Free course · Research skills

Research Academy — how to find out what is true, for study, work or life

Free — no account needed to read

From a good question to evidence, methods, statistics, ethics, reading papers and writing it up, in 57 lessons across 19 modules. Useful for a personal decision, a class, a job or a startup — not only a thesis.

What research is for

Research is a way of finding out what is true before you act on it. A thesis is one use of it, listed here among the others.

Personal decisions

The same discipline you would use for a study, applied to a choice that is yours.

• For example: Which laptop actually suits the work you do
• For example: Whether a course is worth the money
• For example: What the evidence says about a health habit you are considering

Learning a subject

Working out what is known, what is contested, and who to trust in a field you are new to.

• For example: Mapping a field before you commit a year to it
• For example: Telling a settled finding from an active argument
• For example: Finding the three papers everyone else cites

Academic research

Essays, dissertations, theses and journal work — the application this section started with.

• For example: A literature review
• For example: A dissertation methodology chapter
• For example: A systematic review protocol

Business and market research

Understanding a market, a competitor or a customer well enough to act on it.

• For example: Sizing a market honestly
• For example: Competitor teardowns
• For example: Why customers actually churn

Founder research

Problem discovery and validation, where being wrong is expensive and fast feedback matters.

• For example: Customer discovery interviews
• For example: Testing whether a problem is real
• For example: Pricing research

Investment research

Diligence on a company, a sector or a thesis, where the question is what would change your mind.

• For example: Industry research
• For example: Company diligence
• For example: Stress-testing a thesis

Career research

Researching a role, an employer or a skill before you spend years on it.

• For example: What a role actually involves day to day
• For example: Whether a company treats people well
• For example: Which skills a field is really hiring for

Professional research

User research, policy research, investigative work — research as part of the job.

• For example: User interviews
• For example: Policy evidence reviews
• For example: Investigating a claim before publishing it

Foundations

What research is, how a project moves, and what to ask

• What research actually is — Research is a disciplined way of answering a question you cannot already answer. (3 lessons)
• The research lifecycle — A project has a shape, and knowing the shape tells you where you actually are. (3 lessons)
• Research questions — A good question does most of the work of the project before the project starts. (3 lessons)

Evidence

Finding it, judging it, and reasoning with it honestly

• Evidence and sources — Knowing what kind of source you are holding tells you what it can and cannot support. (3 lessons)
• Thinking with evidence — Between the evidence and the conclusion there is always an argument. This is how to see it. (3 lessons)

Method

How you will answer the question, and what that costs

• Research methodology — Methodology is the reasoning that connects your question to your evidence. (3 lessons)
• Judging quality in each family — Quantitative and qualitative work are judged by different criteria, and applying the wrong ones is how good work gets dismissed. (3 lessons)
• Research design — The shape of your question tells you which designs become appropriate — and why. (3 lessons)
• Statistics for researchers — Enough statistical reasoning to read honestly, plan sensibly, and not be fooled by a number. (3 lessons)

Craft

Working responsibly, reading well, and being understood

• Research ethics and integrity — Two different obligations: to the people in your research, and to everyone who will read it. (3 lessons)
• Reading research — Four levels of reading, chosen deliberately — most papers do not deserve all four. (3 lessons)
• Writing and communicating research — Writing is not reporting what you did. It is making your reasoning followable and arguable. (3 lessons)

Going further

What you reach for once a project gets serious

• Philosophy and ways of knowing — Different methods exist because people disagree about what knowledge is. (3 lessons)
• Causal inference — What would have happened otherwise — and how anybody could possibly know. (3 lessons)
• Qualitative analysis — Turning a hundred pages of talk into findings somebody else can check. (3 lessons)
• Evidence synthesis — What does the whole literature say — established with a process, not an impression. (3 lessons)
• Statistical methods — What the common techniques are actually for, so you can choose and read them. (3 lessons)
• Reproducibility and open science — Work somebody else could check — starting with you, in six months. (3 lessons)
• Peer review — How work gets checked — and how to do the checking well. (3 lessons)

Where to start

I am new to research entirely

Start with what research actually is, how a project moves, and how to ask something answerable. Everything else rests on those three.

• What research actually is — Research is a disciplined way of answering a question you cannot already answer. (3 lessons)
• The research lifecycle — A project has a shape, and knowing the shape tells you where you actually are. (3 lessons)
• Research questions — A good question does most of the work of the project before the project starts. (3 lessons)

I have a thesis or dissertation to write

The question and the design decide almost everything downstream, and getting them right early is what stops a project stalling in month four.

• Research questions — A good question does most of the work of the project before the project starts. (3 lessons)
• Research design — The shape of your question tells you which designs become appropriate — and why. (3 lessons)
• Research methodology — Methodology is the reasoning that connects your question to your evidence. (3 lessons)

I need to read papers properly

Four levels of reading, then judging what a source can actually support, then the reasoning between the evidence and the conclusion.

• Reading research — Four levels of reading, chosen deliberately — most papers do not deserve all four. (3 lessons)
• Evidence and sources — Knowing what kind of source you are holding tells you what it can and cannot support. (3 lessons)
• Thinking with evidence — Between the evidence and the conclusion there is always an argument. This is how to see it. (3 lessons)

I have a real decision to make at work

You need to tell a claim from evidence, find what already exists, and know when an association is and is not enough to act on.

• Thinking with evidence — Between the evidence and the conclusion there is always an argument. This is how to see it. (3 lessons)
• Evidence and sources — Knowing what kind of source you are holding tells you what it can and cannot support. (3 lessons)
• Research questions — A good question does most of the work of the project before the project starts. (3 lessons)

I am building something and need to know if it is real

Sharpen the question, work out what evidence would settle it, and pick a design you can actually run with the access you have.

• Research questions — A good question does most of the work of the project before the project starts. (3 lessons)
• Evidence and sources — Knowing what kind of source you are holding tells you what it can and cannot support. (3 lessons)
• Research design — The shape of your question tells you which designs become appropriate — and why. (3 lessons)

I have data and need to analyse it honestly

What the numbers can support, which technique suits the structure you have, and when an association is allowed to become a causal claim.

• Statistics for researchers — Enough statistical reasoning to read honestly, plan sensibly, and not be fooled by a number. (3 lessons)
• Statistical methods — What the common techniques are actually for, so you can choose and read them. (3 lessons)
• Causal inference — What would have happened otherwise — and how anybody could possibly know. (3 lessons)

I am working with interviews or observation

How the qualitative families differ, how they are judged, and how to get from a hundred pages of talk to findings somebody can check.

• Research methodology — Methodology is the reasoning that connects your question to your evidence. (3 lessons)
• Judging quality in each family — Quantitative and qualitative work are judged by different criteria, and applying the wrong ones is how good work gets dismissed. (3 lessons)
• Qualitative analysis — Turning a hundred pages of talk into findings somebody else can check. (3 lessons)

I have the evidence and need to write it up

What each section is for, what you owe the people who read it, and how a reviewer will read what you wrote.

• Writing and communicating research — Writing is not reporting what you did. It is making your reasoning followable and arguable. (3 lessons)
• Research ethics and integrity — Two different obligations: to the people in your research, and to everyone who will read it. (3 lessons)
• Peer review — How work gets checked — and how to do the checking well. (3 lessons)