While I do have the support of advisor, and in general know the bigger research direction, coming up with a relevant doable+innovative research problem is still somewhat upon me and hard. I wanted to read on other researchers' perspective on how they do it, what works and what doesn't. Thanks!
Ask HN: PhDs/students, how do you come up with viable problems/solutions?
1–10 of 21 posts
Re: Ask HN: PhDs/students, how do you come up with viable problems/solutions?
#2For most PhD students their first project will most likely be something that the advisor has scoped. As you stand on your feet and learn your field (aka around your 2nd-3rd year) you will start noticing some legitimate literature gaps. One of them will also be viable & interesting to look at.
Re: Ask HN: PhDs/students, how do you come up with viable problems/solutions?
#3Is there a paper / technique that interests you from the background research / reading?
Try reproducing it and then working on their future work paragraph
For me, I was at the same guest lecture as my future advisor was at. When I took a class with him, I asked him what research he did. After rattling a bunch of things off and seeing my lack of interest, he asked me "did you see the talk about evolving equations, want to work on that?" I replied "yes" and "yes!"
After spending a couple of years trying to reproduce and scale these systems (my advisor worked in related things), I grew frustrated with the prevailing techniques. So we set about trying to solve the same problem with the restriction that it should be a deterministic algorithm. This set me on my path to novel research and results
Re: Ask HN: PhDs/students, how do you come up with viable problems/solutions?
#4Normally my workflow is: My advisor provided me with general research direction, and from there, I conduct a SLR to identify gaps in the literature. This helps to find areas where research is lacking or where new approaches could be explored. Once I identify a gap, I refine it into a specific, viable research problem that aligns with both feasibility and innovation. The SLR also helps me see what methodologies have been used and what potential solutions might work.
Re: Ask HN: PhDs/students, how do you come up with viable problems/solutions?
#5Is there a paper / technique that interests you from the background research / reading? Try reproducing it and then working on their future work paragraph For me, I was at the same guest lecture as my future advisor was at. When I took a class with him, I asked him what research he did. After rattling a bunch of things off and seeing my lack of interest, he asked me "did you see the talk about evolving equations, wan…
Thanks. Yeah there are papers that I am interested on, in fact, I am interested on too many things at once which doesn't help. Also, I think I am always thinking of solving bigger problems where it's hard to make progress on.
Also, since you mentioned scaling systems and equations, are you by any chance working on numerical linear algebra stuffs like iterative solvers etc.? MPI/HPC etc? If so, I am in HPC as well.
Re: Ask HN: PhDs/students, how do you come up with viable problems/solutions?
#6If you read enough literature and try to implement enough stuff yourself, you will eventually run into a question that you cannot immediately answer.
Often when I read a paper in a subject new to me, I realize that I do not understand something and make a note to study that question further. A lot of times, that question is already answered somewhere. I find an answer to it --- either by asking a colleague, searching for papers or books on the subject, searching the internet, or even just by trying to solve it myself --- and I then just move on once I get an adequate answer. But sometimes, even in subjects that I am an expert in, I write down a question that I cannot find a good answer to at all. Then I know that I have something that is worth researching further.
Re: Ask HN: PhDs/students, how do you come up with viable problems/solutions?
#7[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: PhDs/students, how do you come up with viable problems/solutions?
#8Read a bunch of papers on a topic you find interesting. What do all the papers do wrong or ignore. Start there.
Re: Ask HN: PhDs/students, how do you come up with viable problems/solutions?
#9Is there a paper / technique that interests you from the background research / reading? Try reproducing it and then working on their future work paragraph For me, I was at the same guest lecture as my future advisor was at. When I took a class with him, I asked him what research he did. After rattling a bunch of things off and seeing my lack of interest, he asked me "did you see the talk about evolving equations, wan…
Thanks. Yeah there are papers that I am interested on, in fact, I am interested on too many things at once which doesn't help. Also, I think I am always thinking of solving bigger problems where it's hard to make progress on. Also, since you mentioned scaling systems and equations, are you by any chance working on numerical linear algebra stuffs like iterative solvers etc.? MPI/HPC etc? If so, I am in HPC as well.
> in fact, I am interested on too many things at once which doesn't help.
Be careful of "surface level work". Your Ph.D. is not going to come from surface level work. It will come from picking something and developing a deep understanding of that topic ... deeper than most of the people in the audience, anyway.
Also, since you mention HPC, be aware of what areas are "well-explored" and stay away from them. Your advisor should be able to help with this. You want an area that has not been dug up by many brilliant minds before you, leaving only small nuggets of semi-precious metal for you to find.
Re: Ask HN: PhDs/students, how do you come up with viable problems/solutions?
#101) Creative projects beget creative projects. When you start working on one project, you'll have ideas for a dozen more, and probably one of those might actually be a good project idea to continue exploring and refining and shaping into a reasonable problem. It's really hard to come up with things if you're just staring at a blank sheet of paper, but working on anything at all gets this virtuous cycle started.
2) Talk to people! Bounce your ideas/areas of excitement off of other people, and see what gets reflected back at you. That signal can be very helpful to see when you've stumbled across an idea or problem that might be useful to more people than just yourself, i.e. a more important area of investigation.
3) Read, read, read. And take notes on random ideas you have while reading, and things that papers missed or didn't look into. If you do this enough and take some time to reflect on it, you can start to find gaps in knowledge that could be addressed.