How to start writing a paper for the
first time?
How to set the direction and how to choose the topic?
Topic selection, that is, to determine what to study, is the first thing to carry out scientific research and write graduation thesis.
But what is a “problem”?
Some say it is a topic, some say it is a theme, some say it is a topic, which is very confusing. The reason for the divergence of
opinions is the problem of translation. In
English, the title of a topic refers to “subject.” Some people translate it into a theme, while others translate it into a topic.
On the other hand, words such as “topic” and “theme” are translated into topics, and the word “project” is translated into topics.
This causes confusion of concepts, in addition, there are problems, topics and other concepts related to the topic selection.
This book clarifies the concepts of themes, topics, problems and topics.
If you don’t understand these concepts, you may not understand the teacher’s opinions when you communicate with the teacher, or you may misunderstand when you read other essay writing books.
1. Theme refers to the branch of knowledge, which can also be called research field and research scope.
It usually appears in the form of a word or phrase, which we call a subject word. The ocean of
knowledge is vast and boundless, which makes people lose their way.
Therefore, it is necessary to divide knowledge into several themes, and set up several sub-themes under each theme to form a clear knowledge system for people to grasp. When we
search the reference papers, we can choose the subject words as the index to search, so that we can retrieve the articles within the same research scope.
For example, if “pedestrian traffic safety” is used as a keyword in CNKI, the papers on pedestrian traffic safety over the years will appear in the search results, which is convenient for comparison, analysis, synthesis and generalization.
Take traffic management as an example.
Under this theme, we can carry out research on traffic congestion, traffic safety and other sub-themes; under the theme of traffic safety, we can carry out research on traffic accident investigation, traffic accident handling, traffic safety analysis and other sub-themes; under the theme of traffic safety analysis, there are traffic system safety, human safety and so on.
In this way, the knowledge in the field of traffic management forms a system, as shown in Figure 1-1.
Due to the limitation of space, some knowledge branches are omitted in the figure.
Figure 1-1 The knowledge system in the field of traffic management may have several sub-topics under the same topic, and a sub-topic may also belong to several different parent topics.
For example, the traffic safety of young male drivers belongs to both the parent theme of traffic safety of young drivers and the parent theme of traffic safety of male drivers. The word “theme” in
English is also translated as theme.
It originally refers to the main melody, but later it is used in literary and artistic works, speeches, etc. To express the author’s subjective views, ideas, etc., which is equivalent to the meaning of the main idea.
Sometimes we hear the term “distinct theme,” which actually refers to a distinct point of view.
2. Question Question is a doubt formed around the theme (research scope). There are several questions under a theme.
For example, pedestrian traffic safety is a theme. Many questions can be raised
around the topic of pedestrian traffic safety, including: (1) What are the indicators of pedestrian safety? Which one or some of the indicators such as
“accident scale, accident rate, accident frequency, pedestrian injury scale in the accident, accident injury proportion, accident injury severity” are selected as the evaluation indicators?
(2) What are the characteristics of pedestrian traffic accidents? What is the distribution of
pedestrian accidents in terms of time, space and road type? What is the distribution of traffic modes that
injure pedestrians?
(3) What is the cause of pedestrian accidents?
Pedestrian illegality, motor vehicle illegality or excessive speed of vehicles on the road?
(4) How to prevent pedestrian accidents?
For example, how can road speed limit prevent pedestrian accidents?
Under the premise of accidents, how can road speed limit reduce the degree of pedestrian injury?
…… Every problem is a research task.
When we change the question of the interrogative sentence into the expression of the declarative sentence, the topic is formed.
For example, the question of “how does the road speed limit prevent pedestrian accidents” is expressed in a declarative sentence as “the impact mechanism of the road speed limit on pedestrian accidents”.
This is a subject.
3. Subject Subject refers to the problem to be solved. It is the translation of the word “subject”. Some people translate project into subject. At this time, subject refers to a research project. There are similarities between the two.
When the subject research is over, it contributes to the knowledge ocean, and the subject becomes the theme.
Usually, a large topic will be composed of multiple related research questions.
However, for graduates, graduation thesis is a subject to solve a problem. The topic of
this book is to choose a research problem, that is, to choose a topic.
4. In theory, the topic should be consistent with the topic of the paper, but in practice, there will be inconsistencies between the two.
This is because the topic is “what to study,” and the topic is “what to study.”.
The topic is the research object determined before the research, and the topic is the high generalization of the research results after the research. The difference between the
subject and the topic exists not only in theory, but also in practice.
The topic can be understood as the expected topic, but it may also be due to the influence of some factors in the research process, resulting in differences between the final results and the expected results, then there are inconsistencies between the topic and the topic.
In addition, in terms of scope, the topic may be larger than topic, and the topic is more specific and precise.
The topic determines the scope of the research, while the topic determines the content of the research.
Two, set questions-where do questions come from?
Topics are generally obtained in two ways, one is proposed by the researcher himself, and the other is formulated by the instructor.
According to the standard of “independent completion”, the project should be proposed by the researcher himself.
But most of our graduates, from primary school to university, are accustomed to proposition composition, and lack of scientific research experience, where can we do self-drafted topics?
Therefore, most of the time, the topic is given by the instructor.
But does this mean that students do not need to master the skills of topic selection?
Otherwise, students should master the skills of topic selection. The first
reason is that not all instructors will give a topic, and sometimes students need to draw up their own topics; the second reason is that not all instructors will give students a high-quality topic, and students should have the ability to appreciate it; the third reason is that although teachers give a high-quality topic, students may not be able to understand it; The fourth reason is to master the skills of topic selection, which can enhance students’academic innovation ability and consolidate the foundation of independent and long-term self-development.
Some people will say that it is too difficult for graduates to write their own questions.
In my opinion, it is difficult to draw up a good topic, but it is not difficult to draw up a topic.
This book provides 28 ideas for setting questions.
Generally speaking, the topic comes from two aspects: one is from the reference to other people’s research literature; the other is from the observation of social life practice.
In these two aspects, there are many specific ideas for setting questions. Introduce a few train of thought
here, draw lessons from for reader.
(1) Innovation from reference to other people’s research literature is the primary requirement of academic papers.
Academic innovation is academic development based on other people’s research.
Therefore, when selecting topics, we can find academic innovations by referring to other people’s research literature, that is, to find our own research ideas.
1. A certain research object has been studied by predecessors, but the research object has several parts or types, so we might as well carry out a certain part or type of the object on the basis of predecessors.
This is refinement.
For example, some people have studied the characteristics of motor vehicle traffic accidents, and motor vehicles include cars, small trucks, large trucks, buses, pickups, and even work vehicles.
Among them, large trucks and buses are the focus of traffic safety management.
If the traffic accident characteristics of large trucks and buses have not been studied at this time, we may choose them (traffic accident characteristics of large trucks or buses) as the research object.
This refinement can be carried out from the following aspects.
For example, according to the type of refinement, others have studied the traffic safety of motor vehicles, heavy trucks are a type of motor vehicles, we study the traffic safety of heavy trucks.
For example, according to the refinement of conditions, others study the characteristics of traffic accidents, then I study the characteristics of traffic accidents in ice and snow weather.
For example, according to the spatial refinement, others have studied the national traffic safety situation, so we can study the traffic safety situation in the western region.
For example, according to the time breakdown, some people studied the history of the whole Ming Dynasty, while Mr. Huang Renyu chose the 15th year of Wanli (1587 A.D.) as a starting point to study the Ming Dynasty.
Finally, we can also use several refinement methods together.
Some topics are relatively large and difficult to study.
However, with some restrictions, it can become a small topic, which produces new ideas and has research value.
For example, the issue of a community with a shared future for mankind is too big.
But if we add the qualifier, “the embodiment of a community with a shared future for mankind between China and Africa.”.
In this way, the proposition can be realized by “turning the big into the small.”.
As for refinement, the book How to Write Academic Papers, written by Mr. Soong Chu-yu in Taiwan, gives a good example.
Here I would like to share with you.
Mr. Soong Chu-yu said that the topic selection should be good at turning big into small.
For example, Taiwan’s ethnic minorities are a big issue.
Then, we can choose a particular aspect of the problem to study, such as the status of women of ethnic minorities in Taiwan.
We can also limit it to a specific time frame, such as the living conditions of Taiwan’s ethnic minorities during the Japanese occupation.
We can also look at this issue from a special event, for example, to study the role of Taiwan’s ethnic minorities in the Wushe incident.
Finally, we can also combine the three methods, such as the economic and social changes of Taiwan’s ethnic minorities after retrocession.
2. Generalization (or transplantation) When we read the literature and find that an object has been studied, we might as well think about whether similar objects have been studied?
If not, you may choose to be the object of study.
This is called generalization or transplantation.
For example, people first heated mud in a fire to form pottery; later, they heated stones in a fire, and various metals were discovered one after another.
This idea of generalization has strongly promoted technological innovation.
Referring to the idea of refinement, we can divide migration into the following four types.
(1) Transplant by type.
For example, we find that some people have studied the characteristics of motorcycle traffic accidents, so we might as well consider whether the characteristics of electric bicycle traffic accidents have been studied?
If not, this problem can be chosen as the research object.
(2) Transplant according to conditions.
For example, we find that some people have studied the characteristics of traffic accidents in ice and snow weather, but we might as well consider that the characteristics of traffic accidents in rainstorm weather have not been studied?
(3) Transplant according to time.
For example, some people have studied the characteristics of certain types of traffic accidents in the 1990s, and we might as well study the characteristics of such accidents in the first decade of the 21st century.
(4) Transplant according to space.
For example, some people have studied the characteristics of car unilateral accidents in city a, so we might as well consider studying the characteristics of car unilateral accidents in city B.
In particular, some people have studied a certain aspect of foreign problems, and we might as well study this aspect of domestic problems.
There is a famous saying that science has no national boundaries and scientists have national boundaries. It is a very important thing to
refer to foreign countries and do a good job in the study of our country, which can even be said to be a concrete manifestation of patriotism.
(4) Mixed use. We will not list examples
here.
However, it should be noted that it is better not to simply transplant the existing research-using the same method and model to carry out research on similar research objects. It is advisable to consider comparing it with the research used for reference after completing the research. In the comparison, new research conclusions may be found, so as to improve the level of their own research.
3. Updating materials is at the core of scientific research.
Questions are posed around the material, methods are used to analyze the material, and conclusions are drawn from the material.
When the material changes, the questions and conclusions will change, thus achieving innovation. The renewal of
materials includes two kinds, one is that the new materials reflect the new situation, the other is that the new materials reflect the old situation.
With the development of time, new changes have taken place in things, resulting in new situations.
For example, a study in the United States shows that compared with the 1960s, the risk of drunk driving among female drivers in the 1990s is gradually increasing.
The reason is that women’s rights in the United States are awakening, and more women are getting driver’s licenses, working and socializing, so the risk of drunk driving has increased significantly. It is a research innovation to
discover the new trend of drunk driving of female drivers and the reasons behind it. The emergence of
this new situation is highlighted in the social sciences.
In social sciences, many research results are time-sensitive. In
these studies, the methods are scientific and the results are correct, but they are based on past materials. With the passage of
time, new situations have taken place, leading to changes in conclusions. For
another example, with the development of time, things have not changed, but the observation technology has been developed, and the field of vision of observation has become broader and more far-reaching, thus obtaining more new situations. For example, the Hubble Telescope has transmitted the field of vision of human observation to the depths of the universe, thus promoting the development of physics.
Or the observation field of view is finer, so as to obtain more accurate data or smaller granularity data.
For example, with the development of GPS technology, people’s positioning of events is more sophisticated, from kilometers to hundreds of meters and then to meters and decimeters, thus promoting the enrichment of relevant research results.
Another update is that the new material reflects the old situation.
The old situation should have been buried in the depths of time, but fortunately it was recorded by some materials, and then these materials reappeared in front of the world, thus correcting the research conclusions.
This situation mainly appears in the study of history.
For example, the appearance of oracle bone inscriptions greatly enriched people’s understanding of the Shang Dynasty.
For example, with the advent of the era of big data, all kinds of data recorded in the past are taken out again, put together and collided, and new knowledge is acquired.
4. Comparison is a common method of argumentation.
At the same time, it can also be used as a method of topic selection.
For example, we study the characteristics of traffic accidents of electric bicycles, but the results may be relatively weak, so we might as well analyze the characteristics of traffic accidents of electric bicycles, bicycles and motorcycles, and then compare the three, so that the results will be enriched, and it is also an innovative method.
Referring to the previous ideas of refinement and generalization, comparison can be the comparison of research objects under different conditions, different types, different times, different spaces, different countries and so on.
For example, we compare the differences in the performance of materials under different weather conditions, so as to study the characteristics of materials in depth. For
another example, we compare the differences between men and women in the concept of marriage, which is helpful to understand some aspects of marital contradictions and forms.
For example, the Han Dynasty and Rome are two countries in the same era and in different regions of the East and the West. Through the comparison of the differences and similarities between the two countries, it is helpful to understand the differences and internal consistency between the East and the West.
However, it should be noted that the comparison is not a simple enumeration, but to draw some conclusions from the comparison.
Of course, this comparison can also be a comparison between different methods.
This will be covered later in the “Methods and Methods” section.
5. An adjacent research object may have multiple attributes.
After one attribute has been studied, we might as well consider whether other adjacent attributes have been studied.
For example, traffic flow has three attributes: flow, speed and density.
Some people have studied the flow problem, so we might as well think about whether the speed and density have been studied. For
another example, any vehicle has active safety and passive safety.
If someone has studied the active safety of electric bicycles, then we might as well think about whether the passive safety of electric bicycles has been studied.
If not, it can be used as a research object. For
another example, a study proposes a new type of traffic organization design scheme, which can help solve the problem of road congestion. In view of the fact that congestion and safety are two aspects of traffic organization, we might as well think about the impact of this scheme on traffic safety. The two innovative ideas
of adjacency and generalization are similar, but generalization refers to the generalization of the object of study from one thing to another, while adjacency refers to the generalization of the object of study from one attribute to another.
6. Connection The so-called connection is to connect different things or different attributes of things together and explore the correlation between them, even the causal relationship.
For example, some people have studied the driver’s risk awareness, and some people have studied the driver’s aggressive driving awareness, so we might as well think about the combination of the two and explore the relationship between them.
For example, some people study the safety awareness of residents, and some people study the cultural characteristics of residents, so we might as well combine the two to explore the impact of cultural characteristics on safety awareness.
From the perspective of connection, there is often a connection between things that appear in the same time or space.
For example, some people associate the situation of sunspots with the situation of olive production, and ultimately predict the production of olives through sunspots. For
another example, some people associate combs with hair dyes, which act on hair at the same time, and invent hair dyeing combs.
7. Synthesis refers to the comprehensive consideration of scattered problems, sorting out, analyzing, integrating and refining them, and discovering new knowledge from them. The comparison discussed
above is actually a comprehensive method.
For example, before the 1870s, chemists discovered 63 chemical elements and studied their properties.
In 1869, Mendeleev, a Russian chemist, summarized the 63 elements, found that there were certain rules among them, and compiled a table of chemical periodic elements.
For example, from 1934, LaPiere began to pay attention to the complex relationship between attitude and behavior, through a large number of studies by Wicker and others, to 1991, Ajzen summarized the previous studies. Establish a theory of planned behavior that includes five elements: attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, behavioral intention, and behavior. For
another example, some people use the historical retrospective method to trace back the development history of a certain problem. The purpose
of backtracking is not to record history, but to find the logic of its development from the history of things, so as to provide reference for the future.
This is also a synthesis.
For another example, literature review is to sort out and evaluate the past research around a certain research issue, so as to provide reference for future research.
This is also a way of comprehensive innovation.
8. Application When a comprehensive theory has been obtained, we can use the comprehensive theory to analyze and solve specific problems and form concrete results, which is application innovation.
For example, after Mendeleev discovered the periodic table of elements, according to the periodic law of elements, he predicted the existence of three new elements: boron-like, aluminum-like and silicon-like.
Later, under the guidance of his prediction, researchers discovered scandium, gallium and germanium.
Moreover, the periodic law of elements still plays an important guiding role in the study of new chemical elements. For
another example, in 1991, Ajzen established the theory of planned behavior on the basis of previous studies.
Subsequently, this theory has been widely applied to the study of behavior selection and control in transportation, economy, population, tourism, human resources and other disciplines, which has greatly promoted the development of various disciplines.
This is an application innovation.
9. In-depth study of problems has always been from the appearance to the inner essence.
When we have completed the study of the external characteristics of certain phenomena, we should think about why these external characteristics appear?
This is to go deep into the essence of things. Compared
with the previous method, this kind of “in-depth” research requires the researcher to have a stronger thinking ability.
For example, previous studies have found that male and female drivers have different rates of traffic accidents through statistical analysis of data.
But this conclusion only exists on the surface. What we need to think about is why the accident rate is different between men and women?
From the observation point of view, female drivers have strong risk awareness and less risky driving behavior, which will lead to a low accident rate of female drivers, but at the same time, female drivers have poor car handling and risk avoidance ability, which will lead to a high accident rate of female drivers.
Therefore, in order to correctly assess the safety level of female drivers, it is necessary to analyze the intrinsic factors of male and female drivers, such as risk awareness, driving skills, emotional control and so on, so as to carry out targeted traffic safety interventions. For
another example, we study the influence of factor X on factor Y.
However, this effect is obtained through qualitative analysis.
But we need to think about the degree of this influence, whether it is monotonous linear or non-monotonous curve form.
This requires us to further analyze the relationship between Y and X in a quantitative form. The transition from
qualitative analysis to quantitative analysis will make the analysis results more accurate and reliable, which is a deep understanding. For
another example, previous studies have shown that there is a causal relationship between X and Y, but further studies have found that there is an intermediate factor Z between X and Y, which makes X have an impact on Y.
This kind of research is an innovation.
10. Perfection (supplement) When we study a phenomenon, through literature survey, we know that it is affected by several factors, but at the same time these reasons are not enough to fully explain the phenomenon, there are other factors.
When we find these other factors and add them to the cause, we can explain the phenomenon together and improve the degree of explanation of the phenomenon, which is an innovation.
In the regression equation, there is a statistic called goodness of fit, which can describe the explanation of the independent variable to the dependent variable. The goodness of
fit is between 0 and 1. If the goodness of fit is equal to 0.4, it means that 40% of the dependent variable is determined by the independent variable.
If the goodness of fit is improved, the degree of explanation for the dependent variable is improved.
11. Synergy of methods On the basis of existing research, through the collaboration of various technologies, we can improve the methods and improve the research level.
This innovative idea is called the synergy of methods.
For example, one study used an integrated moving average autoregressive model (ARIMA) to fit the data and build the model.
However, heteroscedasticity was found in the residual analysis.
Therefore, the improved method, using ARIMA + ARCH model to re-fit the data, can solve the problem of heteroscedasticity and improve the level of model fitting.
This is the innovation of combining ARIMA and ARCH. For
another example, a certain study aims to make a comprehensive evaluation of the problem, but for some reason, the classical comprehensive evaluation method has problems, so it is necessary to fuzzify the original index and then make a comprehensive evaluation, thus solving the problem.
This is the innovation produced by the cooperation of comprehensive evaluation and fuzzy mathematics.
There is a saying that “There are always more ways than problems!” For a problem, there are many ways to solve it.
Compared with the old method, it is an innovation to adopt a new method to solve problems.
For example, for the problem of multi-index comprehensive evaluation, we can use the comprehensive evaluation method of coefficient of variation, TOPSIS comprehensive evaluation method, data envelopment analysis (DEA) and other methods. For
another example, for a prediction problem, we can use generalized linear regression, time series regression, SVM and other models.
In the scheme library of solving problems, every addition of a method is an innovation.
Of course, the first research to solve the problem is the most innovative.
Follow-up studies should generally compare the solution effect of the new method with that of the old method.
13. Popularization (the direct effect of new technology) Scientific research is like splitting bamboo. Simple problems are always solved quickly, and complex problems are stuck like bamboo knots.
Once new technologies emerge, researchers solve complex problems, and then promote the application of new technologies.
For example, due to the small number of traffic accidents, it can not meet the sample size needs of some studies, which limits the development of research.
But later, some people put forward the traffic conflict technology to replace traffic accidents with traffic conflict.
Traffic conflict can be used to describe the level of traffic safety instead of traffic accidents, and at the same time, because of the large sample size, it meets the sample needs of the study.
In this way, it greatly promotes the research of traffic safety. For
another example, the traditional classification models mainly include binary logistic model and discriminant analysis.
But they can not deal with nonlinear, high-dimensional, local minimum and small sample size data. The
support vector machine (SVM) model can deal with this kind of data.
Therefore, after the core content of support vector machine model was proposed in 1992, it has been widely used in pattern recognition such as portrait recognition, text classification, and has achieved fruitful research results.
For example, in recent years, more attention has been paid to in-depth learning technology, which has made a leap in the level of artificial intelligence technology and quickly solved a large number of unsolved problems in the past.
For example, people once thought that Go contained rich intelligence and could not be simulated by computers, but the “Alpha Dog” based on deep learning technology proved that robots could simulate the intelligence of Go.
14. Expanding many research conclusions are often established under certain assumptions, but when the conditions change, the research conclusions may change.
This is also a kind of innovation, which we can call expansion.
For example, Einstein once said that in his research, he found that the traditional mechanics considered the situation that the speed of objects was lower than speed of light, so he thought about what the space-time coordinates would be when the speed reached the speed of light, which inspired his research on general relativity.
In the field of research, there are different conclusions on the same issue, thus forming disputes.
Researchers support a point of view or propose a new point of view in response to controversy.
For example, Su Shi’s Shizhongshan Ji is included in middle school textbooks.
As for the reason for the naming of Shizhong Mountain, Li Daoyuan, the author of Shuijingzhu in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, believed that the sound produced by the impact of water on rocks was like a bell, while Li Bo in the Tang Dynasty believed that the collision between rocks was like a bell.
Su Shi first questioned these two views, then carried out field visits, and finally put forward his own views.
16. Reverse The so-called reverse is to put forward the reverse viewpoint and demonstrate the rationality of the viewpoint in view of some directional research results.
For example, Granovetter, an American sociologist, has a famous study of weak ties.
This study divides interpersonal relationships into strong relationships and weak relationships, and points out that weak relationships can help people obtain new information, resources, opportunities and promote career development, compared with strong relationships with fixed contacts.
Later, Bian Yanjie, a Chinese-American scholar, put forward the hypothesis of strong ties in reverse. He believed that Chinese society was different from American society. In China, if you want to get things done, it is not the breadth and diversity of information that weak ties can obtain, but the definite and powerful help that strong ties can give.
Note that the reverse refers to the reverse of the perspective, not to sing a different tune. To oppose
is to oppose for the sake of opposing, to have the opposite conclusion first, and then to look for specious evidence to force the argument.
Reverse means that the research is carried out from the perspective of the opposite direction, not according to the predetermined conclusion, but according to the scientific process.
Draw on (quote) the methods of other disciplines. “Stones from other hills can be used to polish jade.”.
In the study, we might as well use the methods of other disciplines to re-examine the problems of this discipline.
For example, in recent years, with the rapid development of big data technology, some researchers have proposed big data marketing, that is, using big data technology to find marketing objects, and through the information collection and analysis of marketing objects, to formulate the B est marketing strategy, and to quantitatively evaluate the marketing effect.
This method can also be used for reference in traffic safety management.
For example, there are some problems in the current traffic safety publicity, such as lack of pertinence and instantaneity. We might as well regard the object of traffic safety publicity as a marketing object, and use the idea of big data marketing to rethink the work of traffic safety publicity, so as to produce new ideas. The reference
here and the previous transplantation may be regarded as a train of thought.
However, the author distinguishes the two in the hope that readers will notice that “transplantation refers to the borrowing of methods within the discipline, while borrowing refers to the transplanting of methods across disciplines.” He hopes that readers can broaden their horizons and widely understand the methods of other disciplines to solve the problems within the discipline.
18. Interdisciplinary acquisition of new horizons Interdisciplinary acquisition of new theoretical horizons is different from reference.
Within the reference, the problem studied is still the original problem, but a new method is adopted to solve the problem. The
interdisciplinary perspective may reshape the problem. There are three types of new horizons formed
across disciplines.
The first category is to observe the problems of this discipline from the perspective of other disciplines.
Here, the object of study is unchanged, but the angle of study has changed.
For example, in the eyes of traditional jurists, law is a system of norms of conduct.
In the eyes of economists, law is a system of resource allocation. In the eyes
of sociologists, law is a kind of social rule, the law formulated by the state is law, and social customs are also a kind of law.
The second category is to use different disciplinary horizons to form a new horizon, which is composed of knowledge of various disciplines.
The author calls this composition “physical action.”.
For example, in the study of traffic signal timing, according to the traditional traffic control theory, the red light time in a certain direction should be designed to be 120 seconds.
However, this time far exceeds the pedestrian crossing tolerance time, which makes the conclusion of the study unreasonable.
Therefore, it is necessary to consider the pedestrian crossing tolerance time in the study.
To this end, psychological theory is introduced into the study to construct a new theoretical perspective and consider multiple factors comprehensively.
The third category is to integrate the knowledge of various disciplines to form a vision, in which the knowledge of various disciplines is inseparable.
The author calls this composition “chemical action.”.
For example, we can get the scene of the traffic accident through trace science; we can analyze the injury situation in the accident through forensic medicine; we can analyze the collision and movement situation in the traffic accident through automobile mechanics.
In the investigation and analysis of accidents, traces, injuries, collisions and movements are inseparable.
19. New technologies improve research conditions. New technologies not only directly solve problems, but also change research conditions with the application of new technologies, thus creating opportunities for solving old problems and achieving innovation.
For example, traditional traffic planning needs to investigate residents’travel information, which is too large and the data accuracy is not high. In
recent years, with the increasing popularity of mobile phones, people use mobile phones to query travel information.
Using mobile phone signaling information, we can obtain a huge amount of accurate traffic travel information, which brings new opportunities to solve the problem of traffic planning. For
another example, the traditional traffic accident investigation is to use the scene traces to restore the accident process through physical and chemical knowledge.
In recent years, more and more motor vehicles have installed vehicle travel recorders to record vehicle information in real time.
Therefore, it is a new topic to use the autopilot to recover the traffic accident process.
20. Find a paper directly from the outlook of other people’s papers. In the conclusion part, you will summarize yourself and point out the shortcomings of the paper.
This deficiency is precisely the direction of research and development, and can be used as a new thesis topic.
For example, the paper “Spatio-temporal Analysis of Traffic Accident Severity Based on Cumulative Logistic Model” found that seven variables, including “accident occurrence time, seasonal factors, location, road alignment, slope, number of vehicles involved in the accident and the ratio of daily standard traffic volume to annual average daily traffic volume”, were significantly related to the severity of traffic accidents.
Then, the paper also points out that in view of the limited research conditions, speed, overloading rate of large trucks and weather factors are not introduced into the independent variables, which is one of the important directions of future research.
In other words, if we can collect data on vehicle speed, overloading rate of large trucks, weather factors and so on, we can improve the original research and increase the understanding of the factors affecting the severity of traffic accidents, which is also an innovation.
However, it should be noted that the shortcomings of other papers may have been included in the author’s next research.
If you choose this topic, it may conflict with others.
In addition, there is an innovative idea obtained from other people’s papers, that is, to question the papers.
For example, the framework of a paper is “Background-Problem-Cause-Countermeasure.”.
Next, we can question the various elements of this framework.
Include: Is the research background check adequate? Is the understanding of the
problem accurate? Is
the analysis of the cause correct? Are
the proposed countermeasures reasonable?
At this time, we can improve it on the basis of this paper, which is also an innovation.
21. From the academic exchange, “One person’s wisdom is short, and two people’s wisdom is long.”.
Many good research ideas come from academic exchanges.
It is said that Cambridge University has two hours every afternoon, and often arranges authoritative professors of different disciplines to have afternoon tea together in the school coffee house or tea garden in a planned and organized way.
Here, every professor can elaborate his own research field and research methods at will.
At the same time, each professor is absorbing research methods from other fields, and through mutual learning and knowledge combination, a large number of marginal academic ideas and theories are produced.
Some people joke that more than 60 Nobel Prizes in Cambridge University are made by drinking coffee.
For academic newcomers, if they want to get good scientific research ideas, they should actively participate in academic exchanges.
This kind of academic exchange can not only be a formal academic conference, but sometimes even a casual chat with teachers and classmates, because at that time everyone is more relaxed and more active.
However, it should be noted that the premise of academic communication is that you already have a certain foundation.
If you don’t have the foundation to attend an academic conference, you are just going to eat cakes and coffee.
Therefore, I put the academic exchange at the end of the first part.
(2) From the observation of social life practice, we can not only refer to other people’s literature, but also from the practice of social life.
However, the problems in life are not all academic problems worthy of study, which need to be criticized from an academic point of view. Only those problems that transcend the limitations of time, space and specific conditions and have universality are of academic value.
For example, you have an appointment with a friend to see a movie in the evening.
“What means of transportation to choose to go to the cinema” is a personal practical problem, while “the composition and proportion of urban evening rush hour transportation” is an academic problem. What movie to watch
in the evening?
This is a personal and realistic question. “What kind of film has a high box office” is a realistic commercial question, while “Zhang Yimou’s film appreciation” is an academic question.
22. New problems in production and life and new problems in production and life that need to be solved urgently are often subjects for scientific research and innovation.
For example, in the spring of 2020, the sudden outbreak of COVID-19 brought serious problems to people’s health, economy, society and residents’ lives, which also led to a series of research topics.
First of all, in the field of biomedicine, there are the identification of the source and intermediate host of the virus, the discovery of the transmission mechanism of the virus, and the prediction of the epidemic situation.
In addition to the field of biomedicine, there are also research topics such as the impact of the epidemic on the economy, the delivery of materials under the epidemic, and so on. General Secretary
Xi Jinping pointed out that “the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic is a big test of the national governance system and governance capacity”, which is a research task for the research field of the national governance system and governance capacity.
23. New trends in old problems Generally speaking, it is difficult to find innovations in old problems.
However, if there is a new trend in the old problem, it is often the object that can be studied.
For example, the problem of urban congestion is a platitudinous problem, and the relevant research is voluminous, so it is difficult to carry out innovative results.
However, in December 2015, the central government held an urban work conference, and in view of the phenomenon that “in the past, most urban communities were closed, vehicles were not allowed to pass, and the density of the road network was limited”, the policy of “open blocks” was put forward, which provided more road resources and conditions for vehicles to travel, thus having a greater impact on urban traffic congestion.
This provides a new topic for many scholars who study urban traffic congestion.
24. Professional explanation of daily problems Professor Li Lianjiang introduced such a case in his book “Out without publication”. In
March 1869, Armand David, a French naturalist, saw a black and white animal skin that he had never seen before in a farmhouse in Jiajin Mountain, Sichuan Province.
David called it a black and white bear, and soon the villagers caught him a live black and white bear.
After research, David thought it was a new breed of bear.
Of course, today we know that this is the giant panda.
It should be said that we Chinese have known pandas for a long time, and have named pandas as flower bears, bamboo bears and iron-eating beasts.
But it was not until David that pandas were brought into the modern scientific knowledge system and studied such aspects as classification, characteristics and living habits with modern scientific methods.
Thus, in the modern scientific sense, David “discovered” the panda.
This example shows that it is also an innovation to interpret daily life experience that has not yet entered the field of professional knowledge professionally.
25. The Rationalized Explanation of Unreasonable Phenomena Hegel said, “Existence is rationality.”. What
he means is that everything that exists objectively must have a reason for its existence.
In short, things happen for a reason.
When we observe some phenomena that do not conform to the existing theory, we should realize that there must be some reasons to support the existence of the phenomenon. The discovery of
causes is an innovation.
For example, the rapid development of China’s economy in recent years does not conform to the predictions of many western economic theories.
Therefore, a reasonable explanation of the phenomenon of rapid economic development in China is a theoretical innovation.
26. Finding interesting phenomena in life Researchers have found some interesting phenomena in daily social life and production practice.
These phenomena can become a research problem.
For example, many small businesses in China are often monopolized by people in one place. For example, most of the copy shops in colleges and universities are run by people from Xinhua County, Loudi City, Hunan Province.
Why is the owner of the copy shop not from all over the world, but from a county? Dr.
Feng Junqi found this interesting phenomenon and took it as a research topic, then carried out in-depth sociological field research and wrote the paper “The Life History of Xinhua Copy Industry”. Through detailed data and interviews,
this paper shows how Xinhua, a poor county under Loudi, Hunan Province, relies on consanguinity, geography and social structure to develop a nationwide copying industry network and constantly push the industry to new heights. It is also very interesting to give two examples in the book
“Successful Completion of Master’s and Doctor’s Thesis”.
One is, “I find that men are speechless when they see a beautiful woman come into the room, so I wonder:” What is the role of physical attraction in the group behavior process?
Another example is “I find it difficult to get along with alcoholics, so I want to find the best way to get along with them.”.
From these two examples, we can see that there are topics worth studying everywhere in life, and the key is whether you have a pair of eyes to discover.
27. From the dilemma of practice, some disciplines are very practical, and the knowledge of disciplines is accumulated in solving practical problems. What problems arise in
practice is the object we need to study.
Therefore, we need to go deep into the front line of practice to find problems.
The author often encounters some practical problems in traffic management in practice units. The staff of the
practice unit sighed, “I can’t do it.”.
These three words contain their helplessness and frustration after trying many measures and failing to achieve good results.
But for those who are interested in doing research, this sentence is simply good news.
Because that’s the problem to be solved.
If it is easy to do, there is no research value. Sometimes it is not easy to extract topics
from practical problems.
Perhaps after some research, you find that the reason why there are practical difficulties is that the staff do not have a good grasp of professional competence, rather than theoretical problems, which is the loss of academic value.
But at the same time, new problems have arisen.
Why do the staff not have a good grasp of professional competence? Is it because there are problems in the training materials, there is no good professional knowledge, or there are problems in the organization and personnel, and the right person is not appointed in the right position?
These are not professional academic issues, but they are still worth studying.
28. From the emerging hot issues, traffic is closely related to social life, so some traffic phenomena often become a hot topic, which often contains rich research content.
As long as we pay close attention to the hot issues in social life, we can find the research object.
Take sharing bicycles as an example.
When sharing bicycles entered the lives of Chinese people in 2016, it rapidly changed the traffic pattern.
Shared bicycles readjust the proportion of residents’travel modes, bring new parking management problems, change the distribution of traffic accidents, and accident liability issues, etc.
These are the new research points of traffic management engineering discipline.
Researchers should seize this opportunity to carry out research.
Because others may not carry out research, they may not avoid the needs of other people’s research results when choosing topics, and any attempt at this time is often innovative research results.
Because the major of traffic management engineering is a sociological and practical discipline, these problems will not arise when shared bicycles have not yet appeared. It is impossible for
researchers, even great researchers, to imagine these problems.
After these new problems, all researchers are basically on the same starting line. It can
not only guarantee the innovation of the paper, but also probably obtain high-quality innovation.
. Focus on not getting lost ~
