How do you measure your research progress?
Some talk about focusing on your progress, not your ideal. Maybe it is more useful to measure the gain rather than the gap? We have four tips for measuring your project progress:
Number of Units Completed - This calculation lends itself well to tracking tasks done repeatedly, where each iteration can easily be measured. For example, working through each academic journal paper takes roughly the same amount of time, so units completed could be the number of journal papers read, summarised, and coded for later analysis. Try to aim for two a day.
Incremental Milestones - The calculation is built on every single step and the budgeted amount of time (labour hours) needed to complete the task. Word counts are a good way of having incremental milestones. Aiming to write, say 2500 words a week (500 words a day), results in a growing narrative. Difficult first writing then becomes rewriting.
Start/Finish - This method is focused on capturing the starting point and the finishing point of the task and nothing in between. It’s best for tasks that are short in duration. Our shut up and write sessions at Research Central are a great use of short start and finish times. We do 4 x 25-minute Pomodoro's in 2 hours, and we get so many small writing tasks completed. It is great focused writing time.
Experience/Opinion - This method relies on the experience and subjectivity of your leaders. We encourage you to rely on the experience of your supervisors. In our experience, it is sometimes fruitful to compare your progress with your peers in the same discipline and discuss milestones, experiences, and expectations. Make the most of the networks you have around you.