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ACADEMIA Letters
What are the research challenges that Academic
Researchers face, and how do they overcome them?
Manasa Kulkarni
“Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life mean-
ingful.” Whether you are a student scholar or a Doctorate student, conducting research is an
integral part of being a scholar with the skills and credibility to eect social transformation.
Fortunately, there are many research challenges faced by you right from choosing a subject,
nding subject expertise, staying healthy throughout the process, and each step between them.
Here, I am sharing with you how major research challenges can be overcome.
Challenge 1: Choosing the Right Topic
The basis on which everything else rests is your topic of research, so it is essential to choose
carefully. “You can do nothing else when you nd that the focus of your subject is funda-
mental.” The rst step in the research is to choose your subject. You know that choosing a
good topic may not be easy. It must be narrow enough, concentrated enough to be interesting
but broad enough to provide enough information. Below you will nd a couple of ideas to
help you overcome the challenge: � Make a topic that is feasible: Determine your available
resources—time, money, and people—and choose a topic to which you can devote your time
and energy.
• Read everything you can about the subject: Begin collecting data and learning the fun-
damentals.
• Search for a theoretical basis to support your subject: The key to your results is to have
an overall theoretical context.
Academia Letters, July 2021
Corresponding Author: Manasa Kulkarni, manasankulkarni@gmail.com
Citation: Kulkarni, M. (2021). What are the research challenges that Academic Researchers face, and how do
they overcome them? Academia Letters, Article 1509. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1509.
1
©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0
• Make sure the topic will hold your interest. You’ll be working on a dissertation or other
large research project for at least a year, so it has to be compelling enough to keep you
going.
• Find a niche where you can make a dierence: “…In my opinion, you should be bring-
ing something new to the eld.”
• …but keep in mind that one dissertation will not change the world: Rejections + Emo-
tional Balance are common occurrences during the doctoral journey. So, keep encour-
aging yourself by saying, “Never Quit.”
• Let yourself shift gears. The topic we started with is “in no way” what we expected to
end up with. Appreciate the minor changes in your topic and continue to work positively.
• Fine-tune your topic based on input from others. “Take every opportunity you can to
pick the brains” of experts, and each time, revise slightly based on what the last person
said to you.
Challenge 2: Choosing the Right Methodology
To move forward after you’ve chosen a topic, you’ll need a methodology—a procedure for
conducting your research. “The best way to choose it is not to choose.” To put it another way,
“the methodology used is based on the research question, not on your personal preferences
for one design over another.”
• Complete the sentence: “The problem is …” Complete the sentence: “The purpose of
this study is …” Make a list of your research questions and let your answers guide you.
• Determine the best design and methodology for answering your research questions.
Rather than being imposed on the study, the design emerges from it.
• Fine-tune your research strategy: Once you’ve decided whether you want to go with
a quantitative or qualitative approach, you can start looking into the methodology in
greater depth.
• Be clear: The methodology should be clear enough to enable any other well-educated
researcher to collect it exactly in the same manner.
• Be honest regarding your skills: Ask yourself, “What the study requires — can I do
this?” If not, determine whether you can develop the knowledge.
Academia Letters, July 2021
Corresponding Author: Manasa Kulkarni, manasankulkarni@gmail.com
Citation: Kulkarni, M. (2021). What are the research challenges that Academic Researchers face, and how do
they overcome them? Academia Letters, Article 1509. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1509.
2
©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0
• Take time with the process of planning. “It’s essential to consult other researchers be-
fore investing time, money, and energy into research,” according to a pilot study. It is
benecial to do so. “Once you start the study, there’s no going back.”
Challenge 3: Assembling a Research
Team Research is never done in a vacuum. You will need a research team to support both you
and study participants once your subject and methodology have been in place. Before starting
your research, you need to build a network of consultants:
• Solicit constructive feedback. “Cultivate friendships with people who will assist you in
critical thinking” about your subject.
• Vet your Committee. Carefully select your supervisor and research advisory committee,
“because you will work with them for some time.”
• Keep your needs clear. Likewise, be very clear about what you need from tasks when it
comes to receiving assistance. “People are ready to assist in a structured and prepared
manner.”
Challenge 4: Keeping Yourself Motivated and Sticking to Your
Plan
Sometimes the biggest challenge can be internal during a large research project—maintaining
your motivation to continue despite barriers to your research and pressures for work and your
personal commitments. Strategies need to keep the attitude up-to-date and trustworthy further
continue in any major research project.
• Follow your passion and goal. The rst component of motivation is to work on some-
thing you’re passionate about, believe in and if you’re passionate about the research,
your passion for research will increase.
• Monitor your attitude. “Attitude makes a dierence when there is so much to do”. To
remain positive, feel like a garden: “The negative thought must be picked o as weeds
and positive thoughts constantly planted”.
• Reward yourself for your eorts. Make rewards as a part of your work plan, and then
reward yourself. It could be going to the movies, having lunch with friends, or family
time.
Academia Letters, July 2021
Corresponding Author: Manasa Kulkarni, manasankulkarni@gmail.com
Citation: Kulkarni, M. (2021). What are the research challenges that Academic Researchers face, and how do
they overcome them? Academia Letters, Article 1509. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1509.
3
©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0
Challenge 5: Managing your Information
The challenge is to know how to understand the data you have collected and work with the
data when you have completed your study.
• Make sure you’re well-versed in the research. A large volume of research must be
addressed, as well as existing research, and data must be organized and presented in
a way that demonstrates how your research contributes to the body of knowledge.
• Stay focused. “Keep your research questions and hypotheses closer in mind, because
you sometimes remove the data you collect from it”.
• Allow your presentation to control the data. “What you present should be driven by the
data. It is your job to organize this research.”
• Draw on the information. “That information may always give us more meaning of what
has actually happened” – a good quote or good point from a quantitative survey.
Academia Letters, July 2021
Corresponding Author: Manasa Kulkarni, manasankulkarni@gmail.com
Citation: Kulkarni, M. (2021). What are the research challenges that Academic Researchers face, and how do
they overcome them? Academia Letters, Article 1509. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1509.
4
©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0
