Xufang Zhang, Ph.D
Forest Economist
Texas A&M Forest Service
Research Beliefs: Hourglass Theory
Natural resource and economics research is fascinating and exhilarating, which make me immensely enjoyed exploring and investigating them. My research belief can be created and characterized as the hourglass theory with two levels: content and extension. At the content level, it includes artist design, engineer program, and executor draft three aspects. While at the extension level, it shows the further meaning of my research belief through an example of the hourglass.
Artist: design. Proper planning makes supervision more effective. Thus the research design should be the first step to do as an artist, which include the research issue, what is known and unknown, significance, and objectives.
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Engineer: program. The next step is to make the design come true by an engineer’s programming, which include methods, data source, preliminary and expected results. This is the core of a research.
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Executor: draft. The last job for you to do is the manuscript with contribution and implication. Just like a painting job, different people may choose different color oil paint to decorate the wall after building the house.
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High-quality research with limited time. The above description shows my belief in doing research based on the content part of the hourglass theory. While the extension part of the hourglass theory is the pursuit of high-quality research with limited time.