difference between thesis aims and objectives

Aims and Objectives – A Guide for Academic Writing
Doing a PhD

One of the most important aspects of a thesis, dissertation or research paper is the correct formulation of the aims and objectives. This is because your aims and objectives will establish the scope, depth and direction that your research will ultimately take. An effective set of aims and objectives will give your research focus and your reader clarity, with your aims indicating what is to be achieved, and your objectives indicating how it will be achieved.

Introduction

There is no getting away from the importance of the aims and objectives in determining the success of your research project. Unfortunately, however, it is an aspect that many students struggle with, and ultimately end up doing poorly. Given their importance, if you suspect that there is even the smallest possibility that you belong to this group of students, we strongly recommend you read this page in full.

This page describes what research aims and objectives are, how they differ from each other, how to write them correctly, and the common mistakes students make and how to avoid them. An example of a good aim and objectives from a past thesis has also been deconstructed to help your understanding.

What Are Aims and Objectives?

Research aims.

A research aim describes the main goal or the overarching purpose of your research project.

In doing so, it acts as a focal point for your research and provides your readers with clarity as to what your study is all about. Because of this, research aims are almost always located within its own subsection under the introduction section of a research document, regardless of whether it’s a thesis , a dissertation, or a research paper .

A research aim is usually formulated as a broad statement of the main goal of the research and can range in length from a single sentence to a short paragraph. Although the exact format may vary according to preference, they should all describe why your research is needed (i.e. the context), what it sets out to accomplish (the actual aim) and, briefly, how it intends to accomplish it (overview of your objectives).

To give an example, we have extracted the following research aim from a real PhD thesis:

Example of a Research Aim

The role of diametrical cup deformation as a factor to unsatisfactory implant performance has not been widely reported. The aim of this thesis was to gain an understanding of the diametrical deformation behaviour of acetabular cups and shells following impaction into the reamed acetabulum. The influence of a range of factors on deformation was investigated to ascertain if cup and shell deformation may be high enough to potentially contribute to early failure and high wear rates in metal-on-metal implants.

Note: Extracted with permission from thesis titled “T he Impact And Deformation Of Press-Fit Metal Acetabular Components ” produced by Dr H Hothi of previously Queen Mary University of London.

Research Objectives

Where a research aim specifies what your study will answer, research objectives specify how your study will answer it.

They divide your research aim into several smaller parts, each of which represents a key section of your research project. As a result, almost all research objectives take the form of a numbered list, with each item usually receiving its own chapter in a dissertation or thesis.

Following the example of the research aim shared above, here are it’s real research objectives as an example:

Example of a Research Objective

Develop finite element models using explicit dynamics to mimic mallet blows during cup/shell insertion, initially using simplified experimentally validated foam models to represent the acetabulum.
Investigate the number, velocity and position of impacts needed to insert a cup.
Determine the relationship between the size of interference between the cup and cavity and deformation for different cup types.
Investigate the influence of non-uniform cup support and varying the orientation of the component in the cavity on deformation.
Examine the influence of errors during reaming of the acetabulum which introduce ovality to the cavity.
Determine the relationship between changes in the geometry of the component and deformation for different cup designs.
Develop three dimensional pelvis models with non-uniform bone material properties from a range of patients with varying bone quality.
Use the key parameters that influence deformation, as identified in the foam models to determine the range of deformations that may occur clinically using the anatomic models and if these deformations are clinically significant.

It’s worth noting that researchers sometimes use research questions instead of research objectives, or in other cases both. From a high-level perspective, research questions and research objectives make the same statements, but just in different formats.

Taking the first three research objectives as an example, they can be restructured into research questions as follows:

Restructuring Research Objectives as Research Questions

Can finite element models using simplified experimentally validated foam models to represent the acetabulum together with explicit dynamics be used to mimic mallet blows during cup/shell insertion?
What is the number, velocity and position of impacts needed to insert a cup?
What is the relationship between the size of interference between the cup and cavity and deformation for different cup types?

Difference Between Aims and Objectives

Hopefully the above explanations make clear the differences between aims and objectives, but to clarify:

The research aim focus on what the research project is intended to achieve; research objectives focus on how the aim will be achieved.
Research aims are relatively broad; research objectives are specific.
Research aims focus on a project’s long-term outcomes; research objectives focus on its immediate, short-term outcomes.
A research aim can be written in a single sentence or short paragraph; research objectives should be written as a numbered list.

How to Write Aims and Objectives

Before we discuss how to write a clear set of research aims and objectives, we should make it clear that there is no single way they must be written. Each researcher will approach their aims and objectives slightly differently, and often your supervisor will influence the formulation of yours on the basis of their own preferences.

Regardless, there are some basic principles that you should observe for good practice; these principles are described below.

Your aim should be made up of three parts that answer the below questions:

Why is this research required?
What is this research about?
How are you going to do it?

The easiest way to achieve this would be to address each question in its own sentence, although it does not matter whether you combine them or write multiple sentences for each, the key is to address each one.

The first question, why , provides context to your research project, the second question, what , describes the aim of your research, and the last question, how , acts as an introduction to your objectives which will immediately follow.

Scroll through the image set below to see the ‘why, what and how’ associated with our research aim example.

Note: Your research aims need not be limited to one. Some individuals per to define one broad ‘overarching aim’ of a project and then adopt two or three specific research aims for their thesis or dissertation. Remember, however, that in order for your assessors to consider your research project complete, you will need to prove you have fulfilled all of the aims you set out to achieve. Therefore, while having more than one research aim is not necessarily disadvantageous, consider whether a single overarching one will do.

Research Objectives

Each of your research objectives should be SMART :

Specific – is there any ambiguity in the action you are going to undertake, or is it focused and well-defined?
Measurable – how will you measure progress and determine when you have achieved the action?
Achievable – do you have the support, resources and facilities required to carry out the action?
Relevant – is the action essential to the achievement of your research aim?
Timebound – can you realistically complete the action in the available time alongside your other research tasks?

In addition to being SMART, your research objectives should start with a verb that helps communicate your intent. Common research verbs include:

Table of Research Verbs to Use in Aims and Objectives

Table showing common research verbs which should ideally be used at the start of a research aim or objective.
(Understanding and organising information)	(Solving problems using information)	(reaching conclusion from evidence)	(Breaking down into components)	(Judging merit)
Review Identify Explore Discover Discuss Summarise Describe	Interpret Apply Demonstrate Establish Determine Estimate Calculate Relate	Analyse Compare Inspect Examine Verify Select Test Arrange	Propose Design Formulate Collect Construct Prepare Undertake Assemble	Appraise Evaluate Compare Assess Recommend Conclude Select

Last, format your objectives into a numbered list. This is because when you write your thesis or dissertation, you will at times need to make reference to a specific research objective; structuring your research objectives in a numbered list will provide a clear way of doing this.

To bring all this together, let’s compare the first research objective in the previous example with the above guidance:

Checking Research Objective Example Against Recommended Approach

Research Objective:

1. Develop finite element models using explicit dynamics to mimic mallet blows during cup/shell insertion, initially using simplified experimentally validated foam models to represent the acetabulum.

Checking Against Recommended Approach:

Q: Is it specific? A: Yes, it is clear what the student intends to do (produce a finite element model), why they intend to do it (mimic cup/shell blows) and their parameters have been well-defined ( using simplified experimentally validated foam models to represent the acetabulum ).

Q: Is it measurable? A: Yes, it is clear that the research objective will be achieved once the finite element model is complete.

Q: Is it achievable? A: Yes, provided the student has access to a computer lab, modelling software and laboratory data.

Q: Is it relevant? A: Yes, mimicking impacts to a cup/shell is fundamental to the overall aim of understanding how they deform when impacted upon.

Q: Is it timebound? A: Yes, it is possible to create a limited-scope finite element model in a relatively short time, especially if you already have experience in modelling.

Q: Does it start with a verb? A: Yes, it starts with ‘develop’, which makes the intent of the objective immediately clear.

Q: Is it a numbered list? A: Yes, it is the first research objective in a list of eight.

Mistakes in Writing Research Aims and Objectives

1. making your research aim too broad.

Having a research aim too broad becomes very difficult to achieve. Normally, this occurs when a student develops their research aim before they have a good understanding of what they want to research. Remember that at the end of your project and during your viva defence , you will have to prove that you have achieved your research aims; if they are too broad, this will be an almost impossible task. In the early stages of your research project, your priority should be to narrow your study to a specific area. A good way to do this is to take the time to study existing literature, question their current approaches, findings and limitations, and consider whether there are any recurring gaps that could be investigated .

Note: Achieving a set of aims does not necessarily mean proving or disproving a theory or hypothesis, even if your research aim was to, but having done enough work to provide a useful and original insight into the principles that underlie your research aim.

2. Making Your Research Objectives Too Ambitious

Be realistic about what you can achieve in the time you have available. It is natural to want to set ambitious research objectives that require sophisticated data collection and analysis, but only completing this with six months before the end of your PhD registration period is not a worthwhile trade-off.

3. Formulating Repetitive Research Objectives

Each research objective should have its own purpose and distinct measurable outcome. To this effect, a common mistake is to form research objectives which have large amounts of overlap. This makes it difficult to determine when an objective is truly complete, and also presents challenges in estimating the duration of objectives when creating your project timeline. It also makes it difficult to structure your thesis into unique chapters, making it more challenging for you to write and for your audience to read.

Fortunately, this oversight can be easily avoided by using SMART objectives.

Hopefully, you now have a good idea of how to create an effective set of aims and objectives for your research project, whether it be a thesis, dissertation or research paper. While it may be tempting to dive directly into your research, spending time on getting your aims and objectives right will give your research clear direction. This won’t only reduce the likelihood of problems arising later down the line, but will also lead to a more thorough and coherent research project.

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Research Aims, Objectives & Questions

The “Golden Thread” Explained Simply (+ Examples)

By: David Phair (PhD) and Alexandra Shaeffer (PhD) | June 2022

The research aims , objectives and research questions (collectively called the “golden thread”) are arguably the most important thing you need to get right when you’re crafting a research proposal , dissertation or thesis . We receive questions almost every day about this “holy trinity” of research and there’s certainly a lot of confusion out there, so we’ve crafted this post to help you navigate your way through the fog.

Overview: The Golden Thread

What is the golden thread
What are research aims ( examples )
What are research objectives ( examples )
What are research questions ( examples )
The importance of alignment in the golden thread

What is the “golden thread”?

The golden thread simply refers to the collective research aims , research objectives , and research questions for any given project (i.e., a dissertation, thesis, or research paper ). These three elements are bundled together because it’s extremely important that they align with each other, and that the entire research project aligns with them.

Importantly, the golden thread needs to weave its way through the entirety of any research project , from start to end. In other words, it needs to be very clearly defined right at the beginning of the project (the topic ideation and proposal stage) and it needs to inform almost every decision throughout the rest of the project. For example, your research design and methodology will be heavily influenced by the golden thread (we’ll explain this in more detail later), as well as your literature review.

The research aims, objectives and research questions (the golden thread) define the focus and scope ( the delimitations ) of your research project. In other words, they help ringfence your dissertation or thesis to a relatively narrow domain, so that you can “go deep” and really dig into a specific problem or opportunity. They also help keep you on track , as they act as a litmus test for relevance. In other words, if you’re ever unsure whether to include something in your document, simply ask yourself the question, “does this contribute toward my research aims, objectives or questions?”. If it doesn’t, chances are you can drop it.

Alright, enough of the fluffy, conceptual stuff. Let’s get down to business and look at what exactly the research aims, objectives and questions are and outline a few examples to bring these concepts to life.

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Research Aims: What are they?

Simply put, the research aim(s) is a statement that reflects the broad overarching goal (s) of the research project. Research aims are fairly high-level (low resolution) as they outline the general direction of the research and what it’s trying to achieve .

Research Aims: Examples

True to the name, research aims usually start with the wording “this research aims to…”, “this research seeks to…”, and so on. For example:

“This research aims to explore employee experiences of digital transformation in retail HR.” “This study sets out to assess the interaction between student support and self-care on well-being in engineering graduate students”

As you can see, these research aims provide a high-level description of what the study is about and what it seeks to achieve. They’re not hyper-specific or action-oriented, but they’re clear about what the study’s focus is and what is being investigated.

Need a helping hand?

difference between thesis aims and objectives

Research Objectives: What are they?

The research objectives take the research aims and make them more practical and actionable . In other words, the research objectives showcase the steps that the researcher will take to achieve the research aims.

The research objectives need to be far more specific (higher resolution) and actionable than the research aims. In fact, it’s always a good idea to craft your research objectives using the “SMART” criteria. In other words, they should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound”.

Research Objectives: Examples

Let’s look at two examples of research objectives. We’ll stick with the topic and research aims we mentioned previously.

For the digital transformation topic:

To observe the retail HR employees throughout the digital transformation. To assess employee perceptions of digital transformation in retail HR. To identify the barriers and facilitators of digital transformation in retail HR.

And for the student wellness topic:

To determine whether student self-care predicts the well-being score of engineering graduate students. To determine whether student support predicts the well-being score of engineering students. To assess the interaction between student self-care and student support when predicting well-being in engineering graduate students.

As you can see, these research objectives clearly align with the previously mentioned research aims and effectively translate the low-resolution aims into (comparatively) higher-resolution objectives and action points . They give the research project a clear focus and present something that resembles a research-based “to-do” list.

The research objectives detail the specific steps that you, as the researcher, will take to achieve the research aims you laid out.

Research Questions: What are they?

Finally, we arrive at the all-important research questions. The research questions are, as the name suggests, the key questions that your study will seek to answer . Simply put, they are the core purpose of your dissertation, thesis, or research project. You’ll present them at the beginning of your document (either in the introduction chapter or literature review chapter) and you’ll answer them at the end of your document (typically in the discussion and conclusion chapters).

The research questions will be the driving force throughout the research process. For example, in the literature review chapter, you’ll assess the relevance of any given resource based on whether it helps you move towards answering your research questions. Similarly, your methodology and research design will be heavily influenced by the nature of your research questions. For instance, research questions that are exploratory in nature will usually make use of a qualitative approach, whereas questions that relate to measurement or relationship testing will make use of a quantitative approach.

Let’s look at some examples of research questions to make this more tangible.

Research Questions: Examples

Again, we’ll stick with the research aims and research objectives we mentioned previously.

For the digital transformation topic (which would be qualitative in nature):

How do employees perceive digital transformation in retail HR? What are the barriers and facilitators of digital transformation in retail HR?

And for the student wellness topic (which would be quantitative in nature):

Does student self-care predict the well-being scores of engineering graduate students? Does student support predict the well-being scores of engineering students? Do student self-care and student support interact when predicting well-being in engineering graduate students?

You’ll probably notice that there’s quite a formulaic approach to this. In other words, the research questions are basically the research objectives “converted” into question format. While that is true most of the time, it’s not always the case. For example, the first research objective for the digital transformation topic was more or less a step on the path toward the other objectives, and as such, it didn’t warrant its own research question.

So, don’t rush your research questions and sloppily reword your objectives as questions. Carefully think about what exactly you’re trying to achieve (i.e. your research aim) and the objectives you’ve set out, then craft a set of well-aligned research questions . Also, keep in mind that this can be a somewhat iterative process , where you go back and tweak research objectives and aims to ensure tight alignment throughout the golden thread.

The importance of strong alignment

Alignment is the keyword here and we have to stress its importance . Simply put, you need to make sure that there is a very tight alignment between all three pieces of the golden thread. If your research aims and research questions don’t align, for example, your project will be pulling in different directions and will lack focus . This is a common problem students face and can cause many headaches (and tears), so be warned.

Take the time to carefully craft your research aims, objectives and research questions before you run off down the research path. Ideally, get your research supervisor/advisor to review and comment on your golden thread before you invest significant time into your project, and certainly before you start collecting data .

Recap: The golden thread

In this post, we unpacked the golden thread of research, consisting of the research aims , research objectives and research questions . You can jump back to any section using the links below.

As always, feel free to leave a comment below – we always love to hear from you. Also, if you’re interested in 1-on-1 support, take a look at our private coaching service here.

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41 Comments

Thank you very much for your great effort put. As an Undergraduate taking Demographic Research & Methodology, I’ve been trying so hard to understand clearly what is a Research Question, Research Aim and the Objectives in a research and the relationship between them etc. But as for now I’m thankful that you’ve solved my problem.

Well appreciated. This has helped me greatly in doing my dissertation.

An so delighted with this wonderful information thank you a lot.

so impressive i have benefited a lot looking forward to learn more on research.

I am very happy to have carefully gone through this well researched article.

Infact,I used to be phobia about anything research, because of my poor understanding of the concepts.

Now,I get to know that my research question is the same as my research objective(s) rephrased in question format.

I please I would need a follow up on the subject,as I intends to join the team of researchers. Thanks once again.

Thanks so much. This was really helpful.

I know you pepole have tried to break things into more understandable and easy format. And God bless you. Keep it up

i found this document so useful towards my study in research methods. thanks so much.

This is my 2nd read topic in your course and I should commend the simplified explanations of each part. I’m beginning to understand and absorb the use of each part of a dissertation/thesis. I’ll keep on reading your free course and might be able to avail the training course! Kudos!

Thank you! Better put that my lecture and helped to easily understand the basics which I feel often get brushed over when beginning dissertation work.

This is quite helpful. I like how the Golden thread has been explained and the needed alignment.

This is quite helpful. I really appreciate!

The article made it simple for researcher students to differentiate between three concepts.

Very innovative and educational in approach to conducting research.

I am very impressed with all these terminology, as I am a fresh student for post graduate, I am highly guided and I promised to continue making consultation when the need arise. Thanks a lot.

A very helpful piece. thanks, I really appreciate it .

Very well explained, and it might be helpful to many people like me.

Wish i had found this (and other) resource(s) at the beginning of my PhD journey… not in my writing up year… 😩 Anyways… just a quick question as i’m having some issues ordering my “golden thread”…. does it matter in what order you mention them? i.e., is it always first aims, then objectives, and finally the questions? or can you first mention the research questions and then the aims and objectives?

Thank you for a very simple explanation that builds upon the concepts in a very logical manner. Just prior to this, I read the research hypothesis article, which was equally very good. This met my primary objective.

My secondary objective was to understand the difference between research questions and research hypothesis, and in which context to use which one. However, I am still not clear on this. Can you kindly please guide?

In research, a research question is a clear and specific inquiry that the researcher wants to answer, while a research hypothesis is a tentative statement or prediction about the relationship between variables or the expected outcome of the study. Research questions are broader and guide the overall study, while hypotheses are specific and testable statements used in quantitative research. Research questions identify the problem, while hypotheses provide a focus for testing in the study.

Exactly what I need in this research journey, I look forward to more of your coaching videos.

This helped a lot. Thanks so much for the effort put into explaining it.

What data source in writing dissertation/Thesis requires?

What is data source covers when writing dessertation/thesis

This is quite useful thanks

I’m excited and thankful. I got so much value which will help me progress in my thesis.

where are the locations of the reserch statement, research objective and research question in a reserach paper? Can you write an ouline that defines their places in the researh paper?

Very helpful and important tips on Aims, Objectives and Questions.

Thank you so much for making research aim, research objectives and research question so clear. This will be helpful to me as i continue with my thesis.

Thanks much for this content. I learned a lot. And I am inspired to learn more. I am still struggling with my preparation for dissertation outline/proposal. But I consistently follow contents and tutorials and the new FB of GRAD Coach. Hope to really become confident in writing my dissertation and successfully defend it.

As a researcher and lecturer, I find splitting research goals into research aims, objectives, and questions is unnecessarily bureaucratic and confusing for students. For most biomedical research projects, including ‘real research’, 1-3 research questions will suffice (numbers may differ by discipline).

Awesome! Very important resources and presented in an informative way to easily understand the golden thread. Indeed, thank you so much.

Well explained

The blog article on research aims, objectives, and questions by Grad Coach is a clear and insightful guide that aligns with my experiences in academic research. The article effectively breaks down the often complex concepts of research aims and objectives, providing a straightforward and accessible explanation. Drawing from my own research endeavors, I appreciate the practical tips offered, such as the need for specificity and clarity when formulating research questions. The article serves as a valuable resource for students and researchers, offering a concise roadmap for crafting well-defined research goals and objectives. Whether you’re a novice or an experienced researcher, this article provides practical insights that contribute to the foundational aspects of a successful research endeavor.

A great thanks for you. it is really amazing explanation. I grasp a lot and one step up to research knowledge.

I really found these tips helpful. Thank you very much Grad Coach.

I found this article helpful. Thanks for sharing this.

thank you so much, the explanation and examples are really helpful

This is a well researched and superbly written article for learners of research methods at all levels in the research topic from conceptualization to research findings and conclusions. I highly recommend this material to university graduate students. As an instructor of advanced research methods for PhD students, I have confirmed that I was giving the right guidelines for the degree they are undertaking.

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aims and objectives – what’s the difference?

You’re ready, you’re aimed, and now you have to fire off the objectives. But you’re a bit confused. What”s the difference between the two?

An aims-objectives confusion might arise when you are writing thesis proposal and the introductory thesis chapter. It’s always an issue in research bids. The what’s-the-difference question can have you going around in ever smaller unproductive circles if you can’t figure out a way to differentiate between the two things. And the difference is something I’ve recently been asked about, so I’ve decided to post something of an answer.

Dictionaries are only vaguely helpful when thinking about aims and objectives. My desk dictionary says that an aim is to do with giving direction. An aim is “something intended or desired to be obtained by one’s efforts”. On the other hand an objective is to do with achieving an object, it’s about actions, “pertaining to that whose delineation is known”. Now who actually speaks like this? The fact that these definitions are offered in this very formal language doesn’t help clarify matters. But, once past the antiquated expression, you might discern that the difference between the two is somehow related to a hope or ambition (aim) versus a material action (objective). Or we might say – and it is what is commonly said about aims and objectives – the aim is the what of the research, and the objective is the how .

So taking this what-how as a kind of loose and sloppy differentiation between the two, the rough rule of thumb with aims and objectives is generally that:

(1) The aim is about what you hope to do, your overall intention in the project. It signals what and/or where you aspire to be by the end. It’s what you want to know. It is the point of doing the research. An aim is therefore generally broad. It is ambitious, but not beyond possibility.

The convention is that an aim is usually written using an infinitive verb – that is, it’s a to + action . So aims often start something like.. My aim in this project is … to map, to develop, to design, to track, to generate, to theorise, to build … Sometimes in the humanities and social sciences we have aims which attempt to acknowledge the inevitable partiality of what we do, so we aim ‘to investigate, to understand, and to explore… ‘ But lots of project reviewers and supervisors prefer to see something less tentative than this – they want something much less ambivalent, something more like to synthesise, to catalogue, to challenge, to critically interrogate ….

(2) The objectives , and there are usually more than one, are the specific steps you will take to achieve your aim. This is where you make the project tangible by saying how you are going to go about it.

Objectives are often expressed through active sentences. So, objectives often start something like In order to achieve this aim, I will … collect, construct, produce, test, trial, measure, document, pilot, deconstruct, analyse … Objectives are often presented as a (1) (2) (3) formatted list – this makes visible the sequence of big steps in the project. The list of objectives spells out what you actually and really will do to get to the point of it all.

You have to make the objectives relatively precise . Having a bunch of vague statements isn’t very helpful – so ‘I will investigate’ or ‘I will explore’ for example aren’t particularly useful ways to think about the research objectives. How will you know when an investigation has ended? How will you draw boundaries around an exploration? In thinking about the answer to these questions, you are likely to come up with the actual objectives.

Objectives have to be practical, do-able and achievable . Research reviewers generally look to see if the time and money available for the research will genuinely allow the researcher to achieve their objectives. They also look to see if the objectives are possible, actually research-able.

Because the objectives also act as project milestones , it’s helpful to express them as things that are able to be completed – so for example scoping an archive of materials will have an end point which may then lead on to a next stage/objective. Even if objectives are to occur simultaneously, rather than one after the other, it is important to be clear about what the end point of each step/objective will be, and how it will help achieve the aim.

What not to do

It’s really helpful to think about what can go wrong with aims and objectives. There are some predictable problems that you want to avoid when writing them. These are some common aims-objectives issues:

• There are too many aims. One or two is usually enough. (I might stretch to three for other people’s projects if pushed, but I usually have only one for my own projects.)

• Aims and objectives waffle around, they don’t get to the point and the reader doesn’t have a clue what is actually intended and will be done – aims and objectives need to be concise and economically expressed.

• Aims and objectives don’t connect – the steps that are to be taken don’t match up with the overall intention.

• The aims and the objectives are not differentiated, they are basically the same things but said in different words.

• The objectives are a detailed laundry list rather than a set of stages in the research.

• The objectives don’t stack up with the research methods – in other words they are either not do-able, or what is to be done won’t achieve the desired results.

The final thing to say is that aims and objectives can’t be rushed. Because they generate the research questions and underpin the research design, sorting the aims and objectives are a crucial early stage in planning a research project. Aims and objectives are a foundation on which the entire project is constructed, so they need to be sturdy and durable.

About pat thomson

100 responses to aims and objectives – what’s the difference.

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I agree with you about the nature of the difference between aims and objectives and also about the fact that dictionaries are frustratingly vague about it.

I also agree that it is very helpful if you can match aims and objectives.

In research-grant writing I suggest that the matching can be done by stating the aims as things that we need to know. Then the objectives can be stated as the phases of the research project that will tell us the things we need to know. I recommend that aims and objectives are matched, that there are about four of each and that the y are presented in the same order.

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This is the best explanation so far that I have seen on the net

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I agree with Ruzivo. Excellent explanation. God Bless you Pat for clearing all our doubts. Its like having my glass window polished and is sparkling.

appreciated reading this too.

Hi Pat, Is there much of a difference between aims and hypothesis? Is it just a difference in phrasing and presenting the intention of the thesis?? Thanks.

Yes a lot of difference. A hypothesis can signal a particulate stance on knowledge, and/ or a particular research design. With a hypothesis you set out to test, answer yes/no or prove something. Most often used in RCTs or lab based research or other experimental work.

I’m looking for literature (books or scientific papers) where we can discuss how to properly construct the aim and objective, perhaps his epistemology. Thus, having better foundation, not just different opinions.

I would greatly appreciate your guidance.

Pat, Thanks very much for your blog. It contains a lot of very helpful information.

I am just starting out on my PhD and was interested to read your definitions of Aims and Objectives.

I was actually quite surprised to read that the objectives seem to present a high level plan rather than a set of goals as is the common usage.

You have said “This is where you make the project tangible by saying how you are going to go about it” whereas a common usage might be more like “something that one’s efforts or actions are intended to attain or accomplish” ( http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/objective ).

This info will help me write my thesis…. even if it is non-intuitive!

Like Andrew, I work with people who are writing grant applications. Two pet peeves that I would add to your “What not to do” list are:

1. There is no aim at all. This can take two forms. The most common is to have aims, but fail to express them clearly and succinctly up front. They are buried on page two, page five, page 23 and page 41. The less common problem is where there is no aim at all. That is, the whole project description is so vague, or so dense, that there doesn’t seem to be any point at all. This generally occurs in first drafts, or where there have been many, many drafts, with different ideas introduced in each iteration.

2. There are additional ‘bonus’ aims as little ‘easter eggs’ for the reader to find on their journey through your project description. I see this a lot. Three or four aims are expressed, clearly and succinctly, at the start of the project description. Then, on page five, I find “…with the aim of…”. On page eight, there is “Our overall aim is to…”. These bonus aims often don’t match at all with the PR aims on the front page. Once they have been dug out and dusted off, they often provide a much clearer picture of what the investigators are trying to do.

I share your peeves. I think (pure supposition on the basis of no data!) that both these faults are a result of the “start writing and hope that a useful document will emerge from the forest of words” approach to writing. I used to encourage academics to take this approach simply because it’s so hard to get them to start writing a grant application. Now I think that it has the drawback that it produces a kind of ‘learned helplessness’ in which the writer surrenders the responsibility for producing a good document to a reviewer.

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I am currently going through the ‘get them started at all costs’ stage. https://theresearchwhisperer.wordpress.com/2015/11/03/grant-camp/ Sometimes I feel like I am a helplessness teacher.

Excellent post. Very helpful and one I will certainly pass on to my students.

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the article was pretty informative, could you please shed some light over the difference between research objectives and research questions. thank you.

Thanks for this article! It was very clear and helpful 🙂

Your article makes the all too common mistake of confusing objectives with activities.

Objectives should be expressed as noun clauses, for example, a design, a breadboard prototype, a literature review, a performance improvement. These can be concrete or abstract nouns. Either was they must be SMART, specific and measurable, so it is possible to evaluate if, and to what extent, the objective has been achieved.

Having analysed a project and identified the objectives one can then consider the activities required to realise these objective, activities expressed as verb clauses. Activities take time and can be scheduled using critical path analysis.

We’ll have to agree to disagree on that. Research projects don’t always produce breadboards and objectives are usually expressed as “To” do something ie to produce a breadboard. I think you’ve conflated an objective and an outcome or product.

A few questions:

1. Could you clarify if this applies equally to writing a thesis? Or is this advice primarily for grant writing?

2. How do the ‘Aims and Objectives’ differ from the ‘Research Questions’ in a thesis? How to avoid “basically the same things but said in different words.” if including both sections in your thesis?

3. How to accommodate for significant shifts over the life of PhD? What if the initial Aims and Objectives are not what the thesis is about at all the moment? Should they re-written as though the original Aims and Objectives never existed? Or should this section discuss the shift in aims and objectives?

By my experience with undergraduates whose English is not native, I have worked out an easy way of understanding and formulating the aim (I give same meaning to the “General Objective”) and Objectives( or Specific Objectives) of any project. Rewrite the topic of the research with “to + verb in infinitive” and you have got the Aim (or General Objective). Example: If the topic is “An Assessment of Capabilities of Rural Dwellers for Adaptation to Climate Change” then the Aim (or General Objective – singular-) is “The Aim of This study is to assess capabilities of rural dwellers for adaptation to climate change”. It is only one!!! once you have an aim you can make it colorful by adding various specification to it like ” in Asia” Accordingly, The aim of this study is to assess the potential capacity of rural dwellers in the dry zone of Sri Lanka to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Specific objectives (or Objectives). Yes, they are several. Again It is simple;

The Specific objectives of this study are to : You can list numbering…… of course not ten and not one. I advice undergraduates to have 3 or 4 as optimal.

The things you do to achieve above aim list like

Specific objectives Achieving the above aim it is need to reach following specific objectives: 1.To study rural individuals, in the selected region for their social, economic, psychological and technological capacities for adaptation to climate change with emphasis on their indigenous technologies, cultural practices and lifestyles supported to survive through centuries with different climatic conditions; 2.To recommend required policy alternatives and strategies with high level of applicability in adaptation to climate change.

Am I OK? Was it useful?

I appreciate your guidance. My main language is not English. I am doing my final year project report and want to be clear about every single section heading so that I can put the right content inside them. Your description is concise and helpful Thank you!

would i be right to look at the objectives as the parts and the AIM as the whole?

Not really. The aim is longer term, bigger, and might encompass more than this one project… the objectives are immediate and tangible and tied to the research question in hand.

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Aim: a verb

Objective: a noun.

Obviously objectives are the WHAT and aims are the HOW.

I can show you an objective… I can’t show you how I “objective”.

I can show you how to aim… I can’t show you an aim (nope, that’s a “sight”).

Basic grammar. QED.

In a research proposal the writer is basically asked to complete the sentences, My aim is to .. My objectives are therefore to… These are both about doing something. This is the GENRE. It is about writing not grammar. It’s important not to confuse grammar with sense making. Once you can get past the verb or noun category mistake (and of course an aim can be either a noun or a verb) the process of writing aims and objectives can indeed be understood as a what and a how, but this doesn’t capture the broader and narrower focusing that also has to go on.

You see, I agree with Jimmy there…it irks me that I have to tell students to do the opposite to what the words are actually saying. In fact yesterday, I did in fact swap them around when advising a student on their thesis. I’m going to have to get him to change it around now so it’s more conventional, even though it makes no sense.

Hi, I have been reading this blog post a few times and in general I find it very useful and this approach is what I have been using myself – there should be one overall aim for a thesis or a research paper. But in line with some of the previour commentors I’d really fove to know how to research questions come in? Is it sth like the aim taken into smaller and manageable pieces?

Reblogged this on Anthropology Musings of an anthro-tragic and commented: A clear and concise explanation – it’s certainly helped me overcome hurdles in my proposal.

This is more than enough i found it useful in my mini-proposal

hello, can two or three hypothesis investigate one research question?

I heistate to answer this and I hope someone else can. I don’t use hypotheses at all. My hunch is that the answer is usually no, you have a single hypothesis.

From my point of view hypothesis should apear in any research work; sometimes people don’t uses because they don’t know much about what he/she wants to study. That is, the researcher write a hypothesis that don’t need to be tested, because everybody knows the answer. A well designed hypothesis can truly guide not only the researcher but also the reader.

Is there any word count or proportion of the aim and the objective parts ? Coz I’m now writing a dissertation that about 12000 words long. So are there any suggestion?

Thanks a lot! Cherry

Most theses are between 80-100 k and each chapter between 8-10 k. So your aims and objectives will form part of one of the beginning chapters, possibly the first. You’ll also have other stuff to put in the same chapter like the rationale.

Hi Pat, you said “The final thing to say is that aims and objectives can’t be rushed. Because they generate the research questions…” Now I used to think that it’s the reverse, that RQs generate A&Os.

Hey Its really cool I am starting PhD now . I have my presentation also. What have I understood regarding aim and objective that what and why actually I want to do this project explaining by small abstract followed through in objective how I am going to achieve this with bullet points esp.. materials and methods. Is it right . Can you please suggest..

Hi Pat, Thanks for your informative post. Much appreciated. Just starting my MBA dissertation proposal, so thanks for the clarity. Regards Catherine

Nice concept

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Thank you very much Pat. This was really helpful, until I read this I always thought they were the same. I guess now I can do my assignment with more facts. Thank you very much.

I’m also writing my research proposal and I need to have the finitions clear.

research praposal is my assiment topic.. and there is no knowledge and words which i wrote it in my assiment……..

Thanks for the credible explanation you’v given above.

This is a very helpful peace of information

Dear Pat, Thank you for your outstanding explanation of the aim and the objectives of a research project and the difference between them. I kindly would like you to elaborate on how to write “Research Problem Statement” and its relationship with the aim and the objectives. Thank you, in advance, for sharing your knowledge! Mok

Thank you for this article, which has been very helpful. I have written my aims and objectives accordingly and have cited this page in my master thesis as reference. However I wanted to add that someone told me to be careful not to mix up objectives with research objectives as both are different. Research objectives being used interchangeably with the term research questions. I find this all very confusing to be honest but have decided to stick to your explanation for now on. Thank you

Explanation is clear and helpful

Thank you. It is very helpful so I can start doing the reports for projects. 🙂

Thanks a lot for the differentiation.

Thank you for a good understanding of the two.

Great tips! I work with university research faculty on grant writing and development – I love using this as a reference when I’m editing! Thanks!

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Really useful definition! Thanks very much for your time-generosity in sharing it. Helped no end with an art-commission proposal I was writing.

Best wishes Annabel Tilley Co-Author – What they didn’t teach you in art school (Octopus Books, 2016)

thank you. very helpful

Thank you. Immensely helpful and clear.

It has been extremely helpful for my work. Thank you!

Thank you for feeding me with clear understanding of this two words. I was critically comfused about the them, but now I am distinctly satisfied with the meanings. I am truly gratified to your perfect articulation God bless you.

I am SHS student in my final year,my name is call Raymond, my understanding is that,aim is what you are willing to do in a near by future whiles objective is the measures you won’t to lay down to guide you to achieve your aim.

Well articulated.

Fantastic and detailed enough. Thank you, Pat.

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Fantastic explanation, thanks for that!

Could you also recommend a reliable article/post on methodologies for data collection? That would be much appreciated. Thank you.

The difference between aim and objective explanation, succinct and very helpful. Thanks.

Nice one. I am very grateful. Thanks

Thank you for your outstanding explanation of the aim and the objectives, very informative and up to the point of query

Hi, Patt. Thank you so much for the post. It is really helpful. I have a question. Many professors use the word “purpose”. Is it “purpose” the same thing as “aim”? Thanks a lot Joao Paulo

That’s probably what they mean, but it might be a bit more philosophical. What’s the research for?

Psychoacoustics. In my report I used “Aim” and “Purpose” and they did not complying about. I think sometimes people use “Goal” instead “Aim”. Probably is the same.

Thank you so much for the detail description of Aim and Objective differentiating these two terms had really been so tough. From the defition given now it is quite clear only with the two key words : What=Aim. How=Objective Thanks and regards

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Incredibly helpful…… thank you.

This is wonderful. Giving more insight into aim and objectives.

Thanks a lot – hope I will finally complete my thesis proposal…

Thank you. Your explanation was very helpful!

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This has been very helpful as I sit and complete an adventurer’s expedition grant. Thankyou!

Really helpful and easy to understand. Thanks a lot.

Thank you Pat Really you release my confusion

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Hi Pat Thanks. It’s quite useful in relation to my situation. I was confused and struggled to write the aim and objectives in my PhD research proposal. So is the general objective of a project is similar to the aim?

Best wishes!

The objectives is specific, what you will do. The aim is broader.

Reblogged this on The Academic Triangle and commented: An old post but still very relevant. A lot of students I work with still struggle with the difference!

1. If the objectives are the steps one should do to achieve the aim then what are the tasks? To my knowledge tasks are the steps to achieve the objectives. 2. If mapping is to be done between objectives and the aim then all objectives will be mapped to one same aim. While tasks can be mapped to several objectives. 3. Can we use main objective and specific objectives instead of aim and objectives? 4. Can we have a concrete example showing aim, objectives and tasks.

This post and the other one about chapter introductions and conclusions proved very helpful to me, as a master student about to write my research proposal. I had serious difficulties in moving from aim to objectives in my research proposal. Having read these posts, I hope to write a convincing proposal and a coherent dissertation. Thank you!!!!!

I am thankful for so an amazing post. It has shed light to the dark area of my understanding about accademic writings..

Can i ask about the objectives for social media arising privacy

A research statement or question is also the aim of the research project. The objectives of the research develop from the aim of the research project. It is the order wherein it contains the steps on how to accomplish the aim of the research. The objective is commonly written in short phrases either in numbering or bullet points.

Hi Pat, The way you have explained the two different aspects of research is so simple and easily understandable! Just to say like many others I am also benefited from your blog. I am confused, can you please explain little about does there any difference between objectives and research question

Excellent clarification! Infact am excited

Thank so much with this helpful article

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What are you doing and how are you doing it? Articulating your aims and objectives.

Mar 6, 2019

Have you checked out the rest of The PhD Knowledge Base ? It’s home to hundreds more free resources and guides, written especially for PhD students.

How long does it take the person reading your thesis to understand what you’re doing and how you’re doing it? If the answer is anything other than ’in the opening paragraphs of the thesis’ then keep reading.

If you tell them as early as possible what you’re doing and how you’re doing it – and do so in clear and simple terms – whatever you write after will make much more sense. If you leave them guessing for ten pages, everything they read in those ten pages has no coherence. You’ll know where it is all leading, but they won’t.

Unless you tell them.

If you tell the reader what you’re doing as early as possible in clear and simple terms, whatever you write after will make much more sense.

What are aims & objectives?

If you build a house without foundations, it’s pretty obvious what will happen. It’ll collapse. Your thesis is the same; fail to build the foundations and your thesis just won’t work .

Your aims and objectives are those foundations. That’s why we’ve put them right at the top of our PhD Writing Template (if you haven’t already downloaded it, join the thousands who have by clicking here ).

If you write your aims and objectives clearly then you’ll make your reader’s life easier.

A lot of students fail to clearly articulate their aims and objectives because they aren’t sure themselves what they actually are.

Picture this: if there’s one thing that every PhD student hates it’s being asked by a stranger what their research is on.

Your PhD thesis. All on one page.

Use our free PhD structure template to quickly visualise every element of your thesis.

Hello, Doctor…

Sounds good, doesn’t it? Be able to call yourself Doctor sooner with our five-star rated How to Write A PhD email-course. Learn everything your supervisor should have taught you about planning and completing a PhD.

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Research aims

Your research aims are the answer to the question, ‘What are you doing?’

1. You need to clearly describe what your intentions are and what you hope to achieve. These are your aims.

2. Your aims may be to test theory in a new empirical setting, derive new theory entirely, construct a new data-set, replicate an existing study, question existing orthodoxy, and so on. Whatever they are, clearly articulate them and do so early. Definitely include them in your introduction and, if you’re smart, you’ll write them in your abstract .

3. Be very explicit . In the opening paragraphs, say, in simple terms, ‘ the aim of this thesis is to …’

4. Think of your aims then as a statement of intent. They are a promise to the reader that you are going to do something. You use the next two hundred pages or so to follow through on that promise. If you don’t make the promise, the reader won’t understand your follow-through. Simple as that.

Because they serve as the starting point of the study, there needs to be a flow from your aims through your objectives (more on this below) to your research questions and contribution and then into the study itself. If you have completed your research and found that you answered a different question (not that uncommon), make sure your original aims are still valid. If they aren’t, refine them.

If you struggle to explain in simple terms what your research is about and why it matters, you may need to refine your aims and objectives to make them more concise.

When writing up your aims, there are a number of things to bear in mind.

1. Avoid listing too many. Your PhD isn’t as long as you think it is and you won’t have time or room for more than around two or three.

2. When you write them up, be very specific. Don’t leave things so vague that the reader is left unsure or unclear on what you aim to achieve.

3. Make sure there is a logical flow between each of your aims. They should make sense together and should each be separate components which, when added together, are bigger than the sum of their parts.

Research objectives

Your aims answer the question, ‘What are you doing?’ The objectives are the answer to the question, ‘How are you doing it?’

Research objectives refer to the goals or steps that you will take to achieve your aims.

When you write them, make sure they are SMART.

S pecific: talk in a precise and clear way about what you are going to do.
M easurable: how will you know when you have achieved your aim?
A chievable: make sure that you aren’t overly ambitious.
R ealistic: recognise the time and resource constraints that come with doing a PhD and don’t attempt to do too much.
T ime constrained: determine when each objective needs to be completed.

You need to be as explicit as possible here. Leave the reader in no doubt about what you will do to achieve your aims. Step by step. Leave no ambiguity. At the same time, be careful not to repeat your methods chapter here. Just hint at your methods by presenting the headlines. You’ll have plenty of space in your methods discussion to flesh out the detail.

Elsewhere in the thesis you will necessarily have to talk in a complex language and juggle complex ideas. Here you don’t. You can write in clear, plain sentences.

What is the difference between research aims and objectives?

The aims of a study describe what you hope to achieve. The objectives detail how you are going to achieve your aims.

Let’s use an example to illustrate.

To understand the contribution that local governments make to national level energy policy.

Objectives:

Conduct a survey of local politicians to solicit responses.
Conduct desk-research of local government websites to create a database of local energy policy.
Interview national level politicians to understand the impact these local policies have had.
Data will be coded using a code book derived from dominant theories of governance.

If you’re still struggling, Professor Pat Thompson’s great blog has a guide that will help.

Leave the reader in no doubt about what you will do to achieve your aims. Step by step. Leave no ambiguity.

I can’t articulate them clearly, my research is complicated!

Of course your research is complex. That’s the name of the game. But the sign of someone being able to master complexity is their ability to summarise it . Sure, you’re not looking to capture all the richness and detail in a short summary of aims and objectives, but you are looking to tell the reader what you’re doing and how you’re doing it.

If you’re struggling to clearly articulate your aims and objectives, then try the following task. At the top of a Post-it note write the sentence: ‘In this research I will…’. Then keep trying until you can fit an answer onto one single Post-it note. The answer should answer two questions: what are are you doing and how are you doing it?

Remember – whenever you write, make it as clear as possible. Pay attention to the words ‘as possible’ there. That means you should write as clearly as you can given the fact that your subject and research is necessarily complex. Think of it the other way: it’s about not making things more complicated and unclear than they need to be.

In other words, make your reader’s job as easy as you can. They’ll thank you for it.

If you’re still having trouble, get in touch to arrange a one-on-one coaching session and we can work through your aims and objectives together.

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Research Objectives | Definition & Examples

Research Objectives | Definition & Examples

Published on July 12, 2022 by Eoghan Ryan . Revised on November 20, 2023.

Research objectives describe what your research is trying to achieve and explain why you are pursuing it. They summarize the approach and purpose of your project and help to focus your research.

Your objectives should appear in the introduction of your research paper , at the end of your problem statement . They should:

Establish the scope and depth of your project
Contribute to your research design
Indicate how your project will contribute to existing knowledge

What is a research objective, why are research objectives important, how to write research aims and objectives, smart research objectives, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about research objectives.

Research objectives describe what your research project intends to accomplish. They should guide every step of the research process , including how you collect data , build your argument , and develop your conclusions .

Your research objectives may evolve slightly as your research progresses, but they should always line up with the research carried out and the actual content of your paper.

Research aims

A distinction is often made between research objectives and research aims.

A research aim typically refers to a broad statement indicating the general purpose of your research project. It should appear at the end of your problem statement, before your research objectives.

Your research objectives are more specific than your research aim and indicate the particular focus and approach of your project. Though you will only have one research aim, you will likely have several research objectives.

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Research objectives are important because they:

Establish the scope and depth of your project: This helps you avoid unnecessary research. It also means that your research methods and conclusions can easily be evaluated .
Contribute to your research design: When you know what your objectives are, you have a clearer idea of what methods are most appropriate for your research.
Indicate how your project will contribute to extant research: They allow you to display your knowledge of up-to-date research, employ or build on current research methods, and attempt to contribute to recent debates.

Once you’ve established a research problem you want to address, you need to decide how you will address it. This is where your research aim and objectives come in.

Step 1: Decide on a general aim

Your research aim should reflect your research problem and should be relatively broad.

Step 2: Decide on specific objectives

Break down your aim into a limited number of steps that will help you resolve your research problem. What specific aspects of the problem do you want to examine or understand?

Step 3: Formulate your aims and objectives

Once you’ve established your research aim and objectives, you need to explain them clearly and concisely to the reader.

You’ll lay out your aims and objectives at the end of your problem statement, which appears in your introduction. Frame them as clear declarative statements, and use appropriate verbs to accurately characterize the work that you will carry out.

The acronym “SMART” is commonly used in relation to research objectives. It states that your objectives should be:

Specific: Make sure your objectives aren’t overly vague. Your research needs to be clearly defined in order to get useful results.
Measurable: Know how you’ll measure whether your objectives have been achieved.
Achievable: Your objectives may be challenging, but they should be feasible. Make sure that relevant groundwork has been done on your topic or that relevant primary or secondary sources exist. Also ensure that you have access to relevant research facilities (labs, library resources , research databases , etc.).
Relevant: Make sure that they directly address the research problem you want to work on and that they contribute to the current state of research in your field.
Time-based: Set clear deadlines for objectives to ensure that the project stays on track.

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Methodology

Sampling methods
Simple random sampling
Stratified sampling
Cluster sampling
Likert scales
Reproducibility

Statistics

Null hypothesis
Statistical power
Probability distribution
Effect size
Poisson distribution

Research bias

Optimism bias
Cognitive bias
Implicit bias
Hawthorne effect
Anchoring bias
Explicit bias

Research objectives describe what you intend your research project to accomplish.

They summarize the approach and purpose of the project and help to focus your research.

Your objectives should appear in the introduction of your research paper , at the end of your problem statement .

Your research objectives indicate how you’ll try to address your research problem and should be specific:

Once you’ve decided on your research objectives , you need to explain them in your paper, at the end of your problem statement .

Keep your research objectives clear and concise, and use appropriate verbs to accurately convey the work that you will carry out for each one.

I will compare …

A research aim is a broad statement indicating the general purpose of your research project. It should appear in your introduction at the end of your problem statement , before your research objectives.

Research objectives are more specific than your research aim. They indicate the specific ways you’ll address the overarching aim.

Scope of research is determined at the beginning of your research process , prior to the data collection stage. Sometimes called “scope of study,” your scope delineates what will and will not be covered in your project. It helps you focus your work and your time, ensuring that you’ll be able to achieve your goals and outcomes.

Defining a scope can be very useful in any research project, from a research proposal to a thesis or dissertation . A scope is needed for all types of research: quantitative , qualitative , and mixed methods .

To define your scope of research, consider the following:

Budget constraints or any specifics of grant funding
Your proposed timeline and duration
Specifics about your population of study, your proposed sample size , and the research methodology you’ll pursue
Any inclusion and exclusion criteria
Any anticipated control , extraneous , or confounding variables that could bias your research if not accounted for properly.

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Research Aims and Objectives: The dynamic duo for successful research

Picture yourself on a road trip without a destination in mind — driving aimlessly, not knowing where you’re headed or how to get there. Similarly, your research is navigated by well-defined research aims and objectives. Research aims and objectives are the foundation of any research project. They provide a clear direction and purpose for the study, ensuring that you stay focused and on track throughout the process. They are your trusted navigational tools, leading you to success.

Understanding the relationship between research objectives and aims is crucial to any research project’s success, and we’re here to break it down for you in this article. Here, we’ll explore the importance of research aims and objectives, understand their differences, and delve into the impact they have on the quality of research.

Understanding the Difference between Research Aims and Objectives

In research, aims and objectives are two important components but are often used interchangeably. Though they may sound similar, they are distinct and serve different purposes.

Research Aims:

Research aims are broad statements that describe the overall purpose of your study. They provide a general direction for your study and indicate the intended achievements of your research. Aims are usually written in a general and abstract manner describing the ultimate goal of the research.

Research Objectives:

Research objectives are specific, measurable, and achievable goals that you aim to accomplish within a specified timeframe. They break down the research aims into smaller, more manageable components and provide a clear picture of what you want to achieve and how you plan to achieve it.

In the example, the objectives provide specific targets that must be achieved to reach the aim. Essentially, aims provide the overall direction for the research while objectives provide specific targets that must be achieved to accomplish the aims. Aims provide a broad context for the research, while the objectives provide smaller steps that the researcher must take to accomplish the overall research goals. To illustrate, when planning a road trip, your research aim is the destination you want to reach, and your research objectives are the specific routes you need to take to get there.

Aims and objectives are interconnected. Objectives play a key role in defining the research methodology, providing a roadmap for how you’ll collect and analyze data, while aim is the final destination, which represents the ultimate goal of your research. By setting specific goals, you’ll be able to design a research plan that helps you achieve your objectives and, ultimately, your research aim.

Importance of Well-defined Aims and Objectives

The impact of clear research aims and objectives on the quality of research cannot be understated. But it’s not enough to simply have aims and objectives. Well-defined research aims and objectives are important for several reasons:

Provides direction: Clear aims and well-defined objectives provide a specific direction for your research study, ensuring that the research stays focused on a specific topic or problem. This helps to prevent the research from becoming too broad or unfocused, and ensures that the study remains relevant and meaningful.
Guides research design: The research aim and objectives help guide the research design and methodology, ensuring that your study is designed in a way that will answer the research questions and achieve the research objectives.
Helps with resource allocation: Clear research aims and objectives helps you to allocate resources effectively , including time, financial resources, human resources, and other required materials. With a well-defined aim and objectives, you can identify the resources required to conduct the research, and allocate them in a way that maximizes efficiency and productivity.
Assists in evaluation: Clearly specified research aims and objectives allow for effective evaluation of your research project’s success. You can assess whether the research has achieved its objectives, and whether the aim has been met. This evaluation process can help to identify areas of the research project that may require further attention or modification.
Enhances communication: Well-defined research aims and objectives help to enhance communication among the research team, stakeholders, funding agencies, and other interested parties. Clear aims and objectives ensure that everyone involved in your research project understands the purpose and goals of the study. This can help to foster collaboration and ensure that everyone is working towards the same end goal.

How to Formulate Research Aims and Objectives

Formulating effective research aims and objectives involves a systematic process to ensure that they are clear, specific, achievable, and relevant. Start by asking yourself what you want to achieve through your research. What impact do you want your research to have? Once you have a clear understanding of your aims, you can then break them down into specific, achievable objectives. Here are some steps you can follow when developing research aims and objectives:

Identify the research question : Clearly identify the questions you want to answer through your research. This will help you define the scope of your research. Understanding the characteristics of a good research question will help you generate clearer aims and objectives.
Conduct literature review : When defining your research aim and objectives, it’s important to conduct a literature review to identify key concepts, theories, and methods related to your research problem or question. Conducting a thorough literature review can help you understand what research has been done in the area and what gaps exist in the literature.
Identify the research aim: Develop a research aim that summarizes the overarching goal of your research. The research aim should be broad and concise.
Develop research objectives: Based on your research questions and research aim, develop specific research objectives that outline what you intend to achieve through your research. These objectives should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).
Use action verbs: Use action verbs such as “investigate,” “examine,” “analyze,” and “compare” to describe your research aims and objectives. This makes them more specific and measurable.
Ensure alignment with research question: Ensure that the research aim and objectives are aligned with the research question. This helps to ensure that the research remains focused and that the objectives are specific enough to answer your research question.
Refine and revise: Once the research aim and objectives have been developed, refine and revise them as needed. Seek feedback from your colleagues, mentors, or supervisors to ensure that they are clear, concise, and achievable within the given resources and timeframe.
Communicate: After finalizing the research aim and objectives, they should be communicated to the research team, stakeholders, and other interested parties. This helps to ensure that everyone is working towards the same end goal and understands the purpose of the study.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid While Formulating Aims and Objectives

There are several common mistakes that researchers can make when writing research aims and objectives. These include:

Being too broad or vague: Aims and objectives that are too general or unclear can lead to confusion and lack of focus. It is important to ensure that the aims and objectives are concise and clear.
Being too narrow or specific: On the other hand, aims and objectives that are too narrow or specific may limit the scope of the research and make it difficult to draw meaningful conclusions or implications.
Being too ambitious: While it is important to aim high, being too ambitious with the aims and objectives can lead to unrealistic expectations and can be difficult to achieve within the constraints of the research project.
Lack of alignment: The aims and objectives should be directly linked to the research questions being investigated. Otherwise, this will lead to a lack of coherence in the research project.
Lack of feasibility: The aims and objectives should be achievable within the constraints of the research project, including time, budget, and resources. Failing to consider feasibility may cause compromise of the research quality.
Failing to consider ethical considerations: The aims and objectives should take into account any ethical considerations, such as ensuring the safety and well-being of study participants.
Failing to involve all stakeholders: It’s important to involve all relevant stakeholders, such as participants, supervisors, and funding agencies, in the development of the aims and objectives to ensure they are appropriate and relevant.

To avoid these common pitfalls, it is important to be specific, clear, relevant, and realistic when writing research aims and objectives. Seek feedback from colleagues or supervisors to ensure that the aims and objectives are aligned with the research problem , questions, and methodology, and are achievable within the constraints of the research project. It’s important to continually refine your aims and objectives as you go. As you progress in your research, it’s not uncommon for research aims and objectives to evolve slightly, but it’s important that they remain consistent with the study conducted and the research topic.

In summary, research aims and objectives are the backbone of any successful research project. They give you the ability to cut through the noise and hone in on what really matters. By setting clear goals and aligning them with your research questions and methodology, you can ensure that your research is relevant, impactful, and of the highest quality. So, before you hit the road on your research journey, make sure you have a clear destination and steps to get there. Let us know in the comments section below the challenges you faced and the strategies you followed while fomulating research aims and objectives! Also, feel free to reach out to us at any stage of your research or publication by using #AskEnago and tagging @EnagoAcademy on Twitter , Facebook , and Quora . Happy researching!

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PRDV009: Writing Grant Proposals (2020.A.01)

Aims vs. objectives.

Read this article for its distinction between aims and objectives. It also provides useful advice on "what not to do" with aims and objectives.

You are ready, you are aimed, and now you have to fire off the objectives. But you are a bit confused. What is the difference between the two?

An aims-objectives confusion might arise when you are writing a thesis proposal and the introductory thesis chapter. It is always an issue in research bids. The what is-the-difference question can have you going around in ever smaller unproductive circles if you cannot figure out a way to differentiate between the two things. And the difference is something I have recently been asked about, so I have decided to post something of an answer.

Dictionaries are only vaguely helpful when thinking about aims and objectives. My desk dictionary says that an aim is to do with giving direction. An aim is "something intended or desired to be obtained by your efforts". On the other hand an objective is to do with achieving an object, it is about actions, "pertaining to that whose delineation is known". Now, who actually speaks like this? The fact that these definitions are offered in this very formal language does not help clarify matters. But, once past the antiquated expression, you might discern that the difference between the two is somehow related to a hope or ambition (aim) versus a material action (objective). Or we might say – and it is what is commonly said about aims and objectives – the aim is the what of the research, and the objective is the how .

So taking this what-how as a kind of loose and sloppy differentiation between the two, the rough rule of thumb with aims and objectives is generally that:

(1) The aim is about what you hope to do, your overall intention in the project. It signals what and/or where you aspire to be by the end. It is what you want to know. It is the point of doing the research. An aim is therefore generally broad. It is ambitious, but not beyond possibility.

The convention is that an aim is usually written using an infinitive verb – that is, it is a to + action . So aims often start something like... My aim in this project is … to map, to develop, to design, to track, to generate, to theorize, to build …

Sometimes in the humanities and social sciences, we have aims that attempt to acknowledge the inevitable partiality of what we do, so we aim "to investigate, to understand, and to explore…"

But lots of project reviewers and supervisors prefer to see something less tentative than this – they want something much less ambivalent, something more like to synthesize, to catalogue, to challenge, to critically interrogate ….

Objectives are often presented as a (1) (2) (3) formatted list – this makes visible the sequence of big steps in the project. The list of objectives spells out what you actually and really will do to get to the point of it all.

You have to make the objectives relatively precise . Having a bunch of vague statements is not very helpful – so "I will investigate" or "I will explore" for example are not particularly useful ways to think about the research objectives. How will you know when an investigation has ended? How will you draw boundaries around an exploration? In thinking about the answer to these questions, you are likely to come up with the actual objectives.

Objectives have to be practical, do-able, and achievable . Research reviewers generally look to see if the time and money available for the research will genuinely allow the researcher to achieve their objectives. They also look to see if the objectives are possible, actually research-able.

Because the objectives also act as project milestones , it is helpful to express them as things that are able to be completed – so for example scoping an archive of materials will have an endpoint which may then lead on to a next stage/objective. Even if objectives are to occur simultaneously, rather than one after the other, it is important to be clear about what the endpoint of each step/objective will be, and how it will help achieve the aim.

What Not To Do

It is really helpful to think about what can go wrong with aims and objectives. There are some predictable problems that you want to avoid when writing them. These are some common aims-objectives issues:

There are too many aims. One or two is usually enough. (I might stretch to three for other people's projects if pushed, but I usually have only one for my own projects.)
Aims and objectives waffle around, they do not get to the point and the reader does not have a clue what is actually intended and will be done – aims and objectives need to be concise and economically expressed.
Aims and objectives do not connect – the steps that are to be taken do not match up with the overall intention.
The aims and the objectives are not differentiated, they are basically the same things but said in different words.
The objectives are a detailed laundry list rather than a set of stages in the research. The objectives do not stack up with the research methods – in other words, they are either not do-able, or what is to be done will not achieve the desired results.

The final thing to say is that aims and objectives cannot be rushed. Because they generate the research questions and underpin the research design, sorting the aims and objectives are a crucial early stage in planning a research project. Aims and objectives are a foundation on which the entire project is constructed, so they need to be sturdy and durable.

Research Voyage

Research Tips and Infromation

How to Write Aims and Objectives for your Dissertation or Thesis?

Aims and Objectives Section for PhD Dissertation

Introduction

Understanding aims and objectives, crafting aims, break it down into objectives, developing specific objectives, align with research questions, consider feasibility, review and refine, seek feedback, documenting aims and objectives.

In a PhD or Post Graduate dissertation, the aims and objectives play a crucial role in shaping the research process and ensuring focus. They provide a clear roadmap for your study and serve as the guiding principles that steer your research in the right direction.

Aims represent the broader purpose or the overarching goal of your research. They define what you want to achieve with your dissertation. For example, let’s say you’re conducting a study on renewable energy sources. Your aim could be to analyze the economic viability and environmental impact of solar energy adoption in residential areas.

Objectives, on the other hand, break down the aim into specific, measurable, and achievable targets that help you accomplish your research goal. They outline the specific steps or tasks you need to undertake to fulfill the aim. Continuing with the previous example, some objectives could be:

Evaluate the current state of solar energy technologies and their efficiency.
Assess the economic costs and benefits associated with the installation of solar panels in residential areas.
Analyze the environmental impact of solar energy adoption in terms of carbon emissions reduction.
Investigate the potential barriers to the widespread adoption of solar energy in residential communities.
Develop recommendations for policymakers and stakeholders to promote the use of solar energy in residential areas.

These objectives, when combined, address different aspects related to the aim of analyzing the economic viability and environmental impact of solar energy adoption. Each objective guides a specific aspect of the research and contributes to answering the research questions.

By having clear aims and objectives, you establish a solid framework for your study. They help you stay focused on the main purpose of your research and prevent you from getting sidetracked or overwhelmed by tangential topics. Moreover, they provide clarity to both you and your readers, ensuring that your research remains coherent and well-structured.

In summary, clear aims and objectives are instrumental in guiding the research process of a PhD dissertation. They provide a roadmap, define the research goal, and break it down into specific targets. Through the example provided, it is evident how aims and objectives bring focus to a study on renewable energy sources and solar energy adoption in residential areas.

If you are in paucity of time, not confident of your writing skills and in a hurry to complete the writing task then you can think of hiring a research consultant that solves all your problems. Please visit my article on Hiring a Research consultant for your PhD tasks for further details.

Aims and objectives play a crucial role in guiding research projects. It’s important to define these terms and differentiate between them to ensure a clear focus in your work.

Aims represent the broader purpose or goal of your study. They define what you aim to achieve through your research project. Aims provide the overarching context and direction for your work, guiding the selection of topics, methodologies, and outcomes.

Example: Suppose you’re working on a PhD dissertation in computer science with a focus on natural language processing. Your aim could be: “To develop an efficient and accurate algorithm for sentiment analysis in social media data.”

In this example, the aim highlights the objective of creating an algorithm specifically for sentiment analysis in social media data, indicating the main objective of your research.

Objectives break down the aim into specific, measurable, and achievable targets that contribute to achieving the overall goal. They are more focused and concrete than aims, outlining the steps or tasks necessary to fulfill the aim. Objectives serve as the building blocks of your research, guiding the implementation and evaluation of your work.

Example: Continuing with the previous aim, let’s define some specific objectives:

Collect and preprocess a large dataset of social media posts for sentiment analysis.
Explore and compare existing sentiment analysis techniques to identify their limitations and strengths.
Design and develop a novel algorithm that addresses the limitations of current approaches.
Implement the algorithm and evaluate its performance on the collected dataset.
Analyze the results and compare them with existing state-of-the-art sentiment analysis methods.

These objectives, when combined, address different aspects necessary to fulfill the aim of developing an efficient and accurate sentiment analysis algorithm for social media data. Each objective represents a specific task or milestone that contributes to the overall research goal.

The relationship between aims and objectives is critical in driving research. Objectives are derived from the aim and provide the means to accomplish it. They act as stepping stones, guiding the researcher towards achieving the broader aim.

In summary, aims provide the broader context and goal, while objectives break down the aim into specific tasks and milestones. Together, they ensure focus and direction in your research, guiding the selection of topics, methodologies, and outcomes. The objectives serve as the means to achieve the overall aim, highlighting the relationship between aims and objectives in driving research in the computer science domain.

Formulating the overarching aim of your research is a crucial step in defining the direction and purpose of your dissertation. The aim represents the primary goal or intention of your study, and crafting it effectively is essential for setting the foundation of your research.

Research Topic: Enhancing cybersecurity in cloud computing environments.

In this example, the aim focuses on improving cybersecurity in the context of cloud computing. The aim should be formulated in a concise and focused manner that aligns with the research topic. Here’s an example of how the aim could be crafted effectively:

Aim: Develop an efficient and robust security framework for ensuring data confidentiality, integrity, and availability in cloud computing environments.

The above aim encapsulates the overall goal of the research, which is to develop a security framework for enhancing cybersecurity in cloud computing. It clearly states the intention to address key aspects such as data confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The aim is concise, specific, and directly aligned with the research topic.

The significance of a well-defined aim cannot be overstated. It serves as a guiding beacon throughout your research journey, providing a clear direction and purpose. A well-crafted aim helps you stay focused and ensures that your efforts are aligned with the research’s core objectives. It also helps you communicate the purpose of your study to others, including your advisor, peers, and potential readers of your dissertation.

Additionally, an effective aim sets the stage for the subsequent development of specific objectives and research questions. It serves as a foundation upon which you can break down the aim into smaller, manageable objectives that contribute to achieving the overall research goal. Each objective should align with the aim and work together harmoniously to address the research questions and gaps in the field.

Moreover, a concise and aligned aim allows readers to quickly grasp the essence of your research. It provides them with a clear understanding of the research’s scope and purpose. By stating the aim concisely and aligning it with the research topic, you demonstrate your ability to articulate the core objective of your study in a succinct manner.

In summary, crafting effective aims involves formulating the overarching goal or intention of your research in a concise and focused manner. A well-defined aim sets the direction for your dissertation, guiding your efforts and ensuring alignment with the research topic. It serves as a foundation for the development of specific objectives and research questions. By presenting a clear and aligned aim, you convey the purpose of your study to others and demonstrate your ability to articulate the core objective of your research.

After defining the aim of your research, it’s important to break it down into smaller, manageable objectives. These objectives should address key research questions or subtopics that are necessary to achieve the overall aim. Additionally, objectives should be specific, measurable, and utilize action verbs to describe the intended actions or achievements.

Example: Suppose the aim of your research is to develop a recommendation system for an e-commerce platform. Here are some examples of specific objectives:

Action Verbs: Analyze, Identify
Description: Gather and analyze user preferences and historical data from the e-commerce platform to identify patterns in user behavior and item preferences.
Action Verbs: Design, Implement
Description: Develop and implement collaborative filtering algorithms, such as user-based or item-based methods, to generate personalized recommendations based on user similarities or item similarities.
Action Verbs: Incorporate
Description: Integrate machine learning techniques, such as matrix factorization or deep learning models, into the recommendation system to improve the accuracy and personalization of the recommendations.
Action Verbs: Evaluate
Description: Conduct experiments and evaluate the performance of the recommendation system using appropriate evaluation metrics, such as precision, recall, or mean average precision, to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the system.
Action Verbs: Optimize
Description: Identify and implement optimization techniques, such as parallel computing or distributed systems, to enhance the scalability and efficiency of the recommendation algorithm, allowing it to handle large-scale datasets and real-time recommendations.

By breaking down the aim into these specific objectives, you address key components of developing a recommendation system, such as data analysis, algorithm design, evaluation, and optimization. Each objective represents a distinct step that contributes to achieving the overall aim.

Importantly, these objectives are specific and measurable, allowing you to determine whether you have successfully achieved them. For instance, you can measure the accuracy of the recommendation system, evaluate its performance against baseline models, or assess its scalability in terms of handling large datasets.

In summary, when conducting research, breaking down the aim into specific objectives helps in managing the workload and providing a clear roadmap for your research. These objectives should address key research questions or subtopics, be specific and measurable, and use action verbs to describe the intended actions or achievements. By following this approach, you can ensure a systematic and focused research process.

To develop specific objectives for your research, you need to break down the overarching aim into smaller, measurable objectives. These objectives should be clear, specific, and actionable, providing a roadmap for your research and guiding the entire research process.

Aim: Develop a machine learning-based system for automated sentiment analysis in social media data.

Objective 1: Conduct a comprehensive literature review on existing sentiment analysis techniques and methodologies.

Breakdown: This objective focuses on reviewing the literature in the field of sentiment analysis, specifically examining the various techniques and methodologies that have been developed and applied. It involves gathering and analyzing research papers, books, and other relevant sources to gain a comprehensive understanding of the existing knowledge in sentiment analysis.

Objective 2: Collect a large dataset of social media posts for training and evaluation.

Breakdown: This objective entails the collection of a substantial amount of social media data that will be used as input for training and evaluating the machine learning model. It involves designing data collection mechanisms, such as web scraping or utilizing available APIs, to gather a diverse set of social media posts from platforms like Twitter or Facebook.

Objective 3: Design and implement a machine learning algorithm capable of accurately detecting sentiment polarity in social media text.

Breakdown: This objective focuses on the development of a machine learning algorithm tailored for sentiment analysis in social media text. It involves designing and implementing the necessary algorithms, selecting appropriate feature representations, and training a model to accurately classify sentiment polarity (positive, negative, or neutral) of social media posts.

Objective 4: Evaluate the performance of the developed sentiment analysis system against benchmark datasets and compare it with existing state-of-the-art approaches.

Breakdown: This objective involves assessing the performance of the developed sentiment analysis system by evaluating it against established benchmark datasets. It requires selecting appropriate evaluation metrics and comparing the system’s performance with existing state-of-the-art approaches in sentiment analysis, such as accuracy, precision, recall, or F1 score.

The importance of clear, specific objectives cannot be overstated. These objectives provide a clear roadmap and direction for your research, guiding your efforts and ensuring that you stay on track. They help you structure your research activities, allocate resources effectively, and measure progress along the way.

Using action verbs to articulate objectives effectively is another crucial aspect. Action verbs convey specific actions or achievements that need to be accomplished. They provide clarity and precision, leaving no room for ambiguity. For example:

By using action verbs, you explicitly state what needs to be done or achieved in each objective, making it easier to track progress and assess the completion of objectives.

In summary, developing specific objectives involves breaking down the overarching aim into smaller, measurable objectives. Clear and specific objectives provide a roadmap for your research and guide the entire research process. By using action verbs, you articulate objectives effectively, leaving no room for ambiguity. These objectives help structure your research activities, allocate resources effectively, and measure progress, ultimately leading to the successful completion of your research.

When formulating objectives for your research, it is essential to ensure that they align with the research questions you have formulated. Each objective should contribute to addressing or answering a specific research question, creating a cohesive and focused research framework.

Example: Suppose your research in computer science focuses on developing an automated system for detecting and preventing cybersecurity threats. Here are examples of objectives aligned with research questions:

Research Question: How can machine learning algorithms be utilized to detect and mitigate cybersecurity threats effectively?

Objective 1: Evaluate and compare different machine learning algorithms for cybersecurity threat detection.

Description: Explore and assess various machine learning algorithms, such as decision trees, random forests, or neural networks, to identify the most suitable approach for detecting cybersecurity threats accurately and efficiently.

Objective 2: Develop a dataset representative of diverse cybersecurity threats.

Description: Create a comprehensive dataset containing various types of cybersecurity threats, including malware, phishing attacks, and network intrusions, to train and evaluate the machine learning models effectively.

Research Question: What are the key challenges and vulnerabilities in existing cybersecurity systems that need to be addressed?

Objective 3: Conduct a systematic analysis of existing cybersecurity systems and identify vulnerabilities.

Description: Analyze and evaluate existing cybersecurity systems, such as intrusion detection systems or antivirus software, to identify vulnerabilities, weaknesses, and potential areas of improvement that can inform the development of a more robust automated system.

Objective 4: Propose novel techniques to enhance the resilience of the cybersecurity system.

Description: Develop innovative approaches, such as anomaly detection algorithms or behavior-based analysis techniques, to enhance the resilience of the automated cybersecurity system and address the identified vulnerabilities.

By aligning the objectives with the research questions, you ensure that each objective contributes to addressing a specific aspect of your research. For example, Objective 1 directly addresses the research question regarding the utilization of machine learning algorithms for cybersecurity threat detection. Objective 3 focuses on analyzing existing systems to identify vulnerabilities, which is in line with the question about challenges and vulnerabilities in existing cybersecurity systems.

The alignment between research questions and objectives helps maintain a clear focus on the research objectives and ensures that your efforts are directed towards addressing the research questions. It also enhances the coherence of your research, as each objective becomes a stepping stone towards answering the research questions and achieving the overall aim of your study.

In summary, aligning objectives with research questions is crucial in research. It ensures that each objective contributes to answering or addressing a specific research question, creating a logical and cohesive framework for your study. By establishing this alignment, you can maintain a clear focus on the research objectives and make meaningful contributions to the field.

When setting objectives for your research, it is important to consider their feasibility. Feasibility refers to the realistic achievability of your objectives within the scope of your PhD research, taking into account available resources, time constraints, and other practical limitations.

Example: Suppose your research focuses on developing a new algorithm for real-time video processing and analysis. Here are examples of objectives that consider feasibility:

Objective 1: Implement the real-time video processing algorithm on a high-performance computing cluster.

Feasibility Considerations: Before setting this objective, assess whether you have access to a high-performance computing cluster and the necessary resources (e.g., hardware, software, computational power) to support the implementation and testing of the algorithm. If such resources are available within your research environment or institution, this objective is feasible.

Objective 2: Collect and annotate a large-scale video dataset for algorithm training and evaluation.

Feasibility Considerations: Consider the practical aspects of collecting and annotating a large-scale video dataset. Evaluate the time, manpower, and equipment required for this task. Assess whether you have access to the necessary resources (e.g., cameras, storage, annotation tools) and the capability to manage and process such a dataset. If these resources and capabilities are available within your research context, this objective is feasible.

Objective 3: Collaborate with industry partners to obtain real-world video data for testing and validation.

Feasibility Considerations: Evaluate the feasibility of establishing collaborations with industry partners to obtain real-world video data. Consider factors such as data sharing agreements, legal and privacy considerations, and the willingness of industry partners to provide access to their data. Assess the potential challenges and limitations that may arise during this collaboration process. If such collaborations are feasible and can be established within the constraints of your research, this objective is feasible.

By considering feasibility, you ensure that your objectives are realistically achievable within the resources, time, and other constraints of your PhD research. It helps you avoid setting objectives that are too ambitious or beyond the scope of what you can reasonably accomplish.

Feasibility assessment is crucial in ensuring the successful completion of your research project. It allows you to allocate resources effectively, manage your time, and avoid potential pitfalls or setbacks that could hinder your progress. By setting feasible objectives, you can maintain a practical and manageable research plan that is more likely to lead to meaningful outcomes within the given constraints.

In summary, considering feasibility when setting objectives in computer science research is essential. Assess the available resources, time constraints, and practical limitations to ensure that your objectives are realistically achievable within the scope of your PhD research. By doing so, you can plan and execute your research effectively, making the most of the resources at your disposal and increasing the likelihood of successful outcomes.

Once you have defined your aims and objectives for your research, it’s important to review and refine them to ensure clarity, coherence, and logical flow. This step allows you to make any necessary revisions to ensure that your aims and objectives accurately reflect the scope and purpose of your research.

Example: Suppose your research in computer science focuses on developing a mobile application for enhancing cybersecurity awareness among smartphone users. Here’s an example of reviewing and refining aims and objectives:

Aim: Develop a mobile application for enhancing cybersecurity awareness among smartphone users.

Objective 1: Conduct a comprehensive literature review on cybersecurity awareness strategies and mobile application design principles.

Review and Refinement: Upon review, you find that the objective is clear and aligned with the aim. However, you decide to refine it to include specific aspects you intend to cover in the literature review, such as user education techniques, persuasive design elements, and existing cybersecurity awareness mobile applications.

Objective 2: Design and develop a user-friendly mobile application prototype that delivers educational content and interactive features.

Review and Refinement: During the review, you realize that the objective lacks specificity regarding the educational content and interactive features. You refine it to explicitly mention the inclusion of topics like phishing prevention, password management, and interactive quizzes to reinforce learning.

Objective 3: Conduct usability testing and collect feedback from potential users to evaluate the effectiveness of the mobile application.

Review and Refinement: While reviewing, you realize that the objective could benefit from additional information. You refine it to include details such as the target user group (e.g., smartphone users aged 18-35), the number of participants you plan to involve in the usability testing, and the specific metrics you will use to evaluate the effectiveness of the application.

By reviewing and refining your aims and objectives, you ensure that they accurately capture the scope and purpose of your research. It helps you identify any gaps, ambiguities, or areas that need further clarification. Through this process, you can enhance the clarity, coherence, and logical flow of your aims and objectives, making them more robust and aligned with your research goals.

Additionally, reviewing and refining your aims and objectives allows you to align them with the current state of knowledge in the field. As you conduct literature reviews and gain more insights into existing research, you may discover the need to make adjustments to your aims and objectives to reflect the most relevant and up-to-date information.

In summary, reviewing and refining aims and objectives in research is essential to ensure clarity, coherence, and logical flow. By carefully reviewing each aim and objective, you can identify areas for improvement, refine them to include specific details, and align them with the current state of knowledge in the field. This process enhances the accuracy and effectiveness of your aims and objectives, providing a strong foundation for your research.

Once you have developed your aims and objectives for your research, it is important to seek feedback from your supervisor or peers. Sharing your aims and objectives with others allows you to gather valuable insights, suggestions, and perspectives that can help refine and improve your objectives, ensuring they are appropriate and aligned with your research.

Imagine you have formulated the following objectives for your computer science research on developing an intelligent tutoring system:

Objective 1: Conduct a literature review on existing intelligent tutoring systems and their effectiveness in enhancing student learning outcomes.

Objective 2: Design and develop an adaptive learning algorithm to personalize the tutoring experience based on individual student needs.

Objective 3: Implement a user-friendly interface for the intelligent tutoring system that provides an intuitive and engaging learning environment.

Objective 4: Evaluate the effectiveness of the developed intelligent tutoring system through a series of user studies and compare it with traditional tutoring methods.

At this stage, it would be beneficial to share your aims and objectives with your supervisor or peers to receive feedback. They can provide valuable insights and suggestions to help you refine and improve your objectives. For example:

Your supervisor may suggest including a specific research question to further clarify the focus of Objective 1, such as “What are the key features and techniques used in successful intelligent tutoring systems?”
Peers may provide feedback on the clarity and specificity of Objective 2, suggesting adding details on the specific adaptability mechanisms to be incorporated.
Your supervisor might suggest considering the inclusion of usability testing as part of Objective 3 to ensure the interface meets the needs and preferences of the target users.
Peers may offer suggestions on additional evaluation metrics or experimental setups to strengthen Objective 4 and provide more robust comparisons.

By seeking feedback, you open yourself up to constructive criticism and valuable perspectives that can help enhance the quality and effectiveness of your aims and objectives. Feedback from experienced researchers or knowledgeable peers can help you identify any potential gaps or weaknesses in your objectives and provide suggestions for improvement.

Remember that feedback is an iterative process, and it is important to carefully consider the suggestions provided while also critically evaluating them in the context of your research. Incorporating constructive feedback will help you refine your aims and objectives, ensuring they are robust, relevant, and aligned with your research goals.

In summary, seeking feedback on your aims and objectives is a valuable step in the process of developing your research. Sharing your objectives with your supervisor or peers allows you to gather insights, suggestions, and perspectives that can help refine and improve your objectives. Feedback helps ensure that your objectives are appropriate, clear, and aligned with your research goals, ultimately strengthening the overall quality of your research.

When writing your dissertation, it is crucial to properly document and present your aims and objectives. The placement and presentation of aims and objectives play a significant role in providing readers with a clear understanding of the research’s purpose and direction.

Placement: The aims and objectives of your research should be presented early on in your dissertation, typically within the introduction chapter. This allows readers to grasp the overall scope and intent of your research from the beginning. Placing them in the introduction helps set the context and provides a roadmap for the rest of the dissertation.

Presentation: When presenting aims and objectives, it is important to clearly distinguish between the two and articulate their role in driving the research. Here’s an example of how you can document aims and objectives:

Aims: Start by presenting the overarching aim of your research, which represents the primary goal or intention of your study. It should be a concise statement that captures the essence of your research focus.

For example:

Aim: The aim of this research is to develop a machine learning-based system for automated sentiment analysis in social media data.

Objectives: Following the aim, present a list of specific objectives that outline the key steps or milestones required to achieve the aim. Each objective should be clear, specific, and measurable. Here’s an example:

Objectives:

Analyze existing sentiment analysis techniques and methodologies in the literature to identify their limitations and challenges.
Collect and preprocess a large dataset of social media posts to serve as the training and evaluation data for the sentiment analysis system.
Design and implement a machine learning algorithm capable of accurately detecting sentiment polarity in social media text.
Evaluate the performance of the developed sentiment analysis system against existing state-of-the-art approaches, using appropriate evaluation metrics.
Optimize the system for scalability and efficiency, allowing it to handle large volumes of real-time social media data.

By clearly documenting the aims and objectives in your dissertation, you provide readers with a clear understanding of the purpose and direction of your research. This enables them to follow your thought process and evaluate the relevance and significance of your study. Aims and objectives serve as guideposts that help readers navigate through your dissertation and understand the specific research questions you seek to address.

Moreover, the well-documented aims and objectives help you maintain focus throughout your research journey and provide a framework for organizing your dissertation. They establish the foundation upon which your methodology, analysis, and conclusions are built.

In summary, when documenting aims and objectives in a dissertation, it is important to place them in the introduction chapter and clearly present their role in guiding the research. Aims and objectives should be distinct, with the aim of capturing the overarching goal and the objectives outlining the specific steps or milestones to achieve it. By effectively documenting aims and objectives, you provide readers with a clear understanding of the research’s purpose and direction, facilitating their engagement with your work.

Crafting clear and well-defined aims and objectives is a critical aspect of writing a PhD or Post Graduate dissertation. These aims and objectives provide a solid foundation for your research, guiding your efforts and ensuring a focused and coherent study. Through this discussion, we have explored the importance of aims and objectives in a PhD dissertation and how they contribute to the research process.

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Formulating Research Aims and Objectives

Formulating research aim and objectives in an appropriate manner is one of the most important aspects of your thesis. This is because research aim and objectives determine the scope, depth and the overall direction of the research. Research question is the central question of the study that has to be answered on the basis of research findings.

Research aim emphasizes what needs to be achieved within the scope of the research, by the end of the research process. Achievement of research aim provides answer to the research question.

Research objectives divide research aim into several parts and address each part separately. Research aim specifies WHAT needs to be studied and research objectives comprise a number of steps that address HOW research aim will be achieved.

As a rule of dumb, there would be one research aim and several research objectives. Achievement of each research objective will lead to the achievement of the research aim.

Consider the following as an example:

Research title: Effects of organizational culture on business profitability: a case study of Virgin Atlantic

Research aim: To assess the effects of Virgin Atlantic organizational culture on business profitability

Following research objectives would facilitate the achievement of this aim:

Analyzing the nature of organizational culture at Virgin Atlantic by September 1, 2022
Identifying factors impacting Virgin Atlantic organizational culture by September 16, 2022
Analyzing impacts of Virgin Atlantic organizational culture on employee performances by September 30, 2022
Providing recommendations to Virgin Atlantic strategic level management in terms of increasing the level of effectiveness of organizational culture by October 5, 2022

Figure below illustrates additional examples in formulating research aims and objectives:

Formulation of research question, aim and objectives

Common mistakes in the formulation of research aim relate to the following:

1. Choosing the topic too broadly . This is the most common mistake. For example, a research title of “an analysis of leadership practices” can be classified as too broad because the title fails to answer the following questions:

a) Which aspects of leadership practices? Leadership has many aspects such as employee motivation, ethical behaviour, strategic planning, change management etc. An attempt to cover all of these aspects of organizational leadership within a single research will result in an unfocused and poor work.

b) An analysis of leadership practices in which country? Leadership practices tend to be different in various countries due to cross-cultural differences, legislations and a range of other region-specific factors. Therefore, a study of leadership practices needs to be country-specific.

c) Analysis of leadership practices in which company or industry? Similar to the point above, analysis of leadership practices needs to take into account industry-specific and/or company-specific differences, and there is no way to conduct a leadership research that relates to all industries and organizations in an equal manner.

Accordingly, as an example “a study into the impacts of ethical behaviour of a leader on the level of employee motivation in US healthcare sector” would be a more appropriate title than simply “An analysis of leadership practices”.

2. Setting an unrealistic aim . Formulation of a research aim that involves in-depth interviews with Apple strategic level management by an undergraduate level student can be specified as a bit over-ambitious. This is because securing an interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook or members of Apple Board of Directors might not be easy. This is an extreme example of course, but you got the idea. Instead, you may aim to interview the manager of your local Apple store and adopt a more feasible strategy to get your dissertation completed.

3. Choosing research methods incompatible with the timeframe available . Conducting interviews with 20 sample group members and collecting primary data through 2 focus groups when only three months left until submission of your dissertation can be very difficult, if not impossible. Accordingly, timeframe available need to be taken into account when formulating research aims and objectives and selecting research methods.

Moreover, research objectives need to be formulated according to SMART principle,

where the abbreviation stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.


Study employee motivation of Coca-Cola	To study the impacts of management practices on the levels of employee motivation at Coca-Cola US by December 5, 2022
Analyze consumer behaviour in catering industry	Analyzing changes in consumer behaviour in catering industry in the 21 century in the UK by March 1, 2022
Recommend Toyota Motor Corporation management on new market entry strategy	Formulating recommendations to Toyota Motor Corporation management on the choice of appropriate strategy to enter Vietnam market by June 9, 2022
Analyze the impact of social media marketing on business	Assessing impacts of integration of social media into marketing strategy on the level of brand awareness by March 30, 2022
Finding out about time management principles used by Accenture managers	Identifying main time-management strategies used by managers of Accenture France by December 1, 2022

Examples of SMART research objectives

At the conclusion part of your research project you will need to reflect on the level of achievement of research aims and objectives. In case your research aims and objectives are not fully achieved by the end of the study, you will need to discuss the reasons. These may include initial inappropriate formulation of research aims and objectives, effects of other variables that were not considered at the beginning of the research or changes in some circumstances during the research process.

John Dudovskiy

Difference between Aim and Objectives of a Research Study

Understanding the difference between aims and objectives in research.

In the field of research, distinguishing between the terms “aim” and “objective” is crucial yet often confusing. Many people use these terms interchangeably, but they represent different aspects of the research process. This comprehensive guide will clarify the difference between aims and objectives, how to use them effectively, and why understanding this distinction is essential for successful research.

What Is the Aim of a Research Study?

The aim of a research study is a broad, overarching statement that defines the general purpose and goal of the research. It addresses the fundamental question of why the study is being conducted and what the researcher hopes to achieve. The aim provides a high-level overview and sets the direction for the entire study. A well-defined aim is crucial as it helps to frame the research questions, guides the research process, and communicates the significance of the study to stakeholders such as funding bodies, academic peers, and the public. It essentially provides the foundation upon which the research is built.

For example, if a researcher is investigating the impact of diet on cardiovascular health, the aim might be: “To explore the effects of dietary habits on the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases in adults.”

What Are the Objectives of a Research Study?

Objectives are specific, detailed statements that outline the steps or actions required to achieve the aim of the study. They break down the broad aim into manageable tasks and provide a clear roadmap for conducting the research. Objectives are more detailed and measurable compared to the aim, and they help operationalize the research process.

The key functions of objectives include:

Clarifying the Research Question: Objectives refine and specify the research question by detailing the exact aspects of the study to be investigated.
Identifying Key Variables: They help in pinpointing the key variables and factors that need to be measured or analyzed.
Outlining the Research Methodology : Objectives provide a structured approach to the research methodology, detailing the methods and procedures that will be employed.
Ensuring Focus and Direction: By breaking down the aim into smaller tasks, objectives help maintain focus and direction throughout the research process.

Objectives are often framed using the SMART criteria:

– Specific: Clear and unambiguous.

– Measurable: Includes criteria to measure progress and success.

– Achievable: Feasible within the given timeframe and resources.

– Relevant: Directly related to the aim of the study.

– Time-bound: Has a defined deadline for completion.

Examples Illustrating the Difference Between Aims and Objectives

To better understand the difference between aims and objectives, consider the following examples:

– aim: to investigate the relationship between physical activity and mental health..

Objectives:

– To review existing literature on the relationship between physical activity and mental health.

– To collect data on physical activity levels and mental health indicators in a sample population.

– To analyze the data to determine the influence of physical activity on mental health .

– To draw conclusions based on the findings and make recommendations for future research or interventions.

In this example, the aim is to explore the broader relationship between physical activity and mental health. https://www.manuscriptedit.com/scholar-hangout/explore-the-social-determinants-of-mental-health/The objectives break down this aim into specific tasks, such as reviewing literature, collecting data, analyzing results, and making recommendations.

– Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of a new teaching method for improving student performance in mathematics.

– To identify the core components and theoretical basis of the new teaching method.

– To implement the teaching method in selected classrooms.

– To collect and analyze data on student performance before and after the implementation.

– To evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching method based on the performance data.

– To provide recommendations for optimizing the teaching method and its implementation.

Here, the aim is to assess the effectiveness of a new teaching method. The objectives detail the steps required to evaluate this effectiveness , including identifying components, implementing the method, collecting data, analyzing results, and making recommendations.

Why Understanding the Difference Matters

Recognizing the difference between aims and objectives is important for several reasons:.

Clarity: A clear distinction helps in formulating precise research questions and hypotheses, ensuring that the research is well-structured and focused.
Planning: Well-defined aims and objectives aid in planning the research methodology and resources, allowing for efficient allocation of time and resources.
Communication: Clearly defined aims and objectives facilitate better communication of the research purpose and scope to stakeholders, including reviewers, funders, and collaborators.
Evaluation: Objectives provide measurable targets that can be used to assess the progress and success of the research, aiding in evaluating the research process and outcomes.

Conclusion

In summary, while the aim of a research study represents the broad goal or purpose, objectives are specific statements that outline the steps necessary to achieve that aim. Understanding the difference between aims and objectives helps in creating a clear and structured research plan, ensuring that the study remains focused and aligned with its overall purpose. By clearly defining both aims and objectives, researchers can enhance the clarity, effectiveness, and impact of their research .

For more insights and resources on research and academic writing , visit our website [ManuscriptEdit](https://www.manuscriptedit.com). If you have any queries or need assistance, feel free to contact us at [email protected].

References: “Thesis Writing.” Google Books , books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=LZSSEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA77&dq=Difference+between+Aim+and+Objectives+of+a+Research+Study&ots=s96gshgb-7&sig=vPygp_US9INyKqT-T6N-EC3x_2s&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Difference%20between%20Aim%20and%20Objectives%20of%20a%20Research%20Study&f=false .

Hirsch, E. D. “Objective Interpretation.” PMLA/Publications of the Modern Language Association of America , vol. 75, no. 4-Part1, Sept. 1960, pp. 463–79. https://doi.org/10.2307/460609 .

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What Are Research Objectives and How to Write Them (with Examples)

Table of Contents

Introduction

Research is at the center of everything researchers do, and setting clear, well-defined research objectives plays a pivotal role in guiding scholars toward their desired outcomes. Research papers are essential instruments for researchers to effectively communicate their work. Among the many sections that constitute a research paper, the introduction plays a key role in providing a background and setting the context. 1 Research objectives, which define the aims of the study, are usually stated in the introduction. Every study has a research question that the authors are trying to answer, and the objective is an active statement about how the study will answer this research question. These objectives help guide the development and design of the study and steer the research in the appropriate direction; if this is not clearly defined, a project can fail!

Research studies have a research question, research hypothesis, and one or more research objectives. A research question is what a study aims to answer, and a research hypothesis is a predictive statement about the relationship between two or more variables, which the study sets out to prove or disprove. Objectives are specific, measurable goals that the study aims to achieve. The difference between these three is illustrated by the following example:

Research question : How does low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) compare with a placebo device in managing the symptoms of skeletally mature patients with patellar tendinopathy?
Research hypothesis : Pain levels are reduced in patients who receive daily active-LIPUS (treatment) for 12 weeks compared with individuals who receive inactive-LIPUS (placebo).
Research objective : To investigate the clinical efficacy of LIPUS in the management of patellar tendinopathy symptoms.

This article discusses the importance of clear, well-thought out objectives and suggests methods to write them clearly.

What is the introduction in research papers?

Research objectives are usually included in the introduction section. This section is the first that the readers will read so it is essential that it conveys the subject matter appropriately and is well written to create a good first impression. A good introduction sets the tone of the paper and clearly outlines the contents so that the readers get a quick snapshot of what to expect.

A good introduction should aim to: 2,3

Indicate the main subject area, its importance, and cite previous literature on the subject
Define the gap(s) in existing research, ask a research question, and state the objectives
Announce the present research and outline its novelty and significance
Avoid repeating the Abstract, providing unnecessary information, and claiming novelty without accurate supporting information.

Why are research objectives important?

Objectives can help you stay focused and steer your research in the required direction. They help define and limit the scope of your research, which is important to efficiently manage your resources and time. The objectives help to create and maintain the overall structure, and specify two main things—the variables and the methods of quantifying the variables.

A good research objective:

defines the scope of the study
gives direction to the research
helps maintain focus and avoid diversions from the topic
minimizes wastage of resources like time, money, and energy

Types of research objectives

Research objectives can be broadly classified into general and specific objectives . 4 General objectives state what the research expects to achieve overall while specific objectives break this down into smaller, logically connected parts, each of which addresses various parts of the research problem. General objectives are the main goals of the study and are usually fewer in number while specific objectives are more in number because they address several aspects of the research problem.

Example (general objective): To investigate the factors influencing the financial performance of firms listed in the New York Stock Exchange market.

Example (specific objective): To assess the influence of firm size on the financial performance of firms listed in the New York Stock Exchange market.

In addition to this broad classification, research objectives can be grouped into several categories depending on the research problem, as given in Table 1.

Table 1: Types of research objectives


Exploratory	Explores a previously unstudied topic, issue, or phenomenon; aims to generate ideas or hypotheses
Descriptive	Describes the characteristics and features of a particular population or group
Explanatory	Explains the relationships between variables; seeks to identify cause-and-effect relationships
Predictive	Predicts future outcomes or events based on existing data samples or trends
Diagnostic	Identifies factors contributing to a particular problem
Comparative	Compares two or more groups or phenomena to identify similarities and differences
Historical	Examines past events and trends to understand their significance and impact
Methodological	Develops and improves research methods and techniques
Theoretical	Tests and refines existing theories or helps develop new theoretical perspectives

Characteristics of research objectives

Research objectives must start with the word “To” because this helps readers identify the objective in the absence of headings and appropriate sectioning in research papers. 5,6

A good objective is SMART (mostly applicable to specific objectives):
Specific—clear about the what, why, when, and how
Measurable—identifies the main variables of the study and quantifies the targets
Achievable—attainable using the available time and resources
Realistic—accurately addresses the scope of the problem
Time-bound—identifies the time in which each step will be completed
Research objectives clarify the purpose of research.
They help understand the relationship and dissimilarities between variables.
They provide a direction that helps the research to reach a definite conclusion.

How to write research objectives?

Research objectives can be written using the following steps: 7

State your main research question clearly and concisely.
Describe the ultimate goal of your study, which is similar to the research question but states the intended outcomes more definitively.
Divide this main goal into subcategories to develop your objectives.
Limit the number of objectives (1-2 general; 3-4 specific)
Assess each objective using the SMART
Start each objective with an action verb like assess, compare, determine, evaluate, etc., which makes the research appear more actionable.
Use specific language without making the sentence data heavy.
The most common section to add the objectives is the introduction and after the problem statement.
Add the objectives to the abstract (if there is one).
State the general objective first, followed by the specific objectives.

Formulating research objectives

Formulating research objectives has the following five steps, which could help researchers develop a clear objective: 8

Identify the research problem.
Review past studies on subjects similar to your problem statement, that is, studies that use similar methods, variables, etc.
Identify the research gaps the current study should cover based on your literature review. These gaps could be theoretical, methodological, or conceptual.
Define the research question(s) based on the gaps identified.
Revise/relate the research problem based on the defined research question and the gaps identified. This is to confirm that there is an actual need for a study on the subject based on the gaps in literature.
Identify and write the general and specific objectives.
Incorporate the objectives into the study.

Advantages of research objectives

Adding clear research objectives has the following advantages: 4,8

Maintains the focus and direction of the research
Optimizes allocation of resources with minimal wastage
Acts as a foundation for defining appropriate research questions and hypotheses
Provides measurable outcomes that can help evaluate the success of the research
Determines the feasibility of the research by helping to assess the availability of required resources
Ensures relevance of the study to the subject and its contribution to existing literature

Disadvantages of research objectives

Research objectives also have few disadvantages, as listed below: 8

Absence of clearly defined objectives can lead to ambiguity in the research process
Unintentional bias could affect the validity and accuracy of the research findings

Key takeaways

Research objectives are concise statements that describe what the research is aiming to achieve.
They define the scope and direction of the research and maintain focus.
The objectives should be SMART—specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.
Clear research objectives help avoid collection of data or resources not required for the study.
Well-formulated specific objectives help develop the overall research methodology, including data collection, analysis, interpretation, and utilization.
Research objectives should cover all aspects of the problem statement in a coherent way.
They should be clearly stated using action verbs.

Frequently asked questions on research objectives

Q: what’s the difference between research objectives and aims 9.

A: Research aims are statements that reflect the broad goal(s) of the study and outline the general direction of the research. They are not specific but clearly define the focus of the study.

Example: This research aims to explore employee experiences of digital transformation in retail HR.

Research objectives focus on the action to be taken to achieve the aims. They make the aims more practical and should be specific and actionable.

Example: To observe the retail HR employees throughout the digital transformation.

Q: What are the examples of research objectives, both general and specific?

A: Here are a few examples of research objectives:

To identify the antiviral chemical constituents in Mumbukura gitoniensis (general)
To carry out solvent extraction of dried flowers of Mumbukura gitoniensis and isolate the constituents. (specific)
To determine the antiviral activity of each of the isolated compounds. (specific)
To examine the extent, range, and method of coral reef rehabilitation projects in five shallow reef areas adjacent to popular tourist destinations in the Philippines.
To investigate species richness of mammal communities in five protected areas over the past 20 years.
To evaluate the potential application of AI techniques for estimating best-corrected visual acuity from fundus photographs with and without ancillary information.
To investigate whether sport influences psychological parameters in the personality of asthmatic children.

Q: How do I develop research objectives?

A: Developing research objectives begins with defining the problem statement clearly, as illustrated by Figure 1. Objectives specify how the research question will be answered and they determine what is to be measured to test the hypothesis.

Q: Are research objectives measurable?

A: The word “measurable” implies that something is quantifiable. In terms of research objectives, this means that the source and method of collecting data are identified and that all these aspects are feasible for the research. Some metrics can be created to measure your progress toward achieving your objectives.

Q: Can research objectives change during the study?

A: Revising research objectives during the study is acceptable in situations when the selected methodology is not progressing toward achieving the objective, or if there are challenges pertaining to resources, etc. One thing to keep in mind is the time and resources you would have to complete your research after revising the objectives. Thus, as long as your problem statement and hypotheses are unchanged, minor revisions to the research objectives are acceptable.

Q: What is the difference between research questions and research objectives? 10


Broad statement; guide the overall direction of the research	Specific, measurable goals that the research aims to achieve
Identify the main problem	Define the specific outcomes the study aims to achieve
Used to generate hypotheses or identify gaps in existing knowledge	Used to establish clear and achievable targets for the research
Not mutually exclusive with research objectives	Should be directly related to the research question
Example:	Example:

Q: Are research objectives the same as hypotheses?

A: No, hypotheses are predictive theories that are expressed in general terms. Research objectives, which are more specific, are developed from hypotheses and aim to test them. A hypothesis can be tested using several methods and each method will have different objectives because the methodology to be used could be different. A hypothesis is developed based on observation and reasoning; it is a calculated prediction about why a particular phenomenon is occurring. To test this prediction, different research objectives are formulated. Here’s a simple example of both a research hypothesis and research objective.

Research hypothesis : Employees who arrive at work earlier are more productive.

Research objective : To assess whether employees who arrive at work earlier are more productive.

To summarize, research objectives are an important part of research studies and should be written clearly to effectively communicate your research. We hope this article has given you a brief insight into the importance of using clearly defined research objectives and how to formulate them.

Farrugia P, Petrisor BA, Farrokhyar F, Bhandari M. Practical tips for surgical research: Research questions, hypotheses and objectives. Can J Surg. 2010 Aug;53(4):278-81.
Abbadia J. How to write an introduction for a research paper. Mind the Graph website. Accessed June 14, 2023. https://mindthegraph.com/blog/how-to-write-an-introduction-for-a-research-paper/
Writing a scientific paper: Introduction. UCI libraries website. Accessed June 15, 2023. https://guides.lib.uci.edu/c.php?g=334338&p=2249903
Research objectives—Types, examples and writing guide. Researchmethod.net website. Accessed June 17, 2023. https://researchmethod.net/research-objectives/#:~:text=They%20provide%20a%20clear%20direction,track%20and%20achieve%20their%20goals .
Bartle P. SMART Characteristics of good objectives. Community empowerment collective website. Accessed June 16, 2023. https://cec.vcn.bc.ca/cmp/modules/pd-smar.htm
Research objectives. Studyprobe website. Accessed June 18, 2023. https://www.studyprobe.in/2022/08/research-objectives.html
Corredor F. How to write objectives in a research paper. wikiHow website. Accessed June 18, 2023. https://www.wikihow.com/Write-Objectives-in-a-Research-Proposal
Research objectives: Definition, types, characteristics, advantages. AccountingNest website. Accessed June 15, 2023. https://www.accountingnest.com/articles/research/research-objectives
Phair D., Shaeffer A. Research aims, objectives & questions. GradCoach website. Accessed June 20, 2023. https://gradcoach.com/research-aims-objectives-questions/
Understanding the difference between research questions and objectives. Accessed June 21, 2023. https://board.researchersjob.com/blog/research-questions-and-objectives

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Aims vs. Objectives

What's the difference.

Aims and objectives are two terms often used interchangeably, but they have distinct meanings. Aims refer to the broad, overarching goals or intentions that an individual or organization wants to achieve. They provide a general direction and purpose for actions and decisions. On the other hand, objectives are specific, measurable, and time-bound targets that are set to achieve the aims. Objectives break down the aims into smaller, manageable tasks or milestones, allowing for a more focused and systematic approach towards reaching the desired outcome. In summary, aims provide the overall vision, while objectives outline the specific steps to be taken to fulfill that vision.

Attribute	Aims	Objectives
Definition	The broad, general statements that describe the desired outcomes or overall purpose of a project or organization.	The specific, measurable, time-bound targets that need to be achieved in order to fulfill the aims.
Scope	Encompasses the overall vision and direction of the project or organization.	Focuses on the specific actions and steps required to achieve the aims.
Nature	More abstract and subjective.	More concrete and objective.
Longevity	Generally long-term and enduring.	Often short-term and time-limited.
Flexibility	Less rigid and adaptable to changing circumstances.	More structured and less adaptable.
Level of Detail	Provides a high-level overview.	Specifies detailed actions and outcomes.
Subjectivity	May involve subjective opinions and aspirations.	Based on objective and measurable criteria.

Further Detail

Introduction.

When it comes to setting goals and defining the purpose of a project or organization, two commonly used terms are aims and objectives. While they may seem similar at first glance, there are distinct differences between the two. In this article, we will explore the attributes of aims and objectives, highlighting their unique characteristics and discussing how they contribute to the success of various endeavors.

Defining Aims

Aims can be described as broad statements that outline the overall purpose or direction of a project, organization, or individual. They provide a general sense of what is to be achieved, often focusing on long-term outcomes. Aims are typically more abstract and conceptual, guiding the overall vision and mission of an entity. They are often expressed in qualitative terms and are not easily measurable.

For example, an aim for a non-profit organization working towards environmental conservation could be "to promote sustainable practices and raise awareness about the importance of preserving natural resources." This aim sets the tone for the organization's activities and serves as a guiding principle for decision-making.

Characteristics of Aims

1. Broad and overarching: Aims are not specific or detailed, but rather provide a high-level view of the desired outcome.

2. Long-term focus: Aims are often associated with long-term goals and are not limited to short-term achievements.

3. Qualitative in nature: Aims are expressed in qualitative terms, emphasizing the desired impact or change rather than specific metrics or numbers.

4. Inspirational and motivational: Aims inspire and motivate individuals or organizations by providing a sense of purpose and direction.

5. Subjective and open to interpretation: Aims can be interpreted differently by different individuals or groups, allowing for flexibility in implementation strategies.

Defining Objectives

Objectives, on the other hand, are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) targets that support the overall aims. They provide a clear roadmap for achieving the desired outcomes and serve as stepping stones towards the larger goals. Objectives are more concrete and tangible, allowing for easier evaluation and monitoring of progress.

Continuing with the example of the environmental conservation non-profit organization, an objective could be "to reduce plastic waste by 20% within the next year through educational campaigns and community engagement." This objective provides a specific target and a timeframe for achieving it, allowing for effective planning and implementation.

Characteristics of Objectives

1. Specific and measurable: Objectives are precise and quantifiable, allowing for clear evaluation of progress and success.

2. Short-term focus: Objectives are often associated with short-term goals that contribute to the overall aims.

3. Quantitative in nature: Objectives are expressed in quantitative terms, enabling easy tracking and assessment of achievements.

4. Action-oriented: Objectives provide a clear direction for action, outlining the steps and activities required to reach the desired outcome.

5. Objective and less open to interpretation: Objectives are less subjective and leave little room for interpretation, ensuring clarity and focus in implementation.

Relationship between Aims and Objectives

Aims and objectives are closely interconnected, with objectives serving as the means to achieve the broader aims. Objectives are derived from aims and are aligned with the overall purpose and direction. They provide a practical framework for translating the abstract aims into actionable steps.

While aims provide the vision and inspiration, objectives break down the aims into specific, measurable, and time-bound targets. Objectives act as milestones along the journey towards the ultimate aim, allowing for progress evaluation and adjustment of strategies if necessary.

It is important to note that aims and objectives are not mutually exclusive but rather complementary. They work together to ensure that efforts are focused, progress is measurable, and the desired outcomes are achieved.

In summary, aims and objectives play distinct but interconnected roles in goal-setting and planning. Aims provide the overarching purpose and direction, while objectives offer specific targets and actions to achieve the aims. Aims are broad, qualitative, and long-term, inspiring and guiding the overall vision. Objectives, on the other hand, are specific, measurable, and short-term, providing a practical roadmap for implementation.

Both aims and objectives are essential components of successful projects, organizations, and personal endeavors. By understanding their attributes and leveraging their unique characteristics, individuals and entities can effectively navigate their journeys towards success.

Comparisons may contain inaccurate information about people, places, or facts. Please report any issues.

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Understanding the Difference Between Research Objectives and Research Questions

In the realm of academic research, understanding the distinction between research objectives and research questions is crucial for the success of any study. Both elements play integral roles but serve different purposes in guiding the research process. This article aims to elucidate the differences between research objectives and research questions, their respective roles, and how to effectively formulate them.

Key Takeaways

Research objectives are specific, measurable goals that a study aims to achieve, while research questions are broad inquiries guiding the overall direction of the research.
Clear definitions of both research objectives and research questions are essential for setting a solid foundation for any research project.
Research objectives help in setting specific goals, guiding the research process, and measuring success, whereas research questions identify the main problem, generate hypotheses, and define the study's scope.
Formulating effective research objectives and questions involves distinct steps and avoiding common pitfalls, ensuring a focused and coherent study.
Understanding the interrelationship between research objectives and questions enhances the coherence and depth of academic research.

Defining Research Objectives and Research Questions

Understanding the distinction between research objectives and research questions is fundamental to conducting effective research. Research questions are broad statements that guide the overall direction of the research, identifying the main problem or area of inquiry. In contrast, research objectives are specific, measurable goals that the research aims to achieve. These two elements are not mutually exclusive; well-defined research questions should lead to specific objectives necessary to answer the question.

The Role of Research Objectives in a Study

Research objectives play a crucial role in shaping the direction and scope of your study. They are concise statements that describe what the research aims to achieve and help maintain focus throughout the research process. Clear research objectives help avoid collection of data or resources not required for the study.

The Role of Research Questions in a Study

Research questions are the specific concerns that you will answer through your research. They are derived from your research problem but are based on your study design. When you narrow down your research problem to a specific idea that points towards a feasible way to investigate or address your research problem, you get your research question. Thus, to frame your research questions, you will also need to have a clear idea of what you aim to achieve through the study. Research questions are the core purpose of your dissertation , thesis, or research project.

The research questions will be the driving force throughout the research process. For example, in the literature review chapter, you’ll assess the relevance of any given resource based on whether it helps you move towards answering your research questions. Similarly, your methodology and research design will be heavily influenced by the nature of your research questions. This process often leads to the generation of hypotheses that can be tested empirically.

Research questions help in defining the scope of your study. They determine what will be included and what will be excluded from your research. By clearly stating your research questions, you set boundaries for your study, ensuring that your research remains focused and manageable. This is crucial for avoiding thesis anxiety and ensuring that your study is both specific and comprehensive.

Key Differences Between Research Objectives and Research Questions

Research objectives and research questions differ fundamentally in their nature and formulation. Research questions are broad statements that guide the overall direction of the research. They identify the main problem or area of inquiry that the research will address. For example, a research question might be, "What is the impact of social media on teenage mental health?" This question sets the stage for the research and helps to define the scope of the study. On the other hand, research objectives are specific, measurable goals that the research aims to achieve. They are typically developed based on the research problem, literature review, and theoretical framework , and should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). Understanding these two terms' differences is essential for conducting effective and meaningful research.

The purpose and function of research objectives and research questions also differ significantly. Research questions are often used to generate hypotheses or identify gaps in existing knowledge. They help define the study's scope and guide the overall direction of the research. In contrast, research objectives are used to establish clear and achievable targets for the research. They guide the research process by providing specific goals that the researcher aims to achieve. Knowing the difference between goals, objectives, and questions is an important skill throughout your design research career.

To illustrate the differences between research objectives and research questions, consider the following examples:

Research Question: What is the impact of social media on teenage mental health?
Research Objective: To assess the correlation between social media usage and levels of anxiety and depression among teenagers.

In this example, the research question identifies the main problem or area of inquiry, while the research objective defines the specific outcome that the researcher is looking to achieve. This distinction is crucial for guiding the research process and ensuring that the study remains focused and relevant.

How to Formulate Effective Research Objectives and Questions

Formulating effective research objectives and questions is a critical step in the research process. Clear and well-defined objectives and questions provide a roadmap for your study, ensuring that you stay focused and on track. Here are some tips for researching and organizing your thesis. Define purpose, choose relevant topic, set clear goals. Stay motivated and make steady progress towards completing your thesis.

Interrelationship Between Research Objectives and Research Questions

Research objectives and research questions play complementary roles in a study. While research questions identify the main problem or area of inquiry, research objectives define the specific outcomes that the researcher aims to achieve. This interrelationship ensures that the study remains focused and directed towards achieving its goals. The link between the research objectives, research questions, and findings is shown in tables 2 and 3.

The mutual influence between research objectives and research questions is significant. A well-defined research question should lead to specific objectives necessary to answer the question. Conversely, clear objectives can help refine and focus the research questions. This dynamic relationship ensures that both elements work together to guide the research process effectively.

Case studies often illustrate the practical application of the interrelationship between research objectives and research questions. For instance, in a study on the impact of social media on teenage mental health, the research question might be, "What is the impact of social media on teenage mental health?" The corresponding objectives would then include specific goals such as measuring the frequency of social media use among teenagers and assessing its correlation with mental health outcomes. Crafting effective interview protocols involves structured conversations, defining the target audience, determining key questions, and designing the interview structure to create a guide for focused conversation and valuable insights.

Practical Applications in Academic Research

Case study analysis.

In academic research, case studies serve as a powerful tool to illustrate the practical applications of theoretical concepts. By examining specific instances, you can gain insights into how research objectives and questions are formulated and addressed in real-world scenarios. Applied research requires practical solutions for existing problems , making case studies an invaluable resource for understanding the nuances of research design and implementation.

Best Practices

Adhering to best practices in academic research ensures that your study is both credible and impactful. This includes clearly defining your research objectives and questions, maintaining ethical standards, and rigorously analyzing your data. To enhance your research, you should find literature that supports your hypotheses and provides a solid foundation for your study. This approach not only strengthens your research but also aligns it with established academic standards.

Tools and Resources

Utilizing the right tools and resources can significantly streamline your research process. From software for data analysis to platforms for literature search, these tools can help you manage your research more efficiently. For instance, tools like R Discovery and Paperpal can assist you in conducting comprehensive literature reviews, while project management software can help you keep track of your research milestones. This is where you can suggest how your findings can be applied in practice, and what are the possible directions for future research in your field.

In the realm of academic research, practical applications are key to overcoming common challenges faced by students. Our innovative Thesis Action Plan is designed to guide you through every step of your thesis journey, ensuring you never feel lost or overwhelmed. With proven methodologies and strategies validated by professors and students worldwide, our resources are tailored to meet your unique needs. Don't let thesis anxiety hold you back any longer. Visit our website to claim your special offer now and take the first step towards a stress-free thesis writing experience.

In conclusion, understanding the distinction between research objectives and research questions is fundamental for conducting effective and meaningful research. Research questions serve as broad, guiding statements that define the scope and direction of the study, while research objectives are specific, measurable goals that the research aims to achieve. These two elements, though distinct, are complementary and together provide a comprehensive framework for the research process. By clearly defining both research questions and objectives, researchers can ensure a focused and structured approach, ultimately leading to more precise and valuable outcomes. This clarity not only enhances the quality of the research but also contributes to the advancement of knowledge within the field.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between research objectives and research questions.

Research objectives are specific, measurable goals that a researcher aims to achieve in a study, while research questions are broad inquiries that guide the overall direction of the research.

Why are clear definitions of research objectives and questions important?

Clear definitions help ensure that the research is focused, organized, and able to achieve its goals. They provide a roadmap for the research process and help measure success.

How do research objectives guide the research process?

Research objectives set specific goals that the researcher aims to achieve. They help in planning the methodology, data collection, and analysis, ensuring that the research stays on track.

What role do research questions play in a study?

Research questions identify the main problem or area of inquiry and help in defining the scope of the study. They guide the formulation of hypotheses and direct the research towards addressing specific issues.

Can a study have both research objectives and research questions?

Yes, a study can have both research objectives and research questions. Well-defined research questions should lead to specific objectives necessary to answer the questions.

What are common pitfalls to avoid when formulating research objectives and questions?

Common pitfalls include being too vague or too broad, not aligning with the research problem, and failing to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).

How to Align Your Research Questions and Objectives for a Successful Study

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What is the difference between aims and objectives in a research proposal?

Within the context of research (e.g., research proposal), what makes the Aims and Objectives different to one another?

I am looking for a clear and simple answer. When I look around I often end up more confused.

terminology
research-proposal

2 Answers 2

This shows up generally in the English language, I've seen the exact same discussion in writing constitutions for not for profits, and similar answer applies.

Consider the context of a military plan:

Aim: Secure the northern boarder.
Objective: Increase garrison strength to 150 men
Objective: Assassinate the neighboring warlord: McBaddie
Objective: Rebuild border wall

Your aim is "What do we overall want" -- the what, your objective is "What will do to achieve it" -- the how. Once all your objectives are complete, then you should have thus completed the aim. Objectives are also "whats" and so can be the "aims" for subobjectives. Eg

SubObjective: increase recuiting in cities X,Y,Z
SubObjective: Decrease training times of recuits by increasing hours of training per day by 25%.

So for a research proposal: say you are in the area of Sports science/mechanical engineering, working on bicycle design.

Aim: to produce the most efficient bycycle in terms of cadence to power ratio.
Objective: Develop a sensor accurately measure power that can fit into a pedal casing
Objective: Determine normal cadence rate for cyclists, and the level they can be trained to vary it.
Objective: Determine the most effective material to build gear systems out of.

1 Do you have a reference for the claim that Objectives are also "whats" and so can be the "aims" for subobjectives ? – StrongBad Commented Jun 27, 2017 at 12:44
@StrongBad no, I don't but "feels" right. I've be interested in seeing anything written about that one way or the other. They are "whats" in the that are "What we will do to achieve our aim." As compared to "How we will achieve our aim" which is not objectives but a plan. No? – Frames Catherine White Commented Jun 27, 2017 at 12:53
Objectives seem to be constistantly a "How", wearing a "What's" clothing. In the NFP case I mentioned before, I am on the board of our state's Speculative Fiction Foundation. Our aim is to promote Spec Fic. Our objectives are to Run Conventions, Run Writing Competitions, Fund Community Projects. The objectives are how we achieve our goals, but they are not themselves how they are done. Eg they are not instructions on how to run a convention, or competition or even how to decide what projects to fund. – Frames Catherine White Commented Jun 27, 2017 at 13:00

There is no simple answer. From what I can tell, these terms were developed by bean counters with the typical description being that the aims are the what and the objectives are the how . The bean counters then talk about smart objectives that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound.

The quote I like best is from NIH NIAID :

start thinking about your planned experiments by first drafting objectives, known in NIH lingo as Specific Aims.

I think this circularity arises from the fact that NIH grants typically only have a specific aims section and does not have an objective section. The NIH says the specific aims

Includes the specific objectives of the research proposed (e.g., to test a stated hypothesis, create a novel design, solve a specific problem, challenge an existing paradigm or clinical practice, address a critical barrier to progress in the field, or develop new technology).

I hae always thought the description of the specific objectives sound like aims to me since I feel like they describe what is going to be done (test a stated hypothesis) and not how it is going to be done.

The key thing, regardless of the terminology is that grant reviewers nowadays want to know both what you are going to do and how you are going to go about it.

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Essay Editor

Dissertation vs. Thesis: Understanding Differences & Similarities

Many graduate students hear two important words a lot: "dissertation" and "thesis." These words can be confusing because they seem alike. But they're actually quite different, and knowing the difference can help you with your research and studies.

This guide will help explain dissertations and theses. We want to make things clear so you can feel more sure about your schoolwork. Let's look at the main differences between dissertations and theses to help you understand your school path better.

Thesis and Dissertations — Definitions

First, let's explain what is a dissertation vs thesis.

A thesis is a big research project usually needed for a master's degree. It shows a student’s knowledge about a subject and ability to do research. A thesis often looks at what other people have written and uses it to form their own ideas.

A dissertation is new research done for a doctoral degree. It tries to add new knowledge to a field of study. Dissertations need to be original, detailed and well-supported. They're often published as books or as several articles in academic journals.

Interestingly, these meanings can be different in different places. In the United States, people usually write dissertations for Ph.D. programs and theses for master's degrees. But in Europe, it's the other way around — dissertations are for master's programs, and theses are for Ph.D.s.

Differences between Thesis and Dissertations

Now that we know the basics, let's look at the main differences between a thesis and a dissertation:

Purpose: A thesis shows you know a lot about a subject. A dissertation adds new knowledge to a field.
Scope: Theses usually focus on a smaller area. Dissertations look at bigger, broader topics.
Length: Theses are usually shorter (80-100 pages). Dissertations are longer (150-200+ pages).
New Ideas: Both involve research, but dissertations are expected to bring new findings or theories.
Presentation: Dissertations often need a formal presentation. Theses might or might not need one.
Readers: Theses are usually for a school committee. Dissertations are for more academic readers.
Research Depth: Theses look deeply at existing work. Dissertations do new research and also look at existing work.

When working on these big projects, tools like Aithor can help organize your thoughts and keep your writing sounding natural and academic throughout your thesis or dissertation.

Differences Between Thesis and Dissertation Across Academic Levels

The difference between theses and dissertations can change depending on the school level:

Undergraduate Level

At this level, a thesis is usually a focused study showing what a student can do with a specific topic. Dissertations are less common for undergraduates but might involve broader research.

Master's Level

A master's thesis shows a student knows a lot about a subject by looking at and combining existing research. A master's dissertation is less common but involves new research that adds to the field.

Doctoral Level

For Ph.D.s, the difference between a thesis and a dissertation is bigger. A doctoral thesis vs dissertation comparison shows that a dissertation involves a lot of research, collecting data, and creating new theories. It aims to make a big step forward in the field and is very important for getting a Ph.D.

Similarities Between Dissertation and Thesis

Even though they're different, thesis versus dissertation comparisons also show some things that are the same:

1. Structure

Both usually have these parts:

Introduction
Literature Review
Research methods/materials
Bibliography

2. Supervision

Both are done with help from a teacher who guides the student through the research process.

3. Other Similarities

Both are long research projects needed to get a degree.
They both need to explain research using proper academic writing.
Both need a clear question or idea to research.
Students must show they know a lot about their subject in both.
Thinking carefully and working on your own are important for both.

If students find it hard to write so much for theses and dissertations, tools like Aithor can help keep long documents consistent and suggest ways to make the writing clearer and more academic.

Final Notes

Knowing the difference between thesis and dissertation is really important for graduate students. While they have some things in common, their different purposes and requirements make them distinct. Whether you're working on a thesis or a dissertation, remember that both let you show what you know and add to your field of study.

If you're worried about writing a thesis or dissertation, don't stress. Aithor can help you organize your ideas, build your arguments, and improve your writing. This can make the process easier and less stressful. With the right tools and attitude, you can write an impressive academic paper that you'll be proud of for a long time.

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Difference between thesis objectives and research questions

Thesis objectives and research questions are an integral part of thesis research. Although these two terms seem similar, they are not but are correlated. After choosing an area of interest, it is essential to formulate an original and appropriate research design to conduct the investigation. Defining the thesis objectives and the research questions is the first step in this process. However, it is important to know the difference between these two terms. This article explains the difference between thesis objectives and research questions.

Understanding thesis objectives

Moreover, the purpose of thesis objectives is to decide the target and intention. Without objectives, the thesis is incomplete and lacks direction . The researcher is required to progress in the right direction, which is decided by the thesis objectives. The thesis objectives also help to confine the research and prevent the researcher from getting saturated. They draw a fence to the research to make it accurate and concise.

How to frame thesis objectives?

The objectives of a thesis develop an understanding and opinion of the thesis. The thesis objectives should be framed accurately in relevance to the topic.

The researcher should form an explicit idea of the topic of the thesis.
The focus of the study should be clear before forming the objectives.
The objectives should be measurable, rational, under a specific time frame, and logical.
They should represent questions such as what, why, when, where, and how.
The objectives should begin with action verbs such as examine, study, understand and assess. The use of non-action verbs should avoid.
The objectives should reflect in the conclusion part of the thesis. Hence, frame the achievable objectives.

Understanding research questions

Research questions are more specific than the thesis objectives. They are based on the research problem of the thesis. Research questions are framed by narrowing down the objectives. According to Wimmer and Dominick (2014), research questions highlight a relationship between two or more variables while providing a tentative generalization. The thesis research questions are core inquiry and investigation of the investigation. After forming the research questions, the researcher sets out to find the answers. This helps to prevent vague and ambiguous research.

The purpose of research questions is to develop a concise, clear, pertinent, and logical inquiry into the research. The researcher can link the Research questions directly to the conclusion to simplify it. Hulley et.al. (2007) have proposed a FINER (F=Feasible, I=Interesting, N=Novel, E=Ethical, R=Relevant) model of research questions. The application of this model increases the chances of developing a productive research thesis. According to Farrugia et.al. (2009), a good research question specifies the population of interest that is relevant and has potential for further research and adds knowledge to the contemporary field of study.

Figure 1: How to frame the research questions in a thesis

How to frame research questions?

The generation of the hypothesis is followed by refining the research questions. It is essential to understand the scope and complexity of the thesis topic while surveying the research resources. It is also imperative to understand the previous work conducted by the scholars on a specific topic. Considering all these parameters, one can proceed to formulate research questions. The following points will help to frame research questions:

Before framing research questions, the research problem should be analyzed properly by examining existing research and rendering questionable statements.
Frame research questions in a manageable format. Construct the boundaries and limitations of the research and then write research questions.
Specific and logical language is a must to frame research questions.
Phrasing needs to be clear and concise.
It should be directly related to, but not exactly the same as the thesis objectives.

Summarising the differences between thesis objectives and research questions

Parameters	Thesis objectives	Research questions
Meaning	Thesis objectives help to form an idea of the thesis as well as facilitate the process of deciding the vision of the research.	Research questions are a specific and narrowed inquiry into the research problem seeking to improve knowledge of a particular domain.
Purpose	The purpose is to construct variables and hypotheses and generate the processes of data collection, sampling, data analysis, findings and conclusion.	By defining research questions, the rest of the steps in research are clearly defined. It also conveys what exactly the researcher is trying to find out.
Method	By analyzing the topic of the study and studying relevant material, a research gap is discovered. Based on that, the generalized objectives are formed.	The systematic breakdown of objectives gives birth to research questions. These questions are a detailed inquiry into the statement of the problem.

An example of thesis objectives and research questions

Thesis topic: Changing style of media consumption post Covid-19 pandemic with special reference to OTT platforms and its impacts.

Thesis objectives

The main aim of this study is to examine how Covid-19 has changed the media consumption style of people with special reference to OTT platforms.

The thesis objectives are as follows:

To examine the media consumption style of the audience amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.
To identify the reasons for the growing consumption of OTT platforms today.
To observe the mental and physical consequences of media consumption post-covid-19 pandemic

Research questions

This study aims to answer the following questions:

Which OTT platforms are trending and preferred by the audiences?
What are the impacts of changing media consumption styles on people, particularly on their physical and mental health?
Why has the media consumption style changed amidst the Covid-19 pandemic?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of OTT media platforms today?

Importance of thesis objectives and research questions

It is essential to define appropriate objectives and research questions. The thesis is built upon these two components. They construct a method of working for the researcher. While researching, it is essential to limit the study area and research methods. By formulating research questions and thesis objectives, the research can be conducted within a constructed framework.

Wimmer, R.D. Dominic, J.R. (2015). Mass Media Research: An Introduction. 10 th Edition, Wadsworth, Cenage Learning, Boston.
Hully, Stephen et.al. (2007). Designing Clinical Research. 4 th Edition. Williams & Lippincott Wilkins.
Farrigia, Patricia. Petrisor, Bradley. Farrokhyar, Forough. Bhandari, Mohit. (2009). Research questions, hypothesis and objectives. Continuing Medical Education, 53-4, pp. 278-282.
Hashimi, H. (2015) ‘Types of research questions’, Nursing , 4(3), pp. 23–25.
Priya Chetty
Chaitanya Shinkhede

I am a management graduate with specialisation in Marketing and Finance. I have over 12 years' experience in research and analysis. This includes fundamental and applied research in the domains of management and social sciences. I am well versed with academic research principles. Over the years i have developed a mastery in different types of data analysis on different applications like SPSS, Amos, and NVIVO. My expertise lies in inferring the findings and creating actionable strategies based on them.

Over the past decade I have also built a profile as a researcher on Project Guru's Knowledge Tank division. I have penned over 200 articles that have earned me 400+ citations so far. My Google Scholar profile can be accessed here .

I now consult university faculty through Faculty Development Programs (FDPs) on the latest developments in the field of research. I also guide individual researchers on how they can commercialise their inventions or research findings. Other developments im actively involved in at Project Guru include strengthening the "Publish" division as a bridge between industry and academia by bringing together experienced research persons, learners, and practitioners to collaboratively work on a common goal.

Post-graduated in Mass Communication and Journalism (2015), instead of working in the media industry, I chose to pursue teaching and research in media and communication studies. I have teaching experience of two years and research experience of six years. Last year, I worked on the ICSSR IMPRESS project as a Research Assistant at PAH Solapur University. It was related to social media and participatory development. I am also pursuing a Ph.D. at TMV, Pune. My research is concerned with the sustainability of rural community radio stations. Apart from these ventures, I conduct research in the development communication, media ecology, film studies, and radio journalism. I have also delivered multiple training programs to NET/SET aspirants and I am part of the board of studies (Solapur University).

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Lewisham Education Arts Network

Aims, objectives, outcomes, outputs- what’s the difference?

Confused by this terminology? Some things that might help...

Posted: 06/09/2015

Category: Planning the Project

Often when starting an arts education / learning / participatory project, or applying for funding or an opportunity, you maybe asked to provide:

At LEAN we think of these definitions as the following. We find that these are commonly shared, but occasionally a funder or organisation might use the terminology differently.

You may as an artist, practitioner or organisation have overall aims and aims specific to a project. This can help you structure your planning and evaluation, as well as running a project.

Aims often start with To… and describe the changes you are trying to achieve.

To introduce quilt making in a historical and contemporary context to young people

To provide young people with some knowledge and skill of how to make contemporary quilts

Objectives are how you are going to do this (the activity)

Recruit 30 participants from Runnymead Street for 16-20 year olds

Run 3 sessions over 3 weeks for those participants

Teach traditional quilting techniques and history

Introduce contemporary context and ideas

Outputs are what you expect to ‘produce’ – if you were making a machine, what would come out…

30 participants attend 3 sessions to make a quilt referencing contemporary culture

Outcomes are the changes you will have caused due to the project. They will be written as if the workshop has been completed and include words such as more, greater etc

Participants have a greater knowledge of traditional quilting techniques

Participants are more confident in using traditional techniques to produce contemporary artworks

Participants have an increased understanding of the history of quilt making

Outcome indicators shouldn’t be forgotten. How will you know if you have achieved your outcomes, and to what extent? These need to be measurable:

70% of participants have a greater knowledge of traditional quilting techniques

80% of p articipants are more confident in using traditional techniques to produce contemporary artworks

Of course you also need to decide how you will collect the information that proves, for example, 70% of participants have a greater knowledge of traditional quilting techniques. There are numerous ways to do this that take into account the characteristics of your group. You might use questionnaires, goal setting, observations, before and after surveys, video diaries or vox pops.

See our evaluation resource for more information , and you can have a 1-2-1 session with LEAN to help you with this aspect of your project.

It’s a game of semantics, but organising any project with this in mind first, will help with all aspects of planning and running the sessions/project, and give structure to your evaluation forms and reports.

Check with the organisations you are working with – they often have their own aims, outcomes, objectives they want for the project.

It often is useful to be open to outcomes and outputs you didn’t expect and where possible allow for learning and creative enquiry beyond the aims and objectives. But that all depends on how you choose to run the project and important factors such as time and resources.

Some helpful websites:

https://www.ncvo.org.uk/
There is a handy diagram on: http://knowhownonprofit.org/organisation/quality/mande/aims-objectives-and-outcomes-of-monitoring-and-evaluation

"Just to say a huge thanks ... I am looking forward to progressing with this project thanks to your support, advice and guidance"

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Vision vs mission statement – what’s the difference? A definitive guide + 20 examples

Anthony Esposito Senior Account Manager at PandaDoc

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Despite being used interchangeably, mission statements and vision statements are two distinct types of brand messages that serve different purposes.

So, we’re here to clear up the vision vs mission statement debate and explore their differences. Plus, we’ll help you write your own.

Key takeaways

Mission statements describe your company’s current purpose and goals.
Vision statements outline your company’s future goals and aspirations.
A powerful mission statement sets out what your company does and why.
Aligning your core values and culture with long-term goals can help you create an inspirational vision statement.

Mission statement vs vision statement: what’s the difference?

Mission statements define what your company is doing right now to achieve its goals, while vision statements define what your company’s ultimate goal is.

So, you could say that your mission statement is the blueprint for how you’re going to achieve your company’s vision statement.

So, to sum up, here’s a table showing the main differences between mission and vision statements:


	Describes what your company does, who you’re doing it for, and why you’re doing it.	Describes what you hope to achieve in the future.
	Focused on your current goals and activities.	Focused on your future aspirational goals.
	Generally targeted at customers.	Generally targeted at employees and other stakeholders.

What is a mission statement?

A mission statement is a short, simple statement that communicates what your business’s purpose is.

In one or two sentences, it aims to tell readers three fundamental things about your company: what it does, who it serves, and why.

Mission statements are always written in the present tense and describe the current goals and priorities of your company.

Most mission statements begin with “to…” or some variation of “we strive to…”.

You can also create department-focused mission statements.

A sales mission statement , for example, defines the purposes, values, and goals of your sales departments.

These three things are primarily what makes a good mission statement.

What is the purpose of a mission statement?

A good mission statement helps employees, leadership, and target audiences understand the main purpose and key objectives of your company.

For customers, it serves to distinguish you from the competition and communicate the values that, hopefully, resonate with your audience.

And for employees and leadership, mission statements unite everyone involved on a focused, foundational purpose.

This is particularly important in departments like sales, where competitiveness can sabotage sales collaboration . With a strong mission statement, you can unite sales teams, helping them to focus their strategies and decision-making to meet shared goals.

What is a vision statement?

A vision statement defines the aspirational goals of your company — in other words, your vision for the future.

It focuses on the large-scale impact you hope to have on the world and communicates your brand’s long-term goals.

They tend to be highly ambitious — for example, Microsoft’s old vision statement was “A computer on every desk and in every home.”

If you’re unsure how to formulate a vision, keep reading because we cover that later in this guide.

What is the purpose of a vision statement?

Vision statements are designed to inspire and motivate employees.

Boldly aspirational, they act as your company’s guiding star, leading everyone toward shared, big-picture dreams and objectives.

A powerful vision statement can unite employees and leaders, drive company strategies, and secure stakeholder confidence.

So, to sum up the vision statement vs mission statement debate, mission statements are focused on current goals , whereas vision statements are focused on future goals .

20 mission statement vs vision statement examples

To truly understand the difference between mission and vision statements, we’ve collected 20 examples of statements that get the message across.

Let’s begin with ten mission statement examples:

Starbucks: “To inspire and nurture the human spirit — one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.”
Google: “To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”
Coca-Cola: “To refresh the world and make a difference.”
Tesla: “To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”
JetBlue: “To inspire humanity — both in the air and on the ground.”
IKEA: “To offer a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them.”
Disney: “To entertain, inform, and inspire people around the globe through the power of unparalleled storytelling.”
Slack: “Make people’s working lives simpler, more pleasant, and more productive.”
Lego: “To inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow.”
American Red Cross: “To prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors.”

Now for some vision statement examples:

Starbucks: “To establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles while we grow.”
IKEA: “To create a better everyday life for the many people.”
Amazon: “To be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices.”
Pepsi: “Be the global leader in convenient foods and beverages by winning with purpose.”
Lego: “To be a global force for learning through play.”
LinkedIn : “Create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce.”
Southwest: “To be the world’s most loved, most efficient, and most profitable airline.”
McDonald’s: “To move with velocity to drive profitable growth and become an even better McDonald’s serving more customers delicious food each day around the world.”
Samsung: “Inspire the world with our innovative technologies, products, and design that enrich people’s lives and contribute to social prosperity by creating a new future.”
Tesla: “To create the most compelling car company of the 21st century by driving the world’s transition to electric vehicles.”

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Mission and vision statements define and guide your company’s core initiatives and priorities.

Mission statements clarify the purpose and primary objectives of your company, while vision statements describe your future goals.

Both statements unite and motivate your employees, reassure stakeholders, and resonate with your customers.

On a sales level, a strong mission statement provides focus and direction for sales reps, improving sales quotas .

What else can you do to achieve those goals? Once you’ve crafted powerful mission and vision statements, consider using a document workflow automation solution like PandaDoc for Sales.

With PandaDoc, your teams can:

Automate proposals to improve their workflows
Create personalized sales documents using a drag-and-drop editor
Access real-time reporting and notifications

PandaDoc for Sales motivates employees to succeed, enabling them to deliver better client experiences. Why not check it out today?

PandaDoc is not a law firm, or a substitute for an attorney or law firm. This page is not intended to and does not provide legal advice. Should you have legal questions on the validity of e-signatures or digital signatures and the enforceability thereof, please consult with an attorney or law firm. Use of PandaDoc services are governed by our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Frequently asked question

Which comes first, vision or mission.

While there’s no hard and fast rule for which one to define first, brands tend to begin with their mission statement. Your business’s purpose — i.e., why your company exists — should be at the core of your brand’s messages. So, starting with your mission statement and using it to guide your wider vision makes sense.

What are the three parts of a mission statement?

A good mission statement focuses on purpose, values, and goals.

Purpose: Why does your company exist? How does this relate to the product or service you offer?

Values: What foundational values does your company stand for? Affordability? Sustainability? Innovation? How does your brand differ from your competitors?

Goals: What are the immediate objectives of your company? What impact do you want to have on your customers?

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This paper is in the following e-collection/theme issue:

Published on 29.8.2024 in Vol 26 (2024)

Web-Based Coping Skills Training and Coach Support for Women Living With a Partner With an Alcohol Use Disorder: Randomized Controlled Trial

Authors of this article:

Original Paper

Robert G Rychtarik 1 , PhD ;
Brian G Danaher 2 , PhD ;
Neil B McGillicuddy 3 , PhD ;
Milagra S Tyler 2 , MA ;
Christopher Barrick 4 , PhD ;
Florence Leong 3 , PhD ;
Derek B Kosty 2 , PhD

1 Department of Psychiatry and Clinical and Research Institute on Addictions, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, United States

2 Prevention Science Institute, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, United States

3 Clinical and Research Institute on Addictions, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, United States

4 School of Nursing, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, United States

Corresponding Author:

Robert G Rychtarik, PhD

Department of Psychiatry and Clinical and Research Institute on Addictions

University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

1021 Main Street

Buffalo, NY, 14203

United States

Phone: 1 7168872591

Email: [email protected]

Background: Individuals living with a partner with an alcohol use disorder (AUD) can experience significant psychological distress and use health care more than those without a partner with an AUD. However, the prevailing treatment system’s focus on the partner and personal barriers limit these individuals from getting help for themselves. Preliminary work on a self-directed, web-based coping skills training program, Stop Spinning My Wheels (SSMW), shows promise in broadening available treatments for this population. In this study, we conducted a robust evaluation of SSMW primary outcomes.

Objective: The study aims to test whether women with a partner with an AUD assigned to SSMW experienced a greater reduction in negative affect (depression and anger) (1) than a usual web care (UWC) control and (2) with brief phone coach support (SSMW+coach) rather than without (SSMW only) and (3) whether baseline negative affect moderated treatment effects.

Methods: Women (mean age 45.7, SD 10.8 years; Black: 17/456, 3.7%; White: 408/456, 89.5%) were randomized to SSMW only, SSMW+coach, or UWC. Depression (Beck Depression Inventory–II) and anger (State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory 2–State Anger) were assessed at baseline, 12-week posttest, and 6- and 12-month follow-ups.

Results: Participants in all conditions decreased in depression from baseline to posttest and from baseline to follow-up; SSMW-only and SSMW+coach participants decreased in anger, but UWC participants did not. Compared to UWC participants, SSMW-only participants experienced greater anger reduction ( P =.03), and SSMW+coach participants experienced a greater reduction in depression ( P <.001) from baseline to posttest. However, from baseline to follow-up, only a greater, but not statistically significant ( P =.052), reduction in anger occurred in SSMW+coach compared to UWC. Although the SSMW conditions did not differ from each other in negative affect outcomes ( P= .06-.57), SSMW+coach had higher program engagement and satisfaction (all P <.004). Baseline negative affect did not moderate effects, although remission from baseline clinically relevant depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory≥14) was higher in SSMW only (33/67, 49%; odds ratio 2.13, 95% CI 1.05-4.30; P= .03) and SSMW+coach (46/74, 62%; odds ratio 3.60, 95% CI 1.79-7.23; P <.001) than in UWC (21/67, 31%); remission rates did not differ between the SSMW conditions ( P= .12).

Conclusions: The results partially supported the hypotheses. The SSMW conditions had earlier effects than UWC, but positive change in UWC mitigated the hypothesized long-term SSMW-UWC differences. The results highlight the importance of incorporating active controls in web-based clinical trials. Although SSMW+coach showed benefits over SSMW only on engagement and satisfaction measures and in the number needed to treat (5.6 for SSMW only; 3.2 for SSMW+coach), the SSMW conditions were comparable and superior to UWC on depressive symptom remission levels. Overall, SSMW with or without a coach can reduce clinically meaningful distress and add to available treatment options for this large, underserved group.

Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02984241; https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT02984241

Introduction

Individuals living with a partner with an alcohol use disorder (AUD) are at significantly greater risk of experiencing physical or emotional harm from the partner’s drinking. Women are more likely than men to report such harm [ 1 ], and estimates suggest that 5% of adult women in the United States are married to or living with a partner with an AUD [ 2 ]. Spouses with (vs without) a partner with a substance use disorder (SUD) are at least 2 times as likely to experience depression, anxiety, and stress-related disorders [ 3 ] and have more social adjustment problems [ 4 ], subclinical disorders [ 5 ], and health care use [ 3 , 6 - 11 ] and higher health care costs [ 8 ]. While early views interpreted the psychological problems experienced by this population as indicative of personality and characterological issues, contemporary family stress models view it as indicative of normal individuals struggling to cope with the disorder in their partner or family [ 12 , 13 ]. Consistent with this latter view, much of the distress experienced particularly among those without their own SUD appears directly related to stress, burden, or the extent of problems brought on by the partner’s SUD [ 12 , 14 , 15 ].

In this research report, we refer to partner as the person with the AUD; spouse refers to the individual married to or living with the person with the AUD. Daley et al [ 16 ] note that the “major health, social, and safety problem [of SUD] cannot be effectively addressed without considering the impact of SUDs on families and members, including children, and including them in treatment and recovery. While addiction is promoted as a ‘family disease,’ in reality many family members are not offered the opportunity to engage in treatment for their own health.” A small but growing body of research suggests that spouses of partners with AUD can benefit from professional, therapist-delivered treatments designed to relieve their own personal distress [ 17 , 18 ]. However, institutional barriers (eg, systemic emphasis on the partner’s treatment) and personal barriers (eg, spouse preoccupation with only the partner’s problem, fears of partner retribution, stigmatization, and costs of clinical care) limit the overall accessibility of these face-to-face treatments. Self-help groups, mainly Al-Anon, can be helpful for this group, but Al-Anon may not be readily available, and dropout can be high [ 19 ]. Merkouris et al [ 17 ] recommended developing and evaluating a broader range of treatment modalities and intensities for spouses and caregivers, particularly self-directed, web-based treatment formats.

Only 2 studies, both pilots, of web-based treatments for spouses have been reported in the literature. Osilla et al [ 20 ] piloted a web adaptation of the Community Reinforcement and Family Training program that targeted spouses whose partners were military service members and veterans. Compared to a waitlist control condition, program participants reported significantly reduced anxiety and greater social support but no significant reduction in depressive symptoms or anger. In a feasibility pilot study, Rychtarik et al [ 21 ] conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT), in which 89 women with a partner with an AUD were assigned to either (1) an early version of the web-based Stop Spinning My Wheels (SSMW) program, a coach-assisted eHealth adaptation of an empirically tested face-to-face coping skills training program focusing on spouse functioning [ 5 ]; or (2) a waitlist control. The results of an 8-week assessment of SSMW showed that women participated in their web sessions and were very satisfied with the overall program, although relatively few opted to use the optional coach support available to them. Compared to controls, SSMW participants exhibited significantly improved coping skills (effect size=1.02), fewer depressive symptoms (effect size=–0.65), and reduced situational anger (effect size=–0.70). The conditions did not differ on other secondary outcomes (ie, anxiety, anger expression, and general stress). While results are promising, we do not know whether SSMW can achieve similar results when evaluated against an active control condition. Similarly, we do not know whether coach support can improve outcomes when compared to SSMW alone.

In this report, we build on and address the limitations of our earlier SSMW pilot with an updated SSMW version, a credible active web control, and randomization to phone coach support. This report is limited to the study’s primary treatment outcomes (ie, depression and state anger) and to testing the study’s 4 primary a priori hypotheses. First, we hypothesized that the fully self-directed SSMW would result in immediate and sustained reductions in negative affect relative to an active web control. Second, we hypothesized that SSMW plus low-intensity phone coaching would result in immediate and sustained negative affect reductions relative to the active control. Third, we hypothesized that SSMW with low-intensity phone coaching would promote a greater negative affect reduction than SSMW alone. Fourth, we hypothesized that baseline negative affect would moderate SSMW outcomes such that those higher in negative affect would show a greater reduction with a coach than without. Those lower in negative affect were hypothesized to benefit equally well regardless of coach support. Similarly, we explored whether baseline negative affect moderated the effects of SSMW overall compared to the usual web care (UWC) control condition. Hypotheses 3 and 4 are informed by the supportive accountability model [ 22 ], which posits that low-intensity human coach support, goal setting, and performance monitoring can encourage web-based program follow-through. Thus, we hypothesized that the greater SSMW program engagement and use of program recommendations with a coach would result in a greater negative affect reduction than SSMW without a coach. Similarly, we hypothesized that the greater program engagement with a coach would promote greater benefit for those high in negative affect; those with lower negative affect would benefit from either SSMW condition.

Trial Design

This study was a parallel 3-group, intention-to-treat RCT that followed the CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) guidelines [ 23 ] ( Multimedia Appendix 1 ). The trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02984241) [ 24 ].

Ethical Considerations

All study procedures were approved by the institutional review board of the University at Buffalo (STUDY00000057). Electronic and verbal consent were used in the consenting process. Participants could opt out of taking part at any time. Data presented in this paper are deidentified; only grouped summary statistics are reported. Participants were paid US $120 at week 12 for completing the interim and 12-week assessments and US $50 for each 6- and 12-month assessment.

Participants

Study participants were 456 female spouses recruited from across New York state from October 13, 2019, to February 26, 2021. Radio, internet, and other media advertisements for the SSMW program directed women experiencing stress from their partner’s drinking to a research project web page that contained a study description and a link to a brief web self-screening consent form and questionnaire. Spouses who completed the self-screening assessment, were found to be preliminarily eligible, and consented to proceed to the next step in screening were able to access a secure web portal to schedule a call with study staff to complete their final screening ( Figure 1 ).

Upon completion of the final screening interview, eligible and interested individuals received log-in credentials to the study’s secure main web consent form, which, when endorsed, enabled them to complete a web-administered baseline assessment and be randomized to a condition. Once randomized, participants accessed their assigned condition without charge. Throughout the screening process, individuals found ineligible or who declined to participate were provided with information on alternative treatment resources.

Recruitment Deviation

At 5 months into participant recruitment, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we paused prospective participant screenings for approximately 3 months to prepare for and accommodate study personnel’s work from remote locations (eg, acquiring equipment and establishing secure remote procedures). During this time, the marketing website informed visitors of the pause in recruitment and invited them to take the web-based self-screening and, if eligible, place themselves on a waiting list for later consideration. During this time, previously randomly assigned participants maintained access to their assigned study condition and, if assigned, coach phone support.

Eligibility

Eligibility criteria for spouses included the following: (1) age of ≥18 years; (2) residence in New York state; (3) fluency in English; (4) a woman married to or living with a male partner and, based on her report, the partner meeting criteria for past-year AUD on the Family History Assessment Module [ 25 ] and past 3-month problematic alcohol consumption, determined by a score of ≥5 on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test–Consumption items [ 26 ]; (5) negative screening on the Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition [ 27 ] for any unremitted SUD or serious mental disorder (ie, schizophrenia or bipolar disorder) or other conditions that would interfere with participation (eg, high suicide risk); (6) no participation in previous SSMW studies; (7) negative report of having immediate fear for her life due to intimate partner violence and no experienced injuries from partner violence requiring medical attention over the previous year; and (8) internet access and a computer or tablet and smartphone.

Randomization

On completion of the baseline assessments, an urn randomization procedure [ 28 ] was used to assign each participant to 1 of 3 conditions: SSMW only, SSMW+coach, or a UWC control condition. Urn randomization was used to balance condition assignment on putative prognostic baseline variables: (1) spouse education (<12 years vs ≥12 years); (2) partner SUD treatment history (last 3 months: yes vs no); (3) spouse recent Al-Anon experience (last 3 months: yes vs no); (4) spouse psychological or mental health counseling (last 3 months: yes vs no); (5) spouse depression status (<14 vs ≥14 baseline score on the Beck Depression Inventory–II [BDI-II] [ 29 ]); (6) spouse anger status (<18 vs ≥18 baseline score on the State Anger subscale of the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory 2 [STAXI-2] [ 30 ]); and (7) age of youngest biological, adopted, or stepchild at home (none vs 1.5-5 years vs 6-18 years). BDI-II and STAXI-2 subscale cut points correspond to mild depression and clinically significant anger, respectively [ 29 , 30 ]. A separate urn procedure was used to randomize participants in the SSMW+coach condition to 1 of 2 available coaches.

Once randomized to a condition, participants were sent an automated welcoming email with a URL to create a password to access their assigned condition home page. All conditions shared a standard SSMW logo, name, and style (font and color palette) and were accessible via desktop, laptop, or tablet computer devices. Participants were encouraged to complete their assigned program during the active treatment period , defined as from randomization to 12 weeks. Study participants could subsequently access their web content during the follow-up period to more accurately reflect the design of many real-world internet treatments.

SSMW-Only Condition

Both SSMW conditions shared the overarching road trip theme that encouraged participants to (1) view living with a partner with an AUD as a particular challenge in one’s road trip of life ; (2) recognize that it is not possible to be completely prepared to deal with this challenge; and (3) understand that usual ways of coping with a partner’s drinking problem often do not help and the failure of repeatedly trying to change a partner’s behavior can cause the spouse to feel exhausted and stressed out, such as spinning their wheels . Similarly, the stated overall goal of both SSMW conditions was to help the spouse reduce (better manage) her stress by providing more effective skills to cope with a partner who drinks too much.

The SSMW program was an enhanced 20-session version of the self-directed SSMW program in the study by Rychtarik et al [ 21 ]. The information architecture [ 31 , 32 ] of SSMW defined an overall step-by-step (session-by-session) path used by study participants as they interacted with the program. Participants initially followed this tunneled approach that involved completing one session at a time in order. Participants were encouraged to interact with all content on each session web page (eg, finish each video or choose the best response from several possible video interactions) before moving to a subsequent web page. Specifically, SMS text message reminders to complete activities were used throughout, and web page next buttons were dormant the first 2 times a user attempted to move to the next web page before she completed all activities. After 2 tries, the next button was enabled, and the user was able to move forward. Finally, SSMW participants could freely access the content of any sessions they had previously completed. As a result, we describe the SSMW program as having a hybrid information architecture.

Program goals centered on training participants to use strategies and Rules of the Road for coping more effectively with stressful problems arising from their partner’s drinking. Informed by the family stress and family interactional model [ 12 , 14 , 33 ] and using web-delivered adaptations drawn from cognitive behavioral therapy [ 34 , 35 ], these strategies included shifting one’s focus to their own needs, managing negative thinking, adjusting expectations for change, using functional analysis to understand self- and partner behavior, and developing more effective problem-solving and communication skills.

Each session included a video host-delivered overview complemented by narrated animations, instructional text, and multiple highly realistic video portrayals of 6 women and their partners interacting in multiple real-world scenarios of stressful problems arising from the partner’s drinking. Extracted video screenshots with their related text instructions can be found in Multimedia Appendix 2 . Structured, interactive exercises and end-of-session journaling encouraged participants to review their personal problems with their partner’s drinking and apply new skills to better manage these problems. Subsequent sessions guided the participant to develop long-term personal goals and, if interested, seek additional help through professional resources and self-help groups. SSMW participants also had 24/7 secure access to an app on their smartphones [ 31 ] that provided a repository of tailored SSMW program videos, library articles, and personalized journal content synchronized to the participant’s place in the program. The SSMW program protected user privacy in part by timing out (logging the user out of the program and displaying its log-in screen) after 60 minutes of user inactivity, defined as no clicking or typing on the web page. SSMW SMS text messages were automatically sent to participants throughout the 12 weeks. Some messages were prompted by periods of participant inactivity (eg, “Haven’t seen you lately. Spun out? Just get back on the road again. Lots more useful information awaits you.”), by relevance to specific SSMW sessions (eg, “Dial down strong negative feelings by managing your thoughts—watch out for Awful, All or nothing, or Poor-me thoughts.”), and when progress milestones were achieved (eg, “Stop the Spinning! You’ve got a good start!”).

SSMW+Coach Support

Content of the SSMW+coach condition was essentially the same as that described for the SSMW-only condition but with the addition of 6 scheduled support calls with an assigned SSMW coach during the initial 12-week active treatment period. Coach reminder prompts were also included in the SSMW program content, and selected SMS text messages encouraged participants to reach out to their phone coach for more help and additional phone sessions if needed. Automated emails with coach call appointment confirmations also assisted in follow-through.

While the SSMW web program provided the primary coping skills training, SSMW’s phone coaching was informed by the supportive accountability model [ 22 ] and was designed to (1) support and promote spouse motivation to adhere to the program and avoid dropout and (2) offer adjunctive training as needed. Coach calls addressed motivation and dropout by dealing with practical log-in, navigation, or other problems that might discourage engagement; praising engagement; and bolstering the support and connection associated with working along with the SSMW program. Adjunctive skill training assessed the participant’s understanding of program content and its applicability to the participant’s life. As needed or requested by the participant, the coach could provide additional direct instruction, modeling, and role-play to help bolster and generalize the skills learned. Coach calls were designed to be no longer than 20 minutes. However, calls could last longer depending on each participant’s engagement level and understanding of program content and whether problems or questions were elicited during the call. To prepare for a call, the coach used a separate coach web portal to review participant progress in completing program sessions and journal entry content.

Coaches in the SSMW+coach condition were 2 master’s-level substance abuse or mental health counselors. As part of the coach fidelity and credibility protocol, coaches received intensive training in the SSMW content and phone coaching before the start of recruitment. A written phone coach manual described a framework for coaching, critical coaching skills within a supportive accountability model [ 22 ] (eg, effective use of empathic and reflective listening, eliciting commitment, use of praise, and engaging the participant collaboratively), and troubleshooting coaching issues (eg, dealing with low program adherence). In addition, to maintain consistency and minimize drift, coaches used a phone coach call checklist, digitally recorded coaching calls, and attended weekly or biweekly joint review or booster training sessions with a project supervisor to review select call recordings and discuss the status of cases. We reviewed randomly selected coach call progress notes on study completion to assess coach compliance and call recording lengths. One call was randomly chosen from each individual in a 30.1% (40/133) random sample of SSMW+coach participants who had at least one coach call; due to technical recording errors, 2 participants’ call length data were unavailable. In total, 2 raters independently scored each progress note narrative on the presence (1=yes; 0=no) of the following call compliance indicators: (1) assessment of program progress, (2) engagement or encouragement, (3) help with the application of SSMW content, and (4) a cognitive behavioral versus other counseling model focus. Interrater reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient; 2-way random model for rater consistency and mean rater measurement) was 0.77. Overall compliance with the coaching protocol appeared high. Across the 2 raters, the sampled notes averaged 3.6 (SD 0.5) out of 4 compliance indicators; the median was 4 (IQR 3.5-4.0). The mean length of calls was 20.0 (SD 9.2) minutes; the median was 19.9 (IQR 11.9-25.3) minutes.

UWC Condition

Women assigned to the UWC condition received access to a text-based, menu-driven site with limited still graphics. Unlike the SSMW conditions, the program presented verbatim or paraphrased content from web searches of freely accessible information on how to deal with a partner’s drinking problem. However, unlike typical search result listings, the UWC site repackaged and organized search results into appealing, meaningful subject areas and adhered to a nonlinear site architecture (ie, open to exploration). The main clickable menu topic areas included information about alcohol, AUDs, the effects of the partner’s drinking on the family (her and the children, if applicable), ways to cope, and information about treatment for him and on seeking more help for herself. In addition, the site provided URL links to obtain more information from external websites (eg, Al-Anon and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism). UWC participants were able to access their program content in a 14–web page freestanding website organized into 4 major sections ( Welcome and About the program , About alcohol problems , His drinking and you , and What can you do? ). Introductory UWC material informed the participant that, while the web contains a broad range of helpful information, it is not readily available in one spot and requires a lot of work to identify. So, to make the information more accessible, the site did the web search work for her, compiling the latest content from the internet and organizing it for her use. A screenshot of the UWC introductory page can be found in Multimedia Appendix 3 .

In the first 2 weeks of enrollment, program use and encouragement SMS text message prompts in the UWC condition coincided in number and type with those in the SSMW conditions. Additional encouragement SMS text messages at 6 and 12 weeks were yoked to the estimated schedule of similar messages sent to participants in the SSMW conditions. Inactivity SMS text messages were sent on the same schedule to both SSMW conditions.

We chose this UWC condition to address several challenges of incorporating credible, active control conditions in web-based intervention research [ 36 ]. Specifically, (1) the UWC closely approximated usual care on the web (ie, access to free helpful content that individuals could typically find themselves using web search engines); (2) unlike a referral to available self-help groups such as Al-Anon (face-to-face or web-based), it shared the framework of web interventions in having easy access, high reach potential, and promise for high public health impact; (3) it controlled for demand characteristics and participant expectancies better than a waitlist control condition while providing a control condition available throughout the follow-up period; and (4) by providing the UWC within a self-contained website, it was possible to track participant engagement in an automated, unobtrusive manner. The UWC content was credible and useful but did not delineate step-by-step behavioral strategies.

Follow-Up and Measures

Participant demographics were measured at baseline. Participant credibility and expectancy were assessed at baseline and the 6-week interim assessment; satisfaction was assessed at the 6-week interim and the 12-week posttest. Negative affect was measured at baseline, the 12-week posttest, and the 6- and 12-month follow-ups.

Negative Affect Measures

Guided by the key findings of the SSMW pilot work, the 21-item BDI-II [ 29 ] was the primary measure of depressive symptom severity, and the State Anger subscale of the STAXI-2 [ 30 ] was the primary measure of anger severity. The latter scale measures anger intensity in the moment or current situation. It contrasts with the STAXI-2 Trait Anger subscale, which measures one’s overall tendency to have an angry temperament. The State Anger subscale was chosen as the most appropriate of the 2 scales in this study. Specifically, the stress and coping model of spouse functioning, on which the SSMW program is built, views the anger observed in this population as a reaction to stress and problems brought on by the partner’s drinking (ie, state anger) and not the sign of an inherently angry person (trait anger). As in the pilot study, we applied a negative inverse transformation of STAXI-2 scores to reduce skew and accommodate outliers in our statistical models. Exploratory analyses used BDI-II (score of ≥14) and STAXI-2 State Anger subscale (score of ≥18) cut points to define clinically relevant levels of depression and state anger. These points correspond to mild depression and clinically significant anger cut points as defined by Beck et al [ 29 ] and Spielberger [ 30 ], respectively.

Participant Engagement and Coach Calls

For all conditions over the entire duration of the study, the database system used by program websites collected a set of automated primary program engagement metrics continuously and unobtrusively, including the number of visits to the website, the duration of visits made to program sessions, and the date in which sessions were completed. The coach recorded the number of sessions and content covered in scheduled coach calls. The posttest mean of the 12-item Working Alliance Inventory–Short Form (WAI-SF) [ 37 ] completed by SSMW+coach participants measured the quality and strength of collaborative engagement with the coach. WAI-SF items are rated on a 7-point scale ranging from 1 ( never ) to 7 ( always ) regarding participant and coach agreement on goals (Goals subscale) and tasks (Tasks subscale) and the perceived participant-coach bond (Bond subscale). As all subscales were highly correlated with the total mean item score (0.91-0.96), we used the latter to measure participant-coach engagement.

Credibility, Expectancy, and Satisfaction

We used the Credibility/Expectancy Questionnaire (CEQ) [ 38 ] at baseline before randomization and at the 6-week interim assessment to measure participant self-reported ratings of the extent to which they found their assigned program’s content credible and consistent with their preprogram expectations. Credibility scores were calculated as the mean of the first 3 items of the CEQ. Expectancy was based on the item from the CEQ that asked participants to rate the following: By the end of the program, how much improvement in your stress do you think will occur ? Overall satisfaction with the program was measured using the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire–8 [ 39 ] at the interim assessment and the 12-week posttest.

COVID-19 Impact

We developed and administered a COVID-19 impact assessment at baseline using 30 items adapted from Behar-Zusman et al [ 40 ]. Items focused on the pandemic’s effect on the household (eg, We self-quarantined due to travel or possible exposure ) and on family relationships (eg, You spent a lot more time taking care of or trying to keep other family members occupied ). The overall score was the sum of the items, each scored as 0=no and 1=yes. The internal consistency of this measure was 0.72. This scale was used in unplanned, exploratory analyses to assess for baseline differences between conditions on pandemic impact.

Statistical Analysis

We assessed condition differences in outcome gains from pretest to posttest using a mixed-model (multilevel) time × condition analysis [ 41 ] represented by the following equation:

Y tj = (γ 00 + γ 01 C j + γ 10 T tj + γ 11 T tj C j ) + ( r 0 j + r 1 j T tj + e tj )

Y tj represents the outcome for assessment occasion t on participant j . The model included 3 predictors: time, denoted by T tj (coded 0 at baseline and 1 at posttest); condition, denoted by C j (eg, coded 0 for control and 1 for treatment); and their interaction. Our planned tests of condition differences included comparisons between each SSMW condition (SSMW+coach and SSMW only) and the UWC condition as well as comparisons between the SSMW+coach and the SSMW-only conditions. The model produces estimates of the baseline intercept for the comparison condition, γ 00 ; the difference between conditions at baseline, γ 01 ; pretest-posttest change for the comparison condition, γ 10 ; and the difference in the change in outcomes between conditions, γ 11 (treatment efficacy). The random effects account for participant-level variability in the intercept, r 0 j ; improvements in outcome, r 1j T tj ; and the residual, e tj , in a time × condition model with 2 time points ( e tj =0) due to constraints imposed by only 2 assessments.

We extended the model to include >2 time points to test for condition effects through the 12-month follow-up assessment. This extended model assumed an unstructured covariance matrix and included outcome data at baseline (time coded as 0), 6-month follow-up (time coded as 1), and 12-month follow-up (time coded as 2). We subsequently graphed descriptive statistics for outcomes by condition and assessment time to facilitate interpretation of results.

We explored the possibility that negative affect moderated treatment effects by extending the model to include baseline scores of the BDI-II and negative inverse transformations of raw baseline scores on the STAXI-2 as well as their interactions with time, condition, and the time × condition term. Pearson r correlation coefficients were calculated to describe the associations between the SSMW engagement metrics and outcome improvements from baseline to posttest.

Model Estimation

Time × condition models were estimated using the SAS (version 9.4; SAS Institute) [ 42 ] PROC MIXED procedure using full-information maximum likelihood (ML) methods. ML estimation uses all available data, reducing potential bias—even in the face of substantial attrition—provided data are missing at random [ 43 ]. Compared to complete-case analyses, ML relies on relatively benign assumptions and does not introduce bias [ 44 , 45 ].

Interpretation of Results

To supplement P values in our interpretation of impact results, we reported Hedges g effect sizes, their 95% CIs, and model probabilities based on the Akaike information criterion [ 46 ] as recommended by the American Statistical Association [ 47 ]. Model probabilities, w , indicate the strength of evidence for one model when compared with others given the data at hand. Burnham et al [ 46 ] described w as the probability of selecting the same model with a “replicate data set from the same system” and “allow statements such as the probability of [H A ] is 0.78.” Model probabilities better characterize the chance of a replicated result than P values. In this study, we compared models for 2 hypotheses: a model with the effect of study condition (H A : alternate hypothesis) and one without (H 0 : null hypothesis). We reported the model probability for the model with the condition effect (H A ), and with only 2 models, the model probability for H 0 is 1 – w .

Sample Size and Power

This study was designed to detect small to moderate differences (minimum detectable effect size of 0.38 SDs) between study conditions. Power analyses assumed 450 participants (exceeded by the actual sample of 456) randomly assigned to 1 of the 3 conditions, a type-II error rate of 20% (power=0.80), a type-I error rate of 0.05 for 2-tailed tests of condition, a moderate relationship between baseline and posttest outcome measures ( r =0.50), and 5% attrition (loss to follow-up) at posttest and 20% attrition at the 12-month follow-up.

Table 1 depicts participant demographics, partner AUD characteristics, and COVID-19 impact scale scores by study condition. We found no statistically significant condition differences in baseline participant characteristics ( P ≥.11 in all cases) or outcome measures ( P ≥.08 in all cases). Figures 2 and 3 illustrate observed depressive symptom and anger outcomes, respectively, throughout the study period. Tabled descriptive statistics for primary negative affect outcomes by assessment time and study condition as depicted in Figures 2 and 3 can be found in Multimedia Appendix 4 .

		SSMW only (n 141)		SSMW+coach (n 151)		UWC (n 164)

Age (y), mean (SD)			45.5 (10.2)		45.9 (10.8)		45.8 (11.4)
Years of school completed, mean (SD)			16.3 (2.3)		16.0 (2.3)		16.0 (2.5)

	American Indian		0 (0)		1 (0.7)		1 (0.6)
	Asian		2 (1.4)		5 (3.3)		2 (1.2)
	Black or African American		3 (2.1)		7 (4.6)		7 (4.3)
	Hispanic or Latino		5 (3.5)		14 (9.3)		14 (8.5)
	White		130 (92.2)		128 (84.8)		150 (91.5)
	Mixed or other		6 (4.3)		10 (6.6)		4 (2.4)
Currently employed, n (%)			123 (87.2)		124 (82.1)		137 (83.5)

	Own wages		39 (27.7)		43 (28.5)		39 (23.8)
	Partner wages		12 (8.5)		25 (16.6)		25 (15.2)
	Own and partner wages		87 (61.7)		79 (52.3)		98 (59.8)
	Other (eg, unemployment insurance)		3 (2.1)		4 (2.6)		2 (1.2)

	Married		110 (78)		113 (74.8)		125 (76.2)
	Cohabiting but not married		31 (22)		38 (25.2)		39 (23.8)

	No children		77 (54.6)		95 (62.9)		99 (60.4)
	<18 months		20 (14.2)		19 (12.6)		18 (11)
	1.5-5 years		38 (27)		33 (21.9)		35 (21.3)
	6-18 years		6 (4.3)		4 (2.6)		12 (7.3)
Al-Anon attendance (last 3 months), n (%)			8 (5.7)		15 (9.9)		14 (8.5)
Mental health counseling (last 3 months), n (%)			29 (20.6)		35 (23.2)		37 (22.6)
COVID-19 impact score, mean (SD)			7.7 (4.0)		7.8 (3.6)		7.7 (3.5)

AUDIT-C score at baseline, mean (SD)			9.7 (1.9)		9.3 (1.8)		9.7 (1.8)
FHAM score at baseline, mean (SD)			9.3 (2.7)		8.9 (2.8)		9.0 (2.8)
Length of drinking problem (months), mean (SD)			210.3 (136.2)		212.7 (136.2)		209.9 (144.0)
SUD treatment involvement (last 3 months), n (%)			9 (6.4)		8 (5.3)		10 (6.1)
No current legal problems, n (%)			133 (94.3)		144 (95.4)		156 (95.1)

a The sample sizes for each variable may not add up to the total sample size.

b SSMW: Stop Spinning My Wheels.

c UWC: usual web care.

d AUDIT-C: Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test–Consumption items.

e FHAM: Family History Assessment Module.

f SUD: substance use disorder.

Credibility and Expectancy

Program credibility used the CEQ scale rated from 1= Not at all useful to 9= Very useful , and expectations for improvement in outcomes used a CEQ item rated on a scale from 0% to 100%. Mean credibility and expectancy ratings at baseline were similar for SSMW only (mean 6.3, SD 1.6 and mean 52.6, SD 19.9, respectively), SSMW+coach (mean 6.2, SD 1.6 and mean 52.0, SD 19.6, respectively), and UWC (mean 6.4, SD 1.6 and mean 55.5, SD 22.1, respectively). Credibility and expectancy ratings at the 6-week interim assessment stayed stable or slightly increased for the SSMW-only (mean 6.6, SD 1.9 and mean 51.4, SD 20.1, respectively) and SSMW+coach (mean 7.3, SD 1.5 and mean 61.4, SD 21.9, respectively) conditions but were lower for the UWC condition (mean 4.7, SD 2.1 and mean 38.0, SD 26.9, respectively).

Loss to Follow-Up

Rates of failure to complete scheduled study assessments (loss to follow-up) for the SSMW-only, SSMW+coach, and UWC conditions were 26.2% (37/141), 19.2% (29/151), and 21.3% (35/164), respectively, at posttest; 35.5% (50/141), 27.8% (42/151), and 24.4% (40/164), respectively, at the 6-month follow-up; and 31.2% (44/141), 27.2% (41/151), and 22% (36/164), respectively, at the 12-month follow-up (see Figure 1 for participant flow and follow-up rates). Study participants with children (vs no children) were less likely to complete their assessments at the posttest (129/185, 69.7% vs 226/271, 83.4% completion; N=456, χ 2 1 =12.8, P <.001), 6-month follow-up (118/185, 63.8% vs 206/271, 76%; N=456, χ 2 1 =8.0, P= .005), and 12-month follow-up (120/185, 64.9% vs 215/271, 79.3%; N=456, χ 2 1 =11.8, P =.001). Attrition rates did not significantly differ as a function of condition ( P =.10-.33 in all cases), other demographic characteristics ( P =.07-.98 in all cases), or baseline outcome measures ( P =.16-.38 in all cases). Interactions between attrition and study condition did not predict baseline outcome scores ( P =.37-.82 in all cases). These results provide no evidence of bias due to attrition in our tests of condition effects.

Results of Hypothesis-Driven Research Questions

Research question 1: what was the impact of ssmw only versus uwc.

The first column of Table 2 summarizes time × condition model results comparing the SSMW-only and UWC conditions on change in negative affect outcomes from baseline to posttest. SSMW-only participants achieved greater decreases than UWC participants on the STAXI-2 ( g= –0.34, 95% CI –0.64 to –0.03; t 303 =–2.19; P= .03; w= 0.79). These results suggested that the hypothesis of a difference between conditions measured using the time × condition effect fit the data. That is, the model for STAXI-2 scores that included the time × condition interaction had a considerably higher probability ( w= 0.79) than the model without the condition difference ( w= 0.21). To illustrate the fixed effects, the model estimated a baseline intercept for the UWC condition of –0.054, a baseline-to-posttest change for the UWC condition of –0.001, a difference between conditions at baseline of 0.003, and a difference between conditions in terms of the change from baseline to posttest assessment of –0.004. We found no evidence of a condition difference between SSMW only and UWC in change in BDI-II scores from baseline to posttest ( g =–0.14, 95% CI –0.35 to 0.06; t 303 =–1.41; P= .16; w =0.49). From baseline to the 12-month follow-up, we found no evidence of differences between the SSMW-only and UWC conditions on change in BDI-II ( g =–0.09, 95% CI –0.27 to 0.09; t 303 =–0.95; P= .34; w =0.36) or STAXI-2 ( g =–0.06, 95% CI –0.30 to 0.15; t 303 =–0.62; P= .54; w =0.30) scores.

Effect or statistic		Condition contrast and negative affect outcome
		SSMW only vs usual web care			SSMW+coach vs usual web care			SSMW+coach vs SSMW only
		Depression (BDI-II )	Anger (STAXI-2 )	Depression (BDI-II)		Anger (STAXI-2)	Depression (BDI-II)		Anger (STAXI-2)
Model probability ( )		0.49	0.79	0.99		0.52	0.67		0.33

	Intercept	16.2 (0.8)	–0.054 (0.001)	16.2 (0.8)		–0.054 (0.001)	17.0 (0.8)		–0.051 (0.001)
	Time	–3.4 (0.7)	–0.001 (0.001)	–3.4 (0.7)		–0.001 (0.001)	–4.9 (0.8)		–0.006 (0.001)
	Condition	0.8 (1.2)	0.003 (0.002)	0.9 (1.1)		0.002 (0.001)	0.1 (1.1)		–0.001 (0.002)
	Time × condition	–1.5 (1.0)	–0.004 (0.002)	–3.4 (1.0)		–0.003 (0.002)	–1.9 (1.0)		0.001 (0.002)

	Participant-level intercept	69.3 (7.3)	0.000 (0.000)	63.4 (6.7)		0.000 (0.000)	55.3 (6.4)		0.000 (0.000)
	Participant-level gain	32.2 (3.0)	0.000 (0.000)	31.9 (2.8)		0.000 (0.000)	31.7 (3.0)		0.000 (0.000)

	Hedges effect size (95% CI)	–0.14 (–0.35 to 0.06)	–0.34 (–0.64 to 0.03)	–0.36 (–0.57 to 0.15)		–0.22 (–0.52 to 0.07)	–0.22 (–0.45 to 0.01)		0.13 (–0.19 to 0.44)
	value	.16	.03	.001		.14	.06		.44

a SSMW: Stop Spinning My Wheels.

b BDI-II: Beck Depression Inventory–II.

c STAXI-2: State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory 2. The negative inverses of raw STAXI-2 scores were analyzed.

d The model probabilities ( w ) compares the strength of evidence for a model with the time × condition effect to one without. Condition was coded such that the second group listed for each contrast served as the reference category. Time was coded as 0 for baseline and 1 for posttest. Tests of fixed effects included 303, 313, and 289 df for each contrast.

e P <.001.

f P <.05.

Research Question 2: What Was the Impact of the SSMW+Coach Condition Versus UWC?

The second column of Table 2 summarizes time × condition model results comparing the SSMW+coach and UWC conditions on change in negative affect outcomes from baseline to posttest. SSMW+coach participants achieved greater decreases than UWC participants in BDI-II scores ( g= –0.36, 95% CI –0.57 to –0.15; t 313 =–3.40; P =.001; w= 0.99). We found no difference between the SSMW+coach and UWC conditions in change in STAXI-2 scores from baseline to posttest ( g =–0.22, 95% CI –0.52 to 0.07; t 313 =–1.49; P= .14; w =0.52).

From baseline to the 12-month follow-up, SSMW+coach participants achieved greater decreases than UWC participants on STAXI-2 scores ( g= –0.24, 95% CI –0.45 to 0.00; t 313 =–1.95; P= .052; w= 0.70). Though not statistically significant, the model probability with the time × condition effect ( w= 0.70) was considerably greater than the model probability without the time × condition effect ( w= 0.30), hence providing support for the hypothesized effect, albeit a small one. We found no difference between the SSMW+coach and UWC conditions on change in BDI-II scores from baseline to the 12-month follow-up ( g =–0.15, 95% CI –0.33 to 0.03; t 313 =–1.58; P= .11; w =0.56).

Research Question 3: Did Adding a Coach to SSMW Reduce Negative Affect More Than SSMW Alone?

The third column of Table 2 summarizes time × condition model results comparing the SSMW+coach and SSMW-only conditions on outcome improvements from baseline to posttest. The effect of SSMW+coach versus SSMW only on BDI-II scores during this period was small and was not statistically significant at conventional levels ( g =–0.22, 95% CI –0.45 to 0.01; t 289 =–1.86; P= .063; w =0.67). However, the model probability with the time × condition effect ( w =0.67) was considerably greater than the model probability without the time × condition effect ( w =0.33), hence providing support for the hypothesized effect, albeit a small one. We found no difference between the SSMW+coach and SSMW-only conditions on baseline to posttest STAXI-2 score changes ( g =0.13, 95% CI –0.19 to 0.44; t 289 =0.76; P= .45; w =0.33). When we examined changes from baseline to the 12-month follow-up, we also found no differences between the SSMW+coach and SSMW-only conditions for BDI-II ( g =–0.06, 95% CI –0.27 to 0.15; t 290 =–0.57; P= .57; w =0.30) or STAXI-2 ( g =–0.15, 95% CI –0.39 to 0.09; t 290 =–1.22; P= .23; w =0.43) scores.

Research Question 4: Did Baseline Negative Affect Moderate Effects of Condition?

To examine whether baseline negative affect scores moderated condition effects on negative affect outcomes from baseline to posttest, the baseline score and its interaction with time, condition, and the time × condition term was added to the models used to address the first 3 research questions. In the comparison between SSMW only and UWC, we found no moderation effect for depression severity (BDI-II scores; 3-way interaction estimate=–0.05, 95% CI –0.25 to 0.16; t 301 =–0.44; P= .66; w =0.28) or anger (STAXI-2 scores; estimate=0.03, 95% CI –0.16 to 0.21; t 301 =0.27; P= .78; w =0.27). We also found no moderation effect in the comparison between SSMW+coach and UWC on depression severity (BDI-II scores; estimate=–0.13, 95% CI –0.33 to 0.08; t 311 =–1.23; P= .22; w =0.43) or anger (STAXI-2 scores; estimate=–0.04, 95% CI –0.23 to 0.15; t 311 =–0.43; P= .67; w =0.28). Finally, we found no evidence of moderation of the SSMW+coach effects relative to SSMW only on baseline depression (BDI-II scores; estimate=–0.08, 95% CI –0.30 to 0.13; t 288 =–0.76; P= .45; w =0.32) or anger (STAXI-2 scores; estimate=–0.10, 95% CI –0.28 to 0.07; t 288 =–1.16; P= .25; w =0.41).

Unplanned Exploratory Analyses of Clinically Relevant Change

Did remission rates differ by study condition among women with clinically relevant negative affect at baseline.

Because condition differences were most robust at the posttest, we explored condition differences in rates of remission at posttest from clinically relevant levels of depressive symptoms based on a BDI-II cutoff of 14. The analysis included 208 participants with a baseline BDI-II score of ≥14 and complete posttest data (n=67, 32.2% for SSMW only; n=74, 35.6% for SSMW+coach; and n=67, 32.2% for UWC). We examined condition differences in rates of remission using contingency table analyses with chi-square test statistics and reported odds ratios (ORs) as a measure of effect size. Rates of remission based on posttest BDI-II scores were 49% (33/67), 62% (46/74), and 31% (21/67) for the SSMW-only, SSMW+coach, and UWC conditions, respectively. Participants in the SSMW-only condition were more likely than UWC participants to have remitted (33/67, 49% vs 21/67, 31%; OR 2.13, 95% CI 1.05-4.30; P= .03). Similarly, participants in the SSMW+coach condition were more likely than UWC participants to have remitted (46/74, 62% vs 21/67, 31%; OR 3.60, 95% CI 1.79-7.23; P <.001). SSMW-only and SSMW+coach remission rates did not differ ( P= .12). From a number needed to treat perspective [ 48 ], the SSMW-only condition required 5.6 participants to achieve 1 remission, whereas SSMW+coach needed only 3.2 participants.

We similarly explored condition differences in rates of remission among 175 participants with elevated anger at baseline (STAXI-2 score of ≥18) and complete posttest data (n=53, 30.3% for SSMW only; n=62, 35.4% for SSMW+coach; and n=60, 34.3% for UWC). Rates of remission based on posttest STAXI-2 scores were 51% (27/53), 55% (34/62), and 40% (24/60) for the SSMW-only, SSMW+coach, and UWC conditions, respectively. No group contrasts were statistically significant ( P ≥.10 in all cases).

Was There Differential Onset of Clinically Relevant Negative Affect Levels Among Those Without Clinically Relevant Negative Affect at Baseline?

This analysis for depression included 147 participants with a baseline BDI-II score of <14 and complete posttest data (n=37, 25.2% for SSMW only; n=48, 32.7% for SSMW+coach; and n=62, 42.2% for UWC). Rates of onset based on posttest BDI-II scores were 14% (5/37), 6% (3/48), and 10% (6/62) for the SSMW-only, SSMW+coach, and UWC conditions, respectively. No group contrasts were statistically significant ( P ≥.26 in all cases).

We also explored condition differences in rates of onset of elevated anger. The analysis included 180 participants with a baseline STAXI-2 score of <18 and complete posttest data (n=51, 28.3% for SSMW only; n=60, 33.3% for SSMW+coach; and n=69, 38.3% for UWC). Rates of onset using posttest STAXI-2 scores were 24% (12/51), 28% (17/60), and 28% (19/69) for the SSMW-only, SSMW+coach, and UWC conditions, respectively. No contrasts were statistically significant ( P ≥.57 in all cases).

Ancillary Engagement and Satisfaction Analyses

Ssmw engagement.

Table 3 summarizes program engagement metrics by study condition. We examined condition differences using independent-sample, 2-tailed t tests and associations between engagement and outcomes using Pearson correlation coefficients. Participants in the SSMW+coach condition, compared to the SSMW-only condition, visited their program more often (t 290 =4.57; P <.001) and for a longer duration (t 290 =5.49; P <.001) and completed more program sessions (t 290 =5.79; P <.001).

Program engagement metric	SSMW only, mean (SD; median)	SSMW+coach, mean (SD; median)	UWC , mean (SD; median)
Number of visits	8.8 (7.7; 7.0)	13.4 (9.1; 12.0)	3.6 (2.6; 3.0)
Hours on the program	5.3 (5.5; 4.3)	9.7 (7.7; 8.3)	1.2 (1.8; 0.7)
Sessions completed out of 20	9.3 (7.6; 9.0)	14.1 (6.5; 16.0)	—
Number of coach calls	—	3.8 (2.1; 4.0)	—
Working Alliance Inventory total score	—	5.4 (1.4; 5.9)	—

b UWC: usual web care.

c Not applicable.

d Working Alliance Inventory items were rated on a 7-point scale ranging from 1 ( never ) to 7 ( always ).

The WAI-SF score in the SSMW+coach condition was positively correlated with the total number of visits to the SSMW program ( r =0.31; P =.001), hours on the program across visits ( r =0.27; P =.003), number of sessions completed ( r =0.41; P <.001), and number of coach calls ( r =0.55; P <.001). Higher WAI-SF scores also were associated with greater decreases in BDI-II scores from baseline to posttest ( r =–0.18; P =.045). Notably, across both SSMW conditions, the higher number of SSMW sessions completed was associated with greater decreases in BDI-II scores from baseline to posttest ( r =–0.20; P =.002), whereas other SSMW engagement metrics were not correlated with outcome gains ( P ≥.13 in all cases).

UWC Engagement

Participants in the UWC condition averaged 3.6 (SD 2.6) visits to their program and 1.2 (SD 1.8) hours on the program across visits. These engagement metrics were not correlated with outcome gains from baseline to posttest ( P ≥.67 in all cases).

Program Satisfaction

The Client Satisfaction Questionnaire–8 used a 4-point rating scale coded as 1= Not at all satisfied to 4= Very satisfied . SSMW-only and SSMW+coach participants reported being satisfied with program features at the 6-week interim assessment (mean 3.1, SD 0.6 vs mean 3.3, SD 0.5) and the 12-week posttest (mean 3.0, SD 0.8 vs mean 3.3, SD 0.6). SSMW+coach participants, compared to SSMW-only participants, reported greater satisfaction at the 6-week interim assessment (t 229 =3.99; P <.001) and the 12-week posttest (t 237 =2.93; P= .004). UWC participants, compared to SSMW participants, were less satisfied at the 6-week interim assessment (mean 2.5, SD 0.7 vs mean 3.2, SD 0.6; t 366 =11.58; P <.001) and the 12-week posttest (mean 2.4, SD 0.8 vs mean 3.2, SD 0.7; t 375 =9.83; P <.001).

Support for Original Hypotheses

Primary outcome results partially supported the hypotheses regarding the presumed benefit of the SSMW-only condition over the UWC active control. Contrary to our hypotheses, the SSMW-only and UWC conditions showed comparable reductions from baseline depressive symptoms at posttest and follow-up ( Figure 2 ) and did not differ. However, participants with a clinically relevant baseline level of depressive symptoms were significantly more likely than UWC participants to have remitted to a nonclinical level by the posttest. As predicted, SSMW-only participants experienced a greater baseline-to-posttest decrease in anger compared to UWC participants, whose state anger decreased little from the baseline level at either the posttest or follow-up. However, a rebound in SSMW-only anger appeared to erase this advantage when outcome trajectories were compared up to the 12-month follow-up ( Figure 3 ). Remission rates from a clinically relevant level of anger also did not differ between conditions.

The results were more consistent with hypothesized differences between SSMW+coach and UWC. As predicted, at the posttest, SSMW+coach participants displayed a larger decrease in depressive symptoms and a higher remission rate than UWC participants ( Figure 2 ). In addition, depressive symptom reductions at posttest in SSMW+coach participants appeared to be sustained during follow-up. However, concurrent UWC changes in depressive symptoms appeared to erase differences from the changes in the SSMW+coach condition when outcome trajectories were compared up to the 12-month follow-up ( Figure 2 ). Contrary to predictions, SSMW+coach anger reductions did not differ significantly from those in the UWC condition at posttest, or posttest anger remission. However, SSMW+coach anger decreased further up to the 12-month follow-up, and their overall reduction in anger from baseline was greater to a small degree than that of the UWC condition ( Figure 3 ). Overall, to varying degrees, the SSMW conditions appeared to facilitate earlier improvement in negative affect outcomes than the UWC, and those initial improvements, particularly for depressive symptoms, endured until follow-up. However, the reduction in UWC depression was particularly notable and may have dampened the emergence of predicted differences from the SSMW-only condition at posttest and from the SSMW+coach condition at follow-up. Unfortunately, this study was not designed to measure whether the change in UWC resulted from regression to the mean, UWC content, participant uptake of other treatment programs, or other factors.

Contrary to our hypothesis, adding a phone coach to SSMW generated only a small additional benefit on posttest depression, but this difference did not reach conventional levels of statistical significance. The video-rich, engaging design of the SSMW program alone may have mitigated the benefits that coach involvement might have provided. Nevertheless, ancillary engagement and satisfaction analyses and exploratory comparisons of the individual SSMW conditions relative to UWC provided additional support for the benefits of a coach. Specifically, compared to SSMW only, SSMW+coach participants displayed higher levels of engagement and reported greater program satisfaction. Furthermore, when compared with UWC, SSMW+coach participants achieved a greater decrease in depressive symptoms at posttest, whereas those in SSMW only did not. Moreover, while SSMW-only participants reported a greater reduction than UWC participants in anger at posttest, only SSMW+coach participants reported greater anger reduction at follow-up. More importantly, SSMW+coach achieved the highest rate of remission from clinically relevant depressive symptoms (46/74, 62%) compared to either SSMW only (33/67, 49%) or UWC (21/67, 31%). Notably, although SSMW-only participants were >2 times as likely as UWC participants to remit to below depression threshold levels, SSMW+coach participants were >3.5 times as likely. Finally, the SSMW-only condition required 5.6 participants to achieve 1 remission, whereas SSMW+coach needed only 3.2 participants. These findings suggest that adding a coach can (1) significantly improve SSMW engagement and satisfaction, (2) result in clinically meaningful change compared to usual web use, and (3) possibly confer a small advantage over SSMW alone. The quality and strength of the participant-coach relationship may play an important role in these findings, as higher WAI-SF scores were associated with higher program engagement and a greater reduction in depressive symptoms.

We did not find support for the coach-driven hypothesis that baseline negative affect would moderate change in negative affect between the 2 SSMW conditions (ie, women with higher negative affect would benefit more from having a coach than from not having one). Although results suggest that individuals experiencing a wide range of symptom levels may benefit from SSMW conditions, we caution that our sample averaged in the mild range of depressive symptoms, and their outcomes might not generalize to individuals with severe depression.

Comparison to Prior Work

The results support and build on our web-based SSMW pilot study and our prior work on face-to-face coping skill training for spouses that used waitlist control conditions [ 5 , 21 ]. The active UWC condition in this study is a significant methodological advancement over our prior work that may present a more stringent comparison based on which to gauge SSMW effects. In this respect, it is noteworthy that the size of effects in this study was approximately half that of those in the waitlist-control pilot. These findings and observed improvement in UWC during follow-up highlight the importance of active controls and longitudinal follow-ups in web-based RCTs. This study also extends our previous work by examining SSMW effects with and without brief coach support. Finally, the large sample size relative to earlier work on coping skill training with this population allowed for more powerful tests of SSMW, coaching effects, moderating effects, and exploratory analyses of clinically relevant outcomes.

Limitations

Several study limitations may have influenced internal and external validity. First, while coaches complied with the coaching protocol and collaborative engagement was relatively high, we did not gauge overall coach skillfulness. Second, SSMW+coach participants were scheduled for 6 brief coach calls, but the optimum level of coaching required and the participants who benefit most from it are unknown. Third, although our pilot found support for anger as a primary outcome, anger measurement typically has not been included in studies of this population, and anger findings were the weakest in this study. However, feelings of anger are a common experience in this population. Future research is needed to better understand and assess anger in this group and evaluate measures of angry thoughts and feelings that are more closely associated with the stressors experienced. Fourth, our study participants were predominantly White and highly educated. More diverse samples are needed. Fifth, most of the recruitment, treatment, and follow-up occurred amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Although we found no baseline condition differences in COVID-19 impact, some participants who might otherwise not have taken part did so because they had the time to do it. Others began reevaluating their life and sought help. However, as businesses and schools reopened, follow-ups became more challenging as participants were again pressed for time. The greater attrition among women with children is also noteworthy. We speculate that these women were more challenging to follow because they had to manage more disruption in their lives and that of their children as the pandemic and its consequences waxed and waned. In addition, other pandemic-related factors not assessed may have influenced the results. Sixth, because participants in this study consented to be assigned to any of our 3 possible study conditions, our results might not generalize to women interested only in a fully self-directed program or only in a program involving a coach [ 49 , 50 ]. Finally, exploratory findings need to be interpreted cautiously. For these analyses, samples were smaller; the results were less consistent; and, in certain instances, the effects were smaller with wider 95% CIs than in primary analyses.

Implications

The results of this study provide empirical support for adding the self-directed web-based SSMW treatment to the limited options available for women experiencing distress from a partner’s drinking, providing greater access to care for this large, underserved population. Although our findings suggest minimal phone coaching may facilitate engagement and incrementally improve outcomes, coach-facilitated web-based programs have additional requirements (eg, coach availability, scheduling, and training) and costs that could discourage broad implementation and increase costs to participants. As noted by Matthay et al [ 51 ] and embodied in the RE-AIM (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance) model [ 52 ], broadly implemented treatment programs with a smaller effect size can nonetheless have a large population health impact.

Implications for future research are informed by the National Institutes of Health Stage Model [ 36 , 53 ]. First, future SSMW efficacy research could focus on replicating our current findings and possibly exploring features of adjunctive coaching (eg, who benefits most and optimal coaching levels). Second, while our hybrid design incorporated implementation elements, future research could focus on “...generalizability, implementation, cost-effectiveness, and social validity (acceptability to end users, program adopters, health care providers, policy makers)” [ 36 ]. Future analyses should also examine mediators of the SSMW treatment effect and secondary outcomes (eg, partner drinking, violence, and relationship stability).

Finally, the SSMW program’s cognitive behavioral approach and engaging video-rich strategies provide a framework for adapting and delivering web care for other often hidden and underserved spouse and caregiver populations. For example, eHealth adaptations of face-to-face coping skill training programs for parents of an adolescent with an SUD [ 54 ], spouses of those with a gambling disorder [ 55 ], and caregivers of a family member with an SUD [ 56 ] may accelerate research on and rapid implementation of accessible treatments for these groups.

Acknowledgments

The research was supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health under award R01AA024118 to RGR and BGD. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The authors acknowledge John R Seeley, Jean Finn, Jennifer Robinson, Lara Balawejder, Anna Crouss, Steven Sanders, Diane Augustino, Jaclyn Colangelo, Paulette Giarratano, Tim Woolley (IEQ Technologies), Mike Gluck (Gluckworks), and the University at Buffalo Research Information Systems team for their invaluable work on this project. The authors also express appreciation to Kenneth Leonard for his help in facilitating the completion of this study.

Data Availability

The data sets generated during and analyzed during this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Authors' Contributions

RGR and BGD contributed to conceptualization, data curation, funding acquisition, investigation, methodology, project administration, resources, software, supervision, validation, and writing—original draft and review and editing. NBM contributed to conceptualization, data curation, investigation, methodology, project administration, resources, supervision, validation, and writing—review and editing. MST contributed to funding acquisition, investigation, methodology, project administration, resources, software, supervision, and writing—review and editing. CB contributed to conceptualization, methodology, project administration, resources, and software. FL provided research project administration. DBK contributed to data curation, formal analysis, methodology, validation, visualization, and writing—original draft and review and editing.

Conflicts of Interest

None declared.

CONSORT-eHEALTH checklist.

Extracted video screenshots with their related text instructions (excerpted from Stop Spinning My Wheels and formatted for this paper; portrayals are by paid actors).

Screenshot of usual web care introductory page.

Tabled descriptive statistics for primary negative affect outcomes by assessment time and study condition.

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Abbreviations

alcohol use disorder

Beck Depression Inventory–II

Credibility/Expectancy Questionnaire

Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials

maximum likelihood

odds ratio

randomized controlled trial

Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance

Stop Spinning My Wheels

State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory 2

substance use disorder

usual web care

Working Alliance Inventory–Short Form

Edited by N Cahill; submitted 09.01.24; peer-reviewed by C Roos; comments to author 23.05.24; revised version received 28.06.24; accepted 11.07.24; published 29.08.24.

©Robert G Rychtarik, Brian G Danaher, Neil B McGillicuddy, Milagra S Tyler, Christopher Barrick, Florence Leong, Derek B Kosty. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (https://www.jmir.org), 29.08.2024.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (ISSN 1438-8871), is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://www.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.

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Milp-based approach for high-altitude region pavement maintenance decision optimization.

1. Introduction

1.1. literature review, 1.2. the focus of this study.

Literature	Object Characteristic	Optimization Objective	Model Type	Solution Approach
Yu et al. [ ]	Project-level; considering greenhouse gas emissions and budget constraints; meeting pavement condition requirements	Greenhouse gas emissions, maintenance costs, pavement condition	Multi-objective nonlinear optimization	Genetic algorithm
Zhang et al. [ ]	Project-level; constrained budget; meeting pavement condition requirements	Pavement condition	Flowchart	Heuristic algorithm
Mahmood et al. [ ]	Project-level; meeting pavement condition requirements	Maintenance costs, pavement condition	Multi-objective nonlinear optimization	Improved particle swarm algorithm
He and Sun [ ]	Network-level; different decision-makers	Benefits for different decision-makers	Mixed-integer programming	Lingo
Sun et al. [ ]	Network-level; different decision-makers; Pareto optimal solution	Maintenance costs, pavement condition, and environmental impact	Mixed-integer linear programming	Cplex
Chen and Wang [ ]	Network-level; multiple pavement condition indicators	Maintenance costs, carbon emissions, and energy consumption	Multi-objective optimization	Generalized differential evolution algorithm
Lee and Madanat [ ]	Network-level; single or multiple budget constraints	Greenhouse gas emission	Single-objective optimization	Lagrangian relaxation
Elhadidy et al. [ ]	Network-level; Pareto optimal solution	Maintenance costs, pavement condition	Markov-chain, multi-objective optimization	Genetic algorithm-based procedure
Fani et al. [ ]	Network-level; considering the uncertainty of pavement deterioration and budget deterioration and budget	Pavement condition	Multi-stage stochastic mixed-integer programming	GAMS
Lee et al. [ ]	Network-level; constrained greenhouse gas emissions	Maintenance costs	Single-objective nonlinear	Two-stage algorithm
Li et al. [ ]	Network-level; considering dynamic traffic distribution	Maintenance costs, user costs, pavement residual asset value	Multi-stage dynamic programming	Heuristic iterative algorithm
FAN and Feng [ ]	Network-level; budget uncertainty	Maintenance effectiveness	Stochastic linear programming	Scenario tree-based heuristic algorithm
This paper	Network-level; high-altitude region pavement maintenance; monthly maintenance plans; robust solution	Maintenance costs, affected traffic volume, carbon emissions, comfort level, maintenance effectiveness	Mixed-integer linear programming	Gurobi

2. Problem Formulation

3. mathematical model, 3.1. definition of symbols, 3.2. constraints, 3.3. objective function, 4. model transformation, 4.1. transformation of nonlinear terms, 4.2. transformation of multi-objective functions, 5. case analysis, 5.1. case description, 5.2. result analysis, 6. extension of the maintenance decision model, 6.1. interval number, 6.2. optimistic solution and pessimistic solution, 6.3. robust solution and analysis, 7. conclusions, author contributions, institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

Symbols		Meaning
Sets		Segments requiring maintenance (indexed by )
		Optional maintenance approaches (indexed by )
		Years included in the maintenance cycle (indexed by )
		Months in a year (indexed by )
		Months suitable for maintenance
		Months unsuitable for maintenance
Parameters		Average daily traffic volume (pcu) for segment in month of year
		The number of days in month of year
		Carbon emissions per square meter (kg/m ) produced by maintenance approach
		The number of protection days required for segment after using maintenance approach
		Cost per square meter (CNY/m ) of using maintenance approach
		Annual maintenance budget (CNY) for year
		Total budget (CNY) for the maintenance cycle
		Maintenance effectiveness (measured in terms of PCI improvement) produced by maintenance approach
		Working hours per square meter (hours/m ) required by maintenance approach
		Initial state (measured in PCI) of segment when making a maintenance decision
		Average PCI required at the network level
	,	The minimum and maximum PCI required at the segment level
	,	Used to calculate the PCI state change for segment
	,	Used to calculate the IRI state change for segment
		The length (meter) of segment requiring maintenance
		The width (meter) of segment requiring maintenance
		The total number of workers involved in maintenance work
		The maximum daily working hours (hours) for workers
Variables		Whether segment chooses maintenance approach (1 if chosen, 0 otherwise)
		Whether maintenance is carried out on segment in month of year (1 if chosen, 0 otherwise)
		The PCI value of segment in year , which is affected by the above two decision variables in the model
		International roughness index (IRI) value of segment in year , which is influenced by
Auxiliary symbols		The kth sub-objective
		The weight of the kth sub-objective
	,	The minimum and maximum values of the kth sub-objective

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Click here to enlarge figure

Road Type	Excellent	Good	Qualified	Unqualified
Expressway	[90, 100]	[75, 90)	[65, 75)	[0, 65)
Main/secondary roads	[85, 100]	[70, 85)	[60, 70)	[0, 60)
Branch roads	[80, 100]	[65, 80)	[60, 65)	[0, 60)

Case
1	0	0	0
2	0	1	0
3	1	0	0
4	1	1	1

Case
1		0	0
2		1

Strategy	Objective	Weight Ranges
Strategy	Objective
1	Optimize maintenance effectiveness	>0	=0	=0	>0	=0
2	Optimize cost savings	=0	=0	=0	=0	>0
3	Optimize affected traffic volume	=0	=0	>0	=0	=0
4	Optimize environmental protection	=0	>0	=0	=0	=0
5	Balance all the above considerations	>0	>0	>0	>0	>0

Segment	Length/m	Width/m	AADT	Initial PCI	Segment	Length/m	Width/m	AADT	Initial PCI
01	180	4.5	6000	78	16	810	3.5	3560	81
02	190	3.5	5200	80	17	220	3	12,400	82
03	400	4	7200	79	18	320	3.5	9200	75
04	260	3.5	5200	78	19	100	3	12,000	76
05	300	4	8800	81	20	80	4	9600	82
06	320	3	7200	78	21	920	3.5	7600	75
07	280	3	7200	81	22	610	3	6800	77
08	90	3.5	6400	76	23	230	3.5	6000	81
09	70	3	5600	81	24	340	4	5600	76
10	288	3	8400	78	25	550	4.5	8400	80
11	165	4.5	10,000	75	26	290	3	3840	78
12	180	3.5	6800	80	27	280	3.5	9200	80
13	580	3	8000	82	28	650	3.5	6800	77
14	620	3	7200	76	29	280	3	5200	79
15	750	4	6400	79	30	660	3	4400	81

Approach	Working Hours (hours/m²)	Carbon Emissions (kg/m²)	Protection Days	Cost (CNY/m²)	Effectiveness
1	0.2	8	1	10	3
2	0.5	15	2	25	5
3	0.75	32	2	100	20
4	1	50	3	200	30
5	1.5	80	3	400	45

Strategy	Objective	Weights
Strategy	Objective
1	Optimize maintenance effectiveness	0.5	0	0	0.5	0
2	Optimize cost savings	0	0	0	0	1
3	Optimize affected traffic volume	0	0	1	0	0
4	Optimize environmental protection	0	1	0	0	0
5	Balance all the above considerations	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
Baseline	Optimize effectiveness and minimize cost	0.5	0	0	0	0.5

Segment	Baseline Strategy			Strategy 5			PCI Values Based on Strategy 5
Segment	Approach	Year	Month	Approach	Year	Month	2024	2025	2026
1	1	3	1	1	3	10	76.455	72.727	72.120
2	1	1	5	1	3	10	78.416	74.592	73.894
3	1	2	12	1	3	10	77.436	73.659	73.007
4	1	3	3	1	3	10	76.455	72.727	72.120
5	1	3	6	1	3	10	79.396	75.524	74.781
6	1	3	9	1	3	10	76.455	72.727	72.120
7	3	1	1	3	1	10	88.218	83.915	79.823
8	3	1	3	3	1	10	94.099	89.510	85.144
9	3	1	7	3	1	10	88.218	83.915	79.823
10	3	1	6	1	3	10	76.455	72.727	72.120
11	3	1	3	3	1	10	93.119	88.577	84.257
12	1	1	1	1	3	10	78.416	74.592	73.894
13	1	3	11	None	None	None	80.376	76.456	72.727
14	3	2	2	3	2	6	74.495	90.466	86.054
15	1	3	11	1	3	10	77.436	73.659	73.007
16	1	3	9	1	3	6	79.396	75.524	74.781
17	3	1	1	3	1	10	90.178	85.780	81.597
18	3	1	11	3	1	10	93.119	88.577	84.257
19	3	1	4	2	2	10	74.495	75.763	72.068
20	3	1	2	None	None	None	80.376	76.456	72.727
21	3	2	1	3	2	10	73.515	89.534	85.167
22	3	1	2	3	1	10	89.198	84.848	80.710
23	1	2	9	1	3	10	79.396	75.524	74.781
24	2	2	11	3	1	6	94.099	89.510	85.144
25	1	3	4	1	3	10	78.416	74.592	73.894
26	3	3	4	1	3	6	76.455	72.727	72.120
27	1	1	12	1	3	10	78.416	74.592	73.894
28	2	2	2	3	2	10	75.475	91.398	86.941
29	3	2	6	3	3	10	77.436	73.659	89.671
30	1	3	10	1	3	6	79.396	75.524	74.781

Segment	Approach	Segment	Approach	Segment	Approach
1	1	11	3	21	3
2	1	12	1	22	3
3	1	13	none	23	1
4	1	14	3	24	3
5	1	15	1	25	1
6	1	16	1	26	1
7	3	17	3	27	1
8	3	18	3	28	3
9	3	19	2	29	3
10	1	20	none	30	1

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Bo, W.; Qian, Z.; Yu, B.; Ren, H.; Yang, C.; Zhao, K.; Zhang, J. MILP-Based Approach for High-Altitude Region Pavement Maintenance Decision Optimization. Appl. Sci. 2024 , 14 , 7670. https://doi.org/10.3390/app14177670

Bo W, Qian Z, Yu B, Ren H, Yang C, Zhao K, Zhang J. MILP-Based Approach for High-Altitude Region Pavement Maintenance Decision Optimization. Applied Sciences . 2024; 14(17):7670. https://doi.org/10.3390/app14177670

Bo, Wu, Zhendong Qian, Bo Yu, Haisheng Ren, Can Yang, Kunming Zhao, and Jiazhe Zhang. 2024. "MILP-Based Approach for High-Altitude Region Pavement Maintenance Decision Optimization" Applied Sciences 14, no. 17: 7670. https://doi.org/10.3390/app14177670

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What employees say matters most to motivate performance

The past few years have been a confounding time in performance management. Disruptions of long-standing workplace norms have led many employees to rethink their expectations of employers regarding remote work, employee burnout, and work–life balance. Compounding these challenges, an inflationary economy and a slower hiring market have put pressure on employers to “do more” with the talent they already have.

Organizations have responded to this volatility by seeking new formulas to motivate talent, including rethinking their approaches to performance management. Of course, tweaking performance management is not new: McKinsey’s prepandemic research found that most companies had made at least one major change to their approaches in the prior 18 months. But recently, we have seen companies consider more sweeping changes. Some have streamlined goal setting and formal review processes, separated performance and compensation conversations, or simply done away with ratings altogether.

Yet as organizations weigh changes to performance management, it’s difficult to understand what will yield the highest ROI. Leaders are often forced to rely on anecdotal case studies and success stories from others’ experiences to help boost employee motivation to perform. While a plethora of books and articles have been published on the topic in recent years, a “data desert” remains, with a lack of quantitative insights derived from what employees say most inspires and motivates them.

McKinsey’s 2024 performance management survey

Our survey of more than 1,000 employees across the globe sought to shed light on what matters most to employees and offer a new fact base for employers to weigh varied performance management methodologies (see sidebar, “McKinsey’s 2024 performance management survey”). We tested a range of options to understand employee perceptions, including approaches to goals, performance reviews, ongoing development, and rewards.

The survey responses in some cases confirm what intuition has long suggested. In other cases, responses indicate ways to tailor performance management to the unique needs of an organization. Overall, the responses point to essential areas of focus as organizations weigh performance management redesigns. New data helps to better identify options most worthy of investment, based on sources of employee motivation.

A consistent and clearly articulated performance management framework wins the day

The most resonant overall survey finding was this: performance management is most effective when it features strong, consistent internal logic that employees understand.

In recent years, some companies have shifted away from results-based performance management goals and metrics in favor of measures that balance what an employee achieved with how they achieved it. The rationale is partly to make employees feel they are assessed in a more holistic way that considers external factors that contributed to their ability to deliver on a result. The holistic approach also measures how well employees adhered to company cultural norms and leadership expectations. However, the survey results revealed that respondents did not view results-based assessments particularly negatively. Instead, what worked less well were systems without clear and easily understood structures, which respondents viewed as significantly less motivating and fair.

These findings stress that when it comes to building the overall framework for performance management, consistency and simplicity win the day (Exhibit 1). Approaching each element of performance management separately had a lower effect on motivation to perform. Instead, the way the four pillars work together made a difference for respondents. Approaches with a coherent, connected framework across goal setting, performance reviews, feedback, and rewards correlated with the highest motivation to perform. Each company can design a fit-for-purpose approach tailored to the needs of its organization , ensuring core elements are well connected and articulated to employees.

Goal setting has impact when goals are measurable and clearly linked to company priorities

Goal setting has long been accepted as a critical tool for improving performance. The survey puts some hard data behind the decision to invest time and energy into goal setting: 72 percent of respondents cited it as a strong motivator. However, the “what” and “how” of setting those goals are less definitively understood. The survey results shed light on both questions.

What makes an effective goal? The survey revealed that employees felt more motivated when their performance goals included a mix of both individual and team-level goals and when their goals were clearly linked to their company’s goals. Respondents also reported feeling more motivated by goals that felt measurable (Exhibit 2).

However, the survey also suggests that just as important as the content of a goal is the process by which it is set. Employees tended to be more motivated and perceive the performance management approach as fair when they were involved in the process and the goals were updated throughout the year to align with team and company priorities.

These findings suggest high ROI when managers spend time throughout the year counseling employees on updates to align goals with current business priorities and articulating the connection between individual and team goals.

Performance reviews with skilled managers are crucial to employee performance

As employers meet evolving employee expectations, many have rethought their approaches to performance reviews by focusing on changes to ratings. Some have shifted from numerical scales (for example, one through five) to word-based systems (for example, from “underperforming” to “exceeds expectations”) or have done away with ratings altogether.

But the survey showed that different ratings scales (for example, those that measured results versus behavior) yielded negligible differences in how much motivation employees reported.

There was also no significant difference between receiving no rating and receiving a rating on a two-point scale (such as a “pass or fail”) or a three- or five-point scale.

Instead, the survey responses suggest employers may be overemphasizing ratings frameworks and overlooking the criticality of how ratings are given. Our survey indicated employees were significantly more motivated by performance reviews when they were offered by a skilled manager and reflected the individual achievement of a performance goal. This was especially true when managers were involved in setting goals and, therefore, well informed when it came time to assess performance (Exhibit 3).

Investments in manager training to foster meaningful development discussions pay dividends

The survey data also shows how big a difference ongoing development discussion outside the review cycle can make. Only 21 percent of respondents who had no development conversations felt motivated by their companies’ performance management, compared with 77 percent of those who received ongoing feedback.

When it comes to providing feedback, manager training is critical, given that nearly 25 percent of survey respondents said their managers or feedback providers did not have sufficient skills or capabilities to conduct their performance reviews. At large companies (with 10,000 to 50,000 employees), 34 percent of respondents cited this lack of skills. Large companies in particular could designate more power and resources to middle managers —traditionally the most passionate and capable coaches within an organization.

But how can employers empower managers without creating excessive workloads? Because both managers and employees often find the process of providing and receiving feedback taxing , some companies try to limit these exchanges to only once a year. However, given the decisive benefit of regular feedback that our survey revealed, a better approach may be to equip managers with the right tools. Generative AI can make it easier for managers to deliver better feedback —for example, by synthesizing insights from the colleagues who work closely with an employee.

Rewards that include nonfinancial incentives provide a boost

Money matters, of course. But the survey also suggests that, as work–life expectations continue to shift, nonfinancial rewards, like opportunities for upskilling or professional development, can play an increasingly important role in performance management strategies.

The survey showed a strong relationship between employers’ use of both financial and nonfinancial rewards and employees’ perceptions of their personal motivation and performance improvement. The survey also shed light on a unique distinction: employees were more likely to perceive that their organizations’ performance management systems were improving company performance overall when nonfinancial rewards were used. Taken together, these findings suggest that nonfinancial rewards can serve as a critical booster for the success of a cohesive performance management system (Exhibit 4).

Previous McKinsey research has found that nonfinancial incentives should appeal to five sources of meaning : society, client, company, team, and self. These findings align with abundant social science research. 1 Jena McGregor, “What companies get wrong about motivating their people,” Washington Post , November 25, 2016. Nonfinancial incentives could include an immediate manager’s praise, a step-up opportunity to lead a high-profile project, greater autonomy, or more workplace flexibility.

Nonfinancial incentives, like other aspects of an effective approach, should be both frequent and explicitly tied to desired behaviors. They can be used to reward progress toward large, company-wide goals; small, private goals specific to individual employees; or career moves, among other things. Thoughtful deployment of these rewards can help reinforce elements from across the four pillars of a cohesive system.

Economic volatility and shifting workplace norms have sparked many employers’ renewed interest in creating the right performance management formula. Our survey suggests that cohesive overall design and effective execution are the most important focus points.

As organizations consider their approaches across the four performance management pillars—goal setting, performance reviews, ongoing feedback, and rewards—we urge them to pay close attention to the “what” and the “how” to motivate and inspire employees.

Asmus Komm is a partner in McKinsey’s Hamburg office; Brooke Weddle is a senior partner in the Washington, DC, office, where Vivian Breaux is an associate partner; Dana Maor is a senior partner in the Tel Aviv office; and Katharina Wagner is an associate partner in the Berlin office.

The authors wish to thank Karla Martinez and Katherine Boorstein for their contributions to this article.

This article was edited by Katy McLaughlin, an executive editor in the Southern California office.

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In the spotlight: Performance management that puts people first

This time it’s personal: Shaping the ‘new possible’ through employee experience

Harnessing the power of performance management

Damage Detection of Span Bridge Structures Under Moving Loads Using the Hybrid Enhanced SOS-SA Algorithm

Research Paper
Published: 29 August 2024

Cite this article

Mohammad H. Makiabadi 1 ,
Mahmoud R. Maheri 2 &
M. Sarcheshmehpour 3

To detect structural damage, the static deflections due to a moving load, measured at three different points of the structure, are used with the model updating method. In this method, by minimizing the difference between the responses of the damaged and analytical structures, the location and severity of damage are obtained. A new criterion called ‘deflection influence line indicator’ (DILI) is presented and used as an objective function. Moreover, by integrating the enhanced symbiotic organisms search (ESOS) algorithm and the simulated annealing (SA) algorithm, a new algorithm called the ‘hybrid enhanced symbiotic organisms search-simulated annealing algorithm’ (HESOS-SA) is presented which improves on the original ESOS algorithm. In the proposed algorithm, the global search (exploration) is performed by the ESOS algorithm, whereas the local search (exploitation) is done by the SA algorithm. The original SOS and the proposed HESOS-SA algorithms are used to minimize the DILI criterion. In order to assess the performance of the proposed method for structural damage detection, three benchmark structures, including a simply-supported beam and 25-member and 31-member planar truss problems, with a number of damage scenarios are considered. The numerical results demonstrate that, for noise-free data, both the SOS and HESOS-SA algorithms can correctly detect both the location and severity of damage using the DILI criterion. On the other hand, for noisy data, the HESOS-SA algorithm has a more robust performance in damage detection than the SOS algorithm.

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Data Availability

Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Mohammad H. Makiabadi

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Makiabadi, M.H., Maheri, M.R. & Sarcheshmehpour, M. Damage Detection of Span Bridge Structures Under Moving Loads Using the Hybrid Enhanced SOS-SA Algorithm. Iran J Sci Technol Trans Civ Eng (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40996-024-01593-5

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Aims and Objectives
Difference Between Aims and Objectives. Hopefully the above explanations make clear the differences between aims and objectives, but to clarify: The research aim focus on what the research project is intended to achieve; research objectives focus on how the aim will be achieved. Research aims are relatively broad; research objectives are specific.
Research Questions, Objectives & Aims (+ Examples)
Research Aims: Examples. True to the name, research aims usually start with the wording "this research aims to…", "this research seeks to…", and so on. For example: "This research aims to explore employee experiences of digital transformation in retail HR.". "This study sets out to assess the interaction between student ...
aims and objectives
An aims-objectives confusion might arise when you are writing thesis proposal and the introductory thesis chapter. It's always an issue in research bids. The what's-the-difference question can have you going around in ever smaller unproductive circles if you can't figure out a way to differentiate between the two things.
Writing your research aims and objectives
Aim: To understand the contribution that local governments make to national level energy policy. Objectives: Conduct a survey of local politicians to solicit responses. Conduct desk-research of local government websites to create a database of local energy policy.
What's the difference between research aims and objectives?
A research aim is a broad statement indicating the general purpose of your research project. It should appear in your introduction at the end of your problem statement, before your research objectives. Research objectives are more specific than your research aim. They indicate the specific ways you'll address the overarching aim.
Research Objectives
Research aims. A distinction is often made between research objectives and research aims. A research aim typically refers to a broad statement indicating the general purpose of your research project. It should appear at the end of your problem statement, before your research objectives.
Research Aims and Objectives: The dynamic duo for successful ...
Research aims and objectives are the foundation of any research project. They provide a clear direction and purpose for the study, ensuring that you stay focused and on track throughout the process. They are your trusted navigational tools, leading you to success. Understanding the relationship between research objectives and aims is crucial to ...
PRDV009 (2020.A.01): Aims vs. Objectives
An aims-objectives confusion might arise when you are writing a thesis proposal and the introductory thesis chapter. It is always an issue in research bids. The what is-the-difference question can have you going around in ever smaller unproductive circles if you cannot figure out a way to differentiate between the two things.
How to Write Aims and Objectives for PhD Dissertation?
Introduction. In a PhD or Post Graduate dissertation, the aims and objectives play a crucial role in shaping the research process and ensuring focus. They provide a clear roadmap for your study and serve as the guiding principles that steer your research in the right direction. Aims represent the broader purpose or the overarching goal of your ...
PhD Student Tips How to Write Dissertation Aims and Objectives
These are the actionable steps you take to achieve your aims. Use dynamic words like calculate, clarify, define, locate, explain, formulate, identify, and the list goes on. But, there's a catch - don't turn your objectives into a mundane list of dissertation chapters. Your objectives should be sophisticated, spanning across multiple chapters ...
How to Write the Aims and Objectives
Writing objectives. The objectives describe how you would achieve your research aim. You can do this through the following steps, The first one to two objectives can be applied to the literature review. (Verbs to be used: investigate, examine, study) One objective can be applied to the methodology portion.
Formulating Research Aims and Objectives
Formulating research aim and objectives in an appropriate manner is one of the most important aspects of your thesis. This is because research aim and objectives determine the scope, depth and the overall direction of the research. Research question is the central question of the study that has to be answered on the basis of research findings.
Difference between Aim and Objectives of a Research Study
Conclusion. In summary, while the aim of a research study represents the broad goal or purpose, objectives are specific statements that outline the steps necessary to achieve that aim. Understanding the difference between aims and objectives helps in creating a clear and structured research plan, ensuring that the study remains focused and ...
What Are Research Objectives and How to Write Them (with Examples)
Frequently asked questions on research objectives Q: What's the difference between research objectives and aims? 9. A: Research aims are statements that reflect the broad goal(s) of the study and outline the general direction of the research. They are not specific but clearly define the focus of the study.
Aims vs. Objectives
In summary, aims and objectives play distinct but interconnected roles in goal-setting and planning. Aims provide the overarching purpose and direction, while objectives offer specific targets and actions to achieve the aims. Aims are broad, qualitative, and long-term, inspiring and guiding the overall vision.
How To Write Aims And Objectives For Your Research Project ...
Aims and objectives are an important part of a research project and will usually first be identified during the development of a research proposal or a resea...
The Difference Between Research Objectives and Research Questions
Key Differences Between Research Objectives and Research Questions Specificity and Measurability. Research objectives are specific and measurable, providing clear targets for what the research aims to achieve. In contrast, research questions are more general and open-ended, identifying the main problem or area of inquiry.
Understanding the Difference Between Research Objectives and Research
Clear definitions of both research objectives and research questions are essential for setting a solid foundation for any research project. Research objectives help in setting specific goals, guiding the research process, and measuring success, whereas research questions identify the main problem, generate hypotheses, and define the study's scope.
terminology
Aim: to produce the most efficient bycycle in terms of cadence to power ratio. Objective: Develop a sensor accurately measure power that can fit into a pedal casing; Objective: Determine normal cadence rate for cyclists, and the level they can be trained to vary it. Objective: Determine the most effective material to build gear systems out of.
What is the difference between Aims and Objectives
They should be. Aims are usually expressed using infinitive verb such as, " to evaluate, to. describe, to recognize, to design, to understand ". However, some prefer. .". Aim = What you are hoping ...
Dissertation vs. Thesis: Understanding Differences & Similarities
For Ph.D.s, the difference between a thesis and a dissertation is bigger. A doctoral thesis vs dissertation comparison shows that a dissertation involves a lot of research, collecting data, and creating new theories. It aims to make a big step forward in the field and is very important for getting a Ph.D. Similarities Between Dissertation and ...
Difference between thesis objectives and research questions
An example of thesis objectives and research questions. Thesis topic: Changing style of media consumption post Covid-19 pandemic with special reference to OTT platforms and its impacts. Thesis objectives. The main aim of this study is to examine how Covid-19 has changed the media consumption style of people with special reference to OTT platforms.
Aims, objectives, outcomes, outputs- what's the difference?
Teach traditional quilting techniques and history. Introduce contemporary context and ideas. Outputs are what you expect to 'produce' - if you were making a machine, what would come out…. 30 participants attend 3 sessions to make a quilt referencing contemporary culture. Outcomes are the changes you will have caused due to the project.
What is the difference between aim and objectives in dissertation?
What is the difference between aim and objectives in dissertation? Research aims focus on a project's long-term outcomes; research objectives focus on its immediate, short-term outcomes . A research aim can be written in a single sentence or short paragraph; research objectives should be written as a numbered list.
Vision VS Mission Statement
Mission statements describe your company's current purpose and goals. Vision statements outline your company's future goals and aspirations. A powerful mission statement sets out what your company does and why. Aligning your core values and culture with long-term goals can help you create an inspirational vision statement.
Journal of Medical Internet Research
Objective: The study aims to test whether women with a partner with an AUD assigned to SSMW experienced a greater reduction in negative affect (depression and anger) (1) than a usual web care (UWC) control and (2) with brief phone coach support (SSMW+coach) rather than without (SSMW only) and (3) whether baseline negative affect moderated ...
Applied Sciences
Affected by climatic factors (e.g., low temperature and intense ultraviolet radiation), high-altitude regions experience numerous pavement diseases, which compromise driving safety and negatively impact user travel experience. Timely planning and execution of pavement maintenance are particularly critical. In this paper, considering the characteristics of pavement maintenance in high-altitude ...
What employees say matters most to motivate performance
The past few years have been a confounding time in performance management. Disruptions of long-standing workplace norms have led many employees to rethink their expectations of employers regarding remote work, employee burnout, and work-life balance. Compounding these challenges, an inflationary economy and a slower hiring market have put pressure on employers to "do more" with the ...
Damage Detection of Span Bridge Structures Under Moving ...
To detect structural damage, the static deflections due to a moving load, measured at three different points of the structure, are used with the model updating method. In this method, by minimizing the difference between the responses of the damaged and analytical structures, the location and severity of damage are obtained. A new criterion called 'deflection influence line indicator ...

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