Have you ever felt like you’ve been working on a research question for years, and are not even sure what progress you’ve made? To combat this feeling, we recommend breaking up complex research projects into phases. For instance, researching the mother of a female ancestor born in the early 1800s is unlikely to be completed within 20 hours. It will likely require several phases, each with its own objective. As professional genealogists, this is how we approach many of the projects that clients ask us to research. Especially with projects involving the use of DNA evidence, we break up the research into phases.
Example
Consider this example: the goal is to identify the mother of Elsie, born in 1820. The first phase’s objective would be to conduct documentary research on Elsie, looking for clues that point to her mother’s identity. This phase involves building a foundation through documentary work and formulating hypotheses.
The second phase would focus on researching Elsie’s descendants to identify potential DNA test takers. This phase is dedicated to extending the family tree to find these individuals.
The third phase involves exploring the genetic networks of DNA testers to generate possible hypotheses. This includes constructing network graphs and seeking clues.
In the fourth phase, a specific hypothesis is tested. For instance, if a clue is found in a DNA cluster, this phase involves a detailed investigation of that hypothesis.
The fifth phase entails testing additional hypotheses. It could take up to five phases to get closer to a conclusion, and even then, the answer might not be fully uncovered. However, after completing several phases of research, and producing research reports about each phase, you are in a good place to put the research on hold until additional documentary or DNA evidence is available.
How to Set Up Phases of Research
Start by defining a research question that you’d like to solve, like “who was the mother of Elsie?” This is the overarching research question. Next, make a bulleted list of possible strategies to implement. The first phase almost always involves gathering the usual documentary evidence for a person in a particular place and time. The next phases could involve following up on a hypothesized parent found in phase 1, identifying parental candidates if none emerged in phase 1, locating DNA test-takers, doing a land study, building an analyzing a cluster chart or network graph, and so forth. After you’ve listed many possible strategies, put them in order. If you’re not sure what order to us, start working on phase 1. After phase 1, you will probably have a better idea of what phases to do in what order.
Knowing Which Phases are Needed
Breaking projects into phases is effective, though it’s often unclear which phases will be necessary at the outset. It’s acceptable to begin by defining the objective for the current phase and adjusting as new information emerges. Sometimes, document research reveals a crucial record that guides the next phase, like using DNA to confirm a finding.
Every project is different and may have varying degrees of success. When determining whether a research project is concise or complex, consider its scope. If it’s too complicated, break it into phases. Write a research objective using key identifiers like full names, spouses, birth, marriage, death dates, and places. Learn more about writing research objectives with DNA evidence in our book, Research Like a Pro with DNA.
This blog post was partially written by ChatGPT artificial intelligence (AI). AI was used to summarize a discussion of breaking research into phases from this Research Like a Pro podcast episode: RLP 241: RLP with DNA 4 – Create a Research Objective.
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