周源源老师的研究方法

Problem-Driven Research Process

Phase 0: research direction identification

• It is an ART
• Ask, Read and Think
  

Phase 1: problem space understanding (1-2 months)

• From high level to low level
  
• Identify a concrete, important, open problem
  
• Problem may also come out from your previous experience/project
  
• Literature study to get the state of the art to make sure it is open
  
• Search and feel around to see if it is important
  
• Concrete examples examination

Phase 2: solution seeking (1-2 months or more)

• Think, brainstorm, try

Phase 3: feasibility study (1-2 months)

• Fast prototype
• Simple statistic collection
• Manual idea walk through concrete examples
  

Phase 4: If feasible, thoughts synchronization (2-4 weeks)

• Write introduction and related work
• Determine selling points
• Determine major research challenges
  

Phase 5: System and experiments design (2-3 weeks)

• Put design and experiment design in paper
• Draw empty figures in paper
• Determine which system to build on and which applications to use
  

Phase 6: implementation (3-6 months)

• Coding, debugging, testing, writing impl section
• May need to go back to phase 3-5 to adjust design
• Changes are always recorded in writing
  

Phase 7: results collection

• First need to know what results shall we expect
• System tuning
• Fill in results in paper
  

Phase 8: proofread papers

• Ask others for feedback
• Wait for 1 week and read the paper again
• Don’t EVER argue with people who give feedback
  
• If they don’t understand it, it is YOUR fault
  
• You are not there to argue with reviewers and readers