Tips for writing research objectives

Research objectives are the building blocks that help you achieve your research goals. They can be best described as specific outcomes that you want to attain when conducting your research. They also highlight the key results or outcomes you want to obtain. In addition, to successfully convince a funding or evaluation committee, you will need to demonstrate that you can achieve your objectives within the stipulated time frame of the funding or research programme. A good understanding of how to develop a research objective is a crucial skill for conducting research.

The first step to writing a good objective is understanding how it differs from your research goal. Your research goal will give a broad overview of what your research will achieve while the objectives emphasise the steps required to achieve said goal. This implies that your research or proposal will have one goal and several objectives. For instance, a research goal could be: “To explore intimate partner violence among youth in Zimbabwe”. The objectives could then be listed as follows:

• To determine the prevalence of intimate partner violence among youth in Zimbabwe;
• To examine the characteristics and determinants of intimate partner violence among youth in Zimbabwe;
• To examine the gender differences in the experience of intimate partner violence among youth in Zimbabwe; and
• To highlight regional differentials in the experience of intimate partner violence among youth in Zimbabwe.

The objectives also help you decide on the appropriate methods that would be used for the project and ensure that each objective is measurable. Without stating objectives that can be linked to the goal of your project, you are not telling funders why you are capable of carrying out your work – and as a result, you are unlikely to be funded. The tips below can guide you in writing your research objectives:

Aim for clarity

Avoid being ambiguous when stating your objectives. Clear language tells  how you will achieve your objectives. For instance, words like “to understand” may not be measurable. Aim for words that can easily show readers how you intend to achieve the objective, such as “to determine” or “to highlight”.

Each objective should be independent 

Each objective should stand alone such that you can work on different aspects of the work independently. For instance, if your first objective is creating an index and the second objective requires that index, it may be difficult to move forward if you run into challenges. This may influence the decision pertaining to your proposal review. With independent objectives, it becomes easier to work on different aspects of the work since you may be using different methods to achieve each objective.

Make your objectives manageable

Your objective should be brief but meaningful. Focus on answering a specific question with each objective instead of multiple questions. The objective can be short but still capture important aspects of the research succinctly. One way to think about this is by asking whether the particular objective can be turned into a manuscript draft. Always think about the amount of content you need for a research article when formulating your research objectives.

Make it interesting

An interesting objective captivates the reader' attention. Readers are more likely to read your entire work if the objectives are catchy and they would want to know how you intend to go about achieving the stated objective.

In summary, always think of objectives as pathways to achieving your research goals. You can also use the SMART acronym when working on your objectives and always refer to the literature to see how other researchers have framed their objectives.

Dr. Oluwaseyi Dolapo Somefun (Seyi) is a social demographer with over 8 years of experience. She enjoys thinking and learning about new ways to conduct research that influence youth holistic health and wellbeing. Seyi is a postdoctoral fellow at the School of Public Health of the University of Western Cape, South Africa, a CARTA fellow, an INASP Associate and an AuthorAID Steward.