Just like any other scholarly activity, writing a research paper, thesis or dissertation is not a child’s play and requires some level of work. The research aims, objectives, and questions – often called the golden thread of research – are areas scholars and researchers often ask a lot of questions about because they could easily be confused.

Research objectives refer to an aspect of your paper that tells people what you are trying to achieve with the study. Objectives guide your research and ensure you don’t lose sight of its focus while studying and researching. Objectives also drive the nature of conversations, interviews, data collection, analysis, and conclusions that will be used for the study.

Writing research objectives is an aspect of research proposal writing that many people get stuck on. Not to worry, Gradcoach provide you with simple steps to write good study objectives;

1. Determine your primary research objective
2. Pinpoint the major challenges and tailor them to specific objectives
3. Apply the SMART principle to the objectives
4. Use actionable words
5. Seek expert opinions or reviews

Now. Let’s delve deeper!

1. Identify your primary objective

Of a truth, no research or project can be successful if there are no objectives that guide the same. Before you start writing your research proposal, ensure you have identified what your overarching objective is. This is like the tree from which other objectives (now branches) emanate. The primary objective summarises the aim of the research and pinpoints what your primary focus in the study is. If unsure of what your primary research objective is, you can read the available literature in your field of study or check other scholarly works to find the gap you can fill with your research.

2. Define the primary focus into specific objectives

The next step after determining your primary focus is narrowing it down to several specific objectives. The objectives could be three or four, depending on what your research goals are. Breaking the main focus into smaller and specific objectives does not only make your research richer but ensures its actionability. You’re able to tell how each objective contributes to the general goal of the research.

3. Apply the SMART principle

SMART is an acronym for (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timebound). This is important you should apply when drafting research objectives to make them clearer and more achievable. Ask yourself the following questions when writing your research objectives;

• S - Are they clear enough and specific to intended outcomes? If there is still confusion about them, then you need to do some more work.
• M – Are there metrics to evaluate if the objectives have been achieved?
• A – are the objectives realistic and resources available to achieve them? Being overambitious or unrealistic does not work well for research, the quality of the objectives being achievable is important.
• R – Ensure that your research objectives are relevant or tied to the overarching goal/aim of the study.
• T – Are there established timelines to carry out each objective and can they be executed within those times?

4. Use actionable words

Use words that suggest actions for your research objectives, examples are; “To identify the impact of workplace hazards on employees,” “To identify corrupt practices among law enforcement agents,” and many others.

5. Seek expert opinion

It is not unusual for researchers to get stuck on writing their research objectives concisely, and this is why seeking expert opinion is useful. If you have a project supervisor, they can help finetune your objectives or you seek out academic editors in your field of interest. Discussing with your peers or other scholars can also be helpful.