30/10/2024
*IMPORTANT TECHNICAL SKILLS THAT RESEARCHERS MUST LEARN FOR RAPID PROGRESSION IN THEIR RESEARCH*
๐. โ ๐. ๐๐๐ญ๐ ๐๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฌ: Doesn't matter what field you are working in; you will be analyzing data in one way or another. The sooner you learn how to analyze data from multiple perspectives to extract maximum insight from it, the better it would be for you. If you are smart, you can analyze the same data from multiple angles to get results for more than one paper.
๐. ๐๐๐ฌ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ก ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐จ๐ ๐ฒ: You should get a good understanding of both qualitative and quantitative research methods. You may not master both types but it's better to have at least some know of both. Similarly, you should learn about experimental design and data collection techniques.
๐. ๐๐ข๐ญ๐๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ฐ: Within your area of research, you will come across hundreds of papers getting published. You can't read all of them. You should learn how to identify the most relevant papers. More importantly, you should learn how to identify and extract the knowledge of your interest from those papers as quickly as possible. Also, you should master how to critically read these papers.
๐. ๐๐๐ข๐๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐๐ข๐ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ : Generic writing is different from scientific writing. In science, you need to focus on justifications for your choices such as why you used a particular data source or why you used a particular data analysis method. Similarly, you should learn how to bring flow in your writing and avoid abrupt jumps.
๐. ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ข๐ง-๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐ข๐๐ข๐ ๐ฌ๐จ๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐จ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฌ: Within your domain, there would be tools that would be commonly used. Learn to use them as soon as you can. For example, there might be some simulation tools, GIS tools, and bioinformatics tools.
๐. ๐๐๐ญ๐ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง: Irrespective of your field of research, you will have to visualize your findings to communicate it easily to your audience. Such visualization can be in the form of graphs, heat maps, and so on. Learn how to effectively visualize the data.
๐. ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ : Programming will help you to automate a lot of tasks. If you learn programming, it will save you a lot of time. As a minimum, you should learn how to use the common libraries in Phyton and R.
๐. ๐๐๐ฌ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ก ๐๐๐ฉ ๐๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฌ: Many students struggle to identify concrete gap for their PhDs. You should learn gap analysis either before you start your PhD or in the first 6 months of your PhD. It will save you from a lot of headaches that many PhD students face.
