.
• Academic Residencies: Opportunities for doctoral and some master’s students to meet with faculty, network with other students, and build research skills.
• Walden Library: Extensive digital resources, as well as dedicated staff who will help students identify, evaluate, and obtain the materials they need for their research.
• Writing Center: Comprehensive support for academic writing, including tutoring, writing courses, one-on-one consultations, and samples and templates.
• Student Success Courses: Supplemental courses for students who would like to enhance or refresh their skills in a particular area.

Dr. Lorraine Williams, executive director of the CSS, explains that the individual units of the CSS “work in a synergistic way to support students in their research.” For example, the Writing Center will work with students one-on-one—as well as in group skill sessions at residencies—and will also direct students to appropriate graduate writing courses, if necessary, and work collaboratively with the library to help students create a literature review. “We all work closely together as a team and strategize as to how we can best support our students,” Williams says.

• Read Dr. Paula Dawidowicz's article on building a literature review.
• Read more PhD survival tips from Dr. Susann V. Getsch.
• Read more Ph.D. survival tips from Dr. Lynette Savage

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8 Challenges Faced by Researchers (and Tips to Help)

Published on 18 Jan 2023

Being a researcher is a rewarding career for many reasons: You get to explore new ideas, work with cutting-edge technology, learn about the world, and have important discussions with like-minded individuals. 

But, research doesn’t come without its challenges. 

Luckily, challenges get easier to overcome when you don’t feel alone in facing them. So, we’ve put together a list of the top 8 challenges that researchers face and some tips to help.

1. Choosing your research topic

Starting a new research project and narrowing your focus to a single topic is one of the first challenges you’ll learn to face as an early-career researcher . And, it’s also one of the most important ones.

Your topic for each new research project is the foundation on which all your other work rests, so it’s vital that you take your time in tackling this challenge. A well-thought-out topic can also help you avoid some of the challenges that we’ll discuss later in this article.

TIP: Stay flexible and consider all the angles

Obviously, you’re going to want to research something that’s compelling enough to hold your interest. But, picking a good topic requires much more than just deciding what you’re most excited about. 

Start by identifying a few gaps in your research niche along with different angles you could take on each. You don’t have to change the world with your work, but you do want to pinpoint places where you can make a difference (i.e. adding something new to the body of knowledge that exists).

Evaluate each topic for how realistically you can achieve it. What resources do you have available? Are you short on money? Will it be hard to find people (participants or team members)? Are you on a time limit? Take all these factors into consideration to choose a topic that will be manageable for you.

Your final research topic will likely look a lot different from the one you had in your head when you first started out. Stay flexible as you discover potential barriers and develop new angles that you can take to overcome them.

2. Finding research funding

Another common challenge that researchers face is finding the money they need to get the research done. Sometimes this comes alongside the shock of how much the required materials, tools, and assistance will cost. Research is more expensive than most people imagine.

In addition, there are many researchers competing for the same grants and funding. So, the competition can be fierce, especially for early-career researchers and researchers in developing countries .

If you can’t pull together enough funding, you may have to make compromises that limit how effectively and efficiently you can complete your research. Depending on the project requirements, it’s possible you’ll have to postpone your research until enough money is secured.

TIP: Think outside your social and geographical boxes

It’s easy to get discouraged while on the hunt for funding. So, remind yourself that there will always be more opportunities. Start by reaching out to your network. Request letters of support to help you apply for the grants that you’ve identified.

Don’t be afraid to branch out. Search for sources online and apply for funding available from potential international research partners. Just because your own country doesn’t have the funding doesn’t mean there isn’t someone, somewhere else that will pay you to complete your research.

3. Convincing others of the value of your research 

Your research may be important. But, few people will take your word for it without a little convincing. For projects that take a long time to execute or require significant resources, you’ll have to do even more convincing. Unfortunately, the best methods for estimating and demonstrating the impact of research aren’t always clear.

Even after you’ve completed your project, you’ll likely be asked to demonstrate the impact of your research to your funders/stakeholders. This is an important step for solidifying your reputation and that of your research institution.

TIP: Reflect on your research purpose 

Set aside some reflection time throughout the development and execution of your research. Use this time to put your purpose under a microscope. Remind yourself why you began this project, what good has come from it already, and what more can be achieved. Reflection exercises help you maintain confidence in your goal. They also ensure that you always have something relevant to say when someone asks: “So, why should I care?” 

In addition, it never hurts to improve your scientific storytelling skills . Getting people to care about concepts that they don’t fully understand is a difficult task. Storytelling can help you convince varied audiences of the value of your research.

4. Overcoming imposter syndrome

Researchers have to expose themselves and their work to criticism. While others are criticizing the value of your work, it can be hard to maintain a high level of confidence in yourself. And when your work takes a turn you didn’t expect, feelings of self-doubt can easily creep in. 

If you start doubting your own skills and accomplishments, or feel that you’re not as capable as others, you might be experiencing imposter syndrome . It’s a problem that people in all professions face and, in severe cases, it can cause someone to feel like a fraud in spite of all they’ve accomplished.

TIP: Remind yourself of your research (and personal) success

If you’re experiencing feelings of self-doubt, boost your confidence by reviewing past research projects and reminding yourself of your achievements. Lining up the facts in front of you can help with overcoming feelings of inadequacy. If you don’t have a large research record, think about other personal or academic achievements that you’re proud of. 

Seek help from others, whether that’s constructive feedback on your work or advice from a mental health professional. And, consider trying something completely new as a hobby outside of your research. Trying new things can shake you out of your usual thought patterns and, most importantly, it gives you permission to be okay with being “bad” at something. 

5. Building a good research team (or finding collaborators)

Research is rarely done alone. Chances are you’re going to need a research team to support you (or collaborators in the same field of research to connect with).

If you’ve never built a research team before, you may struggle to know where to start. You may not even be sure what kind of people you work well with.

If you’re looking for research collaborators , you’ll quickly realize that your biggest competitors are often your best potential partners. The research community is a complicated environment and the “publish or perish” mentality doesn’t always foster natural cooperation.

TIP: Use all available resources and expand your network

Think about the resources closely available to you. If you’re early in your career, look for mentoring schemes at your institution or apply for funding to attend academic conferences . If you already have a significant network, think about potential collaborators you can reach out to within it.

When you’ve exhausted the closest available options, create more collaboration opportunities and be intentional in growing your network. In particular, consider looking for team members and connections who bring a perspective that challenges your usual way of thinking. 

6. Recruiting research participants (or collecting samples)

Managing participant recruitment and sample collection is a difficult part of many research projects. It’s often the biggest hurdle between the question you have and the data you need to answer it.

Low email open rates, lack of support from institutions, and restrictive regulations are all frustrating for researchers in search of willing (and relevant) research participants. These recruitment issues can become even more prominent when your research focuses on socially-sensitive or politically-charged topics.

TIP: Don’t be afraid to ask (but be sure to come prepared)

Using research tools that help you recruit and collect data from participants is a given. But, these tools won’t help if you’re afraid or unprepared to ask for help. 

Prepare a good argument for why people should participate in your research. Learn to sell your story and come up with potential incentives if needed. Finally, have all your forms and information ready if people ask for it.

Then, reach out to your network (or list of potential participants). The worst that can happen is that some will say “No.” And, when they do, don’t let that stop you. Get back up, dust yourself off, and try again. Perseverance is key.

7. Staying self-motivated and managing your time

When you’re managing a research project, it can seem like there’s never enough hours in the day. There’s an ongoing battle between considering all perspectives to keep your research balanced and taking a deep enough dive to make sure your research has an impact. It’s likely that you’ll have commitments outside of your research project as well. So, you’ll be fighting to maintain a good balance between other work, administrative, and personal tasks.

As your research project drags on, you may also start hitting a motivational wall. When you’re the person in charge of maintaining deadlines, the temptation to procrastinate on tasks you don’t enjoy can throw timelines off track.

TIP: Plan and put accountability systems in place

There’s plenty of advice out there to help you with motivation. In particular, if you take the proper care when planning your research project , you’ll be setting yourself up for success. Choosing a topic that is interesting and engaging is key in helping you fight motivational burnout later in the process.

If your topic is engaging but you’re still struggling with time management, try some of these tips:

• Map your project in a visual calendar: If you haven’t already done this, sit down and input deadlines/tasks into a digital or physical calendar to help you break down your research project into more manageable chunks. It lifts some of the mental burden of remembering tasks and gives you a handy tool to see if you’re on track.
• Set up a reward system: Whether it’s going out for a nice meal, binging your favorite TV show, or going on a fun day trip, think of rewards that are meaningful to you and tie them to specific project milestones. Follow through and give yourself those well-deserved breaks when you accomplish the associated milestones.
• Find accountability buddies: Share your research goals with someone you trust and ask them to follow up with you. Knowing that someone other than yourself expects an update every few weeks can be extremely motivating.

8. Ensuring your research doesn’t sit and collect dust

Unfortunately, there are times when research that took a long time and a lot of effort is never used. Sometimes, this is because the expectations of the researcher and the funders didn’t line up. But more often, it’s because of a lack of effective effort to communicate the research results to stakeholders who can leverage it.

In the context of knowledge management, there is also a large body of partially completed research and data sets that are effectively “lost” to the larger community. When you’re incentivized to move on to your next research project quickly, you might deprioritize tasks like making your old research and unused data sets easily accessible to those who are looking for it (including your future self).

Even fully completed research is facing a knowledge management crisis. As mentioned in this study on researcher challenges by ExLibris: 

“Advances in technology have changed the demands for transparency in sharing research… Most scholars (almost 60%) are now obligated to make their raw research datasets openly available with their published work. However, over a quarter of them (26%) find it difficult to do so in the context of current research data management solutions.”

TIP: Wrap up your research with the future in mind

When the end is in sight and you’re excited to move onto a new research topic, think about the impact that you want your research to have. If you don’t take the time to communicate your findings effectively or make your insights easily available, all the hard work you did could end up having a minimal real-world effect. 

On a similar note, knowledge management benefits your future self. All of those notes and data that you didn’t publish? Where and how will you store them in case you want to access them later? Organize this information while it’s still fresh in your mind. Otherwise, you could find yourself staring at notes years later that seem like they were written in a foreign language. Even worse: bad organization could prevent you from even finding your old notes/data at all.

Research challenges: Expecting the unexpected

Being a researcher is full of unpredictable challenges. Careful preparation and planning can help with some of the common ones that come up. But, there will always be issues that catch you completely off guard. 

While it would be great to be able to “expect the unexpected,” the most effective strategy for managing challenges is to simply keep an open mind. Recognize early on that your research is never going to go exactly the way you anticipate (and embrace that as part of the fun of being a researcher).

Maintain a curious enthusiasm about your research question and your research process. It will help you think outside of the box when unexpected challenges inevitably arise.

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Office of Undergraduate Research

Overcoming research challenges, by shreya murthy, peer research ambassador.

Its 11pm at night and you have to send some materials to your PI on your research project the next morning. All of a sudden, your computer screen goes blue, then black, then won’t turn on again; your computer just crashed with all of your research inside.

Participating in research is a really wonderful and engaging experience and helps students in so many personal and professional ways. However, when situations such as the above computer crash happen, things get a little more interesting.

Like with any endeavor, there are going to be successes and challenges. While your computer crashing may be a bit of an extreme research challenge, it can happen. However, the more likely issue may be erroneous data, or an experiment giving you results you did expect or not being able to find the right resource in the library. Each person’s research is different and thus necessitates a unique response. However, having the right attitude and mentality when dealing with these issues will always help the situation.

Recognize that these issues do happen and that it is a normal part of the research process. By accepting this as truth you can transition from a place of panic or anxiety over the issue to a place of problem solving. Try to figure out what caused the problem, try to understand how to prevent the problem from happening again, or try to understand what the issue is trying to tell you. Use this information to make adjustments.

Be flexible! This is probably one of the most important things about research. You have to be able to roll with whatever your project throws at you. Depending on how long it takes you to figure out the issue, you may realize that you have to amend your timeline for the project. Maybe your data collection and database creation will now take 2 months instead of 1. Maybe you need to spend more time working on your experiment and less time on something else.

Remember why you started researching this topic in the first place . This is absolutely crucial. When talking to students who are interested in getting involved in research one of the things that we highlight is the need to be very passionate and interested in the topic that you choose to study. This is one of the reasons why. When things get tough, your underlying passion and motivation to answer your research question is going to be the thing that gets you through the tough times. It is going to be the thing that pushes you to go back into your lab or spend time working out your computer problem.

Undergraduate research is really fun to conduct but it does present challenges and will test your resolve as a student and researcher. Having the right attitude and mindset will really help you out when your computer decides to mess with you or an experiment gives you some weird data.

Shreya is a senior majoring in Criminology, Human Rights, and Finance, with a minor in Political Science. Click here to learn more about Shreya.

Fostering Integrity in Research (2017)

Chapter: 3 important trends and challenges in the research environment, 3 important trends and challenges in the research environment.

By working collaboratively, researchers can hope to answer questions never addressed before, including those with substantial influence on society. At the same time, today’s international, interdisciplinary, team-oriented, and technology-intensive research has created an environment more fraught with the potential for error and distortion.

— Indira Nath and Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker (2012)

Synopsis: A number of the elements in the research environment that were identified in the early 1990s as perhaps problematic for ensuring research integrity and maintaining good scientific practices have generally continued along their long-term trend lines, including the size and scope of the research enterprise, the complexity of collaboration, the growth of regulatory requirements, and the importance of industry sponsorship and entrepreneurial research. Several important new trends that were not examined in the 1992 Responsible Science report have also emerged, including the pervasive and growing importance of information technology in research, the globalization of research, and the increasing relevance of knowledge generated in certain fields to policy issues and political debates. These changes—the growing importance of information technology in particular—have led to important shifts in the institutions that support and underlie the research enterprise, such as scholarly publishing. They also have important implications for the ability of researchers, research institutions, journals, and sponsors to foster integrity and prevent research misconduct and detrimental research practices.

The 1992 report Responsible Science: Ensuring the Integrity of the Research Process devoted a chapter to describing the contemporary research environment and outlining the most important changes that had occurred over the previous decades ( NAS-NAE-IOM, 1992 ). Responsible Science also described several additional features of the U.S. research scene of the early 1990s that had become the subject of discussion and concern due to possible negative impacts on the research environment, including research integrity ( NAS-NAE-IOM, 1992 ). This chapter will first explore the research environment issues identified in 1992—except for the reward system in science, which is covered in Chapter 6 —and describe trends over the past two decades. The second part of the chapter will

explore several important shifts in the research environment that have appeared since 1992 and were not considered in Responsible Science . These shifts carry several important implications for research integrity.

HOW RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT ISSUES IDENTIFIED IN RESPONSIBLE SCIENCE HAVE EVOLVED SINCE THE EARLY 1990s

Size and scope of the research enterprise.

The 1992 report’s overview described growth in the size and scope of the research enterprise. The report observed that research in the pre–World War II United States—academic research in particular—was a mostly small-scale avocation of individual scientists, supported by limited funding from industry, government, and foundations. Following the significant wartime contributions of research efforts such as MIT’s Radiation Laboratory, federal support for science and engineering research increased rapidly. By 1991, research and development (R&D) was a $160 billion (current dollars) enterprise in the United States, employing about 744,000 people in industrial, academic, and governmental laboratories and producing more than 140,000 research articles annually ( NSB, 1996 , 2014b ; OECD, 2015 ).

Over the following two decades, the enterprise has continued to grow, with U.S. R&D totaling $456 billion in 2013, R&D employment rising to about 1,252,000, and the number of published research articles reaching more than 412,000 ( NSB, 2014b , 2016 ; OECD, 2015 ). The 1992 report paid particular attention to the growth in academic research and federal support, and this growth has continued. Between 1991 and 2014, academic R&D grew from around $17.5 billion to $67.1 billion, with federal support constituting 60–75 percent of the total ( NSB, 2016 ). 1 The number of science, engineering, and health doctorate holders employed in academia rose from 211,000 in 1991 to almost 309,000 in 2013 ( NSB, 2016 ). The number of PhDs awarded in science and engineering more than doubled, from approximately 19,000 in 1988 to almost 37,000 in 2013, with an increasing percentage of these doctorate recipients going to work outside academia ( NSB, 2016 ).

The 1992 Responsible Science report raised the concern that the increased size of the research enterprise might put stresses on key capabilities, such as the “overall workload associated with critical evaluation” ( NAS-NAE-IOM, 1992 ). The number and capacity of effective peer reviewers might not be keeping pace with the relentless growth in manuscripts and proposals. Concerns also have been raised about the increasing use of bibliometric-based metrics in evaluating

___________________

1 From 2010, the total includes academic R&D outside of science and engineering, which adds several billion dollars.

research as a substitute or replacement for expert judgment ( P. B. Lowry et al., 2012 ).

Complexity of Collaboration

Responsible Science described the growth of collaborative research after World War II, which has continued since the early 1990s. In contrast to earlier times, when articles with more than four co-authors and work involving more than one laboratory or research institution were rare, collaborative research of various types is now very common. The number of authors listed on articles is only one measure of collaboration, but it clearly reveals the overall trend. In an analysis of approximately 20 million research articles published since 1955 and 2 million patents registered since 1975, the number of authors on scientific papers grew from an average of 1.9 in 1955 to 3.5 in 2000 ( Wuchty et al., 2007 ). At the same time, single-author articles are becoming less common, constituting only about 11 percent of the total in 2012 ( King, 2013 ).

Several factors are driving the trend toward larger-scale research in general and in specific fields ( Stephan, 2012a ). These include the need for more elaborate and expensive equipment and the often related requirement for a variety of specialized skills and knowledge. These characteristics of “big science” have long been a given in fields such as high-energy physics and astronomy, in the form of particle accelerators such as the Large Hadron Collider and modern telescopes. They have become more prominent recently in many areas of the life sciences as well. In describing the results of large life sciences research projects such as the Human Genome Project and ENCODE (Encyclopedia of DNA Elements), former Science editor-in-chief Bruce Alberts (2012) noted that “the increased efficiency of data production by such projects is impressive.” In addition, as will be discussed in more detail below, the information technology revolution has radically lowered the costs of communication and collaboration of all types, including research collaboration.

Another factor contributing to the growth of team research has been an increase in the amount of interdisciplinary research. Interdisciplinary research efforts have continued to grow in importance and are extremely diverse ( Derrick et al., 2012 ). Interdisciplinary teams can range from local and informal to transnational and highly structured. They can be composed largely or entirely of researchers accustomed to working within a disciplinary framework, or they can consist partly or wholly of researchers who have been educated and have worked in interdisciplinary fields. Integration of knowledge from multiple disciplines can occur within the mind of a single person or through the collaborative efforts of a large team. For example, with the advent of “big data” and computational science, statisticians are increasingly included on projects where researchers have collected domain-specific data that they do not have the expertise to analyze. Interdisciplinary research is often focused on problems that have important so-

cietal implications. One current example of a growing interdisciplinary field is synthetic biology, which seeks a fundamental understanding of the workings of living systems along with the capability of re-creating living systems for a variety of applications in areas such as medicine and the environment. Synthetic biology research involves “biologists of many specialties, engineers, physicists, computer scientists, and others” ( NRC, 2010 ).

According to one analysis of trends in interdisciplinary research in six research fields, the growth of interdisciplinarity has been modest—about 5 percent—even as the number of authors per article has grown by 75 percent ( Porter and Rafols, 2009 ). This study found that the number of disciplines cited by papers in these six fields—mathematics, neurosciences, electrical and electronic engineering, biotechnology and applied microbiology, research and experimental medicine, and atomic, molecular, and chemical physics—has increased, but the distribution of citations is within neighboring research areas and has only slightly broadened. According to the authors, “These findings suggest that science is indeed becoming more interdisciplinary, but in small steps—drawing mainly from neighboring fields and only modestly increasing the connections to distant cognitive areas.”

Collaborative science requires that researchers focus at least some attention on coordination and interaction, which in theory might detract from the time and effort devoted to research. Yet Wuchty et al. (2007) found that multiauthor teams produced more highly cited work in each broad area of research and at each point in time. In addition, though solo authors in 1955 were more likely to produce papers that were highly cited, suggesting that these papers reported on the most influential concepts, results, or technologies, teams are more likely to produce highly cited papers today. As the authors wrote, “solo authors did produce the papers of singular distinction in science and engineering and social science in the 1950s, but the mantle of extraordinarily cited work has passed to teams by 2000.”

As more researchers work collaboratively and as the size of teams grows, the relationships among team members can become more complex. Team members can be at different research institutions and have different disciplinary backgrounds. Teams can contain researchers at all stages of their careers, from undergraduate and graduate students involved in research to senior researchers. The diversity and geographic spread of people involved in teams can create opportunities for miscommunication, misunderstandings, unrealistic expectations, and unresolved disputes. Whether these opportunities account for part of the increase in reports of undesirable research practices is unclear, but they can make the research environment more complicated and difficult than when teams were smaller, colocated more regularly, and more homogeneous in terms of discipline or nationality.

As research projects are undertaken by larger groups that bring together a greater diversity of expertise, encompass a broader range of disciplines, and strive for a greater degree of synthesis, the potential for misunderstandings can grow. Coordination of research inevitably becomes more complex, and the members

of a team may have less familiarity with the discipline-specific practices of other team members, making it more difficult for each collaborator to check and verify the work done by others. As the number of collaborators increases, there is more scope for disagreements over the allocation of credit. It becomes much more challenging to reward and recognize individual contributions, which has a big impact on junior researchers in particular. In addition, the mentoring of students in responsible research practices can become more impersonal and generic. The mental model of graduate education and training in which mentors work closely with graduate students and are able to take the time and effort to ensure that mentees understand the rules and can follow them may describe a smaller and smaller part of the research enterprise. Interdisciplinary work increases the possibility that the standards and expectations of different fields may come into conflict.

Regulation and Accountability

The 1992 report also noted that research activities were “increasingly subject to government regulations and guidelines that impose financial and administrative requirements” in areas such as laboratory safety, human subjects protection, drug-free workplace assurance, laboratory animal care, and the research use of recombinant DNA and toxic and radioactive materials. Along with the relatively new requirements and regulations related to research misconduct, the development of which is covered in Chapter 4 of this report, ensuring compliance with these expanding regulatory requirements had resulted in an expansion of administrative and oversight functions and staff at universities and required increasing time and attention from investigators. As an increasing percentage of faculty time goes toward fulfilling the requirements of various regulations and reporting requirements, research-related tasks such as mentoring and checking the work of subordinates may be shortchanged.

The administrative and regulatory compliance burden on research institutions and researchers remains significant. For example, respondents to a 2012 survey of 13,453 principal investigators undertaken by the Federal Demonstration Partnership estimated that, on average, 42 percent of the time they spent working on federally funded research projects was devoted to meeting regulatory and administrative requirements ( Schneider et al., 2012 ). According to the survey results, areas of regulation where compliance is particularly time consuming include those related to finances, personnel, and effort reporting. In 2014 the National Science Board issued a report that analyzes the regulatory compliance burden on faculty and makes recommendations for how it might be reduced ( NSB, 2014c ). A 2016 National Academies report evaluated current approaches to regulating academic research and made recommendations for achieving the goals of regulation while reducing financial and time burdens on institutions and faculty ( National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2016 ).

Industry-Sponsored Research and Other Research Aimed at Commercialization

Increasingly, the scientific enterprise has been recognized not only as a place to expand knowledge but also as an engine for the creation of new products, novel therapies for disease, improved technologies, and new industries and jobs. To quote President Obama (2009b) , “scientific innovation offers us a chance to achieve prosperity.” The economic potential of science, however, also offers unique challenges to the responsible conduct of research, which were described in Responsible Science . These challenges can be seen in scientific research conducted in an industrial setting, scientific research conducted in university and research institutions in collaboration with industry, and university research that leads to entrepreneurial efforts by the researchers, requiring that they integrate both within themselves and in their professional behavior often divergent cultural understandings about the nature, purposes, and outcomes of research. These challenges include the potential of economic incentives to introduce scientific bias, the perception of conflict of interest due to economic incentives, and the potential effect of intellectual property protection on the timely dissemination of knowledge.

Industry funds and conducts a substantial amount of research in the United States. For both basic and applied research, as defined by the National Science Foundation, industry conducts 40 percent of the U.S. total ( NSB, 2016 ). Even considering just basic research, industry conducts approximately 24 percent, almost 90 percent of which it funds itself. Unlike academic research, corporate research is often driven by the needs of a company to remain financially solvent and to be accountable to shareholders. Corporate researchers often exist under hierarchical chains of supervision where management maintains greater control over the research process.

Only a fraction of the results of industry-funded research is published in the scientific and engineering literature and is thereby submitted to formal peer review. Of the articles published in 2013, authors from industry accounted for only 6 percent of the total, and that percentage has been declining over the past two decades ( NSB, 2014 ). This can be a product of the need to preserve intellectual property interests for trade secrets and obtaining patents. One consequence is that the knowledge gained in such research may not be widely disseminated or evaluated through the peer review process. This is not to say that such industry research is not of high quality or is not carefully reviewed. Companies can have strict protocols regarding the collection, documentation, and storage of data, particularly when there are strong regulatory or economic reasons to do so. Checking mechanisms may be built into industrial research to verify especially critical results ( Williams, 2012 ). And, as with all research, the use of research results in subsequent activities—including the production of commercial products—provides further checks on the validity of results.

However, both industrial research and industry-sponsored research in aca-

demic settings have been found to occasionally show signs of both unintentional and intentional bias. 2 For example, one might observe bias in the lack of publication of results with negative consequences for the profitability of a product or in the restriction of published findings to those that reflect positively on a product. An extreme case is the tobacco industry, which undertook a systematic effort over the course of decades to obscure the harmful effects of smoking ( Proctor, 2011 ). Other examples include episodes of alleged ghostwriting in some medical research, including the Paxil case described in Appendix D and also discussed in Chapter 7 . Such research tarnishes all other research by demonstrating that research agendas and techniques can be manipulated so severely as to subvert truth to other interests. Many journals have moved to reporting the financial interests of authors, whether the work has an industry sponsor or not, so that readers are made aware of the potential for bias.

In addition to collaborations with established industries, academic institutions have increasingly encouraged entrepreneurship and innovation for commercialization, particularly since the passage of the Bayh-Dole Act in 1980, which allowed institutions to hold patents on innovations produced with federal funding. Having seen the success of academic research products such as Gatorade and the Google search algorithm patent in generating revenue, institutions may hope that their researchers can achieve similar results. For fiscal 2011 the Association of University Technology Managers reported that the 186 institutions responding to its annual survey earned a total of $1.5 billion in running royalty income, executed 4,899 licenses, created 591 commercial products, and formed 671 start-up companies from their research (AUTM, 2012).

One result of the commercialization of university-generated technology is that the need to manage possible conflicts of interest has become an important issue in academic settings. A 2009 Institute of Medicine report explores the issue of institutional conflict of interest in more detail ( IOM, 2009 ). Individual conflicts of interest exist if the investigator is also the founder of a company conducting research or has a significant monetary stake in the research. This can also apply to an institution if it owns part of a company or has a financial stake in a faculty member’s research findings. Under the U.S. Financial Conflict of Interest (FCOI) policy, research funded by the Public Health Service requires institutions to maintain and enforce a FCOI policy; manage, reduce, or eliminate identified conflicts; report identified conflicts, the value of the conflicts, and a management plan to the Public Health Service Awarding Component; and publish significant financial interests of any personnel involved in the research on a publicly accessible website ( HHS, 2011b ). Currently, the Department of Health and Human Services does not have institutional regulations in the same manner as investigator FCOI regulations (required disclosure of FCOIs). Strengthened institutional FCOI regulations have been considered, but there is a need for further and separate consideration.

2 This is not meant to imply that research that is not sponsored by industry is necessarily unbiased.

The National Science Foundation policy is consistent with that of the Department of Health and Human Services. Regulations of individual financial conflicts of interest are further discussed in Chapter 7 and are also addressed in the context of best practices in Chapter 9 .

Additional individual conflicts of interest, or secondary interests, can also affect a research study, including political biases, white hat bias, commitment conflicts, career considerations, and favors to others ( IOM, 2009 ; Lesser et al., 2007 ). A political opinion, bias, or long-standing scientific viewpoint toward one position or another may influence the interpretation of findings, despite contradictory evidence ( Lesser et al., 2007 ). Similarly, white hat bias, or “bias leading to distortion of information in the service of what may be perceived to be righteous end,” also has the potential to influence conclusions ( Cope and Allison, 2010 ). An example of a conflict of commitment would be a principal investigator who does not have the time to perform all the duties for which he or she is responsible, such as securing funding, setting the overall direction for research in a lab, administrative responsibilities, and adequately supervising graduate students and postdocs. Secondary interests are rarely regulated, as they are considered a lesser incentive than financial interests.

Closer linkages between research and commercialization have introduced the possibility of financial gain from research more widely across the enterprise. This can pose challenges in terms of defining appropriate behavior and establishing guidelines for dealing with conflicts of interest, and it can complicate collaborations among individual researchers and among organizations.

MAJOR CHANGES IN THE RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT SINCE 1992

Information technologies in research.

The continued exponential rise in the power of information and computing technologies has had a dramatic impact on research across many disciplines. These technologies have not only increased the speed and scope of research but have made it possible to conduct investigations that were not possible before. Information technology advances have enabled new forms of inquiry such as those based on numerical simulation of physical and biological systems and the analysis of massive datasets to detect and assess the nature of relationships that otherwise would go unseen.

The contrast in computing capabilities since the publication of Responsible Science is especially stark. In 1992, use of e-mail was less than a decade old, and the World Wide Web had just been invented and was not widely known. Three-and-a-half-inch floppy disks for data storage had replaced 5-1/4-inch disks just a few years before. People made telephone calls on landlines, used letters to communicate in writing, and circulated preprints via the postal system. For

young researchers, the circumstances in which research was conducted in 1992 are almost entirely foreign.

One effect of information technologies in many areas of research has been to introduce intermediate analyses of considerable complexity between the “raw” data gathered by sensors and observations, and produced by data-creating devices such as DNA sequencers, and the results of research. Re-creating the steps from data to results can be impossible without a detailed knowledge of data production and analyzing software, which sometimes is dependent on the particular computer on which the software runs. This intermediate analysis complicates the replication of scientific results and can create opportunities to manipulate analyses so as to achieve desired results, as well as undermine the ability of others to validate findings.

Digital technologies can pose other temptations for researchers to violate the standards of scientific practice. For example, the manipulation of images using image-processing software has caused many journals to implement spot checks and other procedures to guard against falsification. The inappropriate application of statistical packages can lead to greater confidence in the results than is warranted. Data-mining techniques can generate false positives and spurious correlations. In many fields, the development of standards governing the application of technology in the derivation of research results remains incomplete even as continuing technological advances raise new issues. In a recent paper, two prominent biologists wrote, “Although scientists have always comforted themselves with the thought that science is self-correcting, the immediacy and rapidity with which knowledge disseminates today means that incorrect information can have a profound impact before any corrective process can take place” ( Casadevall and Fang, 2012 ).

The widespread utilization of information technologies in research may also introduce new sources of unintentional error and irreproducibility of results. A survey of researchers who utilize species distribution modeling software found that only 8 percent had validated the software they had chosen against other methods, with higher percentages relying on recommendations from colleagues or the reputation of the developer ( Joppa et al., 2013 ). The latter approaches pose risks of incorrect implementation and error for the research being pursued, particularly if software is not shared or subjected to critical review. Issues surrounding irreproducibility and information technologies are discussed further in Chapter 5 .

Besides affecting the conduct of research, information and communication technologies have transformed the communication of scientific results and interactions among researchers. In theory, if not always in practice, all the data contributing to a research result can now be stored electronically and communicated to interested researchers. This capability has contributed to a growing movement for much more open forms of research in which researchers work collectively on problems, often through electronic media ( Nielsen, 2012 ). However, this trend toward greater transparency has created tasks and responsibilities for research-

ers and the research enterprise that did not previously exist, such as creating, documenting, storing, and sharing scientific software and immense databases and providing guidance in the use of these new digital objects. For example, software produced by scientists in the course of analyzing the data is often carried out as a collaborative online process. This digitization makes it easier than ever to perform very complex analyses that not only lead to new discoveries but create new problems of opacity for the peer review process. And while technology is making many aspects of research more efficient, it may also create new tasks and responsibilities that are burdensome for researchers and that they may find difficult or impossible to fulfill.

The movement toward open science has encouraged the efforts of citizen scientists who are eager to monitor, contribute to, and in some cases criticize scientific advances ( Stodden, 2010 ). Review of scientific results from outside a research discipline can provide another check on the accuracy of results, but it also can introduce questions about the validity of findings that are not adequately grounded in knowledge of the research. Moreover, it can alter the relationship between researchers and the public in ways that require new levels of effort and sophistication among researchers involved in public outreach.

Advances in information technology are transforming the research enterprise, discipline by discipline, by changing the sorts of questions that can be addressed and the methods used to address them. There may be more opportunities to fabricate, falsify, or plagiarize, but there are also more tools to uncover such behavior. Issues related to research reproducibility and related practices are covered in Chapter 5 .

The Globalization of Research

Because knowledge passes freely across national borders, scientific research has always been an international endeavor. But this internationalization has intensified over the past two decades. Nations have realized that they cannot expect to benefit from the global research enterprise without national research systems that can absorb and build on that knowledge. As a result, they have incorporated science and technology into national plans and have established goals for increased R&D investments. They also have encouraged their own students and researchers to travel to other countries to study and work and have welcomed researchers from other countries. At the same time, private-sector companies have increased their R&D investments in other countries to take advantage of local talent, gain access to local markets, and in some cases lower their costs for labor and facilities. These and other trends, including cheaper transportation, better communications, and the spread of English as the worldwide language of science, are producing a new golden age of global science.

Once again, the trend is apparent in the author lists of scientific and engineering articles. Between 1988 and 2013, the percentage of science and engineer-

ing articles published worldwide with coauthors from more than one country increased from 8 percent to 19 percent ( NSB, 2016 ). Also, some countries have dramatically increased their representation in the science and engineering literature. Between 1999 and 2013, the average number of science and engineering articles published by Chinese authors rose 18.9 percent annually, so that by 2013 China, with 18 percent of the total, was the world’s second-largest national producer of science and engineering articles. Authors from China also increased their share of internationally coauthored articles from 5 percent to 13 percent between 2000 and 2010. Other countries that dramatically expanded their number of articles published included South Korea, India, Taiwan, Brazil, Turkey, Iran, Greece, Singapore, Portugal, Ireland, Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Tunisia, though some of these countries started from very low bases.

Another measure of the increasing internationalization of research is the number of foreign-born researchers studying and working in the United States. More than 193,000 foreign students were enrolled in U.S. graduate programs in science and engineering in 2013, and foreign-born U.S. science and engineering doctorate holders held 48 percent of postdoctoral positions in 2013 ( NSB, 2016 ). Science and engineering doctorate holders employed in U.S. colleges and universities who were born outside the United States increased from 12 percent in 1973 to nearly 27 percent in 2013. The United States remains the destination for the largest number of foreign students at the graduate and undergraduate levels, though its share of foreign students worldwide declined from 25 percent in 2000 to 19 percent in 2013.

Internationalization offers many benefits to the research enterprise. It can speed the advance of knowledge and permit projects that could not be done by any one country working alone. It increases cooperation across borders and can contribute to a reduction in tensions between nations. It enhances the use of resources by reducing duplication of effort and by combining disparate skills and viewpoints. The experiences students and researchers gain by working in other countries are irreplaceable.

But globalization also can complicate efforts to ensure that researchers adhere to responsible research practices ( Heitman and Petty, 2010 ). Education in the responsible conduct of research, while far from universal among U.S. science and engineering students, is nevertheless more extensive in the United States than in many other countries ( Heitman et al., 2007 ). Codes of responsible conduct differ from country to country, despite efforts to forge greater international consensus on basic principles ( ESF-ALLEA, 2011 ; IAC-IAP, 2012 ). In some countries with rapidly developing research systems, research misconduct and detrimental research practices appear to be more common than in countries with more established research systems ( Altman and Broad, 2005 ). Students from different countries may have quite different expectations regarding such issues as conflicts of interest, the deference to be accorded instructors and mentors, the treatment of research subjects, the handling of data, and the standards for authorship. For

example, one issue often noticed with foreign students in the United States is the different standards they apply to the use of ideas and phrases from others, which can lead to problems with plagiarism ( Heitman and Litewka, 2011 ).

As the sizes of individual national research enterprises grow and become more competitive, institutions and sponsors can experience more problems with research misconduct. Differences in national policy frameworks may constitute barriers to cross-border collaboration, but efforts are being made to harmonize or at least make these frameworks interoperable. Collaboration among researchers from different countries and cultures may expose differences in training, expectations, and values that affect behavior.

Relevance of Research Results to Policy and Political Debates

The rapid expansion of government support for scientific research in the decades after World War II was spurred by recognition of the importance of new knowledge in meeting human needs and solving problems. Over the past few decades, the link between scientific knowledge and issues in the broader society has become ever more apparent. Science is a critical factor in public discussions of and policy decisions concerning stem cells, food safety, climate change, nuclear proliferation, education, energy production, environmental influences on health, national competitiveness, and many other issues. Although all these topics cannot be covered here, this section will describe several of the key issues affecting science, policy, and the public and how they affect (and are affected by) research integrity.

To begin with, the federal government itself performs a significant amount of research through government laboratories, some of which is published. Federal agencies that perform research generally have policies and procedures in place to investigate allegations of research misconduct in their intramural programs (see NIH, 2012a , for an example of such policies and procedures, and see Chapter 7 for a more detailed discussion).

In addition, the Obama administration led an initiative on scientific integrity in the federal government starting in 2010 ( Holdren, 2010 ). Executive departments and agencies were instructed by the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to develop policies that address a range of issues, including promoting a culture of scientific integrity, ensuring the credibility of government research, fostering open communication, and preventing bias from affecting how science is used in decision making or in communications with the public. The exercise is largely complete, as agencies have developed and implemented policies in response to the Office of Science and Technology Policy guidance ( Grifo, 2013 ; OSTP, 2013 ).

Research also comes into play in debates and decisions over numerous contentious policy issues. Science is not the only factor in these discussions. Many considerations outside of science influence policy choices, such as personal and

political beliefs, lessons from experience, trial-and-error learning, and reasoning by analogy ( NRC, 2012b ). To contribute to public policy decisions, researchers must be able to separate their expertise as scientists from their views as advocates for particular public policy positions. Furthermore, they often contribute to these discussions outside the peer-reviewed literature, whether in public forums, blogs, or opinion articles in newspapers. According to the document Responsible Conduct in the Global Research Enterprise: A Policy Report ( IAC-IAP, 2012 ), “Researchers should resist speaking or writing with the authority of science or scholarship on complex, unresolved topics outside their areas of expertise. Researchers can risk their credibility by becoming advocates for public policy issues that can be resolved only with inputs from outside the research community.”

One example of an area where science, public debate, and policy making have been closely tied and contentious in recent years is climate science. This has raised challenges for researchers and the institutions through which scientists provide policy advice. According to a recent National Research Council report, “Climate change is occurring, is very likely caused by human activities, and poses significant risks for a broad range of human and natural systems. The environmental, economic, and humanitarian risks of climate change indicate a pressing need for substantial action to limit the magnitude of climate change and to prepare to adapt to its impacts” ( NRC, 2011 ). The global climate is a highly complex system, and there is considerable uncertainty about the timing and magnitude of climate change, the effect of measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, regional impacts, and many other issues. Effectively limiting greenhouse gas emissions presents economic and technological challenges and affects countries and industries differently, making policy changes by individual countries difficult. The development of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its evolution over time illustrate the barriers to collective action on a global level. 3

In this environment of significant uncertainty on key scientific questions, difficult policy choices, the possibility of large impacts on powerful economic interests, and highly mobilized advocacy operations on all sides of the climate change issue, the climate science community has faced challenges in maintaining its credibility and public trust as it contributes its expertise. This experience might provide lessons on what researchers and scientific institutions need to do and what they need to avoid as highly charged issues arise with important scientific components. For example, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, is an international body that undertakes periodic scientific assessments of climate science and constitutes the primary mechanism for scientists to inform policy makers at the global level. In November 2009 the unauthorized leak of e-mail conversations among climate researchers, a number of whom were heavily involved with the IPCC process,

3 See http://unfcc.int./meetings/warsaw_nov2013/meeting/7649.php .

appeared to reveal a number of questionable actions, including efforts to limit or deny access to data, failure to preserve raw data, and efforts to influence the peer review practices of journals. While subsequent investigations cleared the researchers of misconduct, the “Climategate” scandal and subsequent discovery of errors in IPCC’s most recent assessment raised questions about the quality and impartiality of the organization’s work. A 2010 study by the InterAcademy Council recommended a number of reforms in IPCC governance and management, review processes, methods for communicating uncertainty, and transparency ( IAC, 2010 ). One possible lesson from the recent climate change experience is that researchers, institutions, and fields whose work becomes relevant to controversial policy debates will need to consciously examine and upgrade their practices in areas such as data access and transparency ( NAS-NAE-IOM, 2009a ).

Recent high-profile international cases in which scientists have been criticized and even prosecuted based on their advisory activities include the statements of scientists in the aftermath of the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami in 2011, and the manslaughter convictions of seismologists whose statements were misconstrued by a government official, Bernardo De Bernardinis, to mean that there was no risk of danger immediately prior to an earthquake in L’Aquila, Italy, that killed more than 300 people ( Cartlidge, 2012 ; Jordan, 2013 ; Normile, 2012 ). An appeals court overturned the convictions 2 years later for the six seismologists involved, but not for De Bernardinis ( Cartlidge, 2014 ).

Other issues involving science and policy that raise questions about integrity seemingly appear in the media on a weekly basis. During 2012, controversy erupted over a University of Texas sociologist’s research findings that adult children of parents who had same-sex relationships fared worse than those raised by parents who had not had same-sex relationships; his research methodologies have been severely criticized, but an institutional inquiry cleared him of research misconduct ( Peterson, 2012 ). A federal appeals court upheld a South Dakota statute requiring doctors to tell women seeking abortions that they face an increased risk of suicide; despite extremely weak research evidence to support the statute, the court decided not to strike it down as an undue burden on abortion rights or on First Amendment grounds ( Planned Parenthood Minnesota, N.D., S.D. v. Rounds, 2012 ). A French paper found that rats consuming genetically modified corn developed more tumors and died earlier than a control group, although food safety agencies have stated that the sample sizes were too small to reach a conclusion ( Butler, 2012 ). And a criminal investigation of a Texas state agency established to fund research on cancer prevention and treatment revealed that some awards were made without scientific review, which led to a wave of resignations among staff and oversight board members ( Berger and Ackerman, 2012 ). Needless to say, these cases underscore the salient role of scientific research in policy discussions.

For researchers, exercising responsibility in relations with society encompasses an increasing array of issues. For example, health and social science research in some communities, such as Native American tribes, requires adher-

ence to community rules for gaining approval. Research on people’s behavior on social networking websites raises questions about how human subject protections apply. Some emerging areas of research, such as crisis mapping and monitoring, raise human rights issues ( AAAS, 2012 ). Finally, researchers in the life sciences are being asked to exercise responsibility in the area of preventing the misuse of research and technology ( IAP, 2005 ).

Research findings are increasingly relevant to a broader range of policy-relevant questions, raising the magnitude of possible negative consequences of research misconduct and detrimental research practices. Researchers in a variety of fields are faced with more complicated choices with ethical dimensions. In this environment, maintaining rigorous peer review processes in scientific journals is a critical task. Decisions based on science suffer when non-peer-reviewed science, or science that was not well reviewed, is used.

TRENDS IN RESEARCH AND IMPLICATIONS FOR AUTHORSHIP

Decisions about the authorship of research publications are an important aspect of the responsible conduct of research. Although many individuals other than those who conceive of and implement a research project typically contribute to the production of successful research, authors are considered to be the person or persons who made a significant and substantial contribution to the production and presentation of the new knowledge being published. A number of the conventions and practices that constitute scientific authorship have been influenced by the trends discussed previously in this chapter. Tracing how trends in research such as globalization and technology are affecting authorship provides a useful window into how research is changing more broadly.

Authorship practices have evolved to support the development and distribution of new knowledge, engaging the powerful human motivation to discover and receive credit for discovery. Researchers are often evaluated, rightly or wrongly, by the quantity and quality of their work, as measured by the number of their publications, the prestige of the journals in which their publications appear, and how widely cited their publications are. Authorship also serves to establish accountability for published work. For example, authors are responsible for the veracity and reliability of the reported results, for ensuring that the research was performed according to relevant laws and regulations, for interacting with journal editors and staff during publication, and for defending the work following publication ( Smith and Williams-Jones, 2012 ).

Authorship practices vary between disciplines. Professional and journal standards and policies on authorship also vary. For example, in some disciplines the names of authors are listed alphabetically, while in other disciplines names are listed in descending order of contribution. In some disciplines, senior researchers are listed last and in others they are listed first.

At least three significant factors have changed authorship practices in recent

decades. First, the degree to which researchers make use of technology and the ways in which they use technology have changed dramatically. Researchers now frequently rely on computer software and hardware for many of the processes and analyses they undertake. They rely more on sophisticated software and computer models both in the analysis and in the presentation of results. The extent to which researchers understand how these tools affect data and results is a topic of concern in 21st-century research. Second, as a result of new information and communication technologies, especially the Internet, researchers engage in much more collaboration at a distance. This facilitates national and global collaboration and can lead to larger, more broadly scoped projects. Data gathering and analysis can be parsed out to different locations, with information potentially easily accessed and shared regardless of location. Researchers are able to electronically maintain frequent contact, have group meetings, and coauthor documents. Third, as a result of software and hardware developments, huge databases of information can be gathered and used, and researchers have access to and must deal with much more information than ever before. Consequently, researchers have to manage data in new ways and may be held to higher standards of knowing and understanding other research that has been done in their area.

These changes raise a variety of challenges to researchers and the research enterprise. For example, in part because of the increased scale of research, the number of authors listed on papers in some disciplines has grown considerably. Extreme examples include the 1993 Global Utilization of Streptokinase and Tissue Plasminogen, or GUSTO, paper in the New England Journal of Medicine , which involved 976 authors ( GUSTO Investigators, 1993 ), and a 1997 Nature article on genome sequencing that had 151 authors ( Kunst et al., 1997 , from Smith and Williams-Jones, 2012 ). The recent joint paper from the two teams collaborating on the mass estimate of the Higgs boson particle lists more than 5,000 authors ( Castelvecchi, 2015 ). The original papers reporting the discovery of the Higgs boson had approximately 3,000 authors each ( Hornyak, 2012 ). How can the primary author or authors be responsible for the work of a hundred individual researchers who are geographically dispersed and come from a wide range of disciplines? When an error is found or an accusation of wrongdoing is made, the problem has to be traced back to the component of the research that is called into question. In the process of tracing back the possible wrongdoing, the primary author or authors, while accountable, may not understand the area or have had much control over the researchers involved. The primary author or authors may be accountable but not blameworthy. These challenges are complicated by disciplinary differences in authorship conventions.

Chapter 7 explores the challenges to research integrity arising in the area of authorship, and Chapter 8 considers alternatives for addressing them.

The integrity of knowledge that emerges from research is based on individual and collective adherence to core values of objectivity, honesty, openness, fairness, accountability, and stewardship. Integrity in science means that the organizations in which research is conducted encourage those involved to exemplify these values in every step of the research process. Understanding the dynamics that support – or distort – practices that uphold the integrity of research by all participants ensures that the research enterprise advances knowledge.

The 1992 report Responsible Science: Ensuring the Integrity of the Research Process evaluated issues related to scientific responsibility and the conduct of research. It provided a valuable service in describing and analyzing a very complicated set of issues, and has served as a crucial basis for thinking about research integrity for more than two decades. However, as experience has accumulated with various forms of research misconduct, detrimental research practices, and other forms of misconduct, as subsequent empirical research has revealed more about the nature of scientific misconduct, and because technological and social changes have altered the environment in which science is conducted, it is clear that the framework established more than two decades ago needs to be updated.

Responsible Science served as a valuable benchmark to set the context for this most recent analysis and to help guide the committee's thought process. Fostering Integrity in Research identifies best practices in research and recommends practical options for discouraging and addressing research misconduct and detrimental research practices.

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• USC Libraries
• Research Guides

Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper

• The Research Problem/Question
• Purpose of Guide
• Design Flaws to Avoid
• Independent and Dependent Variables
• Glossary of Research Terms
• Reading Research Effectively
• Narrowing a Topic Idea
• Broadening a Topic Idea
• Extending the Timeliness of a Topic Idea
• Academic Writing Style
• Applying Critical Thinking
• Choosing a Title
• Making an Outline
• Paragraph Development
• Research Process Video Series
• Executive Summary
• The C.A.R.S. Model
• Background Information
• Theoretical Framework
• Citation Tracking
• Content Alert Services
• Evaluating Sources
• Primary Sources
• Secondary Sources
• Tiertiary Sources
• Scholarly vs. Popular Publications
• Qualitative Methods
• Quantitative Methods
• Insiderness
• Using Non-Textual Elements
• Limitations of the Study
• Common Grammar Mistakes
• Writing Concisely
• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Footnotes or Endnotes?
• Further Readings
• Generative AI and Writing
• USC Libraries Tutorials and Other Guides
• Bibliography

A research problem is a definite or clear expression [statement] about an area of concern, a condition to be improved upon, a difficulty to be eliminated, or a troubling question that exists in scholarly literature, in theory, or within existing practice that points to a need for meaningful understanding and deliberate investigation. A research problem does not state how to do something, offer a vague or broad proposition, or present a value question. In the social and behavioral sciences, studies are most often framed around examining a problem that needs to be understood and resolved in order to improve society and the human condition.

Bryman, Alan. “The Research Question in Social Research: What is its Role?” International Journal of Social Research Methodology 10 (2007): 5-20; Guba, Egon G., and Yvonna S. Lincoln. “Competing Paradigms in Qualitative Research.” In Handbook of Qualitative Research . Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln, editors. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1994), pp. 105-117; Pardede, Parlindungan. “Identifying and Formulating the Research Problem." Research in ELT: Module 4 (October 2018): 1-13; Li, Yanmei, and Sumei Zhang. "Identifying the Research Problem." In Applied Research Methods in Urban and Regional Planning . (Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, 2022), pp. 13-21.

Importance of...

The purpose of a problem statement is to:

• Introduce the reader to the importance of the topic being studied . The reader is oriented to the significance of the study.
• Anchors the research questions, hypotheses, or assumptions to follow . It offers a concise statement about the purpose of your paper.
• Place the topic into a particular context that defines the parameters of what is to be investigated.
• Provide the framework for reporting the results and indicates what is probably necessary to conduct the study and explain how the findings will present this information.

In the social sciences, the research problem establishes the means by which you must answer the "So What?" question. This declarative question refers to a research problem surviving the relevancy test [the quality of a measurement procedure that provides repeatability and accuracy]. Note that answering the "So What?" question requires a commitment on your part to not only show that you have reviewed the literature, but that you have thoroughly considered the significance of the research problem and its implications applied to creating new knowledge and understanding or informing practice.

To survive the "So What" question, problem statements should possess the following attributes:

• Clarity and precision [a well-written statement does not make sweeping generalizations and irresponsible pronouncements; it also does include unspecific determinates like "very" or "giant"],
• Demonstrate a researchable topic or issue [i.e., feasibility of conducting the study is based upon access to information that can be effectively acquired, gathered, interpreted, synthesized, and understood],
• Identification of what would be studied, while avoiding the use of value-laden words and terms,
• Identification of an overarching question or small set of questions accompanied by key factors or variables,
• Identification of key concepts and terms,
• Articulation of the study's conceptual boundaries or parameters or limitations,
• Some generalizability in regards to applicability and bringing results into general use,
• Conveyance of the study's importance, benefits, and justification [i.e., regardless of the type of research, it is important to demonstrate that the research is not trivial],
• Does not have unnecessary jargon or overly complex sentence constructions; and,
• Conveyance of more than the mere gathering of descriptive data providing only a snapshot of the issue or phenomenon under investigation.

Bryman, Alan. “The Research Question in Social Research: What is its Role?” International Journal of Social Research Methodology 10 (2007): 5-20; Brown, Perry J., Allen Dyer, and Ross S. Whaley. "Recreation Research—So What?" Journal of Leisure Research 5 (1973): 16-24; Castellanos, Susie. Critical Writing and Thinking. The Writing Center. Dean of the College. Brown University; Ellis, Timothy J. and Yair Levy Nova. "Framework of Problem-Based Research: A Guide for Novice Researchers on the Development of a Research-Worthy Problem." Informing Science: the International Journal of an Emerging Transdiscipline 11 (2008); Thesis and Purpose Statements. The Writer’s Handbook. Writing Center. University of Wisconsin, Madison; Thesis Statements. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Tips and Examples for Writing Thesis Statements. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Selwyn, Neil. "‘So What?’…A Question that Every Journal Article Needs to Answer." Learning, Media, and Technology 39 (2014): 1-5; Shoket, Mohd. "Research Problem: Identification and Formulation." International Journal of Research 1 (May 2014): 512-518.

Structure and Writing Style

I.  Types and Content

There are four general conceptualizations of a research problem in the social sciences:

• Casuist Research Problem -- this type of problem relates to the determination of right and wrong in questions of conduct or conscience by analyzing moral dilemmas through the application of general rules and the careful distinction of special cases.
• Difference Research Problem -- typically asks the question, “Is there a difference between two or more groups or treatments?” This type of problem statement is used when the researcher compares or contrasts two or more phenomena. This a common approach to defining a problem in the clinical social sciences or behavioral sciences.
• Descriptive Research Problem -- typically asks the question, "what is...?" with the underlying purpose to describe the significance of a situation, state, or existence of a specific phenomenon. This problem is often associated with revealing hidden or understudied issues.
• Relational Research Problem -- suggests a relationship of some sort between two or more variables to be investigated. The underlying purpose is to investigate specific qualities or characteristics that may be connected in some way.

A problem statement in the social sciences should contain :

• A lead-in that helps ensure the reader will maintain interest over the study,
• A declaration of originality [e.g., mentioning a knowledge void or a lack of clarity about a topic that will be revealed in the literature review of prior research],
• An indication of the central focus of the study [establishing the boundaries of analysis], and
• An explanation of the study's significance or the benefits to be derived from investigating the research problem.

NOTE:   A statement describing the research problem of your paper should not be viewed as a thesis statement that you may be familiar with from high school. Given the content listed above, a description of the research problem is usually a short paragraph in length.

II.  Sources of Problems for Investigation

The identification of a problem to study can be challenging, not because there's a lack of issues that could be investigated, but due to the challenge of formulating an academically relevant and researchable problem which is unique and does not simply duplicate the work of others. To facilitate how you might select a problem from which to build a research study, consider these sources of inspiration:

Deductions from Theory This relates to deductions made from social philosophy or generalizations embodied in life and in society that the researcher is familiar with. These deductions from human behavior are then placed within an empirical frame of reference through research. From a theory, the researcher can formulate a research problem or hypothesis stating the expected findings in certain empirical situations. The research asks the question: “What relationship between variables will be observed if theory aptly summarizes the state of affairs?” One can then design and carry out a systematic investigation to assess whether empirical data confirm or reject the hypothesis, and hence, the theory.

Interdisciplinary Perspectives Identifying a problem that forms the basis for a research study can come from academic movements and scholarship originating in disciplines outside of your primary area of study. This can be an intellectually stimulating exercise. A review of pertinent literature should include examining research from related disciplines that can reveal new avenues of exploration and analysis. An interdisciplinary approach to selecting a research problem offers an opportunity to construct a more comprehensive understanding of a very complex issue that any single discipline may be able to provide.

Interviewing Practitioners The identification of research problems about particular topics can arise from formal interviews or informal discussions with practitioners who provide insight into new directions for future research and how to make research findings more relevant to practice. Discussions with experts in the field, such as, teachers, social workers, health care providers, lawyers, business leaders, etc., offers the chance to identify practical, “real world” problems that may be understudied or ignored within academic circles. This approach also provides some practical knowledge which may help in the process of designing and conducting your study.

Personal Experience Don't undervalue your everyday experiences or encounters as worthwhile problems for investigation. Think critically about your own experiences and/or frustrations with an issue facing society or related to your community, your neighborhood, your family, or your personal life. This can be derived, for example, from deliberate observations of certain relationships for which there is no clear explanation or witnessing an event that appears harmful to a person or group or that is out of the ordinary.

Relevant Literature The selection of a research problem can be derived from a thorough review of pertinent research associated with your overall area of interest. This may reveal where gaps exist in understanding a topic or where an issue has been understudied. Research may be conducted to: 1) fill such gaps in knowledge; 2) evaluate if the methodologies employed in prior studies can be adapted to solve other problems; or, 3) determine if a similar study could be conducted in a different subject area or applied in a different context or to different study sample [i.e., different setting or different group of people]. Also, authors frequently conclude their studies by noting implications for further research; read the conclusion of pertinent studies because statements about further research can be a valuable source for identifying new problems to investigate. The fact that a researcher has identified a topic worthy of further exploration validates the fact it is worth pursuing.

III.  What Makes a Good Research Statement?

A good problem statement begins by introducing the broad area in which your research is centered, gradually leading the reader to the more specific issues you are investigating. The statement need not be lengthy, but a good research problem should incorporate the following features:

1.  Compelling Topic The problem chosen should be one that motivates you to address it but simple curiosity is not a good enough reason to pursue a research study because this does not indicate significance. The problem that you choose to explore must be important to you, but it must also be viewed as important by your readers and to a the larger academic and/or social community that could be impacted by the results of your study. 2.  Supports Multiple Perspectives The problem must be phrased in a way that avoids dichotomies and instead supports the generation and exploration of multiple perspectives. A general rule of thumb in the social sciences is that a good research problem is one that would generate a variety of viewpoints from a composite audience made up of reasonable people. 3.  Researchability This isn't a real word but it represents an important aspect of creating a good research statement. It seems a bit obvious, but you don't want to find yourself in the midst of investigating a complex research project and realize that you don't have enough prior research to draw from for your analysis. There's nothing inherently wrong with original research, but you must choose research problems that can be supported, in some way, by the resources available to you. If you are not sure if something is researchable, don't assume that it isn't if you don't find information right away--seek help from a librarian !

NOTE:   Do not confuse a research problem with a research topic. A topic is something to read and obtain information about, whereas a problem is something to be solved or framed as a question raised for inquiry, consideration, or solution, or explained as a source of perplexity, distress, or vexation. In short, a research topic is something to be understood; a research problem is something that needs to be investigated.

IV.  Asking Analytical Questions about the Research Problem

Research problems in the social and behavioral sciences are often analyzed around critical questions that must be investigated. These questions can be explicitly listed in the introduction [i.e., "This study addresses three research questions about women's psychological recovery from domestic abuse in multi-generational home settings..."], or, the questions are implied in the text as specific areas of study related to the research problem. Explicitly listing your research questions at the end of your introduction can help in designing a clear roadmap of what you plan to address in your study, whereas, implicitly integrating them into the text of the introduction allows you to create a more compelling narrative around the key issues under investigation. Either approach is appropriate.

The number of questions you attempt to address should be based on the complexity of the problem you are investigating and what areas of inquiry you find most critical to study. Practical considerations, such as, the length of the paper you are writing or the availability of resources to analyze the issue can also factor in how many questions to ask. In general, however, there should be no more than four research questions underpinning a single research problem.

Given this, well-developed analytical questions can focus on any of the following:

• Highlights a genuine dilemma, area of ambiguity, or point of confusion about a topic open to interpretation by your readers;
• Yields an answer that is unexpected and not obvious rather than inevitable and self-evident;
• Provokes meaningful thought or discussion;
• Raises the visibility of the key ideas or concepts that may be understudied or hidden;
• Suggests the need for complex analysis or argument rather than a basic description or summary; and,
• Offers a specific path of inquiry that avoids eliciting generalizations about the problem.

NOTE:   Questions of how and why concerning a research problem often require more analysis than questions about who, what, where, and when. You should still ask yourself these latter questions, however. Thinking introspectively about the who, what, where, and when of a research problem can help ensure that you have thoroughly considered all aspects of the problem under investigation and helps define the scope of the study in relation to the problem.

V.  Mistakes to Avoid

Beware of circular reasoning! Do not state the research problem as simply the absence of the thing you are suggesting. For example, if you propose the following, "The problem in this community is that there is no hospital," this only leads to a research problem where:

• The need is for a hospital
• The objective is to create a hospital
• The method is to plan for building a hospital, and
• The evaluation is to measure if there is a hospital or not.

This is an example of a research problem that fails the "So What?" test . In this example, the problem does not reveal the relevance of why you are investigating the fact there is no hospital in the community [e.g., perhaps there's a hospital in the community ten miles away]; it does not elucidate the significance of why one should study the fact there is no hospital in the community [e.g., that hospital in the community ten miles away has no emergency room]; the research problem does not offer an intellectual pathway towards adding new knowledge or clarifying prior knowledge [e.g., the county in which there is no hospital already conducted a study about the need for a hospital, but it was conducted ten years ago]; and, the problem does not offer meaningful outcomes that lead to recommendations that can be generalized for other situations or that could suggest areas for further research [e.g., the challenges of building a new hospital serves as a case study for other communities].

Alvesson, Mats and Jörgen Sandberg. “Generating Research Questions Through Problematization.” Academy of Management Review 36 (April 2011): 247-271 ; Choosing and Refining Topics. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; D'Souza, Victor S. "Use of Induction and Deduction in Research in Social Sciences: An Illustration." Journal of the Indian Law Institute 24 (1982): 655-661; Ellis, Timothy J. and Yair Levy Nova. "Framework of Problem-Based Research: A Guide for Novice Researchers on the Development of a Research-Worthy Problem." Informing Science: the International Journal of an Emerging Transdiscipline 11 (2008); How to Write a Research Question. The Writing Center. George Mason University; Invention: Developing a Thesis Statement. The Reading/Writing Center. Hunter College; Problem Statements PowerPoint Presentation. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Procter, Margaret. Using Thesis Statements. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Shoket, Mohd. "Research Problem: Identification and Formulation." International Journal of Research 1 (May 2014): 512-518; Trochim, William M.K. Problem Formulation. Research Methods Knowledge Base. 2006; Thesis and Purpose Statements. The Writer’s Handbook. Writing Center. University of Wisconsin, Madison; Thesis Statements. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Tips and Examples for Writing Thesis Statements. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Pardede, Parlindungan. “Identifying and Formulating the Research Problem." Research in ELT: Module 4 (October 2018): 1-13; Walk, Kerry. Asking an Analytical Question. [Class handout or worksheet]. Princeton University; White, Patrick. Developing Research Questions: A Guide for Social Scientists . New York: Palgrave McMillan, 2009; Li, Yanmei, and Sumei Zhang. "Identifying the Research Problem." In Applied Research Methods in Urban and Regional Planning . (Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, 2022), pp. 13-21.

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The Research Problem & Statement

What they are & how to write them (with examples)

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) | Expert Reviewed By: Eunice Rautenbach (DTech) | March 2023

If you’re new to academic research, you’re bound to encounter the concept of a “ research problem ” or “ problem statement ” fairly early in your learning journey. Having a good research problem is essential, as it provides a foundation for developing high-quality research, from relatively small research papers to a full-length PhD dissertations and theses.

In this post, we’ll unpack what a research problem is and how it’s related to a problem statement . We’ll also share some examples and provide a step-by-step process you can follow to identify and evaluate study-worthy research problems for your own project.

Overview: Research Problem 101

What is a research problem.

• What is a problem statement?

Where do research problems come from?

• How to find a suitable research problem
• Key takeaways

A research problem is, at the simplest level, the core issue that a study will try to solve or (at least) examine. In other words, it’s an explicit declaration about the problem that your dissertation, thesis or research paper will address. More technically, it identifies the research gap that the study will attempt to fill (more on that later).

Let’s look at an example to make the research problem a little more tangible.

To justify a hypothetical study, you might argue that there’s currently a lack of research regarding the challenges experienced by first-generation college students when writing their dissertations [ PROBLEM ] . As a result, these students struggle to successfully complete their dissertations, leading to higher-than-average dropout rates [ CONSEQUENCE ]. Therefore, your study will aim to address this lack of research – i.e., this research problem [ SOLUTION ].

A research problem can be theoretical in nature, focusing on an area of academic research that is lacking in some way. Alternatively, a research problem can be more applied in nature, focused on finding a practical solution to an established problem within an industry or an organisation. In other words, theoretical research problems are motivated by the desire to grow the overall body of knowledge , while applied research problems are motivated by the need to find practical solutions to current real-world problems (such as the one in the example above).

As you can probably see, the research problem acts as the driving force behind any study , as it directly shapes the research aims, objectives and research questions , as well as the research approach. Therefore, it’s really important to develop a very clearly articulated research problem before you even start your research proposal . A vague research problem will lead to unfocused, potentially conflicting research aims, objectives and research questions .

What is a research problem statement?

As the name suggests, a problem statement (within a research context, at least) is an explicit statement that clearly and concisely articulates the specific research problem your study will address. While your research problem can span over multiple paragraphs, your problem statement should be brief , ideally no longer than one paragraph . Importantly, it must clearly state what the problem is (whether theoretical or practical in nature) and how the study will address it.

Here’s an example of a statement of the problem in a research context:

Rural communities across Ghana lack access to clean water, leading to high rates of waterborne illnesses and infant mortality. Despite this, there is little research investigating the effectiveness of community-led water supply projects within the Ghanaian context. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effectiveness of such projects in improving access to clean water and reducing rates of waterborne illnesses in these communities.

As you can see, this problem statement clearly and concisely identifies the issue that needs to be addressed (i.e., a lack of research regarding the effectiveness of community-led water supply projects) and the research question that the study aims to answer (i.e., are community-led water supply projects effective in reducing waterborne illnesses?), all within one short paragraph.

Need a helping hand?

Wherever there is a lack of well-established and agreed-upon academic literature , there is an opportunity for research problems to arise, since there is a paucity of (credible) knowledge. In other words, research problems are derived from research gaps . These gaps can arise from various sources, including the emergence of new frontiers or new contexts, as well as disagreements within the existing research.

Let’s look at each of these scenarios:

New frontiers – new technologies, discoveries or breakthroughs can open up entirely new frontiers where there is very little existing research, thereby creating fresh research gaps. For example, as generative AI technology became accessible to the general public in 2023, the full implications and knock-on effects of this were (or perhaps, still are) largely unknown and therefore present multiple avenues for researchers to explore.

New contexts – very often, existing research tends to be concentrated on specific contexts and geographies. Therefore, even within well-studied fields, there is often a lack of research within niche contexts. For example, just because a study finds certain results within a western context doesn’t mean that it would necessarily find the same within an eastern context. If there’s reason to believe that results may vary across these geographies, a potential research gap emerges.

Disagreements – within many areas of existing research, there are (quite naturally) conflicting views between researchers, where each side presents strong points that pull in opposing directions. In such cases, it’s still somewhat uncertain as to which viewpoint (if any) is more accurate. As a result, there is room for further research in an attempt to “settle” the debate.

Of course, many other potential scenarios can give rise to research gaps, and consequently, research problems, but these common ones are a useful starting point. If you’re interested in research gaps, you can learn more here .

How to find a research problem

Given that research problems flow from research gaps , finding a strong research problem for your research project means that you’ll need to first identify a clear research gap. Below, we’ll present a four-step process to help you find and evaluate potential research problems.

If you’ve read our other articles about finding a research topic , you’ll find the process below very familiar as the research problem is the foundation of any study . In other words, finding a research problem is much the same as finding a research topic.

Step 1 – Identify your area of interest

Naturally, the starting point is to first identify a general area of interest . Chances are you already have something in mind, but if not, have a look at past dissertations and theses within your institution to get some inspiration. These present a goldmine of information as they’ll not only give you ideas for your own research, but they’ll also help you see exactly what the norms and expectations are for these types of projects.

At this stage, you don’t need to get super specific. The objective is simply to identify a couple of potential research areas that interest you. For example, if you’re undertaking research as part of a business degree, you may be interested in social media marketing strategies for small businesses, leadership strategies for multinational companies, etc.

Depending on the type of project you’re undertaking, there may also be restrictions or requirements regarding what topic areas you’re allowed to investigate, what type of methodology you can utilise, etc. So, be sure to first familiarise yourself with your institution’s specific requirements and keep these front of mind as you explore potential research ideas.

Step 2 – Review the literature and develop a shortlist

Once you’ve decided on an area that interests you, it’s time to sink your teeth into the literature . In other words, you’ll need to familiarise yourself with the existing research regarding your interest area. Google Scholar is a good starting point for this, as you can simply enter a few keywords and quickly get a feel for what’s out there. Keep an eye out for recent literature reviews and systematic review-type journal articles, as these will provide a good overview of the current state of research.

At this stage, you don’t need to read every journal article from start to finish . A good strategy is to pay attention to the abstract, intro and conclusion , as together these provide a snapshot of the key takeaways. As you work your way through the literature, keep an eye out for what’s missing – in other words, what questions does the current research not answer adequately (or at all)? Importantly, pay attention to the section titled “ further research is needed ”, typically found towards the very end of each journal article. This section will specifically outline potential research gaps that you can explore, based on the current state of knowledge (provided the article you’re looking at is recent).

Take the time to engage with the literature and develop a big-picture understanding of the current state of knowledge. Reviewing the literature takes time and is an iterative process , but it’s an essential part of the research process, so don’t cut corners at this stage.

As you work through the review process, take note of any potential research gaps that are of interest to you. From there, develop a shortlist of potential research gaps (and resultant research problems) – ideally 3 – 5 options that interest you.

Step 3 – Evaluate your potential options

Once you’ve developed your shortlist, you’ll need to evaluate your options to identify a winner. There are many potential evaluation criteria that you can use, but we’ll outline three common ones here: value, practicality and personal appeal.

Value – a good research problem needs to create value when successfully addressed. Ask yourself:

• Who will this study benefit (e.g., practitioners, researchers, academia)?
• How will it benefit them specifically?
• How much will it benefit them?

Practicality – a good research problem needs to be manageable in light of your resources. Ask yourself:

• What data will I need access to?
• What knowledge and skills will I need to undertake the analysis?
• What equipment or software will I need to process and/or analyse the data?
• How much time will I need?
• What costs might I incur?

Personal appeal – a research project is a commitment, so the research problem that you choose needs to be genuinely attractive and interesting to you. Ask yourself:

• How appealing is the prospect of solving this research problem (on a scale of 1 – 10)?
• Why, specifically, is it attractive (or unattractive) to me?
• Does the research align with my longer-term goals (e.g., career goals, educational path, etc)?

Depending on how many potential options you have, you may want to consider creating a spreadsheet where you numerically rate each of the options in terms of these criteria. Remember to also include any criteria specified by your institution . From there, tally up the numbers and pick a winner.

Step 4 – Craft your problem statement

Once you’ve selected your research problem, the final step is to craft a problem statement. Remember, your problem statement needs to be a concise outline of what the core issue is and how your study will address it. Aim to fit this within one paragraph – don’t waffle on. Have a look at the problem statement example we mentioned earlier if you need some inspiration.

Key Takeaways

We’ve covered a lot of ground. Let’s do a quick recap of the key takeaways:

• A research problem is an explanation of the issue that your study will try to solve. This explanation needs to highlight the problem , the consequence and the solution or response.
• A problem statement is a clear and concise summary of the research problem , typically contained within one paragraph.
• Research problems emerge from research gaps , which themselves can emerge from multiple potential sources, including new frontiers, new contexts or disagreements within the existing literature.
• To find a research problem, you need to first identify your area of interest , then review the literature and develop a shortlist, after which you’ll evaluate your options, select a winner and craft a problem statement .

Psst... there’s more!

This post was based on one of our popular Research Bootcamps . If you're working on a research project, you'll definitely want to check this out ...

I APPRECIATE YOUR CONCISE AND MIND-CAPTIVATING INSIGHTS ON THE STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS. PLEASE I STILL NEED SOME SAMPLES RELATED TO SUICIDES.

Very pleased and appreciate clear information.

Your videos and information have been a life saver for me throughout my dissertation journey. I wish I’d discovered them sooner. Thank you!

Very interesting. Thank you. Please I need a PhD topic in climate change in relation to health.

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11 common challenges you face as a researcher

As much as I love being a researcher, we experience some challenges when we try to lead research. Below I will share some of the common pain points other researchers, and I have faced within our roles.

.css-1nrevy2{position:relative;display:inline-block;} What are the problems faced by researchers during research?

1. research is slow and expensive.

As research as a separate team is relatively new compared to engineering, product, or design, many stakeholders may not have worked with researchers in the past and understand the value that a researcher can bring to the table.

Additionally, because some research methodologies take time to execute or require external vendor support to get the best insight, there are perceptions that research is slow or expensive and will be a barrier or blocker in building or shipping products.

These can lead to research not being included in product conversations early, or at all, limiting the ability for analysis to provide strategic or directional support.

In other cases it may lead to research not getting the right budget to effectively perform their work, leading to researchers having to be scrappy, hacky and de-prioritize research that may take up a significant percentage of their budget.

2. Research teams of one, or silos

When research is not valued, organizations will not invest in a group. Many organizations will have an individual researcher across the entire company or multiple product areas, which can strain the researcher to rigorously prioritize what projects they work on and lead to frustrations with other teams if they are not getting research support.

In cases where research teams exist, researchers may be embedded in discrete or separate product areas, making it hard for researchers to collaborate or pair with other researchers on projects. When researchers come together to attend crit or share feedback and experiences, researchers spend time setting the context of what they're working on with peers (especially in non-consumer facing experiences) to ensure peers can provide meaningful feedback to support their projects.

3. Research execution

Sometimes, after a researcher has spent the time and effort creating a robust research report, it isn't used. A research report is usually not used because of a mismatch in expectations of the stakeholder and researcher. Researchers need to ensure that stakeholders are taken along the research creation journey to ensure there is alignment and buy-in from stakeholders.

In some cases, researchers may "throw research over the fence" in that they may not invest the effort in creating research outputs that resonate with stakeholders or take the time to have conversations and presentations with stakeholders to open a dialogue about the research and help the stakeholder understand how to leverage the research

4. Research not used

In other cases, product priorities may have shifted, or new dependencies now prevent the research findings from being integrated into products and design. Inaction on research can make it harder for researchers to feel like they impact their team when their work doesn't create change in the product.

Researchers must determine other ways to generate value from the work that they have done. Value might be in the form of looking for broader opportunities to share findings outside of the direct stakeholder team or share with their research team, where outputs have the chance to be used for related work.

5. Too much effort to add and search for previous work

Researchers can spend a lot of time looking for past research or data to support a stakeholder or research project. Because researchers have to quickly jump from one project to another to ensure they can continually provide value, 'meta work' such as knowledge management is usually deprioritized in the research process.

Researchers may actively try to stay up to date with knowledge management activities. As each researcher may have a different mental model for how to tag and store insights, other researchers can find it difficult to find research unless they know the right search keywords.

Whatever the format a researcher presents in (such as a presentation or report), it will be the same format that it is stored. An inconsistent storage format can be hard for future researchers to parse for insights, leading researchers to have to go through every individual report on a topic to determine if there are relevant insights.

6. Service model requests

Although stakeholders are critical to ensuring the value of research is understood, some stakeholders may come to a researcher with an explicit research request (e.g. "I want to do usability testing on this feature"). This experience puts researchers into a 'service model' and prevents researchers from providing real strategic value and looking for opportunities that may be blind spots from stakeholders.

Preventing service model situations from happening requires researchers to build strong proactive relationships with their stakeholders, so researchers are on the pulse of potential research opportunities and teach them how to come with questions, not solutions, to researcher conversations.

7. Institutional knowledge inhibits new research

As many stakeholders may have domain or institutional knowledge about the area that they are working in, they may make assumptions about customers or products, leading them to drive product decisions on their own experiences.

Although stakeholders might have daily interactions with customers, they are not customers. Their underlying biases and assumptions based on their experience may not always align with actual customer pain points and needs. Researchers must figure out ways to tactfully push back on these decisions to ensure that research can provide guidance, or analysis, to ensure customer needs are clearly understood.

8. Insight of one

If stakeholders are customer-facing, or are part of customer conversations, they are likely to receive feedback on the stakeholders' product or experience. Customers may also 'solutionize' (i.e. provide suggestions on fixing the product) during these conversations. If a customer is high value, stakeholders are more likely to reactively decide to change or re-prioritize work based on the customer's insight or product suggestion.

A robust stakeholder perspective may be challenging for researchers when they are looking to propose work that may be on a similar topic, as a stakeholder may be adamant that the insight they captured as part of the customer conversation covers the need to conduct additional research.

9. More time in operations means less time to research

The responsibility of all organization and operational activities are then put on the researcher, leaving them less time to focus on ensuring high-quality research throughout the process.

Having a dedicated research operations resource also enables them to focus on other ways to improve operations in planning, to run, and synthesizing research that can provide longer-term efficiency gains for researchers.

10. Recruiting participants is high effort

A large part of a research operations' role is managing the participant recruitment process. If a research panel with customers who have proactively opted to participate in research is not available (either internally or through a vendor), alternative sources have to be used to identify potential participants.

Email open rates  generally average 15-25% , so if there is a niche participant type, it's even more challenging to recruit enough of the relevant participants to match the required sample size.

There may also be situations where participant types are not digitally active (e.g. truck drivers), which means potential participants need to be called and manually scheduled individually.

Additionally, managing participants can take more effort: in most cases, confirmation calls are conducted with participants the day before a research session to minimize the potential of no-shows, and allows participants to reschedule.

11. Managing vendors through onboarding processes

Vendors support research in two key ways:

Recruitment & Logistics: Managing participants, including recruiting, scheduling, and incentive management. Vendors help when there is difficulty finding participant requirements, non-customers / users of a product or if the study is blinded. They may also rent out research labs for researchers to facilitate sessions if internal facilities are not available.

Research execution: Running full research projects, including planning, recruiting, execution, and synthesis. These are useful when there is a scoped project with little to no ambiguity (e.g. competitive review, usability testing).

In both cases, vendors need to go through procurement to agree on the work, cost, and expected outputs.

There are usually questionnaires related to security, privacy, and operational structures for larger or enterprise organizations that one or more internal teams may manage. In these cases, the researcher / research ops must become the middleman, working across both the internal teams and vendor to prevent timeline slippage of projects.

Procurement can become more complicated if organizations have stringent privacy or data protection processes, as there are strict requirements on what data sharing with external parties (e.g., personally identifiable information or PII off-limits).

If there is data that the researcher needs to recruit with and they are denied access because of company policy, it can lead to the researcher and vendor having to determine workarounds that may risk the quality of participants or research output.

Keep reading

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What are the research challenges that Academic Researchers face, and how do they overcome them?

2021, Academia Letters

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This paper aims at assisting budding researchers, particularly in the social and management sciences to have better approach to handling doable research projects. The paper provides a lucid and practical discussion on the importance and simple strategies involved in the identification and development of researchable problems; processes that are considered to be the cornerstone and precursor for a feasible and successful research effort. The paper relies on extant literature and basic teaching methodology in presenting in very simple form a narrative of the systematic building blocks of research problem development which begins with the explanation of the concept of research, research cycle, sources of research problem, statement of research problem, questions, objectives and hypotheses. The paper concludes that the importance of research problem lies in the fact that the entire research efforts begin with the articulation and formulation of researchable problem from the research top...

George Karagioules

Research issues

Dr. Odera C O N Z A L K Amos Ouma

Research is a fundamental process in academic and scientific endeavors, aiming to extend knowledge, address societal challenges, and inform decision-making. However, the research process itself is multifaceted and often subject to complex challenges and considerations. Understanding the key research issues, such as research theory, triangulation, research gaps, and the role of annotated bibliographies, is crucial for the design, implementation, and evaluation of robust and impactful research studies. The purpose of this study is to critically examine and highlight the significance of various research issues, including research theory, triangulation, research gaps, and annotated bibliographies, in the context of social science and humanities research. Objectives of the study has been to explore the role and application of research theory in informing the conceptual foundations, methodological approaches, and analytical frameworks of research projects; investigate the concept of triangulation and its utility in enhancing the validity, reliability, and depth of research findings; identify and analyze the significance of research gaps, their identification, and the strategies for addressing them in the development of novel and impactful research agendas; and examine the purpose, structure, and value of annotated bibliographies in supporting comprehensive literature reviews and situating research within the broader scholarly discourse. This study has employed a qualitative research approach, drawing on a combination of methods, including literature review, conceptual analysis, and expert interviews. The research design has involved a multi-phase approach, encompassing: a comprehensive review of scholarly literature on research theory, triangulation, research gaps, and annotated bibliographies; conceptual analysis and synthesis to develop a deeper understanding of the key research issues and their interconnections; and in-depth interviews with experienced researchers, methodologists, and research experts to gain insights into the practical application and contextual nuances of the research issues under investigation. The data collected through the literature review and expert interviews has been subjected to thematic analysis to identify patterns, themes, and key findings. The analysis has sought to elucidate the conceptual, methodological, and practical implications of the research issues, as well as their significance for the design, implementation, and evaluation of rigorous and impactful research projects.

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Home » Research Gap – Types, Examples and How to Identify

Research Gap – Types, Examples and How to Identify

Table of Contents

Research Gap

Definition:

Research gap refers to an area or topic within a field of study that has not yet been extensively researched or is yet to be explored. It is a question, problem or issue that has not been addressed or resolved by previous research.

How to Identify Research Gap

Identifying a research gap is an essential step in conducting research that adds value and contributes to the existing body of knowledge. Research gap requires critical thinking, creativity, and a thorough understanding of the existing literature . It is an iterative process that may require revisiting and refining your research questions and ideas multiple times.

Here are some steps that can help you identify a research gap:

• Review existing literature: Conduct a thorough review of the existing literature in your research area. This will help you identify what has already been studied and what gaps still exist.
• Identify a research problem: Identify a specific research problem or question that you want to address.
• Analyze existing research: Analyze the existing research related to your research problem. This will help you identify areas that have not been studied, inconsistencies in the findings, or limitations of the previous research.
• Brainstorm potential research ideas : Based on your analysis, brainstorm potential research ideas that address the identified gaps.
• Consult with experts: Consult with experts in your research area to get their opinions on potential research ideas and to identify any additional gaps that you may have missed.
• Refine research questions: Refine your research questions and hypotheses based on the identified gaps and potential research ideas.
• Develop a research proposal: Develop a research proposal that outlines your research questions, objectives, and methods to address the identified research gap.

Types of Research Gap

There are different types of research gaps that can be identified, and each type is associated with a specific situation or problem. Here are the main types of research gaps and their explanations:

Theoretical Gap

This type of research gap refers to a lack of theoretical understanding or knowledge in a particular area. It can occur when there is a discrepancy between existing theories and empirical evidence or when there is no theory that can explain a particular phenomenon. Identifying theoretical gaps can lead to the development of new theories or the refinement of existing ones.

Empirical Gap

An empirical gap occurs when there is a lack of empirical evidence or data in a particular area. It can happen when there is a lack of research on a specific topic or when existing research is inadequate or inconclusive. Identifying empirical gaps can lead to the development of new research studies to collect data or the refinement of existing research methods to improve the quality of data collected.

Methodological Gap

This type of research gap refers to a lack of appropriate research methods or techniques to answer a research question. It can occur when existing methods are inadequate, outdated, or inappropriate for the research question. Identifying methodological gaps can lead to the development of new research methods or the modification of existing ones to better address the research question.

Practical Gap

A practical gap occurs when there is a lack of practical applications or implementation of research findings. It can occur when research findings are not implemented due to financial, political, or social constraints. Identifying practical gaps can lead to the development of strategies for the effective implementation of research findings in practice.

Knowledge Gap

This type of research gap occurs when there is a lack of knowledge or information on a particular topic. It can happen when a new area of research is emerging, or when research is conducted in a different context or population. Identifying knowledge gaps can lead to the development of new research studies or the extension of existing research to fill the gap.

Examples of Research Gap

Here are some examples of research gaps that researchers might identify:

• Theoretical Gap Example : In the field of psychology, there might be a theoretical gap related to the lack of understanding of the relationship between social media use and mental health. Although there is existing research on the topic, there might be a lack of consensus on the mechanisms that link social media use to mental health outcomes.
• Empirical Gap Example : In the field of environmental science, there might be an empirical gap related to the lack of data on the long-term effects of climate change on biodiversity in specific regions. Although there might be some studies on the topic, there might be a lack of data on the long-term effects of climate change on specific species or ecosystems.
• Methodological Gap Example : In the field of education, there might be a methodological gap related to the lack of appropriate research methods to assess the impact of online learning on student outcomes. Although there might be some studies on the topic, existing research methods might not be appropriate to assess the complex relationships between online learning and student outcomes.
• Practical Gap Example: In the field of healthcare, there might be a practical gap related to the lack of effective strategies to implement evidence-based practices in clinical settings. Although there might be existing research on the effectiveness of certain practices, they might not be implemented in practice due to various barriers, such as financial constraints or lack of resources.
• Knowledge Gap Example: In the field of anthropology, there might be a knowledge gap related to the lack of understanding of the cultural practices of indigenous communities in certain regions. Although there might be some research on the topic, there might be a lack of knowledge about specific cultural practices or beliefs that are unique to those communities.

Examples of Research Gap In Literature Review, Thesis, and Research Paper might be:

• Literature review : A literature review on the topic of machine learning and healthcare might identify a research gap in the lack of studies that investigate the use of machine learning for early detection of rare diseases.
• Thesis : A thesis on the topic of cybersecurity might identify a research gap in the lack of studies that investigate the effectiveness of artificial intelligence in detecting and preventing cyber attacks.
• Research paper : A research paper on the topic of natural language processing might identify a research gap in the lack of studies that investigate the use of natural language processing techniques for sentiment analysis in non-English languages.

How to Write Research Gap

By following these steps, you can effectively write about research gaps in your paper and clearly articulate the contribution that your study will make to the existing body of knowledge.

Here are some steps to follow when writing about research gaps in your paper:

• Identify the research question : Before writing about research gaps, you need to identify your research question or problem. This will help you to understand the scope of your research and identify areas where additional research is needed.
• Review the literature: Conduct a thorough review of the literature related to your research question. This will help you to identify the current state of knowledge in the field and the gaps that exist.
• Identify the research gap: Based on your review of the literature, identify the specific research gap that your study will address. This could be a theoretical, empirical, methodological, practical, or knowledge gap.
• Provide evidence: Provide evidence to support your claim that the research gap exists. This could include a summary of the existing literature, a discussion of the limitations of previous studies, or an analysis of the current state of knowledge in the field.
• Explain the importance: Explain why it is important to fill the research gap. This could include a discussion of the potential implications of filling the gap, the significance of the research for the field, or the potential benefits to society.
• State your research objectives: State your research objectives, which should be aligned with the research gap you have identified. This will help you to clearly articulate the purpose of your study and how it will address the research gap.

Importance of Research Gap

The importance of research gaps can be summarized as follows:

• Advancing knowledge: Identifying research gaps is crucial for advancing knowledge in a particular field. By identifying areas where additional research is needed, researchers can fill gaps in the existing body of knowledge and contribute to the development of new theories and practices.
• Guiding research: Research gaps can guide researchers in designing studies that fill those gaps. By identifying research gaps, researchers can develop research questions and objectives that are aligned with the needs of the field and contribute to the development of new knowledge.
• Enhancing research quality: By identifying research gaps, researchers can avoid duplicating previous research and instead focus on developing innovative research that fills gaps in the existing body of knowledge. This can lead to more impactful research and higher-quality research outputs.
• Informing policy and practice: Research gaps can inform policy and practice by highlighting areas where additional research is needed to inform decision-making. By filling research gaps, researchers can provide evidence-based recommendations that have the potential to improve policy and practice in a particular field.

Applications of Research Gap

Here are some potential applications of research gap:

• Informing research priorities: Research gaps can help guide research funding agencies and researchers to prioritize research areas that require more attention and resources.
• Identifying practical implications: Identifying gaps in knowledge can help identify practical applications of research that are still unexplored or underdeveloped.
• Stimulating innovation: Research gaps can encourage innovation and the development of new approaches or methodologies to address unexplored areas.
• Improving policy-making: Research gaps can inform policy-making decisions by highlighting areas where more research is needed to make informed policy decisions.
• Enhancing academic discourse: Research gaps can lead to new and constructive debates and discussions within academic communities, leading to more robust and comprehensive research.

Advantages of Research Gap

Here are some of the advantages of research gap:

• Identifies new research opportunities: Identifying research gaps can help researchers identify areas that require further exploration, which can lead to new research opportunities.
• Improves the quality of research: By identifying gaps in current research, researchers can focus their efforts on addressing unanswered questions, which can improve the overall quality of research.
• Enhances the relevance of research: Research that addresses existing gaps can have significant implications for the development of theories, policies, and practices, and can therefore increase the relevance and impact of research.
• Helps avoid duplication of effort: Identifying existing research can help researchers avoid duplicating efforts, saving time and resources.
• Helps to refine research questions: Research gaps can help researchers refine their research questions, making them more focused and relevant to the needs of the field.
• Promotes collaboration: By identifying areas of research that require further investigation, researchers can collaborate with others to conduct research that addresses these gaps, which can lead to more comprehensive and impactful research outcomes.

Disadvantages of Research Gap

While research gaps can be advantageous, there are also some potential disadvantages that should be considered:

• Difficulty in identifying gaps: Identifying gaps in existing research can be challenging, particularly in fields where there is a large volume of research or where research findings are scattered across different disciplines.
• Lack of funding: Addressing research gaps may require significant resources, and researchers may struggle to secure funding for their work if it is perceived as too risky or uncertain.
• Time-consuming: Conducting research to address gaps can be time-consuming, particularly if the research involves collecting new data or developing new methods.
• Risk of oversimplification: Addressing research gaps may require researchers to simplify complex problems, which can lead to oversimplification and a failure to capture the complexity of the issues.
• Bias : Identifying research gaps can be influenced by researchers’ personal biases or perspectives, which can lead to a skewed understanding of the field.
• Potential for disagreement: Identifying research gaps can be subjective, and different researchers may have different views on what constitutes a gap in the field, leading to disagreements and debate.

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

The challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and the way people deal with them. A qualitative longitudinal study

Contributed equally to this work with: Dominika Maison, Diana Jaworska, Dominika Adamczyk, Daria Affeltowicz

Roles Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland

Roles Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology

• Dominika Maison, 
• Diana Jaworska, 
• Dominika Adamczyk, 
• Daria Affeltowicz

• Published: October 11, 2021
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258133
• Peer Review
• Reader Comments

The conducted qualitative research was aimed at capturing the biggest challenges related to the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The interviews were carried out in March-June (five stages of the research) and in October (the 6 th stage of the research). A total of 115 in-depth individual interviews were conducted online with 20 respondents, in 6 stages. The results of the analysis showed that for all respondents the greatest challenges and the source of the greatest suffering were: a) limitation of direct contact with people; b) restrictions on movement and travel; c) necessary changes in active lifestyle; d) boredom and monotony; and e) uncertainty about the future.

Citation: Maison D, Jaworska D, Adamczyk D, Affeltowicz D (2021) The challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and the way people deal with them. A qualitative longitudinal study. PLoS ONE 16(10): e0258133. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258133

Editor: Shah Md Atiqul Haq, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, BANGLADESH

Received: April 6, 2021; Accepted: September 18, 2021; Published: October 11, 2021

Copyright: © 2021 Maison et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files ( S1 Dataset ).

Funding: This work was supported by the Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Poland from the funds awarded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in the form of a subsidy for the maintenance and development of research potential in 2020 (501-D125-01-1250000). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19), discovered in December 2019 in China, has reached the level of a pandemic and, till June 2021, it has affected more than 171 million people worldwide and caused more than 3.5 million deaths all over the world [ 1 ]. The COVID-19 pandemic as a major health crisis has caught the attention of many researchers, which has led to the creation of a broad quantitative picture of human behavior during the coronavirus outbreak [ 2 – 4 ]. What has been established so far is, among others, the psychological symptoms that can occur as a result of lockdown [ 2 ], and the most common coping strategies [ 5 ]. However, what we still miss is an in-depth understanding of the changes in the ways of coping with challenges over different stages of the pandemic. In the following study, we used a longitudinal qualitative method to investigate the challenges during the different waves of the coronavirus pandemic as well as the coping mechanisms accompanying them.

In Poland, the first patient was diagnosed with COVID-19 on the 4 th March 2020. Since then, the number of confirmed cases has grown to more than 2.8 million and the number of deaths to more than 73,000 (June 2021) [ 1 ]. From mid-March 2020, the Polish government, similarly to many other countries, began to introduce a number of restrictions to limit the spread of the virus. These restrictions had been changing from week to week, causing diverse reactions in people [ 6 ]. It needs to be noted that the reactions to such a dynamic situation cannot be covered by a single study. Therefore, in our study we used qualitative longitudinal research in order to monitor changes in people’s emotions, attitudes, and behavior. So far, few longitudinal studies have been carried out that investigated the various issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic; however, all of them were quantitative [ 7 – 10 ]. The qualitative approach (and especially the use of enabling and projective techniques) allows for an in-depth exploration of respondents’ reactions that goes beyond respondents’ declarations and captures what they are less aware of or even unconscious of. This study consisted of six stages of interviews that were conducted at key moments for the development of the pandemic situation in Poland. The first stage of the study was carried out at the moment of the most severe lockdown and the biggest restrictions (March 2020) and was focused on exploration how did people react to the new uncertain situation. The second stage of the study was conducted at the time when restrictions were extended and the obligation to cover the mouth and nose everywhere outside the household were introduced (middle of April 2020) and was focused at the way how did people deal with the lack of family gatherings over Easter. The third stage of the study was conducted at the moment of announcing the four stages of lifting the restrictions (April 2020) and was focused on people’s reaction to an emerging vision of getting back to normalcy. The fourth stage of the study was carried out, after the introduction of the second stage of lifting the restrictions: shopping malls, hotels, and cultural institutions were gradually being opened (May 2020). The fifth stage of the study was conducted after all four stages of restriction lifting were in place (June 2020). Only the obligation to cover the mouth and nose in public spaces, an order to maintain social distance, as well as the functioning of public places under a sanitary regime were still in effect. During those 5 stages coping strategies with the changes in restrictions were explored. The sixth and last stage of the study was a return to the respondents after a longer break, at the turn of October and November 2020, when the number of coronavirus cases in Poland began to increase rapidly and the media declared “the second wave of the pandemic”. It was the moment when the restrictions were gradually being reintroduced. A full description of the changes occurring in Poland at the time of the study can be found in S1 Table .

The following study is the first qualitative longitudinal study investigating how people cope with the challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic at its different stages. The study, although conducted in Poland, shows the universal psychological relations between the challenges posed by the pandemic (and, even more, the restrictions resulting from the pandemic, which were very similar across different countries, not only European) and the ways of dealing with them.

Literature review

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a global health crisis with severe economic [ 11 ], social [ 3 ], and psychological consequences [ 4 ]. Despite the fact that there were multiple crises in recent years, such as natural disasters, economic crises, and even epidemics, the coronavirus pandemic is the first in 100 years to severely affect the entire world. The economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic concern an impending global recession caused by the lockdown of non-essential industries and the disruption of production and supply chains [ 11 ]. Social consequences may be visible in many areas, such as the rise in family violence [ 3 ], the ineffectiveness of remote education, and increased food insecurity among impoverished families due to school closures [ 12 ]. According to some experts, the psychological consequences of COVID-19 are the ones that may persist for the longest and lead to a global mental health crisis [ 13 ]. The coronavirus outbreak is generating increased depressive symptoms, stress, anxiety, insomnia, denial, fear, and anger all over the world [ 2 , 14 ]. The economic, social, and psychological problems that people are currently facing are the consequences of novel challenges that have been posed by the pandemic.

The coronavirus outbreak is a novel, uncharted situation that has shaken the world and completely changed the everyday lives of many individuals. Due to the social distancing policy, many people have switched to remote work—in Poland, almost 75% of white-collar workers were fully or partially working from home from mid-March until the end of May 2020 [ 15 ]. School closures and remote learning imposed a new obligation on parents of supervising education, especially with younger children [ 16 ]. What is more, the government order of self-isolation forced people to spend almost all their time at home and limit or completely abandon human encounters. In addition, the deteriorating economic situation was the cause of financial hardship for many people. All these difficulties and challenges arose in the aura of a new, contagious disease with unexplored, long-lasting health effects and not fully known infectivity and lethality [ 17 ]. Dealing with the situation was not facilitated by the phenomenon of global misinformation, called by some experts as the “infodemic”, which may be defined as an overabundance of information that makes it difficult for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance [ 18 ]. Studies have shown that people have multiple ways of reacting to a crisis: from radical and even violent practices, towards individual solutions and depression [ 19 ]. Not only the challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic but also the ways of reacting to it and coping with it are issues of paramount importance that are worth investigating.

The reactions to unusual crisis situations may be dependent on dispositional factors, such as trait anxiety or perceived control [ 20 , 21 ]. A study on reactions to Hurricane Hugo has shown that people with higher trait anxiety are more likely to develop posttraumatic symptoms following a natural disaster [ 20 ]. Moreover, lack of perceived control was shown to be positively related to the level of distress during an earthquake in Turkey [ 21 ]. According to some researchers, the COVID-19 crisis and natural disasters have much in common, as the emotions and behavior they cause are based on the same primal human emotion—fear [ 22 ]. Both pandemics and natural disasters disrupt people’s everyday lives and may have severe economic, social and psychological consequences [ 23 ]. However, despite many similarities to natural disasters, COVID-19 is a unique situation—only in 2020, the current pandemic has taken more lives than the world’s combined natural disasters in any of the past twenty years [ 24 ]. It needs to be noted that natural disasters may pose different challenges than health crises and for this reason, they may provoke disparate reactions [ 25 ]. Research on the reactions to former epidemics has shown that avoidance and safety behaviors, such as avoiding going out, visiting crowded places, and visiting hospitals, are widespread at such times [ 26 ]. When it comes to the ways of dealing with the current COVID-19 pandemic, a substantial part of the quantitative research on this issue focuses on coping mechanisms. Studies have shown that the most prevalent coping strategies are highly problem-focused [ 5 ]. Most people tend to listen to expert advice and behave calmly and appropriately in the face of the coronavirus outbreak [ 5 ]. Problem-focused coping is particularly characteristic of healthcare professionals. A study on Chinese nurses has shown that the closer the problem is to the person and the more fear it evokes, the more problem-focused coping strategy is used to deal with it [ 27 ]. On the other hand, a negative coping style that entails risky or aggressive behaviors, such as drug or alcohol use, is also used to deal with the challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic [ 28 ]. The factors that are correlated with negative coping include coronavirus anxiety, impairment, and suicidal ideation [ 28 ]. It is worth emphasizing that social support is a very important component of dealing with crises [ 29 ].

Scientists have attempted to systematize the reactions to difficult and unusual situations. One such concept is the “3 Cs” model created by Reich [ 30 ]. It accounts for the general rules of resilience in situations of stress caused by crises, such as natural disasters. The 3 Cs stand for: control (a belief that personal resources can be accessed to achieve valued goals), coherence (the human desire to make meaning of the world), and connectedness (the need for human contact and support) [ 30 ]. Polizzi and colleagues [ 22 ] reviewed this model from the perspective of the current COVID-19 pandemic. The authors claim that natural disasters and COVID-19 pandemic have much in common and therefore, the principles of resilience in natural disaster situations can also be used in the situation of the current pandemic [ 22 ]. They propose a set of coping behaviors that could be useful in times of the coronavirus outbreak, which include control (e.g., planning activities for each day, getting adequate sleep, limiting exposure to the news, and helping others), coherence (e.g., mindfulness and developing a coherent narrative on the event), and connectedness (e.g., establishing new relationships and caring for existing social bonds) [ 22 ].

Current study

The issue of the challenges arising from the current COVID-19 pandemic and the ways of coping with them is complex and many feelings accompanying these experiences may be unconscious and difficult to verbalize. Therefore, in order to explore and understand it deeply, qualitative methodology was applied. Although there were few qualitative studies on the reaction to the pandemic [e.g., 31 – 33 ], they did not capture the perception of the challenges and their changes that arise as the pandemic develops. Since the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic is very dynamic, the reactions to the various restrictions, orders or bans are evolving. Therefore, it was decided to conduct a qualitative longitudinal study with multiple interviews with the same respondents [ 34 ].

The study investigates the challenges arising from the current pandemic and the way people deal with them. The main aim of the project was to capture people’s reactions to the unusual and unexpected situation of the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the project was largely exploratory in nature. Interviews with the participants at different stages of the epidemic allowed us to see a wide spectrum of problems and ways of dealing with them. The conducted study had three main research questions:

• What are the biggest challenges connected to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting restrictions?
• How are people dealing with the pandemic challenges?
• What are the ways of coping with the restrictions resulting from a pandemic change as it continues and develops (perspective of first 6 months)?

The study was approved by the institutional review board of the Faculty of Psychology University of Warsaw, Poland. All participants were provided written and oral information about the study, which included that participation was voluntary, that it was possible to withdraw without any consequences at any time, and the precautions that would be taken to protect data confidentiality. Informed consent was obtained from all participants. To ensure confidentiality, quotes are presented only with gender, age, and family status.

The study was based on qualitative methodology: individual in-depth interviews, s which are the appropriate to approach a new and unknown and multithreaded topic which, at the beginning of 2020, was the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the need to observe respondents’ reactions to the dynamically changing situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, longitudinal study was used where the moderator met on-line with the same respondent several times, at specific time intervals. A longitudinal study was used to capture the changes in opinions, emotions, and behaviors of the respondents resulting from the changes in the external circumstances (qualitative in-depth interview tracking–[ 34 ]).

The study took place from the end of March to October 2020. Due to the epidemiological situation in the country interviews took place online, using the Google Meets online video platform. The audio was recorded and then transcribed. Before taking part in the project, the respondents were informed about the purpose of the study, its course, and the fact that participation in the project is voluntary, and that they will be able to withdraw from participation at any time. The respondents were not paid for taking part in the project.

Participants.

In total, 115 interviews were conducted with 20 participants (6 interviews with the majority of respondents). Two participants (number 11 and 19, S2 Table ) dropped out of the last two interviews, and one (number 6) dropped out of the last interview. The study was based on a purposive sample and the respondents differed in gender, age, education, family status, and work situation (see S2 Table ). In addition to demographic criteria intended to ensure that the sample was as diverse as possible, an additional criterion was to have a permanent Internet connection and a computer capable of online video interviewing. Study participants were recruited using the snowball method. They were distant acquaintances of acquaintances of individuals involved in the study. None of the moderators knew their interviewees personally.

A total of 10 men and 10 women participated in the study; their age range was: 25–55; the majority had higher education (17 respondents), they were people with different professions and work status, and different family status (singles, couples without children, and families with children). Such diversity of respondents allowed us to obtain information from different life perspectives. A full description of characteristics of study participants can be found in S2 Table .

Each interview took 2 hours on average, which gives around 240 hours of interviews. Subsequent interviews with the same respondents conducted at different intervals resulted from the dynamics of the development of the pandemic and the restrictions introduced in Poland by the government.

The interviews scenario took a semi-structured form. This allowed interviewers freely modify the questions and topics depending on the dynamics of the conversation and adapt the subject matter of the interviews not only to the research purposes but also to the needs of a given respondent. The interview guides were modified from week to week, taking into account the development of the epidemiological situation, while at the same time maintaining certain constant parts that were repeated in each interview. The main parts of the interview topic guide consisted of: (a) experiences from the time of previous interviews: thoughts, feeling, fears, and hopes; (b) everyday life—organization of the day, work, free time, shopping, and eating, etc.; (c) changes—what had changed in the life of the respondent from the time of the last interview; (d) ways of coping with the situation; and (e) media—reception of information appearing in the media. Additionally, in each interview there were specific parts, such as the reactions to the beginning of the pandemic in the first interview or the reaction to the specific restrictions that were introduced.

The interviews were conducted by 5 female interviewers with experience in moderating qualitative interviews, all with a psychological background. After each series of interviews, all the members of the research teams took part in debriefing sessions, which consisted of discussing the information obtained from each respondent, exchanging general conclusions, deciding about the topics for the following interview stage, and adjusting them to the pandemic situation in the country.

Data analysis.

All the interviews were transcribed in Polish by the moderators and then double-checked (each moderator transcribed the interviews of another moderator, and then the interviewer checked the accuracy of the transcription). The whole process of analysis was conducted on the material in Polish (the native language of the authors of the study and respondents). The final page count of the transcript is approximately 1800 pages of text. The results presented below are only a portion of the total data collected during the interviews. While there are about 250 pages of the transcription directly related to the topic of the article, due to the fact that the interview was partly free-form, some themes merge with others and it is not possible to determine the exact number of pages devoted exclusively to analysis related to the topic of the article. Full dataset can be found in S1 Dataset .

Data was then processed into thematic analysis, which is defined as a method of developing qualitative data consisting of the identification, analysis, and description of the thematic areas [ 35 ]. In this type of analysis, a thematic unit is treated as an element related to the research problem that includes an important aspect of data. An important advantage of thematic analysis is its flexibility, which allows for the adoption of the most appropriate research strategy to the phenomenon under analysis. An inductive approach was used to avoid conceptual tunnel vision. Extracting themes from the raw data using an inductive approach precludes the researcher from imposing a predetermined outcome.

As a first step, each moderator reviewed the transcripts of the interviews they had conducted. Each transcript was thematically coded individually from this point during the second and the third reading. In the next step, one of the researchers reviewed the codes extracted by the other members of the research team. Then she made initial interpretations by generating themes that captured the essence of the previously identified codes. The researcher created a list of common themes present in all of the interviews. In the next step, the extracted themes were discussed again with all the moderators conducting the coding in order to achieve consistency. This collaborative process was repeated several times during the analysis. Here, further superordinate (challenges of COVID-19 pandemic) and subordinate (ways of dealing with challenges) themes were created, often by collapsing others together, and each theme listed under a superordinate and subordinate category was checked to ensure they were accurately represented. Through this process of repeated analysis and discussion of emerging themes, it was possible to agree on the final themes that are described below.

Main challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Challenge 1 –limitation of direct contact with people . The first major challenge of the pandemic was that direct contact with other people was significantly reduced. The lockdown forced many people to work from home and limit contact not only with friends but also with close family (parents, children, and siblings). Limiting contact with other people was a big challenge for most of our respondents, especially those who were living alone and for those who previously led an active social life. Depending on their earlier lifestyle profile, for some, the bigger problem was the limitation of contact with the family, for others with friends, and for still others with co-workers.

I think that because I can’t meet up with anyone and that I’m not in a relationship , I miss having sex , and I think it will become even more difficult because it will be increasingly hard to meet anyone . (5 . 3_ M_39_single) . The number In the brackets at the end of the quotes marks the respondent’s number (according to Table 1 ) and the stage of the interview (after the dash), further is information about gender (F/M), age of the respondent and family status. Linguistic errors in the quotes reflect the spoken language of the respondents.

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258133.t001

Changes over time . Over the course of the 6 months of the study, an evolution in the attitudes to the restriction of face-to-face contact could be seen: from full acceptance, to later questioning its rationale. Initially (March and April), almost all the respondents understood the reasons for the isolation and were compliant. At the beginning, people were afraid of the unknown COVID-19. They were concerned that the tragic situation from Italy, which was intensively covered in the media, could repeat itself in Poland (stage 1–2 of the study). However, with time, the isolation started to bother them more and more, and they started to look for solutions to bypass the isolation guidelines (stage 3–4), both real (simply meeting each other) and mental (treating isolation only as a guideline and not as an order, perceiving the family as being less threatening than acquaintances or strangers in a store). The turning point was the long May weekend that, due to two public holidays (1 st and 3 rd May), has for many years been used as an opportunity to go away with family or friends. Many people broke their voluntary isolation during that time encouraged by information about the coming loosening of restrictions.

During the summer (stage 5 of the survey), practically no one was fully compliant with the isolation recommendations anymore. At that time, a growing familiarity could be observed with COVID-19 and an increasing tendency to talk about it as “one of many diseases”, and to convince oneself that one is not at risk and that COVID-19 is no more threatening than other viruses. Only a small group of people consciously failed to comply with the restrictions of contact with others from the very beginning of the pandemic. This behavior was mostly observed among people who were generally less anxious and less afraid of COVID-19.

I’ve had enough. I’ve had it with sitting at home. Okay, there’s some kind of virus, it’s as though it’s out there somewhere; it’s like I know 2 people who were infected but they’re still alive, nothing bad has happened to anyone. It’s just a tiny portion of people who are dying. And is it really such a tragedy that we have to be locked up at home? Surely there’s an alternative agenda there? (17.4_F_35_Adult and child)

Ways of dealing . In the initial phase, when almost everyone accepted this restriction and submitted to it, the use of communication platforms for social meetings increased (see Ways of dealing with challenges in Table 1 ) . Meetings on communication platforms were seen as an equivalent of the previous face-to-face contact and were often even accompanied by eating or drinking alcohol together. However, over time (at around stage 4–5 of the study) people began to feel that such contact was an insufficient substitute for face-to-face meetings and interest in online meetings began to wane. During this time, however, an interesting phenomenon could be seen, namely, that for many people the family was seen as a safer environment than friends, and definitely safer than strangers. The belief was that family members would be honest about being sick, while strangers not necessarily, and—on an unconscious level—the feeling was that the “family is safe”, and the “family can’t hurt them”.

When it became clear that online communication is an insufficient substitute for face-to-face contacts, people started to meet up in real life. However, a change in many behaviors associated with meeting people is clearly visible, e.g.: refraining from shaking hands, refraining from cheek kissing to greet one another, and keeping a distance during a conversation.

I can’t really say that I could ‘feel’ Good Friday or Holy Saturday. On Sunday, we had breakfast together with my husband’s family and his sister. We were in three different places but we connected over Skype. Later, at noon, we had some coffee with my parents, also over Skype. It’s obvious though that this doesn’t replace face-to-face contact but it’s always some form of conversation. (9.3_F_25_Couple, no children)

Challenge 2 –restrictions on movement and travel . In contrast to the restrictions on contact with other people, the restrictions on movement and the closing of borders were perceived more negatively and posed bigger challenges for some people (especially those who used to do a lot of travelling). In this case, it was less clear why these regulations were introduced (especially travel restrictions within the country). Moreover, travel restrictions, particularly in the case of international travels, were associated with a limitation of civil liberties. The limitation (or complete ban) on travelling abroad in the Polish situation evoked additional connotations with the communist times, that is, with the fact that there was no freedom of movement for Polish citizens (associations with totalitarianism and dictatorship). Interestingly, the lack of acceptance of this restriction was also manifested by people who did not travel much. Thus, it was not just a question of restricting travelling abroad but more of restricting the potential opportunity (“even if I’m not planning on going anywhere, I know I still can”).

Limitations on travelling around the country were particularly negatively felt by families with children, where parents believe that regular exercise and outings are necessary for the proper development of their children. For parents, it was problematic to accept the prohibition of leaving the house and going to the playground (which remained closed until mid-May). Being outdoors was perceived as important for maintaining immunity (exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle), therefore, people could not understand the reason underlying this restriction and, as a consequence, often did not accept it.

I was really bothered by the very awareness that I can’t just jump in my car or get on a plane whenever I want and go wherever I want. It’s not something that I have to do on a daily basis but freedom of movement and travelling are very important for me. (14.2_M_55_Two adults and children)

Changes over time . The travel and movement limitations, although objectively less severe for most people, aroused much greater anger than the restrictions on social contact. This was probably due to a greater sense of misunderstanding as to why these rules were being introduced in the first place. Moreover, they were often communicated inconsistently and chaotically (e.g., a ban on entering forests was introduced while, at the same time, shopping malls remained open and masses were allowed to attend church services). This anger grew over time—from interview to interview, the respondents’ irritation and lack of acceptance of this was evident (culminating in the 3 rd -4 th stage of the study). The limitation of mobility was also often associated with negative consequences for both health and the economy. Many people are convinced that being in the open air (especially accompanied by physical activity) strengthens immunity, therefore, limiting such activity may have negative health consequences. Some respondents pointed out that restricting travelling, the use of hotels and restaurants, especially during the holiday season, will have serious consequences for the existence of the tourism industry.

I can’t say I completely agree with these limitations because it’s treating everything selectively. It’s like the shopping mall is closed, I can’t buy any shoes but I can go to a home improvement store and buy some wallpaper for myself. So I don’t see the difference between encountering people in a home improvement store and a shopping mall. (18.2_F_48_Two adults and children)

Ways of dealing . Since the restriction of movement and travel was more often associated with pleasure-related behaviors than with activities necessary for living, the compensations for these restrictions were usually also from the area of hedonistic behaviors. In the statements of our respondents, terms such as “indulging” or “rewarding oneself” appeared, and behaviors such as throwing small parties at home, buying better alcohol, sweets, and new clothes were observed. There were also increased shopping behaviors related to hobbies (sometimes hobbies that could not be pursued at the given time)–a kind of “post-pandemic” shopping spree (e.g., a new bike or new skis).

Again, the reaction to this restriction also depended on the level of fear of the COVID-19 disease. People who were more afraid of being infected accepted these restrictions more easily as it gave them the feeling that they were doing something constructive to protect themselves from the infection. Conversely, people with less fears and concerns were more likely to rebel and break these bans and guidelines.

Another way of dealing with this challenge was making plans for interesting travel destinations for the post-pandemic period. This was especially salient in respondents with an active lifestyle in the past and especially visible during the 5 th stage of the study.

Today was the first day when I went to the store (due to being in quarantine after returning from abroad). I spent loads of money but I normally would have never spent so much on myself. I bought sweets and confectionery for Easter time, some Easter chocolates, too. I thought I’d do some more baking so I also bought some ingredients to do this. (1.2_ F_25_single)

Challenge 3 –necessary change in active lifestyle . Many of the limitations related to COVID-19 were a challenge for people with an active lifestyle who would regularly go to the cinema, theater, and gym, use restaurants, and do a lot of travelling. For those people, the time of the COVID constraints has brought about huge changes in their lifestyle. Most of their activities were drastically restricted overnight and they suddenly became domesticated by force, especially when it was additionally accompanied by a transition to remote work.

Compulsory spending time at home also had serious consequences for people with school-aged children who had to confront themselves with the distance learning situation of their children. The second challenge for families with children was also finding (or helping find) activities for their children to do in their free time without leaving the house.

I would love to go to a restaurant somewhere. We order food from the restaurant at least once a week, but I’d love to go to the restaurant. Spending time there is a different way of functioning. It is enjoyable and that is what I miss. I would also go to the cinema, to the theater. (13.3_M_46_Two adults and child.)

Changes over time . The nuisance of restrictions connected to an active lifestyle depended on the level of restrictions in place at a given time and the extent to which a given activity could be replaced by an alternative. Moreover, the response to these restrictions depended more on the individual differences in lifestyle rather than on the stage of the interview (except for the very beginning, when the changes in lifestyle and everyday activities were very sudden).

I miss that these restaurants are not open . And it’s not even that I would like to eat something specific . It is in all of this that I miss such freedom the most . It bothers me that I have no freedom . And I am able to get used to it , I can cook at home , I can order from home . But I just wish I had a choice . (2 . 6_F_27_single ).

Ways of dealing . In the initial phase of the pandemic (March-April—stage 1–3 of the study), when most people were afraid of the coronavirus, the acceptance of the restrictions was high. At the same time, efforts were made to find activities that could replace existing ones. Going to the gym was replaced by online exercise, and going to the cinema or theater by intensive use of streaming platforms. In the subsequent stages of the study, however, the respondents’ fatigue with these “substitutes” was noticeable. It was then that more irritation and greater non-acceptance of certain restrictions began to appear. On the other hand, the changes or restrictions introduced during the later stages of the pandemic were less sudden than the initial ones, so they were often easier to get used to.

I bought a small bike and even before that we ordered some resistance bands to work out at home, which replace certain gym equipment and devices. […] I’m considering learning a language. From the other online things, my girlfriend is having yoga classes, for instance. (7.2_M_28_Couple, no children)

Challenge 4 –boredom , monotony . As has already been shown, for many people, the beginning of the pandemic was a huge change in lifestyle, an absence of activities, and a resulting slowdown. It was sometimes associated with a feeling of weariness, monotony, and even of boredom, especially for people who worked remotely, whose days began to be similar to each other and whose working time merged with free time, weekdays with the weekends, and free time could not be filled with previous activities.

In some way, boredom. I can’t concentrate on what I’m reading. I’m trying to motivate myself to do such things as learning a language because I have so much time on my hands, or to do exercises. I don’t have this balance that I’m actually doing something for myself, like reading, working out, but also that I’m meeting up with friends. This balance has gone, so I’ve started to get bored with many things. Yesterday I felt that I was bored and something should start happening. (…) After some time, this lack of events and meetings leads to such immense boredom. (1.5_F_25_single)

Changes over time . The feeling of monotony and boredom was especially visible in stage 1 and 2 of the study when the lockdown was most restrictive and people were knocked out of their daily routines. As the pandemic continued, boredom was often replaced by irritation in some, and by stagnation in others (visible in stages 3 and 4 of the study) while, at the same time, enthusiasm for taking up new activities was waning. As most people were realizing that the pandemic was not going to end any time soon, a gradual adaptation to the new lifestyle (slower and less active) and the special pandemic demands (especially seen in stage 5 and 6 of the study) could be observed.

But I see that people around me , in fact , both family and friends , are slowly beginning to prepare themselves for more frequent stays at home . So actually more remote work , maybe everything will not be closed and we will not be locked in four walls , but this tendency towards isolation or self-isolation , such a deliberate one , appears . I guess we are used to the fact that it has to be this way . (15 . 6_M_43_Two adults and child) .

Ways of dealing . The answer to the monotony of everyday life and to finding different ways of separating work from free time was to stick to certain rituals, such as “getting dressed for work”, even when work was only by a computer at home or, if possible, setting a fixed meal time when the whole family would gather together. For some, the time of the beginning of the pandemic was treated as an extra vacation. This was especially true of people who could not carry out their work during the time of the most severe restrictions (e.g., hairdressers and doctors). For them, provided that they believed that everything would return to normal and that they would soon go back to work, a “vacation mode” was activated wherein they would sleep longer, watch a lot of movies, read books, and generally do pleasant things for which they previously had no time and which they could now enjoy without feeling guilty. Another way of dealing with the monotony and transition to a slower lifestyle was taking up various activities for which there was no time before, such as baking bread at home and cooking fancy dishes.

I generally do have a set schedule. I begin work at eight. Well, and what’s changed is that I can get up last minute, switch the computer on and be practically making my breakfast and coffee during this time. I do some work and then print out some materials for my younger daughter. You know, I have work till four, I keep on going up to the computer and checking my emails. (19.1_F_39_Two adults and children)

Challenge 5 –uncertainty about the future . Despite the difficulties arising from the circumstances and limitations described above, it seems that psychologically, the greatest challenge during a pandemic is the uncertainty of what will happen next. There was a lot of contradictory information in the media that caused a sense of confusion and heightened the feeling of anxiety.

I’m less bothered about the changes that were put in place and more about this concern about what will happen in the future. Right now, it’s like there’s these mood swings. […] Based on what’s going on, this will somehow affect every one of us. And that’s what I’m afraid of. The fact that someone will not survive and I have no way of knowing who this could be—whether it will be me or anyone else, or my dad, if somehow the coronavirus will sneak its way into our home. I simply don’t know. I’m simply afraid of this. (10.1_F_55_Couple, no children)

Changes over time . In the first phase of the pandemic (interviews 1–3), most people felt a strong sense of not being in control of the situation and of their own lives. Not only did the consequences of the pandemic include a change in lifestyle but also, very often, the suspension of plans altogether. In addition, many people felt a strong fear of the future, about what would happen, and even a sense of threat to their own or their loved ones’ lives. Gradually (interview 4), alongside anxiety, anger began to emerge about not knowing what would happen next. At the beginning of the summer (stage 5 of the study), most people had a hope of the pandemic soon ending. It was a period of easing restrictions and of opening up the economy. Life was starting to look more and more like it did before the pandemic, fleetingly giving an illusion that the end of the pandemic was “in sight” and the vision of a return to normal life. Unfortunately, autumn showed that more waves of the pandemic were approaching. In the interviews of the 6 th stage of the study, we could see more and more confusion and uncertainty, a loss of hope, and often a manifestation of disagreement with the restrictions that were introduced.

This is making me sad and angry. More angry, in fact. […] I don’t know what I should do. Up until now, there was nothing like this. Up until now, I was pretty certain of what I was doing in all the decisions I was making. (14.4_M_55_Two adults and children)

Ways of dealing . People reacted differently to the described feeling of insecurity. In order to reduce the emerging fears, some people searched (sometimes even compulsively) for any information that could help them “take control” of the situation. These people searched various sources, for example, information on the number of infected persons and the number of deaths. This knowledge gave them the illusion of control and helped them to somewhat reduce the anxiety evoked by the pandemic. The behavior of this group was often accompanied by very strict adherence to all guidelines and restrictions (e.g., frequent hand sanitization, wearing a face mask, and avoiding contact with others). This behavior increased the sense of control over the situation in these people.

A completely opposite strategy to reducing the feeling of uncertainty which we also observed in some respondents was cutting off information in the media about the scale of the disease and the resulting restrictions. These people, unable to keep up with the changing information and often inconsistent messages, in order to maintain cognitive coherence tried to cut off the media as much as possible, assuming that even if something really significant had happened, they would still find out.

I want to keep up to date with the current affairs. Even if it is an hour a day. How is the pandemic situation developing—is it increasing or decreasing. There’s a bit of propaganda there because I know that when they’re saying that they have the situation under control, they can’t control it anyway. Anyhow, it still has a somewhat calming effect that it’s dying down over here and that things aren’t that bad. And, apart from this, I listen to the news concerning restrictions, what we can and can’t do. (3.1_F_54_single)

Discussion and conclusions

The results of our study showed that the five greatest challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic are: limitations of direct contact with people, restrictions on movement and travel, change in active lifestyle, boredom and monotony, and finally uncertainty about the future. As we can see the spectrum of problems resulting from the pandemic is very wide and some of them have an impact on everyday functioning and lifestyle, some other influence psychological functioning and well-being. Moreover, different people deal with these problems differently and different changes in everyday life are challenging for them. The first challenge of the pandemic COVID-19 problem is the consequence of the limitation of direct contact with others. This regulation has very strong psychological consequences in the sense of loneliness and lack of closeness. Initially, people tried to deal with this limitation through the use of internet communicators. It turned out, however, that this form of contact for the majority of people was definitely insufficient and feelings of deprivation quickly increased. As much data from psychological literature shows, contact with others can have great psychological healing properties [e.g., 29 ]. The need for closeness is a natural need in times of crisis and catastrophes [ 30 ]. Unfortunately, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the ability to meet this need was severely limited by regulations. This led to many people having serious problems with maintaining a good psychological condition.

Another troubling limitation found in our study were the restrictions on movement and travel, and the associated restrictions of most activities, which caused a huge change in lifestyle for many people. As shown in previous studies, travel and diverse leisure activities are important predictors of greater well-being [ 36 ]. Moreover, COVID-19 pandemic movement restrictions may be perceived by some people as a threat to human rights [ 37 ], which can contribute to people’s reluctance to accept lockdown rules.

The problem with accepting these restrictions was also related to the lack of understanding of the reasons behind them. Just as the limitation in contact with other people seemed understandable, the limitations related to physical activity and mobility were less so. Because of these limitations many people lost a sense of understanding of the rules and restrictions being imposed. Inconsistent communication in the media—called by some researchers the ‘infodemic’ [ 18 ], as well as discordant recommendations in different countries, causing an increasing sense of confusion in people.

Another huge challenge posed by the current pandemic is the feeling of uncertainty about the future. This feeling is caused by constant changes in the rules concerning daily functioning during the pandemic and what is prohibited and what is allowed. People lose their sense of being in control of the situation. From the psychological point of view, a long-lasting experience of lack of control can cause so-called learned helplessness, a permanent feeling of having no influence over the situation and no possibility of changing it [ 38 ], which can even result in depression and lower mental and physical wellbeing [ 39 ]. Control over live and the feeling that people have an influence on what happens in their lives is one of the basic rules of crisis situation resilience [ 30 ]. Unfortunately, also in this area, people have huge deficits caused by the pandemic. The obtained results are coherent with previous studies regarding the strategies harnessed to cope with the pandemic [e.g., 5 , 10 , 28 , 33 ]. For example, some studies showed that seeking social support is one of the most common strategies used to deal with the coronavirus pandemic [ 33 , 40 ]. Other ways to deal with this situation include distraction, active coping, and a positive appraisal of the situation [ 41 ]. Furthermore, research has shown that simple coping behaviors such as a healthy diet, not reading too much COVID-19 news, following a daily routine, and spending time outdoors may be protective factors against anxiety and depressive symptoms in times of the coronavirus pandemic [ 41 ].

This study showed that the acceptance of various limitations, and especially the feeling of discomfort associated with them, depended on the person’s earlier lifestyle. The more active and socializing a person was, the more restrictions were burdensome for him/her. The second factor, more of a psychological nature, was the fear of developing COVID-19. In this case, people who were more afraid of getting sick were more likely to submit to the imposed restrictions that, paradoxically, did not reduce their anxiety, and sometimes even heightened it.

Limitations of the study.

While the study shows interesting results, it also has some limitations. The purpose of the study was primarily to capture the first response to problems resulting from a pandemic, and as such its design is not ideal. First, the study participants are not diverse as much as would be desirable. They are mostly college-educated and relatively well off, which may influence how they perceive the pandemic situation. Furthermore, the recruitment was done by searching among the further acquaintances of the people involved in the study, so there is a risk that all the people interviewed come from a similar background. It would be necessary to conduct a study that also describes the reaction of people who are already in a more difficult life situation before the pandemic starts.

Moreover, it would also be worthwhile to pay attention to the interviewers themselves. All of the moderators were female, and although gender effects on the quality of the interviews and differences between the establishment of relationships between women and men were not observed during the debriefing process, the topic of gender effects on the results of qualitative research is frequently addressed in the literature [ 42 , 43 ]. Although the researchers approached the process with reflexivity and self-criticism at all stages, it would have seemed important to involve male moderators in the study to capture any differences in relationship dynamics.

Practical implications.

The study presented has many practical implications. Decision-makers in the state can analyze the COVID-19 pandemic crisis in a way that avoids a critical situation involving other infectious diseases in the future. The results of our study showing the most disruptive effects of the pandemic on people can serve as a basis for developing strategies to deal with the effects of the crisis so that it does not translate into a deterioration of the public’s mental health in the future.

The results of our study can also provide guidance on how to communicate information about restrictions in the future so that they are accepted and respected (for example by giving rational explanations of the reasons for introducing particular restrictions). In addition, the results of our study can also be a source of guidance on how to deal with the limitations that may arise in a recurrent COVID-19 pandemic, as well as other emergencies that could come.

The analysis of the results showed that the COVID-19 pandemic, and especially the lockdown periods, are a particular challenge for many people due to reduced social contact. On the other hand, it is social contacts that are at the same time a way of a smoother transition of crises. This knowledge should prompt decision-makers to devise ways to ensure pandemic safety without drastically limiting social contacts and to create solutions that give people a sense of control (instead of depriving it of). Providing such solutions can reduce the psychological problems associated with a pandemic and help people to cope better with it.

Conclusions

As more and more is said about the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic may not end soon and that we are likely to face more waves of this disease and related lockdowns, it is very important to understand how the different restrictions are perceived, what difficulties they cause and what are the biggest challenges resulting from them. For example, an important element of accepting the restrictions is understanding their sources, i.e., what they result from, what they are supposed to prevent, and what consequences they have for the fight against the pandemic. Moreover, we observed that the more incomprehensible the order was, the more it provoked to break it. This means that not only medical treatment is extremely important in an effective fight against a pandemic, but also appropriate communication.

The results of our study showed also that certain restrictions cause emotional deficits (e.g., loneliness, loss of sense of control) and, consequently, may cause serious problems with psychological functioning. From this perspective, it seems extremely important to understand which restrictions are causing emotional problems and how they can be dealt with in order to reduce the psychological discomfort associated with them.

Supporting information

S1 table. a full description of the changes occurring in poland at the time of the study..

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258133.s001

S2 Table. Characteristics of study participants.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258133.s002

S1 Dataset. Transcriptions from the interviews.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258133.s003

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• 10 Research Question Examples to Guide Your Research Project

10 Research Question Examples to Guide your Research Project

Published on October 30, 2022 by Shona McCombes . Revised on October 19, 2023.

The research question is one of the most important parts of your research paper , thesis or dissertation . It’s important to spend some time assessing and refining your question before you get started.

The exact form of your question will depend on a few things, such as the length of your project, the type of research you’re conducting, the topic , and the research problem . However, all research questions should be focused, specific, and relevant to a timely social or scholarly issue.

Once you’ve read our guide on how to write a research question , you can use these examples to craft your own.

Note that the design of your research question can depend on what method you are pursuing. Here are a few options for qualitative, quantitative, and statistical research questions.

Other interesting articles

If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Methodology

• Sampling methods
• Simple random sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling
• Likert scales
• Reproducibility

 Statistics

• Null hypothesis
• Statistical power
• Probability distribution
• Effect size
• Poisson distribution

Research bias

• Optimism bias
• Cognitive bias
• Implicit bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Anchoring bias
• Explicit bias

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How to Write a Research Proposal: (with Examples & Templates)

Table of Contents

Before conducting a study, a research proposal should be created that outlines researchers’ plans and methodology and is submitted to the concerned evaluating organization or person. Creating a research proposal is an important step to ensure that researchers are on track and are moving forward as intended. A research proposal can be defined as a detailed plan or blueprint for the proposed research that you intend to undertake. It provides readers with a snapshot of your project by describing what you will investigate, why it is needed, and how you will conduct the research.  

Your research proposal should aim to explain to the readers why your research is relevant and original, that you understand the context and current scenario in the field, have the appropriate resources to conduct the research, and that the research is feasible given the usual constraints.  

This article will describe in detail the purpose and typical structure of a research proposal , along with examples and templates to help you ace this step in your research journey.  

What is a Research Proposal ?  

A research proposal¹ ,²  can be defined as a formal report that describes your proposed research, its objectives, methodology, implications, and other important details. Research proposals are the framework of your research and are used to obtain approvals or grants to conduct the study from various committees or organizations. Consequently, research proposals should convince readers of your study’s credibility, accuracy, achievability, practicality, and reproducibility.   

With research proposals , researchers usually aim to persuade the readers, funding agencies, educational institutions, and supervisors to approve the proposal. To achieve this, the report should be well structured with the objectives written in clear, understandable language devoid of jargon. A well-organized research proposal conveys to the readers or evaluators that the writer has thought out the research plan meticulously and has the resources to ensure timely completion.  

Purpose of Research Proposals  

A research proposal is a sales pitch and therefore should be detailed enough to convince your readers, who could be supervisors, ethics committees, universities, etc., that what you’re proposing has merit and is feasible . Research proposals can help students discuss their dissertation with their faculty or fulfill course requirements and also help researchers obtain funding. A well-structured proposal instills confidence among readers about your ability to conduct and complete the study as proposed.  

Research proposals can be written for several reasons:³  

• To describe the importance of research in the specific topic  
• Address any potential challenges you may encounter  
• Showcase knowledge in the field and your ability to conduct a study  
• Apply for a role at a research institute  
• Convince a research supervisor or university that your research can satisfy the requirements of a degree program  
• Highlight the importance of your research to organizations that may sponsor your project  
• Identify implications of your project and how it can benefit the audience  

What Goes in a Research Proposal?    

Research proposals should aim to answer the three basic questions—what, why, and how.  

The What question should be answered by describing the specific subject being researched. It should typically include the objectives, the cohort details, and the location or setting.  

The Why question should be answered by describing the existing scenario of the subject, listing unanswered questions, identifying gaps in the existing research, and describing how your study can address these gaps, along with the implications and significance.  

The How question should be answered by describing the proposed research methodology, data analysis tools expected to be used, and other details to describe your proposed methodology.   

Research Proposal Example  

Here is a research proposal sample template (with examples) from the University of Rochester Medical Center. 4 The sections in all research proposals are essentially the same although different terminology and other specific sections may be used depending on the subject.  

Structure of a Research Proposal  

If you want to know how to make a research proposal impactful, include the following components:¹  

1. Introduction  

This section provides a background of the study, including the research topic, what is already known about it and the gaps, and the significance of the proposed research.  

2. Literature review  

This section contains descriptions of all the previous relevant studies pertaining to the research topic. Every study cited should be described in a few sentences, starting with the general studies to the more specific ones. This section builds on the understanding gained by readers in the Introduction section and supports it by citing relevant prior literature, indicating to readers that you have thoroughly researched your subject.  

3. Objectives  

Once the background and gaps in the research topic have been established, authors must now state the aims of the research clearly. Hypotheses should be mentioned here. This section further helps readers understand what your study’s specific goals are.  

4. Research design and methodology  

Here, authors should clearly describe the methods they intend to use to achieve their proposed objectives. Important components of this section include the population and sample size, data collection and analysis methods and duration, statistical analysis software, measures to avoid bias (randomization, blinding), etc.  

5. Ethical considerations  

This refers to the protection of participants’ rights, such as the right to privacy, right to confidentiality, etc. Researchers need to obtain informed consent and institutional review approval by the required authorities and mention this clearly for transparency.  

6. Budget/funding  

Researchers should prepare their budget and include all expected expenditures. An additional allowance for contingencies such as delays should also be factored in.  

7. Appendices  

This section typically includes information that supports the research proposal and may include informed consent forms, questionnaires, participant information, measurement tools, etc.  

8. Citations  

Important Tips for Writing a Research Proposal  

Writing a research proposal begins much before the actual task of writing. Planning the research proposal structure and content is an important stage, which if done efficiently, can help you seamlessly transition into the writing stage. 3,5  

The Planning Stage  

• Manage your time efficiently. Plan to have the draft version ready at least two weeks before your deadline and the final version at least two to three days before the deadline.
• What is the primary objective of your research?  
• Will your research address any existing gap?  
• What is the impact of your proposed research?  
• Do people outside your field find your research applicable in other areas?  
• If your research is unsuccessful, would there still be other useful research outcomes?  

  The Writing Stage  

• Create an outline with main section headings that are typically used.  
• Focus only on writing and getting your points across without worrying about the format of the research proposal , grammar, punctuation, etc. These can be fixed during the subsequent passes. Add details to each section heading you created in the beginning.   
• Ensure your sentences are concise and use plain language. A research proposal usually contains about 2,000 to 4,000 words or four to seven pages.  
• Don’t use too many technical terms and abbreviations assuming that the readers would know them. Define the abbreviations and technical terms.  
• Ensure that the entire content is readable. Avoid using long paragraphs because they affect the continuity in reading. Break them into shorter paragraphs and introduce some white space for readability.  
• Focus on only the major research issues and cite sources accordingly. Don’t include generic information or their sources in the literature review.  
• Proofread your final document to ensure there are no grammatical errors so readers can enjoy a seamless, uninterrupted read.  
• Use academic, scholarly language because it brings formality into a document.  
• Ensure that your title is created using the keywords in the document and is neither too long and specific nor too short and general.  
• Cite all sources appropriately to avoid plagiarism.  
• Make sure that you follow guidelines, if provided. This includes rules as simple as using a specific font or a hyphen or en dash between numerical ranges.  
• Ensure that you’ve answered all questions requested by the evaluating authority.  

Key Takeaways   

Here’s a summary of the main points about research proposals discussed in the previous sections:  

• A research proposal is a document that outlines the details of a proposed study and is created by researchers to submit to evaluators who could be research institutions, universities, faculty, etc.  
• Research proposals are usually about 2,000-4,000 words long, but this depends on the evaluating authority’s guidelines.  
• A good research proposal ensures that you’ve done your background research and assessed the feasibility of the research.  
• Research proposals have the following main sections—introduction, literature review, objectives, methodology, ethical considerations, and budget.  

Frequently Asked Questions  

Q1. How is a research proposal evaluated?  

A1. In general, most evaluators, including universities, broadly use the following criteria to evaluate research proposals . 6  

• Significance —Does the research address any important subject or issue, which may or may not be specific to the evaluator or university?  
• Content and design —Is the proposed methodology appropriate to answer the research question? Are the objectives clear and well aligned with the proposed methodology?  
• Sample size and selection —Is the target population or cohort size clearly mentioned? Is the sampling process used to select participants randomized, appropriate, and free of bias?  
• Timing —Are the proposed data collection dates mentioned clearly? Is the project feasible given the specified resources and timeline?  
• Data management and dissemination —Who will have access to the data? What is the plan for data analysis?  

Q2. What is the difference between the Introduction and Literature Review sections in a research proposal ?  

A2. The Introduction or Background section in a research proposal sets the context of the study by describing the current scenario of the subject and identifying the gaps and need for the research. A Literature Review, on the other hand, provides references to all prior relevant literature to help corroborate the gaps identified and the research need.  

Q3. How long should a research proposal be?  

A3. Research proposal lengths vary with the evaluating authority like universities or committees and also the subject. Here’s a table that lists the typical research proposal lengths for a few universities.  

Q4. What are the common mistakes to avoid in a research proposal ?  

A4. Here are a few common mistakes that you must avoid while writing a research proposal . 7  

• No clear objectives: Objectives should be clear, specific, and measurable for the easy understanding among readers.  
• Incomplete or unconvincing background research: Background research usually includes a review of the current scenario of the particular industry and also a review of the previous literature on the subject. This helps readers understand your reasons for undertaking this research because you identified gaps in the existing research.  
• Overlooking project feasibility: The project scope and estimates should be realistic considering the resources and time available.   
• Neglecting the impact and significance of the study: In a research proposal , readers and evaluators look for the implications or significance of your research and how it contributes to the existing research. This information should always be included.  
• Unstructured format of a research proposal : A well-structured document gives confidence to evaluators that you have read the guidelines carefully and are well organized in your approach, consequently affirming that you will be able to undertake the research as mentioned in your proposal.  
• Ineffective writing style: The language used should be formal and grammatically correct. If required, editors could be consulted, including AI-based tools such as Paperpal , to refine the research proposal structure and language.  

Thus, a research proposal is an essential document that can help you promote your research and secure funds and grants for conducting your research. Consequently, it should be well written in clear language and include all essential details to convince the evaluators of your ability to conduct the research as proposed.  

This article has described all the important components of a research proposal and has also provided tips to improve your writing style. We hope all these tips will help you write a well-structured research proposal to ensure receipt of grants or any other purpose.  

References  

• Sudheesh K, Duggappa DR, Nethra SS. How to write a research proposal? Indian J Anaesth. 2016;60(9):631-634. Accessed July 15, 2024. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5037942/  
• Writing research proposals. Harvard College Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships. Harvard University. Accessed July 14, 2024. https://uraf.harvard.edu/apply-opportunities/app-components/essays/research-proposals  
• What is a research proposal? Plus how to write one. Indeed website. Accessed July 17, 2024. https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/research-proposal  
• Research proposal template. University of Rochester Medical Center. Accessed July 16, 2024. https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/MediaLibraries/URMCMedia/pediatrics/research/documents/Research-proposal-Template.pdf  
• Tips for successful proposal writing. Johns Hopkins University. Accessed July 17, 2024. https://research.jhu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Tips-for-Successful-Proposal-Writing.pdf  
• Formal review of research proposals. Cornell University. Accessed July 18, 2024. https://irp.dpb.cornell.edu/surveys/survey-assessment-review-group/research-proposals  
• 7 Mistakes you must avoid in your research proposal. Aveksana (via LinkedIn). Accessed July 17, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/7-mistakes-you-must-avoid-your-research-proposal-aveksana-cmtwf/  

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Ridge Light Ranch

Classical Art Curriculum | Art Lesson Plans

How to Make the Most of CC’s Challenge A

Welcome to our Challenge A Page!

Our hope is that this series of pages becomes a great resource for CC families. We cover some of the more general info on other pages:

• Foundations (coming soon)
• Essentials 
• Challenge A (this page)
• Challenge B
• Challenge I
• Challenge 2
• Challenge 3
• Challenge 4 (coming in 2025-6)
• Math in CC’s Challenge Years

Table of Contents for This Page

How to grade challenge a.

• Logic (Math)
• Grammar (Latin)
• Research (Science)
• Debate (Cartography)
• Other Resources

I know there’s a lot of information here, but I’m going to try hard to use headings and bold lettering to make it easy to scan! I also made a simple printable checklist of what you need as you prep for Challenge A.

Help Contribute!

If you have some suggestions you’d like me to add here, please send them to me at: Julie (at) RidgeLightRanch.com

And now for some legal stuff

I try to use affiliate links whenever possible. So, if you use one of these links I may get a few pennies from it. However, the cost to you will be the same. I promise that I never choose what to suggest to you based on the benefit I might receive from it. You can learn more about our affiliate policy  here .

Classical Conversations has asked me to tell you that “ References to Classical Conversations do not constitute or imply endorsement by the company. ” I’m guessing you knew that, but now we’re all on the same page.

Five Common Topics- Circle Sticker

I’m assuming you already read about how we do Classical Conversations and about how we do Challenge , where I cover:

• Organizing for Challenge
• The Student Planner
• Transcripts
• Standardized Testing
• Keeping a Timeline Journal / Book of Centuries?

I also want to remind you to also talk with your CC Director . This page is one mom’s advice and each CC group does things a little differently.

Now let’s move on to the Challenge A-specific material!

I cover all the general information about  Grading in Challenge  on my general CC- Challenge page. I hope you’ll read that first!

For most students, Challenge A is their 7th-grade year. Since the student is not in high school, you may not need to grade at all. However, I think it’s a good idea to grade at least a few subjects, so your student isn’t shocked when high school rolls around. However you use this spreadsheet, I think it’s a good idea to sit down with your student and explain what this spreadsheet is for and what it measures (it doesn’t exactly measure learning, as I mentioned in the Grading in Challenge segment)!

Within this Excel spreadsheet are two tabs- one for each semester. Each Subject below has some additional details on how I grade that subject.

1. Logic (Math) Strand

Yes, I try to use both names , “Logic-Math,” so my sons get accustomed to the new term- especially in Challenge A, when it’s so new! In the second semester, when they start reading The Fallacy Detective , it’s going to be hard to remember that Logic=Math. In Challenge B, when they are learning formal logic, it’s even harder- so just call it “Logic-Math” from the beginning!

2024 Update: CC has introduced The Math Map. My kids are older and I know next to nothing about it! sorry!

Whether you’re using Saxon Math or not, I think you’ll find some helpful stuff on my Math in Challenge page. I covered these ideas in more detail (jump over there to read about them):

• Help your students understand the difference between “learning a new concept in math” and “math practice.” No one loves to practice…
• Pick a math curriculum and stick with it!
• Creating a Math Plan
• When to use a calculator
• Details on the use of Saxon Math

What to Purchase for Logic (Math)

• Your favorite Math curriculum- the Guide gives assignments for Saxon 8/7, but you really can use any curriculum you want!

What Goes in the Binder?

• Just a few loose sheets of lined or graph paper.
• If the director has asked students to come with sample problems, I photocopy a page from their textbook and the corresponding answer key page and have my son stick it in his binder for the days he forgets to bring a problem.

How to Grade Logic (Math)

Since most math curriculums include tests, it’s pretty simple to assign a grade. I like to also give points for completing daily work.

2. Grammar (Latin) Strand

Yes, again, call it “Grammar-Latin.” It’s the best way I know to get our students used to the new vocabulary.

I have a lot to tell you about Latin but please don’t let that scare you. I think once you take the time to understand how Henle Latin in organized, you’ll be comfortable using it and it won’t seem so scary.

Plan on spending 1 hour on Latin each of your 4 school days . By the time an hour is up, your student’s brain is probably ready for a rest, even if you all aren’t finished with the day’s assignments. You’ll cover about the first 1/3 of the book in Challenge A, the first 2/3 of the book in Challenge B, and the whole book in Challenge 1. So, you’ll see all this again (remember that mastery comes through repetition)! However, you’ll move slower in Challenge A, so do your best to make the most of the slower pace- it probably won’t feel slow.

What to Purchase for Latin (Grammar)

• Henle First Year Latin Textbook (aka: the Purple Book)
• Henle Latin Grammar book (aka: the Blue Book)
• An Answer key- (There are several to choose from- More info below )
• Optional: Latin flashcards and audio files ( More info below )
• Optional: Cassell’s Latin dictionary (we use ours every once in a while, but the back of the purple book has a decent one)
• Optional: CC’s Latin Workspace A (we did NOT like it, but some people do!- More info below )
• Optional: CC’s Latin Trivium Table (we found this too confusing and made our own- link to the free download below )
• Optional: Extra Help (Henle can be hard and there are MANY ways of getting more help! – More info below )

Henle Latin Books

Henle Latin has been around for a long time. I’m a little surprised the publisher hasn’t reformatted it with bigger font, more white space, and clear organization… but such is life. Be prepared to customize your Henle books!

When we sit down together to work on Latin this is what my student needs: Purple Book, Blue Book, his blank spiral notebook, and his Latin cheat sheet (like a Trivium Table)

CC sells a Latin “Workspace” workbook for each challenge level. We used the Challenge A Workspace the first year and decided we didn’t need it. Now we do all our work in a spiral notebook . We like the spiral notebooks that have a pocket so we have a place to store our cheat sheet (see below)

Each student needs their own purple “First Year” book and blue “Grammar” book. I like to have my own copy as well. (I’m determined to get over my fear of languages by learning Latin with my children and it’s nearly impossible for two of us to look at the tiny font at the same time.) I recommend you take both books to Office Depot and have them cut off the binding and spiral-bind them. Otherwise, it’s really hard to try to get them to stay open. We had a clear cover added to the front and back as well!

The blue Grammar book is a list of all the Latin grammar rules, all in one place, you’ll use it in Challenge years A through 4! People sometimes will tell you to look at a certain page and sometimes at a particular rule number, so watch out for that!

The purple “First Year” book is your main curriculum. It’s divided into 14 units (You’ll only do units 1-3 in Challenge A). Each unit has several lessons. Each lesson has one or more numbered sub-lessons. The new grammar and vocabulary are sprinkled throughout each lesson. Here’s how we mark up our books with erasable colored pencils (since a highlighter would bleed through):

• Purple: unit header, lesson header, or sub-lesson number
• Green: new vocabulary
• Blue: new grammar concepts or rules

Latin Answer Key

Henle’s white Answer Key assumes the teacher already knows some Latin, so it only includes the answers to the “harder” questions. This was NOT enough for me. I wanted answers to absolutely everything! I found Kathy Shedphard’s Henle 1 Answer Key and I LOVE it! It covers the whole Henle 1 book, so it will be all you need through Challenge 1. You can download the PDF, or save the link to the file in Google Docs. (It’s 500 pages, so I don’t plan on printing it!) From GoogleDocs, you can view it on your phone so you have one less book. Plus, you can add comments or questions and she ANSWERS YOU!!! Pure gold I tell you, pure gold!

Latin Vocabulary Flashcards

Students learn A LOT of new vocabulary words each year of Latin and you’ll need aa plan for how they’ll do this. What methods of memorization worked well for your student in year’s past? What do they enjoy?

Some people prefer using Quizlet. If you do this, be sure you’re looking at a Henle Latin list, so you’re learning the same words.

We enjoyed the printable vocabulary flashcard download from The Flashcard Lady on Etsy . Some people like to write their own and I think it’s a great learning activity, but no matter how much handwriting practice I give him, my older son’s writing still looks a bit like chicken scratch. Buying these color-coded printable cards was absolutely worth it to me! Full disclosure, it took time to print, laminate, and cut them out, but I was being very picky. You can also purchase them already made and she’ll ship them to you.

Whatever you use for flashcards, be sure they have the extra info printed on them:

• When you’re memorizing nouns, you’ll want to also memorize the gender and declension. For example, when you memorize that Terra = Land, say “land: terra, terrae, 1st Feminine”
• Mid 2nd semester, as you learn irregular verbs, you’ll need to say all 4 principal parts. For example, when you memorize ‘assemble’ say, “assemble: convenio, convenire, conveni. conventum, 4th intransitive.”

Latin Pronunciation

We do quite a bit of work verbally . In addition to reviewing the flashcards out loud, we do a lot of the Latin-to-English translations verbally. In order to help us learn to pronounce the words correctly (at least according to one system of pronunciation) we also often listen to the Word List audio files from Magistra Jones .

Latin Cheat Sheets

CC has a nice Latin Trivium Table, but I can’t wrap my mind around it. Somehow, it’s just not how I think. So, I made my own. I like making tables like this- it really helps me understand the material better! This cheat sheet shows the noun and adjective declensions, pronouns, and verb conjugations we learn in Challenge A. I hope it helps you out! (The little symbols in the bottom left mean that you can share this with anyone as long as you are giving attribution, giving it freely, and not trying to make any money off it!). I’ve expanded this chart each year, so I have more complicated ones on other challenge pages, but I think it’s really helpful to start with something simple like this!

Extra Latin Help

I have heard great things about Latin with Andy, Jam with Latin, and many others. However, I wanted a book I could read and not a video. I was given a copy of Magistra Jones’ Latin Companion . I loved it so much that I just bought the next 2 books aw the years went on! She explains each Henle lesson in a slightly different way than Henle, allowing me to really grasp the concept. I don’t make my kids read this (although I’d be thrilled if they did). Instead, I read it on my own before or after I sit down with them. However, it’s written in such a way that students could easily read it!

How to Scale Back Grammar (Latin)

If you find that you’re falling behind in Latin, I suggest you switch to completing 1/2 the work by translating every other sentence . Some exercises don’t number each sentence. In those cases, we numbered them ourselves and translated every odd-numbered sentence.

Translating English-to-Latin is a lot harder than translating Latin-to-English, but you learn so much more too. So don’t skip the English-to-Latin translation exercises, just do fewer sentences if you need to.

• Nothing at first. Throughout the year, the kids end up with some loose papers and we add them here

How to Grade Grammar (Latin)

Henle Latin doesn’t have any tests, so I usually just assign points for completing the daily work. Since I work alongside my students I’m ensuring they understand it all as we go. As they get older, I would like to transition away from this time-intensive way of working… I know Memoria Press has quizzes for Henle Latin, so I’ll probably start using those soon.

3. Research (Science) Strand

The Research/Science strand is broken into 3 sections: Natural Science, Science Fair, and Biology/Anatomy.

A. Natural Science

This should be a fun unit for the students! They get to pick a topic, research it a bit, and write a report on it. They can use books you have on hand, library books, or online resources. You can have your students write an IEW style paper, or just have a key word outline on an index card. Ask your director what they’ll be doing in class.

SAMPLE! Here’s a sample paper that my oldest wrote about the Arizona Tiger Salamander when he was in Ch. A. Even though we took out all the markers, you may notice he wrote an IEW-style paper. He’s a pretty natural writer and enjoys writing, so if your student isn’t like that, you’ll probably want to scale the papers down to a single paragraph.

Hopefully, your student will want to sketch whatever they researched! If your student is overwhelmed by the idea of drawing, have them trace an image instead! We can learn soooo much when we trace! As an artist myself, I have so much I want to tell you about tracing, but I’ve already said it all on the Tracing is Amazing page, so check it out!

B. Science Fair

Your guide lays this all out for you. Just remember, Science Fair is NOT about playing around doing science experiments. It’s about the scientific method, the report, and the presentation . If you’d like your student to be curious and try stuff, start that long before science fair time (like over the summer)! Once the Science Fair unit arrives, it’s time to buckle down and follow instructions.

One of the hardest parts of the Science Fair is finding a project where you truly can control ALL the variables but one, so keep that in mind as you plan!

C. Biology/Anatomy

Once again, your guide has all you need!

Students will take Biology in Challenge 2 , but it doesn’t have hardly any anatomy, so this is a great little unit. Still, don’t worry if they miss some here. (Most traditional schools don’t do ANY anatomy, although they often have a health class, which has a bit of anatomy).

Trace and draw the body systems, label them, and watch a few YouTube videos about each body system each week.

In class, many communities will do some dissections of animal parts (my son was super fascinated by the eyeball!) toward the end of the semester! If your child is a bit squeamish, view some dissections on YouTube prior to the live dissections. This often helps students get accustomed to the sights before they are accompanied by smells!

What to Purchase for Research (Science)

• Tri-fold poster board (I think everyone uses these for Science Fair)
• Optional: CC’s Nature Sketch Journal (we just used a spiral notebook and loose paper instead)
• Each week they are adding their homework and such to the binder.

How to Grade Research (Science)

• I used my IEW rubric (more about this on my Essentials page ) to grade the science research papers at the beginning of the year.
• For Science Fair, I split the work (and points) between Preparation, which is the work the guide suggests students do before Christmas, and Presentation, which is the work they do after Christmas.
• For Anatomy, I had my son turn in his best labeled drawing and complete a quiz (matching terms and labeling a diagram) for each system.

4. Reasoning Strand

Each challenge year has an easier strand . In Challenge A, this is it! The Analogies for All of Us book is simple and straightforward. The Fallacy Detective (did you know there’s an audiobook of this?) is easy and fun!

Proverbs 25

In the Analogies for All of Us book, the students will look at Proverbs 25 (NKJ) during the first semester. If you choose to do this, we have some items to help:

• King Things has a song! You can purchase the song for $0.99 on Amazon Music , Spotify , or Apple Music, or you can listen free on YouTube .
• We sell Proverbs 25 Flashcards for just $0.99
• We sell Proverbs 25 handwriting sheets for just $0.99

What to Purchase for Reasoning

• CC’s Analogies for All of Us Book
• The Fallacy Detective (workbook edition)
• We just put the Proverbs 25 handwriting sheets in here

How to Grade Reasoning

• During the first semester, I graded the Analogies for All of Us workbook.
• During the second semester, I gave my son the test in the back of the Analogies book as his grade. It’s pretty easy and both kids scored very well.

5. Exposition Strand

In Challenge A we start Lost Tools of Writing (LTW). For anyone who just finished Essentials, where we use the Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW), it’s an abrupt switch! I tutored Essentials for 4 years and I love the IEW curriculum, but it focuses on structure and style- not content. LTW focuses on content !

• In the “Invention” segment of LTW, students learn how to use the Five Common Topics to brainstorm ideas
• In the “Arrangement” segment, students learn about new elements they should include in their essays, like the thesis, enumeration, division, proof, and amplification.
• In the “Elocution” segment, students practice adding style to their essay (similar to IEW’s “dress-ups” and “decorations.”)

In my own quest to wrap my head around LTW, I created some tables and forms. Everyone I’ve shared them with has found them helpful, so I’ll leave them here with you!

Free Download: Lost Tools of Writing Overview and Checklist/Outlines

(The  little symbols in the bottom left  mean that you can share this will anyone as long as you are giving attribution, giving it freely, and not trying to make any money off it!)

This file also has the Checklist-Outlines I created for my sons. I print one of these off for each essay they’re writing and put it in a high-capacity sheet protector (which supposedly holds up to 100 sheets of paper!). The outline helps them know how to write their paper. The checklist shows them what else I expect them to turn in with their paper. As they complete their Invention work, they slide their worksheets and papers into the page protector. When the essay is finished, they add their final paper to the page protector and turn the whole packet in to me.

I know there are some different opinions on this, so I’ll explain that I tell my kids that the purpose behind this assignment is to defend one position. It doesn’t have to be their own personal belief .

Where to Find Each Challenge A Book

My older son loves paper and Kindle. My younger son loves audio. Our library had each book in assorted formats. Check with your library and see if they support both the Hoopla app and the Libby app. The selection of books will vary on each app and at each library! We also love our Audible subscription ! Some of these are also on YouTube, but I’m not a fan of listening to books there.

Here’s where we found all the books:

• eBook: Kindle
• Audio: Hoopla – Libby – Audible
• eBook: (NA)
• Audio: WellTrainedMind
• eBook: Kindle * – Hoopla
• Audio: Libby – Audible
• Audio: Hoopla – Libby – Audible *-
• eBook: Kindle – Hoopla
• Audio: Hoopla – Libby – Audible *- LibriVox
• eBook: Kindle – Libby

*Included free in a paid Audible membership or a Kindle Unlimited Subscription

What to Purchase for Ch. A Exposition

• The 10 novels (see above)- students will read them in the order they are listed in CC’s catalog. You do NOT need the same version CC sells. In fact, we mostly used audiobooks from the library and Audible !
• The Lost Tools of Writing, Level 1 set (we used this a lot at first and then rarely used it after we caught the gist of it)
• Optional: CC’s Words Aptly Spoken: Children’s Literature (we rarely used ours)- It has comprehension questions and discussion questions, but no answer key. So, if you need an answer key, look elsewhere.
• A copy of the charts above
• A set of page protectors, one per paper, with the corresponding rubric in it. My sons can then quickly slide papers in a pocket without having to 3-hole punch them (apparently an arduous task). When they are finished with the paper, they turn in the whole page protector with the rubric, paper, and worksheets/brainstorming sheets.

How to Grade Exposition

I grade each paper using the above checklist as a rubric but send them back for revisions until they are A-level work.

6. Debate/ Cartography Strand

First, let’s talk about the name, “debate.” There are a lot of theories on why CC named this strand Debate. However, rather than retell them all here, I like to just think of this strand as “ Social Studies ,” and then it all fits.

Oh, I have sooooo much to tell you about Cartography! I love this strand and I’ve put countless hours into making it easier for you and your students! Here are the main things I have for you:

• The main page with all my info on using Cartography to learn geography
• PDF instructions I created , showing how to draw each region, step-by-step
• My Video Course , where I show you how to draw each region, step by step
• Free tips and resources about how to use cartography to learn geography

What to Purchase for Debate (Cartography)

• CC’s Exploring the World Through Cartography book (Students read out of it each week, but any atlas type book could substitute in a pinch)
• Optional: Anyone Can Draw the World PDF or Video Course (my shameless plug!)
• I have my son keep the PDF instructions for the region he is currently learning behind this tab. The rest of the instructions are in a big binder on the bookcase.
• I also have my son put all the maps he draws in or behind this pocket tab divider.

How We Grade Debate

I had my son turn in his best map for each region (all the points or none) and had him take cartography term quizzes for his grade.

7. Now Let’s Add Some Artsy Fun!

Beyond Cartography, which I told you all about above, Research (Science) will offer a bunch of great artsy opportunities! Here are some of my existing lesson plans that will coordinate great with the Natural Science unit:

• The Basic Lines and Shapes of Trees
• Drawing Leaves
• Audubon’s Scientific Illustrations
• Identifying Trees with Texture

8. Other Helpful Resources

I found these other resources very helpful!

• Challenge Planner s from Amanda Craig and Andrea Salzman (free with a suggested donation)- These break down the guide’s weekly work into daily work.

Now it’s your turn!  Let me know  how you make the most of Challenge A!

Want to say thank you and help support this kind of content?

You can buy me a cup of tea and help pay for the hosting of this website with a simple Thank You Donation .

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The positive psychology of challenge: Towards interdisciplinary studies of activities and processes involving challenges

Associated data.

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

Activities and processes involving challenges are a natural part of life for most people and are highlighted in times of rapid change and global issues. This article argues that more studies around activities and processes involving challenges should be conducted with a focus on the concept of challenge in the context of well-being and optimal functioning. The concept of challenge is important because it is explicitly embedded in many major themes of positive psychology and can be a key concept in creating perspectives and frameworks to connect and integrate multiple elements in positive psychology to promote advancements in the field. Studying activities and processes involving challenges is also important from the perspective of dialectically integrating the positive and negative elements encompassed in the concept of challenge. The article also proposes to label activities and processes involving challenges as “challengership” and that an interdisciplinary area to study “challengership” (named “challengership studies”) should be created, which can collaborate with positive psychology for mutual development. The positive psychology of challenge/challengership is likely to provide opportunities for further advancement of positive psychology by creating more integrated knowledge of how to flourish when faced with challenges individually and collectively. The knowledge created in these areas can also be applied to education, coaching, and training at schools and organizations to meet the needs of the times, where skills of challengership should be considered trainable.

1. Introduction

For most people, activities and processes involving challenges, including seeking, identifying, taking, embracing, avoiding, persevering, and overcoming them, are naturally part of life, as they have been throughout the history of humanity. In dictionaries, a challenge is described as “a new or difficult task or situation that tests somebody’s ability and skill” ( Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries, n.d. ) and as something that can be interpreted as an opportunity ( APA Dictionary of Psychology, n.d. ). Scholars have studied activities and processes involving the concept of challenge in various disciplines, including psychology. Societal needs in our time of rapid change and global challenges have also highlighted the importance of activities and processes involving challenges concerning well-being.

2. Importance of studying activities and processes involving challenges

Although scholars of positive psychology (PP) have suggested the importance of including and integrating challenges in the framework of well-being research ( Boniwell, 2012 ; Lomas and Ivtzan, 2016 ; Wong, 2016b ; Wong et al., 2022 ), PP studies have tended not to construct integrated perspectives that focus on the concept of challenge. I argue that more studies on activities and processes involving challenges should be conducted with the aim of building integrated, interdisciplinary knowledge that is useful for humanity to flourish in spite of challenges.

2.1. The concept of challenge is important in that it is explicitly and extensively embedded in the major themes of PP

From the perspective of PP, with an emphasis on the major themes, the concept of challenge is a critically important element for well-being and optimal functioning because it is explicitly and extensively embedded in the theories, models, and definitions of well-being, flow, intrinsic motivation, curiosity, mindset, learning, stress coping, mental toughness, and posttraumatic growth, among others.

To illustrate this point, examples of 10 important themes encompassed in PP are briefly reviewed in the context of the concept of challenge. (1) Regarding flow and well-being, one of the main conditions for achieving flow is that challenges and skills balance at high levels ( Csikszentmihalyi, 2003 ), and flow is regarded as a primary form of engagement, which is one of the five pillars of well-being in the PERMA model ( Seligman, 2011 ). Dodge et al. (2012 , p. 230) related challenges to well-being by defining the latter as “the balance point between an individual’s resource pool and the challenges faced.” In connection with these studies, peak experiences ( Maslow, 1959 ) were also associated with challenges in some studies (e.g., McDonald et al., 2009 ; Harung, 2012 ). (2) Regarding intrinsic motivation, Ryan and Deci (2000 , p. 56) explained that an intrinsically motivated person is “moved to act for the fun or challenge entailed rather than because of external prods, pressures, or rewards.” Amabile et al. (1994) conceptualized intrinsic motivation in the Work Preference Inventory consisting of two factors: challenge and enjoyment. (3) Regarding curiosity, Kashdan and Silvia (2009 , p. 368) defined curiosity as “the recognition, pursuit, and intense desire to explore novel, challenging, and uncertain events.” It should be noted that curiosity is incorporated into the concept of mindfulness ( Bishop et al., 2004 ; Lau et al., 2006 ; Jazaieri and Shapiro, 2017 ), which can be then linked to the concept of challenge. (4) Regarding mindset and learning, Dweck and Yeager (2019 , p. 482) called the mindset theory “a theory of challenge-seeking and resilience.” Bjork and Bjork (2020) claimed that the existence of challenges and difficulties at an appropriate level is effective for long-term learning. In a study of motor learning, Guadagnoli and Lee (2004) claimed that there is an optimal challenge point for learning. (5) Stress coping models incorporate the concept of challenge. For example, studies have suggested that challenge is more effective than threat for stress appraisal in a transactional model ( Lazarus and Folkman, 1984 ) and as a motivational state in a biopsychosocial model ( Blascovich and Mendes, 2000 ) of stress coping. (6) Mental toughness was conceptualized as a combination of four elements: challenge, confidence, commitment, and control ( Clough and Strycharczyk, 2012 ). Similarly, hardiness has been conceptualized as a combination of three elements: commitment, control, and challenge ( Maddi, 2006 ). (7) Tedeschi and Calhoun (2004) incorporated a high level of challenge into the model of posttraumatic growth. (8) Regarding goal setting, studies indicated that goal setting that incorporates appropriate challenges is effective in realizing higher performance ( Locke et al., 1981 ; Latham and Locke, 1991 ). (9) Other than these studies, certain character strengths, such as hope, bravery, and persistence, as well as the concepts of resilience and grit, assume some kind of challenges, difficulties, and adversities in which these concepts and qualities play a positive role toward flourishing ( Reivich and Shatté, 2002 ; Snyder, 2002 ; Peterson and Seligman, 2004 ; Duckworth et al., 2007 ). For instance, “I have overcome setbacks to conquer an important challenge.” is one of the 12 items on the Grit Scale ( Duckworth et al., 2007 , p. 1090). (10) Furthermore, in positive organizational psychology ( Donaldson and Ko, 2010 ), many of the abovementioned themes incorporating the concept of challenge in PP have been applied to studies at the organizational level and in coaching. Examples include applications of flow, growth mindset, mental toughness, character strengths (including curiosity), resilience, and goal setting to organizations and coaching (e.g., Csikszentmihalyi, 2003 ; Donaldson and Ko, 2010 ; Murphy and Dweck, 2010 ; Green and Palmer, 2018 ; Canning et al., 2020 ).

In most of the above examples, the concept of challenge does not appear in the primary themes but is explicitly linked to them within respective theories, models, and definitions. Because these important themes are linked to well-being and optimal functioning, the concept of challenge is extensively linked to these conditions as well.

The above examples also indicate that many themes and theories of PP cannot exist without the concept of challenge and that the existence of challenge is one of the pillars of realizing well-being and optimal functioning in some themes. While they indicate the importance of the concept of challenge in PP, it is frequently used without definition to define and theorize other concepts in the above examples. Despite its importance, conceptual analyses as well as systematic perspectives and frameworks to integrate these major themes with a focus on the concept of challenge are missing and therefore need to be developed.

To clarify the arguments further, it is worth describing what a challenge is from a broad integrative perspective, which is based on how the construct of challenge is described in the above examples. Because the examples cover broad themes, they describe multiple aspects encompassed in the construct of challenge. In particular, three interconnected aspects are repeatedly emphasized: (1) challenges are described as difficult, new, or complex (e.g., Csikszentmihalyi, 1990 ; Latham and Locke, 1991 ; Amabile et al., 1994 ; Tedeschi and Calhoun, 2004 ; Kashdan and Silvia, 2009 ; Dweck and Yeager, 2019 ; Bjork and Bjork, 2020 ); (2) challenges are compared to skills or resources (e.g., Lazarus and Folkman, 1984 ; Csikszentmihalyi, 2003 ; Tedeschi and Calhoun, 2004 ; Dodge et al., 2012 ) that may be put to the test or eventually developed by pushing own limits; (3) challenges may be interpreted as and eventually transformed into opportunities, including for action, learning, growth, or developing skills and resources (e.g., Lazarus and Folkman, 1984 ; Amabile et al., 1994 ; Clough and Strycharczyk, 2012 ; Nakamura and Csikszentmihalyi, 2014 ) that are associated with adaptation in some studies (e.g., Lazarus and Folkman, 1984 ; Tedeschi and Calhoun, 2004 ). These aspects are mostly concordant with the definition of challenge in some of the major dictionaries ( APA Dictionary of Psychology, n.d. ; Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries, n.d. ). Integrating these aspects can preliminarily define a challenge as a situation, task, or problem that is difficult, new, or complex and presents the possibility of testing skills or resources and being interpreted as or transformed into an opportunity. Although this preliminary working definition is based only on a limited number of examples and should be further examined in more comprehensive studies, its strength lies in it being able to accommodate the essences of the interconnected aspects of the challenges that are studied separately in the above examples.

2.2. The concept of challenge is important from the perspectives of second wave and third wave PP

Studies of activities and processes involving challenges are important from the perspective of the so-called second wave PP (SWPP), which emphasizes the dialectical aspect of well-being and the integration of positive and negative elements of life ( Wong, 2011 ; Lomas and Ivtzan, 2016 ). Activities and processes involving challenges tend to mix positive and negative elements for most people, therefore making their examination an important pursuit from the perspective of SWPP.

The concept of challenge is closely related to that of suffering, another important concept in the context of SWPP (e.g., Bueno-Gómez, 2017 ; Wong et al., 2021 ). For example, in some studies, the concept of challenge is used to represent situations involving suffering (e.g., Lomas and Ivtzan, 2016 ; Wong et al., 2022 ). Studies of mature happiness and the CasMac model aim to promote flourishing amidst suffering, challenges, and adversity ( Wong and Bowers, 2018 ). Challenges that are too high compared to skills are associated with anxiety in the flow model ( Csikszentmihalyi, 1990 ), and anxiety can cause suffering ( Bueno-Gómez, 2017 ). Studies of flow also indicate that some people in solitary ordeals (e.g., survival crises and captivity) transformed their extreme experiences into flow by seeking appropriate challenges despite their suffering ( Logan, 1985 ; Csikszentmihalyi, 1990 ). Other examples of the relationship between suffering and challenge include the models of stress coping and posttraumatic growth, incorporating the concept of challenge ( Lazarus and Folkman, 1984 ; Blascovich and Mendes, 2000 ; Tedeschi and Calhoun, 2004 ) because suffering (as an umbrella term) can encompass the concepts of stress and trauma ( Wong et al., 2021 ). These examples suggest that there is an essential intersection between studies on suffering and those on activities and processes involving challenges in PP. Therefore, studies on suffering in PP should incorporate and integrate studies of activities and processes involving challenges for further development.

Studies of activities and processes involving challenges are also important from the perspective of the so-called third wave PP (TWPP), which emphasizes the broadening of scope and methods ( Lomas et al., 2021 ), including the adoption of an interdisciplinary approach. In this context, real-world challenges and problems tend to neglect the boundaries of disciplines as well as those among individuals (e.g., Repko and Szostak, 2020 ; The University of British Columbia, n.d. ). Therefore, studies on activities and processes involving challenges require an interdisciplinary approach.

Studies in multiple disciplines other than psychology have also incorporated the concept of challenge in the contexts of well-being and optimal functioning. The following are some examples of this: (1) Many studies on leadership and management have incorporated the concept of challenge in their theories and models, where leadership shapes activities and processes involving challenges, and vice versa. For example, the concept of challenge is incorporated in the conceptualization of challenge-driven leadership ( Ancona and Gregersen, 2018 ) and adaptive challenge ( Heifetz et al., 2009 ). The Big Hairy Audacious Goal as part of leadership ( Collins and Lazier, 2020 ) and secure base leadership ( Kohlrieser et al., 2012 ) are conceptualized to promote the pursuit of challenges. (2) In an example of a study in philosophy, Irvine (2019) integrated the knowledge of Stoic philosophy and psychology and argued that practicing Stoicism is beneficial in dealing with difficulties, adversities, and challenges. (3) Other examples include drama. For instance, improvisation training can be effective in enabling people to take on new challenges because it allows people to train the performance (without preparation) of new actions with confidence in front of unfamiliar audiences, to deal with failure, and to tame the fear related to failure ( Madson, 2005 ). These examples indicate the importance of studying activities and processes involving challenges using an interdisciplinary approach concerning the TWPP.

2.3. The concept of challenge is relevant in our time

In the context of the current needs of the society, the concept of challenge is relevant in our time of rapid changes and global challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, during the pandemic, the question of how to embrace challenges and flourish is conceptually considered more relevant for many people than the simpler question of how to flourish. This reframing of the question to explicitly include and integrate challenges in the framework of well-being research has been recommended by many PP scholars ( Boniwell, 2012 ; Lomas and Ivtzan, 2016 ; Wong, 2016b ; Wong et al., 2022 ). Because the framing of questions shapes the quality of answers ( Gregersen, 2018 ), this reframing is critical to living optimally with challenges for people. Based on these considerations, conducting more studies on activities and processes involving challenges in relation to well-being is necessary to meet the demands of the times and to contribute to broad societal needs.

2.4. Challenge as a key concept to integrate multiple elements in PP

One line of persistent criticism of PP is that its concepts and theories are fragmented without sufficient integration (e.g., Cowen and Kilmer, 2002 ; Boniwell, 2012 ; Wissing, 2022 ). On this issue, studies on activities and processes involving challenges are likely to offer an important new perspective to connect and integrate some (if not all) of the major themes of PP structured around the concept of challenge. For example, as mentioned earlier, many important themes in PP are directly related to the concept of challenge. While the world is traditionally viewed through the separate conceptual windows that these respective themes construct, studies of activities and processes involving challenges can aim to create new integrative perspectives and frameworks by positioning the concept of challenge at the center, which changes the viewpoints of existing studies.

In the pursuit of such integrative perspectives, one potential focal point may be the concept of an optimal challenge or a challenge at an optimal level that realizes well-being and optimal functioning. One rationale for this perspective is that some studies conceptualize challenge (or difficulty) with its degree or level, assuming that there is an optimal degree or level of challenge ( Csikszentmihalyi, 2003 ; Guadagnoli and Lee, 2004 ; Dodge et al., 2012 ; Bjork and Bjork, 2020 ) rather than as a binary conceptualization. Based on these considerations, one possible direction may be to clarify the optimal levels of challenge in the respective concepts and theories of PP and seek a framework to connect, integrate, and organize them.

Another advantage of studying activities and processes involving challenges is the possible coexistence and integration of the well-being of self and contributions to others. Taking on challenges at optimal levels can be beneficial not only to the well-being of the self but also to others, because such challenges are often difficult tasks or problems that others may want to avoid. For example, creating flow by embracing high-level challenges at work can be beneficial to the well-being of the self and contribution to others ( Csikszentmihalyi, 2003 ). At the awareness level, studies of flow have also indicated a loss of ego in the flow state ( Logan, 1985 ; Csikszentmihalyi, 1990 ). In another instance, leadership driven by large, inspiring challenges ( Ancona and Gregersen, 2018 ) can be beneficial to well-being and contributions to others. Regardless of whether an individual’s focus is more on the interests of self or others, the consequences of the coexistence of the well-being of self and contributions to others in these examples may be linked to or compared with those driven by self-transcendence ( Wong, 2016a ). In line with this perspective, flow, peak experiences, and mindfulness, which are categorized as self-transcendent experiences ( Yaden et al., 2017 ), are, respectively, linked with challenges, as reviewed earlier.

3. Discussion

As reviewed, the concept of challenge is already embedded in many of the major themes and theories of PP without sufficient integration and is also suited for the dialectical aspect of well-being to integrate the positive and negative elements of life emphasized in SWPP. Given these unique characteristics, the concept of challenge is well-situated and should be studied further to create perspectives and frameworks in which these themes and theories linked with challenges are connected and integrated.

One of the future research directions is to conduct conceptual analyses of challenges in psychology, as well as in related disciplines such as management and philosophy. Specifically, conceptual analyses of challenges may include the relationship between challenges and well-being, optimal functioning, learning, creativity, adaptation, suffering, leadership, entrepreneurship, and coaching, among others. For example, the definition of entrepreneurship as “the pursuit of opportunity beyond the resources you currently control” ( Stevenson, 2004 , p. 3) may be compared with that of challenge, as the latter also involves the elements of opportunity and resources.

3.1. Creating interdisciplinary studies of activities and processes involving challenges in collaboration with PP: “Challengership studies”

For further conceptualization and analyses, I propose to label the activities and processes involving challenges as “challengership.” From a cross-cultural perspective ( Berry et al., 2011 ; Lomas, 2015 , 2021 ), concepts in non-English languages that (at least partially) denote activities and processes involving challenges, such as chōsen (挑戦) in Japanese, should also be included under the concept of challengership as an umbrella term.

The preceding section focused on the importance of studies on challengership in relation to PP. In this section, I propose to conceptualize an interdisciplinary area of study of challengership as “challengership studies” (CS) from a wider perspective, including individual and collective levels, independent of the contexts of PP and psychology. The rationale of this formulation is that challengership should be studied using an interdisciplinary approach, as mentioned earlier, and is not necessarily limited to studies of well-being and psychology. Considering the complexity of the world, most people cannot deny the interdisciplinary nature of challenges/challengership. CS and PP intersect to a considerable extent, which can be called the PP of challenge/challengership. Examples of high-level research questions posited at this intersection may include: (1) What is an optimal challenge/challengership? (2) What are the factors that enhance or hinder optimal challengership, individually or collectively? (3) How can we assess and measure challengership? (4) How can we enhance the individual/collective skills of challengership? In pursuit of these important questions, the PP of challenge/challengership can be a base on which CS and PP can collaborate for mutual development to advance well-being and optimal functioning of humanity. Furthermore, knowledge created in these areas can also be applied to education, coaching with a focus on challengership (challengership coaching), and training at schools and organizations in collaboration with positive education and leadership education to meet the needs of the times, where challengership skills should be considered trainable.

In summary, this paper argues that further studies on challengership should be conducted from an integrative perspective. I also propose that an interdisciplinary area to study challengership should be created, which can collaborate with PP for mutual development. The PP of challenge/challengership is likely to provide opportunities for future advancement of PP.

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Author contributions.

The author confirms being the sole contributor of this work and has approved it for publication.

Conflict of interest

The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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PRX Quantum

A physical review journal.

• Editorial Team
• Open Access

Quantum Computing for High-Energy Physics: State of the Art and Challenges

Alberto di meglio et al., prx quantum 5 , 037001 – published 5 august 2024.

• No Citing Articles
• INTRODUCTION
• CHALLENGES AND GOALS
• ALGORITHMS, METHODS, AND LIMITATIONS
• CONCLUSIONS AND OUTLOOK
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Quantum computers offer an intriguing path for a paradigmatic change of computing in the natural sciences and beyond, with the potential for achieving a so-called quantum advantage—namely, a significant (in some cases exponential) speedup of numerical simulations. The rapid development of hardware devices with various realizations of qubits enables the execution of small-scale but representative applications on quantum computers. In particular, the high-energy physics community plays a pivotal role in accessing the power of quantum computing, since the field is a driving source for challenging computational problems. This concerns, on the theoretical side, the exploration of models that are very hard or even impossible to address with classical techniques and, on the experimental side, the enormous data challenge of newly emerging experiments, such as the upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider. In this Roadmap paper, led by CERN, DESY, and IBM, we provide the status of high-energy physics quantum computations and give examples of theoretical and experimental target benchmark applications, which can be addressed in the near future. Having in mind hardware with about 100 qubits capable of executing several thousand two-qubit gates, where possible, we also provide resource estimates for the examples given using error-mitigated quantum computing. The ultimate declared goal of this task force is therefore to trigger further research in the high-energy physics community to develop interesting use cases for demonstrations on near-term quantum computers.

• Received 25 August 2023
• Revised 29 March 2024
• Accepted 25 June 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PRXQuantum.5.037001

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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Quantum information processing, a powerful new paradigm for scientific and technical computing, originated from pioneering ideas on quantum simulation. In recent years, fast technological progress brought to life such initial vision, as quantum computers come close to becoming useful research tools for fundamental physics. The high-energy physics (HEP) community is particularly poised to benefit from quantum computing due to the intrinsic quantum nature of its most complex computational challenges. These include theoretical models that are hard to tackle with classical computers and the massive data analysis required for experiments such as those at the Large Hadron Collider.

In a collaborative effort led by CERN, DESY, and IBM, a Roadmap has been created to outline the current state of quantum computing in HEP. This Roadmap highlights both theoretical and experimental applications that can be pursued with near-term quantum computers, specifically those with a few hundred qubits capable of executing thousands of two-qubit gates. Our work emphasizes the potential of quantum computing to address practical problems in HEP and aims to encourage continued exploration and development of quantum applications in this field.

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Vol. 5, Iss. 3 — August - October 2024

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Upper panel: Proposed theoretical physical model systems (orange) with corresponding approaches (green) and quantum algorithms (blue). For more information on the identified areas of interest, see Sec.  2a . Lower panel: Proposed experimental challenges (orange) with corresponding approaches (green) and quantum algorithms (blue). For more information on the identified areas of interest, see Sec.  2b . See Appendix  pp5 for an overview of a selection of the methods. HHL, Harrow-Hassidim-Lloyd; QBM, quantum Boltzman machine; QCBM, quantum circuit Born machine; QNN, quantum neural network; QTN, quantum tensor network; VQITE, variational imaginary time evolution; VQTE, variational quantum time evolution.

IBM’s Roadmap for upcoming quantum computers, updated 2023.

Mapping of a QLM onto a Bose-Hubbard model quantum simulator (adapted from Ref. [ 78 ]).

Quantum circuit for e − i ( X i X j + Y i Y j ) ( α / 2 ) on qubits i and j .

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You are here, lehigh university researchers dig deeper into stability challenges of nuclear fusion—with mayonnaise.

Mayonnaise continues to help researchers better understand the physics behind nuclear fusion.

“We’re still working on the same problem, which is the structural integrity of fusion capsules used in inertial confinement fusion, and Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise is still helping us in the search for solutions,” says Arindam Banerjee , the Paul B. Reinhold Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics at Lehigh University and Chair of the MEM department in the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science. 

In simple terms, fusion reactions are what power the sun. If the process could be harnessed on earth, scientists believe it could offer a nearly limitless and clean energy source for humanity. However, replicating the sun’s extreme conditions is an incredibly complex challenge. Researchers across science and engineering disciplines, including Banerjee and his team, are examining the problem from a multitude of perspectives.

Inertial confinement fusion is a process that initiates nuclear fusion reactions by rapidly compressing and heating capsules filled with fuel, in this case, isotopes of hydrogen. When subjected to extreme temperatures and pressure, these capsules melt and form plasma, the charged state of matter that can generate energy. 

“At those extremes, you’re talking about millions of degrees Kelvin and gigapascals of pressure as you’re trying to simulate conditions in the sun,” says Banerjee. “One of the main problems associated with this process is that the plasma state forms these hydrodynamic instabilities, which can reduce the energy yield.”

In their first paper on the topic back in 2019, Banerjee and his team examined that problem, known as Rayleigh-Taylor instability. The condition occurs between materials of different densities when the density and pressure gradients are in opposite directions, creating an unstable stratification. 

“We use mayonnaise because it behaves like a solid, but when subjected to a pressure gradient, it starts to flow,” he says. Using the condiment also negates the need for high temperatures and pressure conditions, which are exceedingly difficult to control.

Banerjee’s team used a custom-built, one-of-a-kind rotating wheel facility within Banerjee’s Turbulent Mixing Laboratory to mimic the flow conditions of the plasma. Once the acceleration crossed a critical value, the mayo started to flow. 

One of the things they figured out during that initial research was that before the flow became unstable, the soft solid, i.e., the mayo, went through a couple of phases.  

“As with a traditional molten metal, if you put a stress on mayonnaise, it will start to deform, but if you remove the stress, it goes back to its original shape,” he says. “So there’s an elastic phase followed by a stable plastic phase. The next phase is when it starts flowing, and that’s where the instability kicks in.”

Understanding this transition between the elastic phase and the stable plastic phase is critical, he says, because knowing when the plastic deformation starts might tip off researchers as to when the instability would occur, Banerjee says. Then, they’d look to control the condition in order to stay within this elastic or stable plastic phase.

In their latest paper , published in Physical Review E , the team (including former graduate student and first author of the study, Aren Boyaci '24 PhD, now working at Rattunde AG as a Data Modeling Engineer in Berlin, Germany), looked at the material properties, the perturbation geometry (amplitude and wavelength), and the acceleration rate of the materials that undergo Rayleigh-Taylor instability.

“We investigated the transition criteria between the phases of Rayleigh-Taylor instability, and examined how that affected the perturbation growth in the following phases,” Boyaci says. “We found the conditions under which the elastic recovery was possible, and how it could be maximized to delay or completely suppress the instability. The experimental data we present are also the first recovery measurements in the literature.”

The finding is an important one as it could inform the design of the capsules in such a way that they never become unstable.

There is, however, the looming question of how the team’s data fit into what happens in actual fusion capsules, the property values of which are orders of magnitude different from the soft solids used in their experiments. 

“In this paper, we have non-dimensionalized our data with the hope that the behavior we are predicting transcends these few orders of magnitude,” says Banerjee. “We’re trying to enhance the predictability of what would happen with those molten, high-temperature, high-pressure plasma capsules with these analog experiments of using mayonnaise in a rotating wheel.”

Ultimately, Banerjee and his team are part of a global effort to turn the promise of fusion energy into reality. 

“We’re another cog in this giant wheel of researchers,” he says. “And we’re all working towards making inertial fusion cheaper and therefore, attainable.”

Arindam Banerjee is Paul B. Reinhold Professor and chair of Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics.

Lehigh Engineering alum Aren Boyaci '24 PhD is now a Data Modeling Engineer at Rattunde AG.

Schematic of the rotating wheel experimental facility, where (a) rotating disk, (b) test section, (c) LED light source, (d) counterweights, (e) mirrors, and (f) high-speed camera. Click to expand.

Snapshots of the perturbations with full elastic recovery and instability at t = 0 , @ t = EP threshold, and @ t = end of the experiment. Click to expand.

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Title: the ai scientist: towards fully automated open-ended scientific discovery.

Abstract: One of the grand challenges of artificial general intelligence is developing agents capable of conducting scientific research and discovering new knowledge. While frontier models have already been used as aids to human scientists, e.g. for brainstorming ideas, writing code, or prediction tasks, they still conduct only a small part of the scientific process. This paper presents the first comprehensive framework for fully automatic scientific discovery, enabling frontier large language models to perform research independently and communicate their findings. We introduce The AI Scientist, which generates novel research ideas, writes code, executes experiments, visualizes results, describes its findings by writing a full scientific paper, and then runs a simulated review process for evaluation. In principle, this process can be repeated to iteratively develop ideas in an open-ended fashion, acting like the human scientific community. We demonstrate its versatility by applying it to three distinct subfields of machine learning: diffusion modeling, transformer-based language modeling, and learning dynamics. Each idea is implemented and developed into a full paper at a cost of less than $15 per paper. To evaluate the generated papers, we design and validate an automated reviewer, which we show achieves near-human performance in evaluating paper scores. The AI Scientist can produce papers that exceed the acceptance threshold at a top machine learning conference as judged by our automated reviewer. This approach signifies the beginning of a new era in scientific discovery in machine learning: bringing the transformative benefits of AI agents to the entire research process of AI itself, and taking us closer to a world where endless affordable creativity and innovation can be unleashed on the world's most challenging problems. Our code is open-sourced at this https URL

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• Systematic Review
• Open access
• Published: 14 August 2024

Experiences of informal caregivers supporting individuals with upper gastrointestinal cancers: a systematic review

• Melinda Furtado   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5472-4707 1 ,
• Dawn Davis 1 ,
• Jenny M. Groarke 1 , 2 &
• Lisa Graham-Wisener 1  

BMC Health Services Research volume  24 , Article number:  932 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

Metrics details

Upper gastrointestinal cancers (UGICs) are increasingly prevalent. With a poor prognosis and significant longer-term effects, UGICs present significant adjustment challenges for individuals with cancer and their informal caregivers. However, the supportive care needs of these informal caregivers are largely unknown. This systematic review of qualitative studies synthesises and critically evaluates the current evidence base on the experience of informal caregivers of individuals with UGIC.

A Joanna Briggs Institute systematic review was conducted. Searches were performed in four databases (MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Embase, CINAHL) from database inception to February 2021. Included studies explored experiences of informal caregivers of individuals diagnosed with primary cancer of the oesophagus, stomach, pancreas, bile duct, gallbladder, or liver. Studies were independently screened for eligibility and included studies were appraised for quality by two reviewers. Data were extracted and synthesised using meta-aggregation.

19 papers were included in this review, and 328 findings were extracted. These were aggregated into 16 categories across three findings: (1) UGIC caregiver burden; UGIC caregivers undertake extensive responsibilities, especially around patient diet as digestion is severely impacted by UGICs. (2) Mediators of caregiver burden; The nature of UGICs, characterised by disruptive life changes for caregivers, was identified as a mediator for caregiver burden. (3) Consequences of caregiver burden: UGIC caregivers’ experiences were shaped by unmet needs, a lack of information and a general decline in social interaction.

Conclusions

The findings of this review suggest the need for a cultural shift within health services. Caregiving for UGIC patients is suggested to adversely affect caregivers’ quality of life, similarly to other cancer caregiving populations and therefore they should be better incorporated as co-clients in care-planning and execution by including them in discussions about the patient’s diagnosis, treatment options, and potential side effects.

Peer Review reports

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) [ 1 ] define upper gastrointestinal cancers (UGICs) as cancers of the oesophagus, stomach, pancreas, bile duct/gallbladder, or liver. Of all new cancer diagnoses in 2020 globally, 16.6% were UGICs [ 2 ]. Incidence of UGICs is increasing in countries under economic transition, and in Western countries due to heightened exposure to certain risk factors [ 3 ]. Overall prevalence of UGICs is also expected to rise annually with growing life expectancy and improved diagnostics [ 4 ]. Despite this, UGICs still have a uniquely poor prognosis in comparison to other cancer populations [ 5 ]. UGICs do not typically benefit from screening programmes and individuals are more likely to present at diagnosis with advanced disease [ 6 ]. This is compounded by a high rate of recurrence for individuals able to receive curative treatment [ 7 , 8 , 9 ]. As a result, UGICs persistently account for a significant proportion of global cancer deaths; 27.1% in 2020 [ 2 ]. Poor prognosis contributes significantly to the heightened disease burden of UGIC, alongside increased utilisation of health services due to the complexity of the treatment trajectory and symptom management [ 10 , 11 ]. In comparison to other cancer populations, having UGIC is associated with late consultation with palliative care services [ 12 ] meaning patients and their families have delayed access, if any, to supportive interventions such as counselling, psycho-education, financial advice and structured family meetings [ 13 ].

The supportive care needs of the sizeable population of individuals with UGIC are considerable, with sustained late and longer-term effects. In addition to the common sequalae from cancer diagnosis and treatment, disruption to the digestive system presents problems with swallowing, nausea and keeping food down, a modified diet, extreme changes in weight, chronic pain and living with a stoma [ 14 , 15 ]. The poor prognosis and longer-term effects present a challenge in adjustment both for the individual with UGIC and their informal caregiver, defined as “close persons” who may be related to the diagnosed individual (siblings, relatives, or spouses) or not (friends, neighbours). A caregiver is anyone identified as such by the patient to provide unpaid ongoing care and support [ 16 ]. Examples of challenges for caregivers include learning new practical skills such as managing negative responses to foods, providing a new diet, monitoring weight changes, chronic pain management and stoma management [ 17 , 18 ]. With biomedical advances leading to a reduction in hospital stay length [ 19 ], there is increasing emphasis placed on the role of the UGIC caregiver to provide support to the individual with cancer in the community.

This unique caregiver population face distinct challenges which contribute to caregiver burden which reflects the need for further research into their experiences. For example, due to changes in the diet of the individual with UGIC, the social aspect of dining for both is compromised and can lead to feelings of loneliness, anxiety, and shame [ 20 , 21 ]. Evidence of caregiver burden is suggested by high levels of anxiety and depression. In caregivers of post-treatment oesophageal cancer patients, 30% of caregivers reported moderate-high levels of anxiety and 10% reported moderate-high levels of depression, alongside a significant fear of recurrence [ 22 ]. Research suggests that UGIC caregivers may experience higher levels of psychological distress than the individual with UGIC, and that clinical levels of anxiety and depression may be sustained in the longer-term [ 22 , 23 ]. However it is worth noting that a lot of the effects of UGIC caregiving acknowledged in the literature are consistent with the general experience of informally providing care and as such there is scope to apply the beneficial practices from other settings (both extra-GI cancer and non-cancer).

It is crucial that we recognise the role of caregivers as co-clients and understand the experiences of this significant caregiver population. Caregivers’ personal experiences are inherently subjective, and due to this subjective nature, a qualitative research approach is optimal [ 24 ]. A synthesis of existing qualitative studies will help to establish a knowledge base on the experience of informal caregivers of individuals with UGIC and will help to inform the provision for supportive care. An initial search of PROSPERO, MEDLINE, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Database of Systematic Reviews and Implementation Reports was conducted and no current or underway systematic reviews on the topic were identified.

This qualitative systematic review aims to synthesise the best available evidence on the experiences of informal caregivers supporting individuals diagnosed with UGIC.

This systematic review was conducted following the JBI approach to qualitative systematic reviews [ 25 ]. A protocol was pre-registered in PROSPERO (registration number CRD42021235354). The systematic review is reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Protocols (PRISMA-P) statement [ 26 ].

Search strategy

An initial limited search of MEDLINE (Ovid) and PsycINFO (Ovid) was undertaken using the following keywords: Oesophageal cancer OR Stomach cancer OR Gastrointestinal cancer OR pancreas cancer OR gallbladder cancer OR liver cancer AND caregiver AND Qualitative. The text words contained in the titles and abstracts of relevant articles, and the index terms used to describe the articles were used to develop a full search strategy for MEDLINE and adapted for the other databases.

The final search strategy (Additional information 1 ) was then employed against four databases: MEDLINE (Ovid), PsycINFO (Ovid), Embase (Elsevier) and CINAHL (EBSCOhost). Each database was searched on 12th February 2021.

Study selection

Following the formal searches, all identified citations were collated and uploaded into Endnote [ 27 ] to identify and remove duplicates. Rayyan reference management software [ 28 ] was then used by independent two reviewers (DD, MF) to screen titles and abstracts against the eligibility criteria. Potentially relevant articles were retrieved in full and screened against the eligibility criteria by two independent reviewers (DD, MF). Reasons for exclusion of papers at full text review were recorded. Any disagreements that arose between the reviewers at each stage of the selection process was resolved through discussion (DD, MF), or with an additional reviewer (LGW). The reference list and citation list of all eligible articles was searched for additional studies.

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

This review included studies exploring experiences of adults (≥ 18 years of age) who are informal caregivers of individuals diagnosed with UGIC at any stage within the disease process. This included those diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus, stomach, pancreas, bile duct, gallbladder, or liver [ 1 ]. This diagnosis must be the primary cancer site. Studies involving informal caregivers of individuals who had secondary gastrointestinal system metastases were not included.

A caregiver is anyone identified as such by the patient to provide unpaid ongoing care and support [ 16 ]. Paid professional caregivers were not included. The caregivers included provided various services, such as practical (providing transport, overseeing meals) or emotional support roles in caring for the patient. Caregivers with any gender or ethnicity were considered for inclusion. Both active and bereaved caregivers were eligible, if discussing their pre-bereavement experience.

Studies which reviewed experiences of multiple groups (e.g., patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals) or multiple cancers beyond the remit of UGIC were included, provided the data pertaining to informal caregivers and UGICs was clearly delineated and could be extracted separately. Where data was hard to distinguish regarding participant-type or cancer-type, the study was only included if at least 50% of the sample size was drawn from the target population.

Phenomena of interest

The review included qualitative studies that looked at caregivers’ experiences of caring for an individual with UGIC.

Studies for inclusion were based in any geographic location or setting. All care contexts were considered relevant (e.g., primary care, secondary, tertiary, community, or home settings).

Types of studies

Research studies considered for inclusion were focused on qualitative data including, but not limited to; designs such as phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, action research and feminist research. Mixed method studies were considered relevant if data from the qualitative component could be clearly extracted. Only English language studies were included.

Only empirical studies published in peer-reviewed journals were included. There was no restriction on publication year. Systematic reviews were not included, however relevant studies were harvested from them, when relevant. Editorials, opinion papers, case studies and any articles without relevant, original data were excluded, alongside grey literature.

Quality Appraisal

Subsequently, two independent reviewers (DD, MF) critically appraised the included studies to evaluate the strength of the evidence for methodological quality using the JBI Critical Appraisal Checklist for Qualitative Research [ 29 ]. All studies, regardless of the results of their methodological quality, underwent data extraction and synthesis. One of the included studies employed use of free-test questionnaires [ 30 ], the robustness of which has been called into question by qualitative researchers as the data generated from these responses is rarely rich enough to provide the necessary strong insights [ 31 ]. However, the reviewers felt the robustness of this study was upheld by the fact that the researchers conducted a comprehensive search on existing literature prior to data collection, thus allowing questionnaire findings to be scaffolded onto existing conceptual frameworks.

Data extraction

Data were extracted using standardized JBI data extraction tool [ 32 ] by two independent reviewers (DD, MF). Each undertook data extraction for half of the articles and then checked the other reviewer’s data extraction. The extracted data included specific details about the population, context, study methods and the phenomena of interest relevant to the review objective. Disagreements between the reviewers were resolved through discussion. Four authors of papers were contacted to request missing or additional data for clarification mainly regarding breakdown of participant populations by cancer type of which no new information arose.

A finding is defined by the JBI as “a verbatim extract of the author’s analytic interpretation accompanied by either a participant voice, or fieldwork observations or other data.” [ 33 , p40]. Findings were identified through repeated reading of the text, and extraction of findings included any distinct analytic observation reported by authors with an accompanying illustration (Additional information 2 ).

Data synthesis

Each finding was identified by an alphanumeric code (e.g., A1, A2, B1, etc.). Each letter corresponded to a study and each number to a unique finding. The progressive numbers indicate the order of the findings within the original article. Each finding was rated with one of three levels of credibility as per the ConQual system [ 34 ]:

Unequivocal - findings accompanied by an illustration that is beyond reasonable doubt and therefore not open to challenge.

Credible - findings accompanied by an illustration lacking clear association with it and therefore open to challenge.

Not Supported - findings are not supported by the data.

Qualitative research findings were pooled with the meta-aggregation approach and captured in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet [ 33 ]. Findings were aggregated by assembling the findings and categorizing these findings based on similarity in meaning, then labelling the categories accordingly. Categories were then synthesised to produce a comprehensive set of synthesized findings. Two reviewers (DD, MF) repeatedly read the findings and developed a set of categories. To assess the quality and confidence of each qualitative finding synthesised within this review, authors utilised the ConQual system (Additional information 3 ), a tool used to assign ratings of confidence in synthesised qualitative research findings [ 34 ]. Only unequivocal and credible findings were included in the synthesis.

The combined database searches yielded 5465 records. After removing duplicates and screening studies against eligibility criteria (Fig.  1 ), the review included 19 studies [ 18 , 30 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 ]. Additional information 4 displays the characteristics of the 19 included studies.

PRISMA flowchart of study selection process

Description of included studies

All included studies were published between 2004 and 2021. Most commonly, studies focused on caregivers of individuals with oesophageal cancer ( N  = 7), or pancreatic ( N  = 7), including one study of pancreatic and bile duct cancer. Other studies included caregivers of individuals with liver cancer ( N  = 2), gastric cancer ( N  = 1) and the gastrointestinal tract generally ( N  = 2). Geographically, studies were conducted in eight regions. The largest group ( N  = 6) were conducted in the US [ 35 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 ], followed by Denmark ( N  = 3) [ 42 , 43 , 44 ]. Most samples included a variety of within-family caregivers ( N  = 13), generally spouses/partners, children, and siblings. Others ( N  = 3) looked specifically at spouses and three did not specify the caregiver-patient relationship. Most studies included a semi-structured interview format ( N  = 12), others used focus groups ( N  = 4), secondary analysis of existing data ( N  = 2) or questionnaires ( N  = 1).

Quality of included studies

The JBI Critical Appraisal Checklist [ 25 ] was used to establish the quality of the research. The included studies were generally of good quality, with all 19 papers achieving at least 60% across the ten JBI quality assessment criteria (Additional information 5 ). Within the JBI checklist there are five questions assessing study dependability, where the studies performed at a lower satisfactory level. Of the included papers, two achieved a 5/5 score on dependability questions, seven achieved 4/5, nine scored 3/5 and one scored 2/5. Only 26% of studies could adequately locate the researcher(s) culturally or theoretically and only 37% of papers addressed the influence of the researcher on the research and vice-versa. Conversely, nearly all papers adequately addressed the research methodology’s congruity on objectives, data collection, data representation and analysis.

Meta-aggregation findings

Across the 19 studies, 328 supported findings were extracted, of which 239 were unequivocal and 89 were credible. Findings could be aligned into 23 categories with unique core meanings, which were then synthesised into three findings: (1) UGIC caregiver burden; (2) Mediators of caregiver burden; (3) Consequences of caregiver burden (Additional information 6 ). Figure  2 outlines how the categories relate to the overarching synthesised findings. To remain grounded in the data, the actual participants’ words are used throughout the narrative and double quotation marks illustrate a direct caregiver quote. References given after a quotation links the quote to the study as outlined in Additional information 2 .

Structural arrangement of categories and synthesised findings

Synthesised finding 1: UGIC caregiver burden

As caregivers began supporting those with UGIC, they faced numerous challenges to adjustment. This largely stemmed from efforts to integrate a broad and complex caregiving role within their existing routine. Difficulties such as disruption to daily routines and meals impacted caregivers’ psychological wellbeing. Caregivers were often unprepared for this life disruption, leading them to seek out information from which to learn and distribute to others.

1. Breadth of the caregiver role

The extent of responsibilities on UGIC caregivers was perceived as broad and complex, with an ‘all encompassing’ focus on patient outcomes. UGIC caregivers ‘assume different roles’ [ 42 ].

“The food thing is omnipresent. We have been told that he is not allowed to have further weight loss (K23).

Specific responsibilities included working around reduced appetite and oral intake; monitoring physical signs e.g., patient weight; perioperative management such as care of surgical wounds and organising medical appointments and treatments.

“We’d have to keep. . .going with all the medical appointments and surgery and treatment” (B11).

2. Challenges around patients’ meals

Treatment for and progression of UGIC severely impacts the patient’s relationship with food; with diet quantity and content at times significantly altered. Adaption for the caregiver involved learning about dietary modifications and management of digestive symptoms such as dysphagia. Several studies found that the new dietary restrictions were a source of worry for caregivers regarding the patients’ weight [ 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 ]. The social importance of food was a common theme throughout the included studies, with interruption to established social norms perceived as distressing. Mealtimes are considered a ‘unifying family ritual’ [ 49 ], but when mealtimes constantly serve to remind caregivers of their responsibility of monitoring, they became a potential source of distress.

“I can’t get Bernard out of the small meals. . I have to ring him every day from work to tell him to eat” (A7).

3. Life disruption

UGIC was experienced as coming unexpectedly into caregivers’ lives, intruding on their existing routines, for instance, as working professionals or parents. Caregivers described their responsibilities as time and energy-consuming. This conflict caused caregivers to feel a loss of control [ 44 ]. Caregiving responsibilities for UGICs demanded commitment over a long-time frame, impacting caregivers’ employability and their ‘own social life’ [ 35 ]:

“It’s changed my daily routine. It totally disrupted my life. I have to rearrange a lot of things such as my kids , my work , and getting help for my house cleaning” (J4).

4. Unpreparedness

Caregivers expressed being ill-equipped and unqualified to manage the needs of the UGIC patient. Caregivers reported feeling out of their depth, partially attributed to the lack of available support, relating to patients’ medical requirements:

“I went , ‘You’re not supposed to call 911? What am I supposed to do? What if he just dies right here?’ I mean , it seems they should have somebody say , ’OK , if he’s with you , then here’s the procedure…[The nurse] gave me really no support about what to do” (R21).

Caregivers sometimes felt misled about the extent of their new responsibilities, as while the patient was cared for in hospital by medical staff, they could not gauge what caregiving at home would involve.

“I wish they would have talked to me about it as well… it was a bit of a shock. …but the next morning it all dawned on me that I had just replaced a whole team” (E10).

5. Information manager

Caregivers perceived a key responsibility was to make executive decisions in the dissemination of information, for instance symptomatology, treatment plans and prognosis. Caregivers felt they were the ‘conduit’ [ 18 ] through which medical details were communicated to members of the extended social circle, a time-consuming role where they spent “hours on the phone telling everyone what is happening” (I32).

The caregivers also viewed their role as giving healthcare providers (HCPs) valuable insight into how the patient was coping outside of the medical setting:

“[describing a discussion during a clinical consultation , contradicting the patient] It is not correct that you almost eat as usual. You are eating food of more liquid substance than you usually do and your drinks are high-protein” (C1).

Synthesised finding 2: mediators of caregiver burden

While supporting patients with UGIC, caregivers are exposed to mediators which could increase or reduce caregiver burden, including their use of coping strategies, financial and social resources, and their caregiving context. For instance, higher levels of social support helped alleviate some caregiver burden. Similarly, how excluded a caregiver felt in the medical setting influenced the burden experienced.

1. Degree of inclusion in medical settings

Many studies reported that caregivers perceived they are often kept at a distance in medical settings, increasing caregiver burden. Although some caregivers felt this was fitting and chose to take a ‘subordinate position’ [ 44 ], others struggled with a sense of exclusion, which commonly left unresolved questions:

“…my husband could ask questions , but I didn’t have the space to ask questions , not unless my husband allowed it” (K39).

In such cases, caregivers relied on HCPs’ judgement. Caregivers described only being ‘seen’ if they actively called attention to themselves [ 41 ]. Caregivers experienced being left out of important decisions.

Caregivers expressed wanting to ask questions without the patient present but felt they had no opportunity to directly communicate with HCPs. This pervasive, default invisibility was perceived as disempowering:

“No health professionals involved me in this decision” (K38).

2. Social resources

The degree and quality of support received by caregivers varied and shaped their overall caring experience. The support network is especially beneficial for normalisation of caregivers’ experiences, providing hope and reducing feelings of isolation.

“it was only when I came here that I started talking to people … it was just like a breath of fresh air. . this dumping syndrome , he [the patient] wasn’t the only one” (A10).

Support could be from spiritual groups ( “I have a lot of people that stand behind me…” (B19), empathetic HCPs ( “It’s easier to talk with a nurse when it concerns important questions. You may receive quite good and reassuring answers” (H22) or peers who have undergone a similar caregiving experience, and therefore could reliably address and empathise with caregivers’ challenges.

3. Financial resources

Caregivers reported financial pressure as they had to consider the dyad’s financial situation while one or both members may not be able to work. Providing full-time care was a drain on caregivers’ resources, time, and money. Caregivers struggled with financial planning for the future in the face of prognostic ambiguity.

“We talked about if we should stay on at the house or sell it” (K6).

There were additional pressures on dyads living in countries where utilisation of private health services is the norm.

“Now my grandmother is sick and I can understand how high is the cost of the disease” (D5).

4. Patient-caregiver relationship

The caregiving experience was shaped by the inter-dyad relationship. Some caregivers reported having an emotionally distant relationship with the patient before the diagnosis which led to poor attachment during the cancer trajectory. Others reported a decline in the relationship quality due to cancer-related pressures.

“When I got upset , I would say to my husband , ‘You got cancer because you didn’t listen to me! You deserve it!” (F35).

Others noted a shift within the relationship, transitioning from ‘caregiver’ to ‘curer’ or from a spousal role to a parental one [ 45 ] especially where the caregiver was actively involved in delivering treatment:

“Sometimes I felt like a mother talking to a child: ‘Remember to do this and that’ ” (K29).

Caregivers experienced reciprocal suffering when seeing the patient suffer, especially if an established close relationship existed:

“up when the patient is up and down when the patient is down” (I21).

5. Emotion-focused coping

The cancer experience was perceived to result in significant distress for caregivers. To address this challenge, caregivers engaged in positive emotion-focused coping strategies to directly regulate distress. Many caregivers reported trying to maintain positive thinking. One participant recalled using humour:

“Sometimes you can’t believe what happens and the only thing you can do is laugh” (I41).

Maintaining a positive outlook was perceived to involve “looking for the good in every situation” and by being selective about what news caregivers received through ‘denial’ and “choosing what to hear” (I44). Conversely, another study described positivity as an open-minded reflection on the conflict between current suffering and spiritual beliefs [ 38 ]. Caregivers described how formally addressing their feelings through therapy was also helpful.

Individuals were limited in their opportunity for emotional expression. Caregivers described hiding their own negative thoughts from the patient and took practical measures to divert the patient’s attention by doing “normal things like [going] for a drive and [having] visits from our children and grandchildren” (C15).

6. Information seeking

Caregivers perceived challenges around a lack of information from HCPs regarding UGIC’s pathology and related management options. The experiences of caregivers included difficulties in accessing information.

“We have little information in these areas. When we go to the physician’s office for treatment , the doctor is too busy to give us information in this regard and he merely visits the patients. When we see that nobody could survive from such diseases , we get worried more” (D9).

Caregivers addressed the information challenge by persistently seeking information relating to the disease itself, namely cancer-related symptomatology, prognosis, and treatment options (including alternative therapies). Caregivers referred to sources like medically knowledgeable peers, the internet and print (e.g., encyclopaedias). HCPs were trusted for honest information, with their word choices and body language carefully analysed:

“When my husband and I visit the doctor together , you see when he opens the door that there is no good news today” (H6).

Caregivers were especially empowered when they could differentiate between symptoms due to disease progression and treatment-related adverse effects.

Synthesised finding 3: consequences of caregiver burden

There were consequences of caregiver burden such as feelings of helplessness, distress, anger, guilt and a strong fear of losing the patient. Conversely, there was potential for positive outcomes as caregivers experienced growth and feelings of hope.

1. Distress and helplessness

When recounting the most involved phase of providing care, active treatment, many caregivers reported experiencing heightened distress. One caregiver perceived gastric cancer a ‘death sentence’ [ 49 ], and seeing the patient struggle with the effects of disease and treatments an unbearably ‘ challenging experience’ [ 40 ]. This distress also affected children with one spouse noting their child’s “grades dropped disastrously during his first term” (H14).

Helplessness originates from a lack of control over the disease progression. A particular source of distress were the delays along the cancer trajectory, especially at diagnosis due to the ambiguous presentation of UGICs and lack of control over symptom management.

“It is distressing seeing him in pain all the time” (E6).

2. Anger and guilt

Caregivers experienced a sense of guilt and anger because they perceived stigma from society towards certain cancers. Others may assume that the diagnosis was caused by the patient’s behaviours and therefore indirectly the caregiver may also have been involved. A few studies described this judgement from society towards the patient, with caregivers fearing that others would see the diagnosis as a justified fate:

“You know , when you say cirrhosis of the liver , they think , ‘Oh , you drank yourself’” (R7).

Caregivers also harboured anger at being forced to take on caregiving responsibilities, describing they had “been dealt a bad hand” (I39); however, they felt guilty for feeling this way.

3. Fear of cancer progression and recurrence

Due to the unpredictability of UGICs, caregivers described living in constant dread of the patient’s health declining, and the potential for disease progression or recurrence:

“I am not sure I am going to like the answers I get. Maybe it is better not to know so very much but to do like the ostrich , to bury your head in the sand and hope for the best and keep your fingers crossed” (H41).

Caregivers were fearful of any new physical or psychological symptoms in patients, especially weight-loss, as caregivers saw this as a marker of recurrence. Further, caregivers feared the cancer would progress to a terminal stage which meant they were afraid of the means through which the bereavement would occur and their own subsequent reaction.

“the fear of not being sure of how it’s going to happen and how I’m going to react…I’m afraid of losing him” (L1).

The high mortality associated with most UGICs caused several caregivers to experience acceptance, with the realisation of the long-term impact of their loved one’s cancer and possibility of bereavement.

“The possibility is there for one of us dying quickly” (K5).

4. Isolation and loneliness

Caregivers commonly reported experiencing isolation within their unique role, feeling unable to share their anxieties. As patients were burdened already, caregivers did not want to unload their own worries on to the patient.

“And I had nobody to talk to…There was just nobody. I couldn’t let myself down , my guard down and I found the isolation terrible” (A3).

Loneliness was not only an ongoing concern, but a future threat as spousal caregivers relayed their fear of life post-bereavement.

5. Personal growth

Caregivers reflected that they saw the experience of caregiving as a catalyst for personal change, resulting in positive outcomes such as personal growth and appreciation for life, individually and within the relationship. Caregivers recounted that this unexpected, immense challenge had given them ‘ new perspectives about life’ [ 35 ]. Couples got to spend time together that they would not have had otherwise which led to an improved quality of relationship.

“We’ll talk three or four times a month. Where 10 years ago it might be 6 months or 10 months you know between phone calls” (B14).

The current study presents the first comprehensive synthesis of qualitative research on the experiences of caregivers of individuals with UGICs. This review is the first to systematically identify and synthesise the current evidence base on the experiences of informal caregivers of individuals with UGIC. Given the emergence of this prominent caregiver population, this review contributes to advancing cancer caregiver literature as a whole, an important area of study recognised by individuals with cancer, their family and healthcare professionals [ 52 ]. The review included 19 studies, presented synthesised findings, and identified aspects of caregiving experiences that UGIC caregivers have in common with other cancer caregivers, and aspects more distinct to UGICs. UGIC caregivers experience significant challenges contributing to high levels of burden which are mediated by social, psychological, and practical resources, as well as aspects of health service delivery. The consequences of caregiver burden are primarily negative, including distress, anger, fear, and loneliness.

Caregivers of UGIC patients experienced burden due to the breath and complexity of their role for which they felt unprepared. Caring involved incorporating novel skills into existing responsibilities, causing significant life disruption. Caregivers perceive burden in providing multifaceted care with demands that shift along the illness trajectory. For example, in the beginning caregivers felt it necessary to partake in provision of care, and due to UGIC treatment and disease progression, many responsibilities evolved to monitor and maximise physical health, such as diligent weight monitoring and meal preparation [ 45 , 46 , 47 ]. These findings align to the general cancer caregiver literature [ 53 ], with caregivers recognised in having steep initial learning curves to rapidly acquire skills to provide care. Only one of the 19 studies evaluated data over an extended period [ 45 ]. An extended review is needed to map supportive care resources available across the disease path and longitudinal studies tracking UGIC caregiver support needs across the illness trajectory is warranted.

One of the most reported findings in this review was informal caregivers’ continuous search for information related to their role. Many struggle to satisfy their informational needs at different stages of the disease trajectory contributing to caregiver burden. This corresponds with systematic review findings of Wang et al. [ 54 ] that informational needs were the most common unmet need of informal caregivers. To begin addressing this need, caregivers could be signposted to existing sources of general caregiver support information and interventions, such as Cancer Caring Coping [ 55 , 56 ]. These supports could be used to develop informational resources tailored for UGIC caregivers. A core information set has been developed to aid HCPs at consultation with UGIC patients, to ensure key information is being delivered [ 57 , 58 ] and now the focus of improving patient-carer education should be raising awareness of this key information toolkit to HCPs who commonly interact with this population. A similar approach could be utilised by identifying informational needs of UGIC caregivers at consultations and developing standardised information points delivered by HCPs to caregivers within those consultations. There is also potential to expand the pool of reliable sources of information to individuals outside of the HCP cohort, such as peer networks or psychologists in providing longitudinal support without necessarily adding to the cost burden required for the development of additional personnel and resources.

This review found caregivers experienced exclusion in the medical setting, suggesting enhanced communication between HCPs and caregivers could improve caregivers’ experience. Indeed, a qualitative study by Reblin et al. [ 59 ] identified communication within health services as a key driver for improving cancer caregiver support. One potential avenue to bridge the gap between HCPs and patient-caregiver dyad is incorporating better the clinical nurse specialist (CNS) [ 60 ] as these professionals can be a key contact for bi-directional communication between HCPs and caregivers. That is, caregivers support and help the clinical team to understand the patient’s progress and through this process HCPs acknowledge and include caregivers in the patient’s care. However, the current issue of under resourcing in cancer nursing would need to be addressed as it presently limits the amount of CNS time available to support caregivers [ 61 ].

One review finding specific to UGIC caregiver burden was the challenge around preparing meals. Taleghani and colleagues [ 62 ] mirror this, highlighting gastric caregivers experienced inadequate education in managing patient’s dietary requirements appropriately, resulting in feeling inefficient, uncomfortable, and fearful. Dietician-led interventions are typically patient focused [ 63 , 64 , 65 ]. However, this review highlights an opportunity for HCPs to include caregivers in dietician-led interventions as many caregivers assume responsibility over meal preparation and grocery shopping. The challenge around meals also has social consequences as meals are important social settings. Changes in eating behaviours can lead to both dyad members feeling isolated and lonely [ 18 , 66 ]. Loneliness is prevalent among people living with cancer and is influenced by cancer-specific and non-cancer specific risk factors, such as lack of social support [ 67 ]. There is less of an understanding of loneliness among UGIC caregivers compared to general cancer caregivers [ 68 ]. This is of concern as negative physical and mental health impacts of loneliness are well-established [ 69 , 70 ]. Peer support is the most used intervention to reduce caregivers’ loneliness, with strategies of psychoeducation and emotional support featuring prominently [ 71 ]. Research is needed to identify risk and protective factors for loneliness among UGIC caregivers.

In addition to loneliness, distress and negative affect were identified as consequences of UGIC caregiver burden. There is evidence of heightened distress and reduced physical and mental health among UGIC caregivers relative to UGIC patients [ 72 , 73 ]. This review also found that caregivers engage in emotion-focused strategies to cope with their caregiving role. A review by Teixeira et al. [ 74 ] found that among cancer caregivers, emotion-focused coping was related to higher distress, whereas problem-focused coping was related to better adjustment and reduced burden. There is a need to develop targeted theory-based psychosocial interventions for this caregiver group. The Transactional Theory of Stress and Coping (TTSC) framework could be utilised to understand how mediating processes specific to coping strategies influence distress and negative affect among UGIC caregivers [ 75 , 76 , 77 ], similar to how Bowan et al. [ 78 ] used a Baltes and Baltes [ 79 ] coping framework to develop interventions for cancer patients’ families. Candidate interventions could involve problem-solving and coping skills training [ 80 , 81 ], which could in turn ameliorate the negative consequences of caregiver burden. If effective with UGIC caregivers, such interventions could be extended to all caregivers as part of a standard care pathway. This review recommends further research to develop an understanding of adjustment in UGIC caregivers.

In contrast to the many negative consequences described by informal caregivers, there were a small group of findings which indicated some positive outcomes. These findings align with a review of the positive aspects of caregiving, which reported improved relationship quality, reward, fulfilment, and personal growth [ 82 ]. The review concluded that positive aspects of caregiving are interconnected and suggested, in addition to interventions reducing negative burden, that interventions could be developed to enhance positive outcomes, such as personal growth. Tedeschi and Calhoun’s Transformational Model (TM) [ 83 ] proposes that potentially traumatic stressors, such as caring for an individual diagnosed with cancer, cause a disruption in one’s worldview triggering attempts to make meaning in response to the stressor. Cognitive disruptions also lead to distress, which in turn can act as a catalyst for post-traumatic growth (PTG). Studies have found that caregivers of people with advanced cancer and early-stage breast cancer experience PTG in relation to their caregiving role [ 84 , 85 ], and that PTG was positively associated with greater social support and perceived hope [ 86 ]. Additional research is needed to understand how the challenging UGIC caregiver role may facilitate growth and help the caregiver adjust to their role.

Study limitations

The current systematic review has several strengths. Firstly, it followed an internationally recognised methodology (JBI) for the conduct of qualitative systematic reviews. This helped ensure methodological approach rigour and subsequently, confidence in findings should they be used to inform policy and practice. There are however several limitations. Although studies in the review are generally of good quality, only 19 studies were identified. Indeed, the UK Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce [ 87 ] advocates for more research focused on cancers with low life expectancy, two-thirds of which are UGICs. This lack of research into UGICs extends to the evidence on caregivers. Synthesised findings are therefore based on a small number of studies, largely conducted in the US and Denmark. Within the studies, caregivers of individuals with oesophageal and pancreatic cancer were well represented. However, there were a dearth of studies focused on caregivers’ experiences with gallbladder, or stomach cancer, alongside multiple studies exploring caregivers’ experiences related to dysphagia and malabsorption but fewer exploring jaundice. Therefore, more primary qualitative research is necessary to understand experiences of all UGIC caregiver populations.

Clinical implications

Of relevance for clinical practice was the finding that caregivers often felt excluded in medical settings, increasing caregiver burden. Caregivers should be seen as co-clients along with patients in the medical setting. This is very much in line with the priorities of care within palliative healthcare settings. Since the palliative care approach seeks to addresses the physical, psychological, cultural, social, and spiritual needs [ 88 ] of both individuals with life-limiting and chronic illnesses like cancer and their support networks, early referral to palliative care services could be particularly beneficial for caregivers as their needs are formally and expertly acknowledged and thus help alleviate the burden identified for informal caregivers in this study.

HCPs have an opportunity to give caregivers reliable, specific, and up-to-date information, pitched at the right level to reassure but not overwhelm. Morris and Thomas [ 89 ] mirror this suggestion and highlight its importance, as there is potential for tension in information exchange due to HCP’s lack of formal acknowledgement of caregivers. Clinical guidance and policy could be updated to include recognition of caregivers as co-clients, and with caregiver training, could formally be part of the patient support team. This could help meet the caregivers’ needs, especially post-diagnosis. On an institutional level, caregivers may be more recognised within their role if acknowledged formally, for example in NICE [ 1 ] guidelines for UGICs. In understanding the considerable role caregivers undertake supporting the care of UGIC patients outside of the healthcare system, policymakers and HCPs need to improve support for caregivers which will in turn reduce the burden on health services.

The aim of this qualitative systematic review was to synthesize evidence about the experiences of UGIC caregivers and has found that caregivers face significant challenges leading to caregiver burden which negatively impacts adjustment. Due to the nature of UGICs, caregivers experienced unique challenges such as how best to manage disruptions to mealtimes and how to monitor surrogate markers of patient health, such as weight. UGICs are a medically complex and evolving chronic condition and caregivers struggle to gain information. This review found that caregiver burden was impacted by feeling excluded in medical settings which could be improved with better communication between HCPs, patients, and their caregivers. There is a lack of data relating to the experiences of certain UGIC caregivers (e.g., gallbladder, stomach) in comparison to others (e.g., oesophageal), as well as a lack of understanding on how to manage the impact of caregiving for these types of cancer, thus providing directions for future research.

Data availability

No datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

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Furtado, M., Davis, D., Groarke, J.M. et al. Experiences of informal caregivers supporting individuals with upper gastrointestinal cancers: a systematic review. BMC Health Serv Res 24 , 932 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-024-11306-3

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How to cite ChatGPT

Use discount code STYLEBLOG15 for 15% off APA Style print products with free shipping in the United States.

We, the APA Style team, are not robots. We can all pass a CAPTCHA test , and we know our roles in a Turing test . And, like so many nonrobot human beings this year, we’ve spent a fair amount of time reading, learning, and thinking about issues related to large language models, artificial intelligence (AI), AI-generated text, and specifically ChatGPT . We’ve also been gathering opinions and feedback about the use and citation of ChatGPT. Thank you to everyone who has contributed and shared ideas, opinions, research, and feedback.

In this post, I discuss situations where students and researchers use ChatGPT to create text and to facilitate their research, not to write the full text of their paper or manuscript. We know instructors have differing opinions about how or even whether students should use ChatGPT, and we’ll be continuing to collect feedback about instructor and student questions. As always, defer to instructor guidelines when writing student papers. For more about guidelines and policies about student and author use of ChatGPT, see the last section of this post.

Quoting or reproducing the text created by ChatGPT in your paper

If you’ve used ChatGPT or other AI tools in your research, describe how you used the tool in your Method section or in a comparable section of your paper. For literature reviews or other types of essays or response or reaction papers, you might describe how you used the tool in your introduction. In your text, provide the prompt you used and then any portion of the relevant text that was generated in response.

Unfortunately, the results of a ChatGPT “chat” are not retrievable by other readers, and although nonretrievable data or quotations in APA Style papers are usually cited as personal communications , with ChatGPT-generated text there is no person communicating. Quoting ChatGPT’s text from a chat session is therefore more like sharing an algorithm’s output; thus, credit the author of the algorithm with a reference list entry and the corresponding in-text citation.

When prompted with “Is the left brain right brain divide real or a metaphor?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that although the two brain hemispheres are somewhat specialized, “the notation that people can be characterized as ‘left-brained’ or ‘right-brained’ is considered to be an oversimplification and a popular myth” (OpenAI, 2023).

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

You may also put the full text of long responses from ChatGPT in an appendix of your paper or in online supplemental materials, so readers have access to the exact text that was generated. It is particularly important to document the exact text created because ChatGPT will generate a unique response in each chat session, even if given the same prompt. If you create appendices or supplemental materials, remember that each should be called out at least once in the body of your APA Style paper.

When given a follow-up prompt of “What is a more accurate representation?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that “different brain regions work together to support various cognitive processes” and “the functional specialization of different regions can change in response to experience and environmental factors” (OpenAI, 2023; see Appendix A for the full transcript).

Creating a reference to ChatGPT or other AI models and software

The in-text citations and references above are adapted from the reference template for software in Section 10.10 of the Publication Manual (American Psychological Association, 2020, Chapter 10). Although here we focus on ChatGPT, because these guidelines are based on the software template, they can be adapted to note the use of other large language models (e.g., Bard), algorithms, and similar software.

The reference and in-text citations for ChatGPT are formatted as follows:

• Parenthetical citation: (OpenAI, 2023)
• Narrative citation: OpenAI (2023)

Let’s break that reference down and look at the four elements (author, date, title, and source):

Author: The author of the model is OpenAI.

Date: The date is the year of the version you used. Following the template in Section 10.10, you need to include only the year, not the exact date. The version number provides the specific date information a reader might need.

Title: The name of the model is “ChatGPT,” so that serves as the title and is italicized in your reference, as shown in the template. Although OpenAI labels unique iterations (i.e., ChatGPT-3, ChatGPT-4), they are using “ChatGPT” as the general name of the model, with updates identified with version numbers.

The version number is included after the title in parentheses. The format for the version number in ChatGPT references includes the date because that is how OpenAI is labeling the versions. Different large language models or software might use different version numbering; use the version number in the format the author or publisher provides, which may be a numbering system (e.g., Version 2.0) or other methods.

Bracketed text is used in references for additional descriptions when they are needed to help a reader understand what’s being cited. References for a number of common sources, such as journal articles and books, do not include bracketed descriptions, but things outside of the typical peer-reviewed system often do. In the case of a reference for ChatGPT, provide the descriptor “Large language model” in square brackets. OpenAI describes ChatGPT-4 as a “large multimodal model,” so that description may be provided instead if you are using ChatGPT-4. Later versions and software or models from other companies may need different descriptions, based on how the publishers describe the model. The goal of the bracketed text is to briefly describe the kind of model to your reader.

Source: When the publisher name and the author name are the same, do not repeat the publisher name in the source element of the reference, and move directly to the URL. This is the case for ChatGPT. The URL for ChatGPT is https://chat.openai.com/chat . For other models or products for which you may create a reference, use the URL that links as directly as possible to the source (i.e., the page where you can access the model, not the publisher’s homepage).

Other questions about citing ChatGPT

You may have noticed the confidence with which ChatGPT described the ideas of brain lateralization and how the brain operates, without citing any sources. I asked for a list of sources to support those claims and ChatGPT provided five references—four of which I was able to find online. The fifth does not seem to be a real article; the digital object identifier given for that reference belongs to a different article, and I was not able to find any article with the authors, date, title, and source details that ChatGPT provided. Authors using ChatGPT or similar AI tools for research should consider making this scrutiny of the primary sources a standard process. If the sources are real, accurate, and relevant, it may be better to read those original sources to learn from that research and paraphrase or quote from those articles, as applicable, than to use the model’s interpretation of them.

We’ve also received a number of other questions about ChatGPT. Should students be allowed to use it? What guidelines should instructors create for students using AI? Does using AI-generated text constitute plagiarism? Should authors who use ChatGPT credit ChatGPT or OpenAI in their byline? What are the copyright implications ?

On these questions, researchers, editors, instructors, and others are actively debating and creating parameters and guidelines. Many of you have sent us feedback, and we encourage you to continue to do so in the comments below. We will also study the policies and procedures being established by instructors, publishers, and academic institutions, with a goal of creating guidelines that reflect the many real-world applications of AI-generated text.

For questions about manuscript byline credit, plagiarism, and related ChatGPT and AI topics, the APA Style team is seeking the recommendations of APA Journals editors. APA Style guidelines based on those recommendations will be posted on this blog and on the APA Style site later this year.

Update: APA Journals has published policies on the use of generative AI in scholarly materials .

We, the APA Style team humans, appreciate your patience as we navigate these unique challenges and new ways of thinking about how authors, researchers, and students learn, write, and work with new technologies.

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

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