Identification of the Research Question

Approaching the Research Question

• The Objective nature of a computer model means that it will reflect the Subjective choices made by the architects of the model at every stage.

​

• Poorly designed or trained projects can unfairly or poorly classify data, leading to potentially biased, unintended or hurtful results

​

• It is your responsibility to think of as many of the impacts of your work ahead of time as possible. (What good will my work bring? What harm?)

The role of a data scientist can be to act as a translator between the “real-world” problems and the information that you use to solve them. Remember that in “real world” applications, computer models can have “real world” impacts.

Identifying the Question is the first step in any project; where to start, who is involved, what we plan to learn, and where to finish.

Food For Thought

• Remember that the form of your research goals will decide the types of answers you find. Likewise, the form of your research goals will be as unique as the people who write them. How do your personal biases and experiences change the way you use data?

​

• If you can think of a question, you’ll be able to find an answer somewhere. How will you be able to tell if it’s the answer you were looking for once you get there?

​

• If you build a computer model to find you an answer, it will give you one; what makes you trust the numbers your program spits out?