Conceptualising research

As an art librarian who is also a doctoral student (and today, suffering a serious case of procrastinitis triggered by my feelings re an examiner's comments and trying to work through them), I have been thinking about the mental models I apply to my research. These mental models are not the usual ontological models that are normally discussed in research, nor are they the theoretical frameworks that one can apply to one's research. Rather, they are meta models that apply to the process of embarking upon, undertaking, completing and publishing research. They are ways of thinking about the issues that arise during research and, for me, ways of minimising a lot of the angst and stress that seems to be part-and-parcel of research. Three mental models I have three mental models that I use to conceptualise research and I have been conscious of one of them right from the start of my doctoral research. I realised very recently that there is another that I have been using mostly subconsciously throughout. The third I have only developed recently. For convenience, I have named these models, Walking the Pattern, Threading the Maze, and Rafting the River.

Walking the Pattern

Labyrinth at St Mary's, Parnell Rd, Auckland

In Roger Zelazny's Amber novels, the princes and princesses of Amber gain their ability to move between worlds by walking a labyrinth deep below the castle. Only a descendent of Oberon can walk the pattern and even then, it is dangerous. Once started, it must be completed and the walker must never pause in her walk. The labyrinth represents the deep structure of the Amber universe and walking the pattern confers upon the walker the ability to manipulate this deep structure. However, the power encoded in the labyrinth will resist and push back against the walker. This is why the walker cannot pause: if she does, the power in the pattern will kill her. at times, the walker will feel like she is stalled, but she must keep pushing and eventually she will begin to move again and finally complete the pattern.

I first used the idea of Walking the Pattern in an essay in 1994 to describe how a scientist's cognitive history shapes their approach to their research. Throughout my own research, I have consciously used the idea of persistence (keep pushing) whenever I have felt that I was never going to finish. On days when I only read one journal article or one book chapter or only wrote 100 words or only analysed one webpage, that that was one journal article, book chapter, webpage or 100 words more towards the end line - that I had kept on pushing and so, would eventually reach the end. It's only recently that I realised where this idea of keep on pushing came from - this deeply embedded idea of Walking the Pattern. It's not a new idea - many others will tell you that persistence is a key ingredient in research, but for me, my understanding of persistence comes from Zelazny and Amber and Walking the Pattern.

Threading the Maze 

Longleat maze by Niki Odolphie from Frome, England [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]

The next mental model that I have used throughout my research is that of making my way through a maze and, yes, I know I have just been talking about walking a labyrinth but there is a connotative difference between a labyrinth and a maze. Some labyrinths consist of a single path without any dead ends and are intended as spiritual and meditative journeys. The labyrinth in the cathedral of Chartres is such a labyrinth. In contrast, a maze has many dead ends. Researching a topic will result in a lot of dead ends and wrong turns but you know something, you have to hit those dead ends and wrong turns so you know not only that they are dead ends and wrong turns but also why they are dead ends and wrong turns.

Having this model in mind has helped whenever I have hit dead ends and wrong turns - understanding that this is part of the process has ensured that I haven't thrown up my hands and thought it was a disaster. Another aspect of this model is the idea of a thread that will help you keep track of your journey through the maze, like Theseus in the Minotaur's labyrinth using Ariadne's thread to way his way back. For most researchers, this will be the research journal and here I have to confess, I have not been particularly good about keeping a research journal. My notes and thoughts tend to be scattered across various notebooks and files. But they're still there. Indeed, I'm able to refer to them to answer some of the examiners' comments.

When I attended the induction for PhD students at my university, a professor got up and described research as a quest, like the quest for the one ring in The Lord of the Rings (his description, not mine). Our quest was for the knowledge that we would discover through our research. I'm uncomfortable with this metaphor for research as we don't always know what we are going to discover. We may have an idea of it which can turn out to be completely wrong.

Now, it's important ot note that are some aspects of the quest that do apply, particularly if you are familiar with Joseph Campbell's structure of the monomyth from The Hero with a Thousand Faces. The most important concept for me is the idea that one is master of two worlds and able - indeed, required - to share that knowledge with others.

Rafting the River

Grand Canyon from space (NASA [Public domain])

This is the most recent mental model I have developed, primarily to help me with examiners' comments. I also think it will help me with reviewers' comments when submitting journal and conference papers. It applies when you send your research out into the world, but it can also apply to dealing with feedback from your supervisors. In this model, I have gotten into a raft and launched it onto a river in a canyon system. As I travel the river, I am going to receive guidance from supervisors, examiners and reviewers who are on top of the cliffs and so have a better view of the system than I do. Some stretches of the river will be calm and easy to navigate and some stretches will be white-water rapids with turbulent currents and hidden rocks. Also, there isn't just one river in this system but many rivers, so it's easy to get lost.

When I launched my raft, I could initially see where I was going: the goal (results) of my research. I've fixed my route in my mind as I know once I'm on the water, I won't be able to see a clear route to my goal. This is where supervisors, examiners and reviewers come in. They're standing on top of the cliffs and they're shouting out comments and instructions to me from those cliffs. What I have to decide is this: are they focused on the same goal as me or a different goal? Also, is their view of the system similar to mine or different? The canyon system is a metaphor for the landscape of knowledge and each of us has only a partial view of that terrain. Sometimes my supervisors and examiners and reviewers will be able to alert to problems that I hadn't seen and help me to either avoid or, if I hit them, how to get out of them. As I make my way along the river, I need to understand how those partial views fit together so that I can realise when those partial views are helping me or leading me astray or when my own partial view has led me astray.

When I received my examiners' marks and comments back, I had one set of good marks and comments and one set of bad marks and comments. But in talking it through with my supervisor, we realised that the comments from the second examiner were coming from her understanding and knowledge of the research topic - her view of the canyon system. It wasn't so much that I had done a bad job of the research but rather that she wanted to see more of it and, especially, more of how it connects to other parts of the system. In addressing those comments, I want to ensure that I don't end up going down a different river whilst showing my bit of the river connects to the bit that she can see.

So those are the three mental models (or, if you prefer, metaphors) that I have to used conceptualise the process of research. I found them a great help and I hope you do too.