| Undergraduate Research Project (e.g., Honors Thesis) | Graduate Projects: Master’s, Doctorate | Professional Ph. D.-level Scientist |
| Something Learned in a Class, Seems Interesting
(example from a former 3390 student) |
Ideas Based on Growing Expertise in Field, Often Fitting in with Advisor’s Ongoing Research -- Should Contribute Some New Knowledge to Field | Something That Will Advance the Field and Provide Significant New Knowledge, Often Building Upon Graduate Studies |
CUMULATIVITY IN SCIENCE
(Advancing the Field Step-By-Step)
An excerpt from the medical school admissions interview at Columbia University given in 1936 to applicant C. Everett Koop (later to become U.S. Surgeon General during the 1980s).
Q: Do you ever expect to make any major discoveries in medicine?
YOUNG MR. KOOP: Well, sir, from what little experience I have in reading about discoveries in the field of medicine, I rather think that those who make them are building upon the efforts of many who preceded them, but did not do the final thing that achieved success and fame. I would like to be one who makes a major discovery, but I will be content to contribute to the process.
(This apparently got him rejected.)
From: Koop, C.E. (1991). Koop: The memoirs of America’s family doctor. New York: Random House.
Brian Greene, Professor of Physics and Mathematics, Columbia University
"As the work of Newton and Einstein exemplifies, scientific breakthroughs are sometimes born of a single scientist's staggering genius, pure and simple. But that's rare. Much more frequently, great breakthroughs represent the collective effort of many scientists, each building on the insights of others to accomplish what no individual could have achieved in isolation...
Broad knowledge, technical facility, flexibility of thought, openness to unanticipated connections, immersion in the free flow of ideas worldwide, hard work, and significant luck are all critical parts of scientific discovery."
From:
Greene, B. (2004). The fabric of the cosmos: Space, time, and the texture of reality. New York: Knopf.
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"Wine or Welch's" study, increasing our knowledge of heart-protective beverages... ...and what about white wine? |
Here's a diagram I created to demonstrate the cumulative and collaborative process in the discovery of the DNA molecule's structure.
September 2007 (interesting find in that semester's media assignment)
Another thing that can stimulate new research is when two previous studies seem to contradict each other. Researchers can try to conduct new studies that reconcile the findings.
Is there a link between children's television viewing and ADHD/attentional problems?
New study from New Zealand, found via the media assignment.
2006 study, by Dr. Miriam Mulsow in our HDFS department and her Texas Tech colleague Tara Stevens in the College of Education.
Article in which Dr. Stevens comments on the New Zealand study.