WEBVTT

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So in my field of
study, which is

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biomedical structural biology,
we use both research plans,

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and protocols.

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So typically, for every
project in my lab,

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we would have a
research plan, and that

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would consist in
firstly identifying

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a problem, a research
question, and then formulating

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a hypothesis, which is either
a verifiable or falsifiable,

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and we would set out to look for
research methodologies, which

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would answer that
question, and we could

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verify or not that hypothesis.

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So to do that, we
would then come up

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with a series of objectives,
which these methodologies would

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be part of, and we would try
to answer them, with the best

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technology available.

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So an important part
of a research plan

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is also to directly
determine people involved

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in that particular task, and
also to cost the research

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plan appropriately, so
that it can be done.

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I do use research plans
to a certain extent.

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I use what are called
pre-registration documents.

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So what we try to do there
is before we do any testing,

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or do any data
analysis, we come up

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with a clear hypothesis,
a clear rationale,

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and then very precisely
describe the methods

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that we intend to use, and
the data analysis methods

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that we intend to use,
before we do anything else.

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Over the course of my
career, I have fundamentally

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changed the way I think
about research plans.

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During the early
stages, during my PhD,

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during my postdoctoral
work, I was particularly

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focused on establishing
the objectives,

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finding the correct
methodologies, and perhaps,

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just focusing on
the experiments.

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So things that I
didn't particularly

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think about, as part
of research plans

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were timelines, and
contingency plans.

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And for example, timing
was an important issue.

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So I found myself
perhaps taking longer

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than I thought I would on
a particular piece of work.

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Now, as a more
established researcher,

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I understand that there are
many more important aspects

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to a research plan, so for
example timeliness being

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one of them.

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So I think that I have a
much more mature approach

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to research plans.

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A research plan
can help minimising

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the downstream problems.

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For example, having a
really good timeline,

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I was just saying, is
important in order

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to make sure that your
research, for example,

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doesn't become
redundant, or that you

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are scooped by the
competition, so to say.

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For example, in one
particular instance,

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I remember there was
a particular research

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project for which we
built a research plan,

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and we included
various back-up plans.

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We had a part, which
was the mainstream part,

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but we also included
some techniques, which

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could act as a back-up plan.

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In that case, when our
competitors were ahead

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of the game and
submitted a paper, which

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was in direct
competition to ours,

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we were able to quickly
go to technique number B,

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and that way we
were able to publish

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back to back with
the competitors,

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and that minimised the damage.

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I don't have any
specific situations

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where I've had a problem where
a research plan has resolved that.

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What I actually think
is that in using

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pre-registration
documents, it heads off

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problems at the
start, so it really

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forces you to think
about the types of data

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that you're going
to be collecting,

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and what you're going
to do with that data,

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and how you're going to analyse
it later on, where I think

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normally, a lot of
psychologists would

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think about those
sorts of issues

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while they're actually
trying to analyse the data,

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and that's when
issues do come up.

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Using pre-registration
documents really

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allows you to think about
all of that stuff first,

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so you can head off any
real issues at the pass.