Take the survey below and self-assess your character in each of the statements using

the descriptive scales of frequency. Put a check-mark on the description that describes
your assessment

Always Often Sometimes Seldom Never

1. …am a self-starter. I initiate and

go beyond the minimum when
tasked

2. …am driven by internal

motivation to do research

3. …am usually time conscious.

4.…follow stringently the rules,

guidelines and principles in
carrying out research

5. …set my own goals and do

everything to keep them

6… postpone things

7… lost track of my do time

and miss deadlines
8…am inundated with too
many things to do
9…take time to implement new
feedback
10.. give excuse to defend my
procrastination

11. Need less guidance

12.. intentionally decide not to

implement some feedbacks

13. Have limited diplomatic

skills
 14. Always ask a question to
impress
15. Often disorganized

16. Complain about work

17. Beg for some consideration

18. Happy with the bear

minimum
19. Do not see the value of
thesis
20. get easily discouraged

Read the information carefully on the characteristics of a good researcher. Try

to take notes on the key information, concepts, and principles as these shall be
important in performing the subsequent tasks.

How was your score in the self-assessment? Which category did you find
yourself on? Are you highly motivated? Procrastinator? Proud researcher or weak
researcher? Asking this is important as these characters determine how you will journey
on research in the language field. In order to pursue a scientific endeavor, one must be
able to possess the following characteristics.

Characteristics of a good researcher

The following are characteristics benchmarked from Stefanadis (2006), Pereyra, L

(2012) and Elsevier.

Communication Skill

Good researchers need to be great communicators. When one gets involved in

research, a lot of communications are considered.
You would need to write letters of request to authorities, to respondents, and research
process is also more of writing skills. Upon completion for publication, you may also
need to communicate with editors, reviewers, co-authors, and funders at the very least.

Through research papers, you need to be able to effectively communicate your

research with readers. At conferences, you need to know how to present your research
to an informed audience. A compelling abstract can pique interest in your paper,
leading to more readers and eventually to increased citations. A well-constructed
proposal leads to a greater chance of consideration and perhaps even an approval.
A good characteristic of a researcher therefore is to sharpen this skill and utilize
them successfully in both written and spoken mode.

Excellence

When doing research, the researcher should be ready to excel in developing the
research idea, the research hypothesis, the experimental design, and the appropriate
collection of data. Taking into consideration these various stages of research is
fundamental in the completion of the research protocol. Excelling or excellence also
applies to the analysis and interpretation of the data, including the writing of the study
and its presentation, which will culminate the long hours of dedication to the research.

Focus-oriented

There is no perfect research in one sitting. Focus helps you continue looking at the
bigger picture and the greater goal of your research – through all the false starts, dead
ends, rejects, and revisions – because you know where you want to be at the end of it
all. Your thesis has to be done in a set time-frame. Losing focus on your research may
ruin what you had started. “Having a goal is one thing, but keeping it in mind at all times
is quite another. “-this should be well-remembered by all research enthusiasts.

Focus makes a difference. Linqi Zhang, Chair of the Department of Basic Medical
Sciences and Comprehensive Aids Research Center at Tsinghua University in Beijing,
China, believes that this is what sets successful researchers apart. He argues that
researchers who are single- minded are better able to focus on finding solutions. "When
[others] encounter a mountain that is too high, they will take a detour," he explains. No
matter how long it takes, the successful researcher will eventually arrive to the answer.

Honesty

Research is built on facts. And facts call for honesty. Good researchers are those who
are intellectually honest in collecting data and interpreting the data and reporting the
data.

Inquisitiveness
This quality is not difficult to introduce since an inquisitive mind is almost a
requirement for a good research experience. Without inquisitiveness it would be in
many ways impossible to advance the research enterprise. At the conceptualization, a
researcher needs the characteristics of inquisitiveness to be able to ask what gaps are
not yet being address, or what mechanisms need to be unfolded. Asking frequent
questions and showing eagerness for knowledge completes the sphere of the
inquisitive mind or the inquisitive individual. Pereyra, L (2012) emphasized that asking
frequent questions and showing eagerness for knowledge completes the sphere of the
inquisitive mind or the inquisitive individual. In research, this is a fundamental quality
that accompanies the initial interest and motivation expressed for research matters.

Knowledge

It is evident that knowledge is a quality that the researcher cannot do without, since
the whole research project depends on it. Knowledge equals advancement, which at
the same time equals innovation and discovery. In order for the research idea to
progress, one needs knowledge to support it and eventually move it forward .
Knowledge is behind any substantive progress in research. Acquiring knowledge
becomes then the main foundation on which research will stand.

Motivated

Even though this quality is very close to the previous one of having
interest/desire/disposition toward research, it is somewhat different in that motivation
takes us one step further to the initial interest reflected toward the research field. The
dictionary gives an accurate characterization of motivation as “providing for a reason
to act in certain way,” the equivalent of “inducement, cause, impetus” . In this way,
motivation provides the reasoning behind the initial interest in research. It gives the
impetus for advancing the initial desire expressed toward the research process. It
gives us the inducement for continuing our path of research interest.

Self-motivation:

Surround yourself by an environment where you see examples of success, where you
see people you admire, people who inspire us to think about what we might aspire to
be, who we want to be and how do we want to get there. Find colleagues who’re asking
questions, trying to seek knowledge to improve people lives and don’t limit this search
to people just in front of you, but look for opportunities across institutions and across
borders.

Passionate
 Passion speaks on the drive to start up and finish the research journey. You
must be passionate about your topic, about your research study.

Determination & Resilience in the face of challenges:

Everyone among the top successful researchers have faced challenges at one or more
junctures of their life. Everyone faces difficult times when people don’t believe in them
or doubt their capabilities. However, what made them stand apart was the resilience
they displayed in the face of challenges. When times are hard, don’t quit easily because
success only comes to those who work hard.

Which of the characteristics mentioned are you strong and weak at? What mechanisms
would you employ to the characteristics you are weak at?
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Other than the list of characteristics mentioned in the lesson segment, what other
ETHICAL character can you think a language researcher needs in a language related
research project? List them down in the character box.

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