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Rolex Oyster Perpetual Yacht-Master II Hands-On

The year is 2011 and this conversation is overheard in a Rolex boutique.

“Good morning.” “Good morning, sir, how may we help you?” “I’d like a large Rolex.” “That’d be the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Yacht-Master II. Here you go, sir.” “I’ll take that, thank you. Bye.” “Bye!”

All images by David Bredan

The Large Rolex

For the longest time, and I’ll take the blame for this, I couldn’t see the Yacht-Master II as nothing more than The Large Rolex . The 44mm wide Yacht-Master II was the go-to large Rolex, with a massive gap in size between it and the 40mm Sea-Dwellers, Submariners, and others. Debuted in 2007, the Yacht-Master II was followed just next year by the absolutely massive Deepsea that had the same width at 44mm but was considerably thicker, so it both appeared and wore much, much larger than the YMII, placing it far off the map for most.

The Sky-Dweller made its debut in 2012, and while it also looks and wears large, until 2017 it was exclusively available in solid gold cases, rendering it about 40% more expensive than the two-tone YMII that had already been available by 2012. I did look these things up – wouldn’t want to pose as someone who remembers all this. No wonder then, that the Yacht-Master II became The Large Rolex worn by premiership ballerinas footballers, celebrities, and… basically everyone who wanted in on the large watch craze with a Rolex, but didn’t like or couldn’t afford the Sky-Dweller. The fact that Rolex took so long and only debuted the larger, 43mm wide Sea-Dweller in 2017 is just Rolex being its usual cautious self that caused it to nearly miss the boat on the large watch trend – but that’s for another discussion.

Stars aligned and I ended up in a Rolex boutique with a camera in one hand and the Yacht-Master II in the other – welcome to watch blogger life. It was only there that I realized I should have cared about the Yacht-Master II because my goodness, it is a truly impressive piece of watchmaking. It’s the Bentley of watches: big, brash, and showy, bought by a demographic that people not part of are keen not to be associated with… But beyond all that lies a deeply impressive, well-made, uniquely cool product.

I am realizing now that it might as well just be my boredom with the Submariners and Datejusts speaking, but as I was reviewing my images on the spot on the camera’s screen (not even a larger, better display) I realized the many intricate and well-made details of the Yacht-Master II. It’s proper Rolex through and through – you’d never ever mistake the entire watch or any of its details for anything but a Rolex – but at the same time its functionality, layout, as well as its case and dial design are all refreshingly unique.

Yes, that’s what got me. The weird, piston-style pushers (that need not be screwed down), the weird, but strangely beautiful proportions of the lugs and bezel, the incredible quality of the blue ceramic bezel and its laser-etched, PVD-coated numerals, the weird arch of the dial that resembles (in my mind at least) a gauge of a submarine, and the ADD-curing tactile feel of the Ring Command bezel. These make the Yacht-Master II not only unlike any other Rolex, but unlike any other watch. How did this happen?

Whether or not Rolex had the large watch trend on its mind when designing the Yacht-Master II, we’ll never know. I have no hopes in receiving a definitive “yes, we did” or “no, we didn’t” answer from them. The Yacht-Master II was designed with a programmable fly-back regatta chronograph ( ooooh, just writing that down felt strangely satisfying ) and it was also the watch to debut Rolex’s Ring Command rotating bezel system that was later also used in the Sky-Dweller.

We’ll look at how it all works soon but for a second imagine the amount of R&D time and effort that must have gone into designing what is now called the Manufacture Rolex Calibre 4161 “with some 360 components.” What the heck, even Rolex appears to be proud of this movement as this, I believe, is the only movement they proactively communicate the exact component count of. It is known that the 4130 chronograph in the Daytona has 201 parts, but Rolex officially only ever said they managed to reduce the chronograph’s component count by 60%, without providing the total 201 count – and as far as the other movements are concerned, no exact component figure is ever shared.

Give or take the large watch trend, the Yacht-Master II is also something else: it’s Rolex’s love letter to one of its obscure, but long-standing passions, yachting. Worry not, I’ll spare you the long, teary-eyed story of all that’s exciting about yachting. That’s partly because I’ve never been on a racing yacht and partly because it’s irrelevant in this discussion – you either already are a skipper at heart, or if you’re not, my measly few words won’t get you started. Rolex has produced a number of longer videos on the topic, so if you can take 24 minutes of “uplifting-instrumental-music.mp3” and are desperate to learn more about yachting, then I suggest you watch the video above. But only then.

So, looking at it strictly as a watch, without its implications, customer base, or inspiration, what do we have with the Rolex Yacht-Master II? From my time with it, I came away with a new-found admiration for its many impressive feats starting with its mechanical engineering and ending with its countless neatly executed details. The Rolex Yacht-Master II was specifically designed for regatta yacht races where the starting procedure of the race requires each yacht to be positioned as best as possible when a given time limit expires. From what I understand this time limit before the actual start varies between 5 and 10 minutes and so skippers need a regatta timer watch with a countdown timer (i.e. a reverse chronograph) that can be programmed to count down from a pre-set time between 5 and 10 minutes. When the officials give a signal, the countdown begins, the pre-set regatta chronographs are started, and the maneuvering begins.

Thursday, April 25, 2024

Rolex Discontinues The Yacht-Master II

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INSIDE ROLEX

Rolex Yacht-Master 42 Ultimate Buying Guide

First released at Baselworld 2019, the Yacht-Master 42 is the newest and largest addition to the Rolex Yacht-Master lineup. Historically, the Yacht Master collection has been the only Rolex sports model available in multiple sizes; however, until the release of the Yacht-Master 42 ref. 226659, 40mm was the largest case size available. Despite the fact that the Rolex Yacht-Master 42 introduced a new and larger 42mm case to the collection, at the time of writing, the model is only offered in a single configuration: a 42mm white gold case fitted with a black dial, black ceramic bezel, and matching black Oysterflex bracelet.

At first glance, the Rolex Yacht Master 42 reference 226659 appears very similar to the 40mm Everose gold model that is also fitted with an Oysterflex bracelet. Both watches feature black dials, matte black ceramic bezels with raised polished numerals, black Oysterflex bracelets, and Rolex’s in-house Caliber 3235 movement. However, while the core design of the Yacht-Master 42 is shared with the other Oysterflex Yacht-Master watches, the larger case paired with its toned-down monochromatic color profile makes it immediately distinct, and these small changes come together to make the Yacht-Master 42 ref. 226659 the perfect poster child for the modern Rolex brand.

Rolex Yacht-Master 42 Reference 226659

Rolex Yacht-Master 42 White Gold Oysterflex Bracelet 226659

Yacht-Master 226659 Key Features:

– Reference Number: 226659

– Production Years: 2019 – Present

– Case Size: 42mm

– Materials: 18k White Gold

– Functions: Time w/ Running Seconds; Date Display

– Dial: Black w/ Luminous Hour Markers

– Luminescence: Chromalight

– Bezel: Bidirectional, Black Ceramic Insert w/ 60-Minute Scale

– Crystal: Sapphire (Flat w/ Cyclops Lens)

– Movement: Rolex Caliber 3235

– Water Resistance: 100 Meters / 330 Feet

– Strap/Bracelet: Oysterflex Bracelet

– Clasp: Oysterlock Safety Clasp w/ Glidelock Extension System

– Approx. Price: $28,900 (Retail); $33,500 (Pre-Owned)

Click here for our Ultimate Buying Guide on the Rolex Yacht-Master.

Rolex Yacht-Master 42 Oysterflex White Gold 226659

The History of the Rolex Yacht Master 42

Compared to many of Rolex’s other lines of watches, the Yacht-Master is a fairly young collection, having only just joined the brand’s catalog in 1992. While Rolex originally built much of its reputation by producing tough-as-nails tool watches, the brand had already started to make its transition towards becoming an all-out luxury manufacturer by the 1980s, and the Yacht-Master was created as an unapologetically luxurious take on the brand’s classic sports watch.

The Rolex Yacht-Master largely follows the same overall design as the Submariner, but leans more towards the opulent and luxurious side of things, rather than being a purpose-built underwater timing tool. Both the Submariner and the Yacht-Master feature rotating timing bezels, but while the Submariner’s bezel rotates unidirectionally and features a luminous dot at the zero-marker, the Yacht-Master’s moves bi-directionally and omits the luminous dot in favor of an insert crafted from either solid gold, platinum, or black ceramic. Similarly, all Rolex Yacht-Master watches feature precious metals somewhere in their construction. Even the most humble models that are largely crafted from stainless steel feature solid platinum bezels, and while the bezel insert on the reference 226659 is built from black ceramic, the watch itself is crafted from solid 18k white gold.

Initially, the Rolex Yacht-Master was exclusively offered in solid yellow gold and with a 40mm case. However, over the years, the collection expanded to include other case sizes and materials including both two-tone and Rolesium (a combination of stainless steel and platinum) references. Both a 29mm Lady Yacht-Master and 35mm Midsize Yacht-Master were previously offered alongside the standard 40mm model, but these two smaller versions were ultimately discontinued in favor of the Midsize Yacht-Master 37.

With that in mind, Baselworld 2019 marked the arrival of both an all-new Yacht-Master size and a new material option for the collection. With the launch of the reference 226659, not only was the Rolex Yacht-Master now available with a 42mm case diameter for the first time in its history but it was also offered with a solid 18k white gold case – something that was previously not an option within the standard Yacht-Master collection. While the Rolex Yacht-Master 42 marked a major step forward for the collection, the new 42mm case size is exclusively available for the ref. 226659, and the watch is only available in one single configuration. Given that the Yacht-Master 42 has only been on the market for a couple of years, many collectors speculate that the solid 18k white gold ref. 226659 is just the first of many 42mm Rolex Yacht-Master watches.

Rolex Yacht-Master 42 226659 White Gold 42mm Oysterflex

Rolex Yacht Master 42 Defining Elements

For the most part, the Rolex Yacht-Master 42 reference 226659 is a larger, white gold version of the Everose Yacht-Master 40 that is also on an Oysterflex bracelet. However, the ref. 226659 does possess a number of unique traits that make it immediately identifiable and separate it from all other Rolex watches.

42mm White Gold Case

Probably the single most defining feature of the Rolex Yacht-Master 42 reference 226659 is its 42mm case crafted from solid 18k white gold. Not only is this unique because the ref. 226659 is the only 42mm Yacht-Master model, but it also holds the distinction of being the only one that has ever been constructed from white gold. Over the course of the Yacht-Master’s history, it has been created in full 18k yellow gold, Yellow Rolesor (stainless steel and yellow gold), Rolesium (stainless steel and platinum), full 18k Everose gold, and Everose Rolesor (stainless steel and Everose gold). Additionally, there is even a version of the 44mm Yacht-Master II regatta timer that is built from white gold with a platinum bezel, but the reference 226659 is the only iteration of the classic Yacht-Master to be offered in full 18k white gold.

Black Cerachrom Bezel

Just like the 37mm and 40mm Everose gold Rolex Yacht-Master models that are also fitted with Oysterflex bracelets, the Yacht-Master 42 ref. 226659 receives a bidirectional timing bezel with an insert that is crafted from Rolex’s proprietary Cerachrom ceramic material. The black ceramic insert is given a matte-sandblasted texture, with raised graduations that feature a high-polish finish for improved contrast. Despite having both a different case size and being made from different materials, the matte black ceramic insert on the Yacht-Master 42 instantly unites it with the rest of the Oysterflex bracelets Yacht-Master watches in Rolex’s portfolio.

Rolex Yacht-Master 42 Oysterflex 42mm White Gold 226659

Oysterflex Bracelet

The Rolex Oysterflex bracelet is quite possibly the most over-engineered rubber strap in the world – however, to call it a “rubber strap” is a bit misleading. Rolex specifically refers to it as a bracelet within its catalog because the elastomer strap features a flexible metal core for optimum durability and longevity. Additionally, the underside of the strap features a comfort pad that elevates the strap slightly off the wrist, better distributing the weight of the watch and promoting airflow and breathability.

One of the more interesting details about how Rolex has chosen to structure its catalog is that the Oysterflex bracelet (seemingly the most sporty and least formal option) is exclusively equipped to the brand’s solid gold models. Whether fitted to a Daytona, Sky-Dweller, or Yacht-Master watch, all of the Oysterflex-equipped models are crafted from solid 18k gold (either yellow, white, or Everose). At the time of writing, the Oysterflex bracelet is only found on the full 18k Everose gold Yachtmaster 40 and Yacht-Master 37 watches, along with the 18k white gold Yacht-Master 42.

Rolex Caliber 3235 Movement

Despite being 2mm larger than the current Yacht-Master 40, the Rolex Yacht-Master 42 is powered by the exact same Caliber 3235 movement. Designed and manufactured entirely in-house by Rolex, the Cal. 3235 represents the brand’s latest generation of date-displaying mechanical movements and can be found in a number of other date-displaying Rolex watches, including all-time classics like the Datejust and the Submariner.

The Caliber 3235 movement is based around Rolex’s new Chronergy escapement, which features a skeletonized structure for improved efficiency. When combined with Rolex’s proprietary blue Parachrom hairspring and a redesigned gear train and mainspring barrel, the Caliber 3235 offers users an increased power reserve of 70 hours, which represents a significant step up from the 48-hour reserve offered by its predecessor. Additionally, despite its improved efficiency, the Rolex Cal. 3235 movement adheres to the same incredibly stringent ‘Superlative Chronometer’ precision standards, which permit a maximum timekeeping deviation of -2/+2 seconds per day.

Rolex Yacht-Master 42 Oysterflex Bracelet White Gold Reference 226659

Rolex Yacht-Master 42 Price and Availability

The Rolex Yacht-Master 42 reference 226659 has only been around for a couple of years, so it is still in production and available for purchase from retailers and boutiques. However, as anyone who is familiar with Rolex watches will tell you, finding the model you want brand-new and available for immediate sale is virtually impossible and for many highly popular references, there is no way to buy a brand-new Rolex without spending a significant amount of time on a waiting list. As a result of this lack of availability on a retail level, many buyers turn to the secondary market, where they can add a Rolex Yachtmaster 42 ref. 226659 to their collections without the wait.

How Much is a Rolex Yacht-Master 42?

As of 2021, the retail price for a brand-new Rolex Yacht-Master 42 reference 226659 is $28,900, which represents a $1,600 premium compared to its 40mm Everose gold counterpart. However, due to the fact that the white gold Yacht-Master 42 cannot be purchased at a retail level without being on a waiting list, pre-owned prices exceed their brand-new values and you can expect to pay a premium of several thousand dollars if you wish to skip the line and add one to your collection today.

Where to Buy a Rolex Yacht-Master 42

Since the Rolex Yacht-Master 42 ref. 226659 is still in production, you can technically still buy it brand-new from Rolex retailers and boutiques – just as long as you are willing to wait out the cue. A similar story exists for most of the popular modern Rolex models; however, compared to the steep premiums that many of the brand’s stainless steel sports watches trade hands for on the open market (which can frequently reach values in excess of 100% above their brand-new retail prices), the comparatively reasonable premium of a few thousand dollars to skip the line for a reference 226659 Yachtmaster 42 means that buyers often opt for a pre-owned example, where availability is immediate and guaranteed.

Rolex Yacht-Master 42 18k White Gold Oysterflex 226659

Rolex Yacht-Master 42: A Modern Luxury Sports Watch

Rolex may have originally built much of its legendary reputation by building tough and reliable sport and tool watches, but the brand’s days as a manufacturer of utilitarian timekeeping devices have long since passed. These days, Rolex is an all-out luxury brand and it is arguably the single most famous luxury label in the entire world. The thought of a military branch supplying its troops with Rolex Submariner watches has become almost comical given that countless people all around the globe are unable to buy a Submariner, despite being more than willing to pay full retail price for one. In fact, the Rolex Submariner is so in-demand that most people are willing to pay far more than the brand-new retail price, just to skip the multi-year waiting list and add one to their collections.

Despite Rolex’s transition towards becoming a luxury manufacturer, it has never stopped producing reliable and finely crafted sports watches. However, the nature of its sports watches has certainly evolved to take on a more luxury-oriented approach, just like the brand’s positioning within the greater watch market. Rolex was producing sports watches back in the 1950s and 1960s and although its products were always considered to be premium timepieces, they were hardly regarded as luxury items, let alone status symbols.

These days, Rolex sports watches are some of the most iconic and desirable luxury timepieces in existence, and wearing one has become a universally recognized symbol of success and personal accomplishment. As a result of the implicit connotations that they carry, modern Rolex sports watches need to do more than just be tough and reliable; they also need to offer a bit of flash and match the opulent and exclusive image of Rolex itself.

The Yacht-Master 42 reference 226659 is the perfect poster-child for the modern Rolex brand. Its monochromatic color profile paired with its matte black ceramic bezel and black Oysterflex bracelet makes the watch inherently casual and sporty, and at first glance, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this was a humble stainless steel model. However, at its core, the Yacht-Master 42 ref. 226659 is a $30k solid gold Rolex. Wearing a Rolex watch has become a universally recognized status symbol, but Rolex is not a brand known for making over-the-top, statement pieces. The white gold Yacht-Master 42 is the perfect statement piece for those that do not want to make a statement, and that is precisely why the reference 226659 is the perfect poster-child for the modern Rolex brand.

Rolex Yacht-Master 42 42mm 226659 Oysterflex White Gold

About Paul Altieri

Paul Altieri is a vintage and pre-owned Rolex specialist, entrepreneur, and the founder and CEO of BobsWatches.com. - the largest and most trusted name in luxury watches. He is widely considered a pioneer in the industry for bringing transparency and innovation to a once-considered stagnant industry. His experience spans over 35 years and he has been published in numerous publications including Forbes, The NY Times, WatchPro, and Fortune Magazine. Paul is committed to staying up-to-date with the latest research and developments in the watch industry and e-commerce, and regularly engages with other professionals in the industry. He is a member of the IWJG, the AWCI and a graduate of the GIA. Alongside running the premier retailer of pre-owned Rolex watches, Paul is a prominent Rolex watch collector himself amassing one of the largest private collections of rare timepieces. In an interview with the WSJ lifestyle/fashion editor Christina Binkley, Paul opened his vault to display his extensive collection of vintage Rolex Submariners and Daytonas. Paul Altieri is a trusted and recognized authority in the watch industry with a proven track record of expertise, professionalism, and commitment to excellence.

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10 Rolex Yacht-Master Alternatives (Homage & Affordable Watch Options)

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The Rolex Yacht-Master is the ultimate nautical watch . Purpose-built for sailing, the Rolex Yacht-Master is an indispensable marine tool and a benchmark in watchmaking. With Rolex pedigree, a rich history, and a glorious reputation, the watch remains immensely sought after. However, like with any Rolex model, the pricing keeps many away. For instance, a brand new Yacht-Master within the most economical configuration can set you back by over nine thousand USD. Don’t let this worry you though. That is to say, there are many homages and affordable alternatives you can consider instead of the expensive Rolex Yacht-Master. In this article, we will recommend a list of alternative watches from various brands. Above all, the list will feature models across different price ranges making sure there is something for everybody. Before we look at our alternatives, let us learn more about the Yacht-Master itself.

Table of Contents

Rolex Yacht-Master

Best Affordable Rolex Yacht-Master Alternatives

NOTE: This article features alternatives to the Rolex Yacht-Master and not the Yacht-Master II.

Invicta Pro Diver 9210

See on Invicta | Read Amazon Reviews

Swiss brand Invicta bears a rich history. Founded in 1837 by Raphael Picard in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, the brand focused on affordable luxury. Since the brand’s re-establishment in 1991, it remains based in Hollywood, Florida. For this list, we’re looking at Invicta’s Pro Diver 9210 model. This model is almost identical to the Rolex Yacht-Master. For instance, the overall design of the case and its constituents are just like that of the Rolex. Furthermore, the 40mm stainless steel case hosts a Japanese Caliber NH35A automatic movement and is visible through the clear rear. In addition, the watch is water-resistant up to 200M and is available in different finishes/colors. More importantly, all Invicta models come with a three-year warranty. You may read about the brand Invicta here.

Davosa Ternos Collection

See on Davosa | See on Amazon

The Davosa name originated from a collection under the Fabrique d’horlogerie Hasler & Co SA brand in Switzerland. Launched in 1987, the collection gained immense popularity globally and grew to the brand we know of today. The family-owned brand offers its Ternos Collection to consider for the Rolex Yacht-Master alternatives. The Ternos Ceramic, Medium, and Professional offer great alternatives for you to choose from. The three collections offer Yacht-Master like models measuring in different diameters, colors, and price points. We will specifically look at the Ternos Ceramic Automatic to highlight some features. The 40mm all stainless steel watch runs on the DAV 3021 automatic movement. A ceramic, unidirectional rotating bezel sits around the anti-glare, sapphire crystal. The dial markers and hands are luminous and the watch itself is water-resistant up to 20ATM. Read our review on Davosa here.

Steinhart Ocean One

See on Steinhart | Find on eBay

German brand Steinhart is another brand to consider for homage models. Founded in 2001 by Gunther Steinhart in Augsburg, the watch brand markets itself as ‘Swiss Made’. The brand’s Ocean One model under the diver’s series offers a good alternative to the Rolex Yacht-Master. Available at a fraction of the Rolex price, the Ocean One features Swiss made ETA 2824-2 movement. The 42mm case hosts Rolex like hour markers, hands, a date display at 3 under a cyclops lens. A graduated ceramic bezel sits on the case. In addition, the markers and hands remain Superluminova treated and the watch is water-resistant up to 30ATM. The brand offers this model in a host of color and strap options to choose from. Also, you can opt for models without a date display. Let us now look at a few premia, technically proficient, and luxury alternatives to the Rolex Yacht-Master.

Parnis Yachtmaster

See on Parnis

If you like the Rolex Yacht-Master exclusively for its styling, consider this homage brands. These ‘Rolex lookalikes’ by Parnis are available at incredibly affordable prices. Launched in 2005, the Chinese brand Parnis majorly markets in the United States and Europe. The brand remains sought after as they offer homage models to many Swiss luxury watches. For instance, the Parnis Yachtmaster draws its design entirely from the Rolex. From the bezel ring, the dial design, cyclops lens, hands, and markers, every detail reflects here. Made of 316L steel, the model measures at 41mm. In addition, the hands and hour markers are luminous and the watch itself is water-resistant up to 5ATM.

Alpha Yachtsman

See on Alpha

Another homage brand well regarded for its decent build quality and close design detail is the watch brand Alpha. Established in 1993 and based in Hong Kong, the brand claims all its models undergo tests with ‘sophisticated Swiss instruments’. The watchmaker’s Alpha Yachtsman is a great homage alternative and is available at a fraction of the Rolex price. The model bears striking resemblance to the Rolex Yacht-Master. This Chinese model hosts a self-winding automatic movement within the 44mm stainless steel case. In addition, it features a date display under a cyclops lens and a bezel just like that of the Rolex. The watch is water-resistant up to 3ATM and comes with a one year warranty. More importantly, Alpha watches are a great value for their economical pricing.

Oris Divers Sixty Five

See on Oris | See on Jomashop

Founded in 1904 in Hölstein, Switzerland by Paul Cattin and Georges Christian, Oris offers a premium and well-built alternative. We recommend the Oris Divers Sixty Five for this list for its Rolex like design and features. The watch’s retro design reflects the iconic Oris diver’s collection from the 60s. The 40mm anti-corrosive stainless steel watch runs on an automatic movement under the blue dial. The indices and hands on the dial are luminous. However, unlike the Rolex, the date display is at 6 o’clock instead of 3 o’clock. The bezel bears a close resemblance in design to that of the Yacht-Master. In addition, the Oris Divers Sixty Five is water-resistant up to 10bar. Furthermore, Oris offers a host of configuration options to add to the Rolex feel, making this a good alternative. Read about the brand Oris here.

Longines Hydroconquest

See on Longines | See on Jomashop

Swiss luxury brand Longines traces its history to 1832 in Saint-Imier. The watchmaker remains renowned for their exquisite designs across their collections. The Hydroconquest collection offers great models for divers and watch enthusiasts. In addition, the collection offers an alternative to our list. Specifically, the Hydroconquest L3. 781. 4. 76. 6. This stainless steel and ceramic model looks slightly similar to the Yacht-Master while ensuring it stands out as a Longines. The 41mm case hosts Caliber L888 Automatic movement under the ‘Sunray Grey’ dial. Underneath the anti-reflective and scratch-resistant sapphire crystal, the dial features Arabic numerals at 6, 9, and 12. In addition, the hands and hour markers remain Swiss Super-LumiNova treated and the date window sits at 3 o’clock. On top, a unidirectional rotating bezel just like that of the Rolex is present for time calculations. Above all, this model is water-resistant up to 30 bar. Click here to know more about Longines .

Tag Heuer Autavia Collection

See on Tag Heuer

Check Discounted Price

If retro or vintage styling is your preference, consider the Tag Heuer Autavia Collection. This luxury Swiss brand took off in 1860 when Edouard Heuer founded the company. Subsequently, in 1985 after a majority purchase by the TAG Group, the name Tag Heuer formed. After that, LVMH, a French luxury goods brand bough the brand. Over the years the Tag Heuer name has gained great acclaim and reputation. The Heuer Autavia hence makes a good candidate as a luxury alternative. In addition, it boasts of great features. For instance, the 42mm steel and the ceramic watch runs on Calibre 5 COSC automatic movement. The dial hosts retro-themed Arabic numerals and a date window at 6 o’clock. On the case sits a sleek rotating bezel. Furthermore, the watch is water-resistant up to 100m and the collection offers 6 models to choose from. We’re now approaching the Rolex price tag territory.

Breitling Superocean Automatic 44

See on Breitling

Check Discounted Price

If you’re strictly looking at a luxury brand alternative offering a similar watch, it’s worth considering Breitling. Founded by Léon Breitling in Saint-Imier, Switzerland, the company currently sits in Grenchen. The 132-year-old Swiss luxury brand remains globally sought after for its aviation-inspired professional and luxury watches. However, the brand designs equally stunning and capable marine/nautical watches. Case in point, the Breitling Superocean Automatic 44 . Powered by Breitling 17 self-winding mechanical movement, this model measures at 44mm. Breitling also offers the same design in 36, 42, 46, and 48mm. The watch features a unidirectional and ratcheted bezel around the glare-proofed and cambered sapphire crystal. Underneath, the dial hosts a date display at 3 o’clock along with luminous and hour markers. In addition, the watch is also available in diver friendly rubber straps. Above all, the watch is water-resistant up to 1000m , making it an ideal marine tool. See our full comparison of Breitling vs Rolex here.

Omega Seamaster 300

Buy New | Buy Pre-Owned

Almost as expensive as the Rolex and an equal in every way. Swiss brand Omega remains in the upper echelons of luxury Swiss watch brands. Founded in 1848 by Louis Brandt in La Chaux-de-Fonds, the brand is now a subsidiary of the Swiss Swatch Group. Headquartered in Biel, Omega boasts of a diverse and sophisticated collection. The Seamaster 300 also takes on a retro design approach. Inspired by the original Seamaster 300 from 1957, the updated version is incredibly desirable. The polished and brushed 41mm stainless steel case hosts the anti-magnetic Omega Master Co-Axial calibre 8400. The workings are visible through the clear rear. Under the domed, anti‑reflective, and scratch‑resistant sapphire crystal we see rhodium-plated hands filled with ‘vintage’ Super-LumiNova. A unidirectional rotating polished ceramic bezel ring sits on top with a Liquidmetal diving scale. Above all, this model comes with Omega’s five-year warranty and is water-resistant up to 300m. If you have no limitations financially, treat yourself to the 60th-anniversary special edition version of the Omega Seamaster 300. Part of the 1957 Trilogy set, this specialty watch is a collector’s must-have. Limited to just 557 pieces and measuring at 39mm with a bidirectional bezel, it commands a staggering price.

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Introduction to the Specific Aims Page of a Grant Proposal

Andrew a. monte.

1 University of Colorado School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO

Anne M. Libby

Grant writing starts with crafting an effective Specific Aims page. This page should be a succinct combination of sales pitch and science. The Specific Aims page demonstrates a problem, a gap in current knowledge, and suggests a solution. It proposes aims that work toward a defended solution and reveal the impact of the proposal on the problem, the field, and future research. The language must be efficient and persuasive; the presentation must drive a reviewer to support the proposal. Here we present a refined recipe for an effective Specific Aims page.

Grant writing starts with the iterative development of a Specific Aims page. The Aims page serves as a concept sheet with project milestones, hypotheses, and the most important elements of the approach.[ 1 ] This page also serves as a master plan for the research proposal and ideally engages the reader as an advocate during review. The readers are review panel members that will advocate for or against your project during review. Grant reviewers often have significantly different research experience and training than the grant writer. Thus, this page must give the educated non-expert a basic understanding of the problem while giving just enough detail to indicate mastery, should the reviewer be an expert on the topic. An effective Aims page makes the case that the research is important, the methods are likely to be successful, and the applicant is the right person and team to do the project. While these goals seem simple, conveying these elements efficiently and coherently is challenging. If the Specific Aims page is confusing, boring, or overly controversial then reviewers may be lost as advocates. In contrast, effective Aims page predisposes the reader to stay engaged and eager for subsequent details. Although a grant cannot be won with the Specific Aims page, a proposal can be lost on there by confusing or alienating reviewers.

Some grant writers chafe at the notion that they need to “sell” their ideas because the proposed science should stand alone as compelling and valuable. We posit that a grant proposal is both sales and science in different parts. We define the goal of grant writing as gaining financial sponsorship for planned work; like sales, a proposal requires marketing, tailoring, and a value proposition. In contrast, science requires content and intent, a hypothesis and approach, thus science is the research that will be conducted with sponsorship. The Aims page is the point of sale for planned science and written with the goal of research sponsorship. The target audience is the review panel, and the goal is to enlist reviewers as partners and advocates of the proposal. Table 1 describes similarities between elements of effective sales and grant proposals.

Similarities: Sales and Grantsmanship

Sales	Proposals
Something special to offer	Significance/Importance
Good first impressions	Specific aims page
Context: prepared, knowledgeable	Background
Appropriate credentials, endorsements	Biosketch, Letters of Collaboration
Supporting documentation	Pilot data, publications
Clear, understandable message	Abstract, Approach

First, the Aims page should be written to an educated non-expert audience, saving the field-specific details for content experts in later sections. Also, the Specific Aims page should make the overall plan as simple as possible, but not simpler, including only “need to know” information. Demonstrating the depth of expertise and fine details of pilot data are best deployed in later sections of the grant; instead, identify the problem to study, educate the reader with background knowledge, and describe why the proposed study will successfully solve the problem. Generally, citations are minimized on the Aims page because they can distract the reader and will be included in the background section of the grant. Obey the “cultural norms” that vary by discipline or review group; for example, whether hypotheses or short descriptive approach statements are listed by aim or as a preamble. Consider adding a figure on the Specific Aims page. Simple figures, such as conceptual models or relationships among key variables, are encouraged to save words and provide visual reinforcement. While format may vary, all Aims pages should educate the non-expert reader on existing literature, identify a knowledge gap, propose a solution grounded in the aims themselves, and demonstrate the impact of the work.

Based upon our collective experience as grant writers, grant reviewers, and mentors to numerous externally-funded investigators, we have characterized effective Specific Aims pages with a “recipe.” Because there exists a recipe for success, and because of this page’s critical importance in review, this manuscript explains the four key components of an effective Specific Aims page ( Table 2 ). This recipe for the Specific Aims page is an essential first step to successful grant writing; we conclude with overviews of formatting and writing style.

Four Components for Effective Specific Aims Page

Component Paragraph Summary	Issues Briefly Addressed
Introductory Paragraph
Significant problem, solving problem aligned with mission of sponsor
Rationale Paragraph: What, Why, Who
Presents solution to the problem that successfully addresses identified need

Specific Aims
Outlines key steps to fulfill objectives and address a critical need
Overall Impact Paragraph
Return on investment, value proposition for project and future inquiry

1. Introductory Paragraph

Paragraph 1 begins with a first sentence that is compelling, catchy, includes all pertinent key words, and conveys importance and impact. The typical broad first sentence that “bad things happen to many people” is insufficient as it does not telegraph appropriate expectations of what comes next; in fact, the rest of the paragraph should be predictable if the first sentence effectively frames the problem. A solid opening sentence tells the reader what condition the researcher will study, why it is important, and engages the reviewer to read on for the proposed solution. For example, in a proposal on thrombolysis in stroke, instead of a first sentence on all neurologic diseases, it could state the health impact of thrombolysis in stroke patients as a critical problem to solve. A too-broad sentence might be “Heart disease is the number one cause of death in the US.” A reader could imagine any number of topics for the proposed study. A better opener could be “After cardiac arrest, therapeutic cooling after return of spontaneous circulation improves neurologic outcomes.”

At the end of the introductory paragraph, the reader has been introduced to the project and its relation to the agency’s mission, educated with a brief summary of important existing knowledge, and notified to the gap or critical need to be filled. One or two high level sentences on current knowledge is sufficient in order to balance goals of providing enough detail to ground the proposal in the literature yet not become esoteric, jargony, or lengthy. The Specific Aims page should briefly acknowledge major controversies that may subvert the importance of the proposal; further explanations must arrive in later sections, but this page must allay concerns even briefly in order to keep the reader moving forward. This should flow directly into the knowledge gap the researcher hopes to fill. Statements that clearly identify the problem should be used such as “these studies were limited by…,” “no one knows why…” or “a gap remains…” Ideally, the aims will directly address the identified gaps. For instance, a proposal for an intervention might have aims on prevalence, effectiveness, and safety; these concepts would have been highlighted as gaps. When addressing alignment with a funding agency, consider using terminology and language from the funding announcement. In summary, the first paragraph introduces the problem to be solved, educates the reviewer on what is known, identifies the knowledge gap that the planned study will fill, and relates the project to the funding agency mission.

2. Rationale Paragraph

Paragraph 2 describes the rationale for the proposed study. It is here that the researcher reveals the proposed solution to bridge the (previously identified) knowledge gap: a high-level proposal to fill the knowledge gap, why it is the right solution, and why this team is the right one to do it. Briefly describe and justify why this is the proposed approach to the problem, and why this team would be the group to achieve the aims. Assuming the reader is compelled by the significant problem and knowledge gap, why would this be the expected or desired study, and what about this researcher’s expertise, experience, or environment ensure success? The rationale for filling this knowledge gap and for the approach chosen to fill it is critical. Linked to this rationale, the researcher makes a case for him or herself as the person/team to achieve the proposed plan. This can be achieved simply with a brief statement outlining pertinent qualifications, an advantageous opportunity such as “…through the development of a novel…, we now have the unique ability to…,” or “based on our compelling pilot data.”

The rationale paragraph is an ideal location for an overall study objective. This may specifically identify the long-term goal of the research agenda and the specific goals of what the proposed project will accomplish. The objective statement, much like in a manuscript, succinctly outlines what the researcher will successfully accomplish with the proposed study. This objective must be realistic and achievable. A researcher should not propose to “cure cancer,” for example, but perhaps “improve the staging and treatment of resectable lung cancer.” The objective is then linked to a critical need or central hypothesis whose testing will achieve the global objective of the application. Take care that the objective is not to test a hypothesis. Be sure to have a thorough plan for negative and null findings that will be explained in later sections. An ideal hypothesis is one in which any result actually advances the field of inquiry and can be explained in such a way (rather than we learned something, or we were wrong). In terms of critical need, it is especially desirable to have a “burning platform” for the proposed study. It may be urgent because it is timely such as when major health policy adoption hinges on a study result, when a gap is on the critical path to allow an entire field of study to progress, or if there is an advantage for safety and efficacy pending the outcome of the proposed study. Closing this section with a global objective or central hypothesis distills the justification made above to set up the subsequent specific aims. In summary, the rationale conveys why the research is proposed at this time and by the researcher specifically, and what will be possible after the study.

3. Specific Aims

Specific aims are treated as a paragraph although they are generally a list with some type of outline numbering. Taken as a whole, specific aims outline the key steps to fulfill objectives that address a critical need. Aims are clear, achievable, and directly related to the content provided in the preceding paragraphs, with no new terms or “first mentions” in the aims. Specific aims are specific with clarity and have a goal to achieve something. Within each aim, avoid redundant phrases, e.g. “in older male patients with prostate cancer.” Depending on the audience and reader expectations, aims may be written as incomplete sentences starting with action words, e.g. investigate, measure, estimate, implement. For instance, use “measure” rather than “determine whether,” and avoid heavily descriptive verbs such as “correlate, describe, explore, or investigate.” For some agencies it is expected that each aim has an accompanying hypothesis and experiment, or perhaps a short description of an approach with data source and analytic methods. Other agencies expect to see anticipated challenges and proposed solutions. These expectations can be garnered from mentors that have been successful with the funding agency or review panel members. It is common to think of each aim as generating a result that can be written as a manuscript.

Depending on the duration of the planned study, two to four aims are acceptable with three generally being “just right.” Two aims can be considered for grants of short duration or small dollars while four aims may be appropriate for large program grants that must fulfill more objectives. The aims directly reflect the scope of work and can help define whether the study is judged as too ambitious; pilot studies may have fewer aims. Some investigators will call out an aim as “exploratory” and expect a lower standard for feasibility, although we avoid these and recommend only proposing work that can be executed successfully and thus defended. As a matter of grantsmanship, a researcher may or may not conduct exploratory work, but it is risky to propose work that may appear weak in comparison to other aims. Sub-aims (e.g. 1a, 1b, 1c) may organize basic science experiments beneath an aim, which may benefit such a proposal. Sub-aims increase the complexity of the aims page, however, increasing possible confusion and decreasing clarity. Sub-aims may provide a reviewer with additional opportunity to criticize the approach, so they should be considered very carefully.

Avoid “aim dependency” whereby one aim cannot be completed if a prior aim fails. Strategies to avoid interdependence include utilization of separate populations or different approaches. For instance, if one aim is to develop a new assay and a subsequent aim uses the assay for a hypothesis test, then if assay development fails the subsequent study is doomed. An alternative proposal may seek to measure the utilization of the currently used assay, test three alternative methods to detect the condition in question, and pilot the test with the highest sensitivity assay for the condition. In this way, the study will generate knowledge regardless of the success with the new assay. Similarly, one might aim to measure a problem across multiple institutions, determine the best environment for an intervention, and pilot test the intervention in the most controllable of these sites. Table 3 highlights additional “do’s and don’ts” for effective specific aims.

Specific Aims Do’s and Don’ts

DO	DON’T
Write aims early and stay open to revision	State a hypothesis that you cannot test with the proposed methods
Use active verbs and massive parallelism, no first mentions in aims	Use verbs viewed as “too descriptive” like correlate, describe, explore, investigate
Consider a figure to illustrates the story, relation between aims	Use vague words and jargon
Write to non-experts, as compared to approach written to specialists	Propose a “fishing expedition,” not essential to problem at hand or overall hypothesis

In summary, specific aims should be correlated with the central project goal and hypothesis. They should be conceptual rather than descriptive, flow in a logical sequence, have a clear purpose with a working hypothesis or statement of need, and each aim’s success should be independent of the success of prior aims.

4. Overall Impact Paragraph

It is a common mistake to overfill the background before the aims, leaving little page space after the aims for anything more than a generic statement of innovation and importance for human health and future studies. This closing Aims page paragraph outlines the expected outcome and highlights the health and scientific impact identified in the first sentence of the page. It is essential to describe in specific ways the proposed project will be of value to the funding agency, to the field of inquiry, and to society. If the proposal includes career development plans then outlining who the researcher will become as a result of the funding is part of the value. This paragraph also closes the loop back to the opening sentence, the impact from filling a gap, and addressing a critical problem. The closing paragraph may only be two or three sentences, but can address innovation and impact. This is also the place to suggest what a specific next study would be that builds on the proposed study. In summary, the last payoff paragraph reorients reviewers to the background and knowledge gap, identifies the innovation, delineates expected project outcomes, summarizes the project’s significance, and allows the reviewer a peek at the importance of a larger research agenda.

5. Formatting and Writing Style

Formatting elements, such as bolding, underling, fonts and margins are generally dictated by the funding agency. It is essential to keep the reader in mind by making it as easy on the eyes and as user-friendly as possible. In formatting terms this means that there should be as much white (non-text) space as possible; we recommend writing a complete Aims Page using 12 point font and one-inch margins before reformatting to narrower margins per agency allowances. Writers should be judicious and consistent in using emphasis with bold, underline, and italics. Experienced grant writers advise saving one style of emphasis, e.g. either italics or underline, for resubmissions in order to differentiate new material and telegraph responsiveness to prior critiques. When adding a figure to the Aims page, consider wrapping the text and placing figures on the left so that the font to has a left-justified straight edge. Because some writers prefer straight edges generally they use full justification, but proportional spacing is harder to read on the eyes so we recommend using left justification as another step to keep the reader in mind. Font choice may be dictated by the granting agency, but it is generally accepted that sans serif fonts like Arial are easier to read electronically or on screens, and serif fonts like Times new Roman are easier to read in print. This is generally a preference as electronic submissions and PDF editing means that many reviewers never print paper copies but rather review proposals in electronic formats. We utilize Arial 11 point font with half inch margins for federal proposals.

Effective writing style and story-telling is the next step in developing a persuasive grant application. Writing style is a large topic beyond the scope of this guide, though we will provide a few recommendations that relate to the Aims page. Clarity and concision are key (e.g. use short words when there is an option such as “and” instead of “as well as” or delete unnecessary phrases such as “indeed”).[ 2 ] Write to reader expectations in terms of sentence structure and paragraph linkage. [ 3 ] Use active verbs when possible, use first person (“I will” or “we will” instead of “this study will”) and passive voice (“data were collected”) judiciously and when appropriate (e.g. when you as the researcher are needed in the action such as making choices to defend). Writers should use a topic sentence and then supporting material in a more journalistic style rather than the logical approach of starting broad and ending with the point. Storytelling approaches are highly effective features of persuasive Specific Aims pages. For clinical research proposals, a composite case can bring the human element of the scientific rationale to light in a highly memorable way; clinical translational proposals can also benefit from a human health implication of the science. The hallmarks of excellent scientific writing deserve their own full manuscript discussion, but these basic elements can help the grant writer develop an effective Specific Aims page.

6. Additional Resources

Successful Aims pages can help early stage investigators model their own proposals.[ 1 ] The more you read and review, the better your own Aims pages will become and you will find an approach that works for you; no matter your style, Aims pages will include the recommended background, knowledge gap, proposed solution, and impact elements. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has their own grant writing workshop available through the Grant Writers’ Seminar and Workshops site ( http://www.grantcentral.com ).[ 4 ] The NIH provides writing tips,[ 5 ] others have “demystified” the grant NIH grant application process[ 6 , 7 ] and the Center for Scientific Review has outlined the necessary components of NIH grants.[ 8 ] For grant writers interested in the historical elements behind developing a Specific Aims page and more depth from reviewers’ perspective [ 9 ] The Society of Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) has built an illustrative website with full grant examples ( http://www.saem.org/research )[ 10 ] and webinars ( http://www.saem.org/saem-foundation/events/educational/webinars )[ 11 ] and many additional related resources, include our webinar discussing this topic in detail, where we recommend researchers evaluate Aims pages with a checklist of effective elements ( Table 4 ). In workshops on this subject, participants would use this list to assess their own Aims pages as well as another participant’s page.

Formative Assessment of an Effective Specific Aims Page

Known about the subject

Knowledge gap(s)

The problem to solve due to the gap

Urgent/important about this as a priority problem to solve

Central hypothesis/overall statement of need

Why choose this study to address the identified problem

Team’s qualification and research environment

Major variables in each aim linked to gap

Testable hypotheses and planned interpretations for all findings

Alternative approaches for each aim in case of unexpected trouble

Expected outcome and key learning from study

Innovation and impact of aims

One logical next research step if study is successful

6 key words for the study

Project title in 200 characters/spaces

The Advanced Research Methodology Evaluation and Design (ARMED, http://www.saem.org/education/live-learning/advanced-research-methodology-evaluation-and-design-(armed) [ 12 ] is a year-long program that leverages in-person workshops and webinars to train junior investigators to in research topics. The SAEM Grant Writing Workshop ( http://www.saem.org/annual-meeting/education/workshops/grant-writing-workshop )[ 13 ] occurs at the Annual Meeting; it is a working session that allows investigators to further develop individual Aims pages. Both of these programs have nominal costs and most department Chairs are eager to support junior researchers with these opportunities.

This manuscript provides a recipe for writing an effective Specific Aims page using a simple four paragraph structure, and gave formatting and style recommendations. It is ideal to optimize Aims pages with readers who are educated non-experts who are not unfamiliar with your study as they most closely resemble review panelists.

Dr. Anne Libby, PhD, is Professor Emergency Medicine and Vice Chair for Academic Affairs at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine. Dr. Libby’s research expertise is patient-oriented outcomes research, specifically, the financing and organization of health care systems with a focus on behavioral health. She served 4 years on study section for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Her research and mentored training programs have been funded by federal sources (NIH, AHRQ) and national foundations (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation). She co-founded the Education, Training, and Career Development Core of the Colorado Clinical Translational Sciences Institute, and founded mentoring and mentored research development programs in clinical and outcomes research.

Conflict of Interest: AAM and AML have no conflicts of interest relating to this work.

Funding Disclosure: The contents of this work are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represents the views of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Monte received support from NIH 1 K23 GM110516. Dr. Monte and Dr. Libby are supported by NIH/NCATS Colorado CTSA Grant Number ULI TR001082. Contents are the authors’ sole responsibility and do not necessarily represent official NIH views.

Writing Specific Aims

Identifying specific aims.

Identify a research gap. Can your research move your field forward?
Determine the significance of the problem and impact. Is the work important—will progress make a difference to our understanding of neuroscience and/or human health?
Is your team experienced and able to carry out the work?

Outlining Specific Aims

Step 1: Determine whether your research questions are exploratory (hypothesis-generating) or confirmatory (hypothesis-testing). If confirmatory, make sure the hypotheses are focused, testable, built on a solid scientific foundation, and important.

Step 2: Draft aims to generate and/or test the hypotheses feasibly within the grant period.

Usually a one-page limit.
The aims should be focused and easy to assess by reviewers.
For many mechanisms, consider avoiding interdependent aims.
Outline experiments and outcomes.
Determine approximate personnel, resources, and timeline.
Identify a potential funding institute and funding mechanism.
Consider potential study sections and expertise of reviewers .
Assess feasibility of your proposed work within the proposed funding mechanism.

Step 3: Revise aims as needed.

Writing the Specific Aims

Provide a narrative describing the rationale and significance of your planned research. A good way to start is with a sentence that states your project's goals. In some cases, you may want to explain why you did not take an alternative route. State your hypothesis (if relevant) and briefly describe your aims and how they build on rigorous prior and preliminary studies. If it is likely your application will be reviewed by a study section with broad expertise, summarize the status of research in your field and explain how your project fits in. In the narrative part of the Specific Aims of many applications, people also use their aims to:

State the technologies they plan to use.
Note their expertise to do a specific task or that of collaborators.
Describe past accomplishments related to the project.
Describe preliminary studies and new and highly relevant findings in the field.
Explain their area's biology.
Show how the aims relate to one another.

Use bold or italics to emphasize items they want to bring to the reviewers' attention, such as the hypothesis or rationale.

Depending on your situation, decide which items are important for you. For example, an Early-Stage Investigator may want to highlight preliminary data and qualifications to do the work.

After the narrative, enter your aims as stand-alone headers, run-on headers, or bullet points

State your plans using strong verbs like identify, define, quantify, establish, determine.
Describe each aim in one to three sentences.
Consider adding bullets under each aim to refine your objectives.
Describe expected outcomes for each aim.

Explain how you plan to interpret data from the aim’s efforts.

Describe how to address potential pitfalls with contingency plans.

Some people add a closing paragraph, emphasizing the significance of the work, their collaborators, or whatever else they want to focus reviewers' attention on.

It can be useful to have a colleague review your aims for clarity (particularly a colleague outside your field or a colleague with NIH funding or NIH study section experience).

Want to contact NINDS staff? Please visit our Find Your NINDS Program Officer page to learn more about contacting Program Officers, Grants Management Specialists, Scientific Review Officers, and Health Program Specialists. Find Your Program Officer

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.

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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.

Psst... there’s more!

This post was based on one of our popular Research Bootcamps . If you're working on a research project, you'll definitely want to check this out ...

39 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

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Write Your Research Plan

In this part, we give you detailed information about writing an effective Research Plan. We start with the importance and parameters of significance and innovation.

We then discuss how to focus the Research Plan, relying on the iterative process described in the Iterative Approach to Application Planning Checklist shown at Draft Specific Aims and give you advice for filling out the forms.

You'll also learn the importance of having a well-organized, visually appealing application that avoids common missteps and the importance of preparing your just-in-time information early.

While this document is geared toward the basic research project grant, the R01, much of it is useful for other grant types.

Research plan overview and your approach, craft a title, explain your aims, research strategy instructions, advice for a successful research strategy, graphics and video, significance, innovation, and approach, tracking for your budget, preliminary studies or progress report, referencing publications, review and finalize your research plan, abstract and narrative.

Your application's Research Plan has two sections:

Specific Aims —a one-page statement of your objectives for the project.
Research Strategy —a description of the rationale for your research and your experiments in 12 pages for an R01.

In your Specific Aims, you note the significance and innovation of your research; then list your two to three concrete objectives, your aims.

Your Research Strategy is the nuts and bolts of your application, where you describe your research rationale and the experiments you will conduct to accomplish each aim. Though how you organize it is largely up to you, NIH expects you to follow these guidelines.

Organize using bold headers or an outline or numbering system—or both—that you use consistently throughout.
Start each section with the appropriate header: Significance, Innovation, or Approach.
Organize the Approach section around your Specific Aims.

Format of Your Research Plan

To write the Research Plan, you don't need the application forms. Write the text in your word processor, turn it into a PDF file, and upload it into the application form when it's final.

Because NIH may return your application if it doesn't meet all requirements, be sure to follow the rules for font, page limits, and more. Read the instructions at NIH’s Format Attachments .

For an R01, the Research Strategy can be up to 12 pages, plus one page for Specific Aims. Don't pad other sections with information that belongs in the Research Plan. NIH is on the lookout and may return your application to you if you try to evade page limits.

Follow Examples

As you read this page, look at our Sample Applications and More to see some of the different strategies successful PIs use to create an outstanding Research Plan.

Keeping It All In Sync

Writing in a logical sequence will save you time.

Information you put in the Research Plan affects just about every other application part. You'll need to keep everything in sync as your plans evolve during the writing phase.

It's best to consider your writing as an iterative process. As you develop and finalize your experiments, you will go back and check other parts of the application to make sure everything is in sync: the "who, what, when, where, and how (much money)" as well as look again at the scope of your plans.

In that vein, writing in a logical sequence is a good approach that will save you time. We suggest proceeding in the following order:

Create a provisional title.
Write a draft of your Specific Aims.
Start with your Significance and Innovation sections.
Then draft the Approach section considering the personnel and skills you'll need for each step.
Evaluate your Specific Aims and methods in light of your expected budget (for a new PI, it should be modest, probably under the $250,000 for NIH's modular budget).
As you design experiments, reevaluate your hypothesis, aims, and title to make sure they still reflect your plans.
Prepare your Abstract (a summary of your Specific Aims).
Complete the other forms.

Even the smaller sections of your application need to be well-organized and readable so reviewers can readily grasp the information. If writing is not your forte, get help.

To view writing strategies for successful applications, see our Sample Applications and More . There are many ways to create a great application, so explore your options.

Within the character limit, include the important information to distinguish your project within the research area, your project's goals, and the research problem.

Giving your project a title at the outset can help you stay focused and avoid a meandering Research Plan. So you may want to launch your writing by creating a well-defined title.

NIH gives you a 200 character limit, but don’t feel obliged to use all of that allotment. Instead, we advise you to keep the title as succinct as possible while including the important information to distinguish your project within the research area. Make your title reflect your project's goals, the problem your project addresses, and possibly your approach to studying it. Make your title specific: saying you are studying lymphocyte trafficking is not informative enough.

For examples of strong titles, see our Sample Applications and More .

After you write a preliminary title, check that

My title is specific, indicating at least the research area and the goals of my project.
It is 200 characters or less.
I use as simple language as possible.
I state the research problem and, possibly, my approach to studying it.
I use a different title for each of my applications. (Note: there are exceptions, for example, for a renewal—see Apply for Renewal for details.)
My title has appropriate keywords.

Later you may want to change your initial title. That's fine—at this point, it's just an aid to keep your plans focused.

Since all your reviewers read your Specific Aims, you want to excite them about your project.

If testing your hypothesis is the destination for your research, your Research Plan is the map that takes you there.

You'll start by writing the smaller part, the Specific Aims. Think of the one-page Specific Aims as a capsule of your Research Plan. Since all your reviewers read your Specific Aims, you want to excite them about your project.

For more on crafting your Specific Aims, see Draft Specific Aims .

Write a Narrative

Use at least half the page to provide the rationale and significance of your planned research. A good way to start is with a sentence that states your project's goals.

For the rest of the narrative, you will describe the significance of your research, and give your rationale for choosing the project. In some cases, you may want to explain why you did not take an alternative route.

Then, briefly describe your aims, and show how they build on your preliminary studies and your previous research. State your hypothesis.

If it is likely your application will be reviewed by a study section with broad expertise, summarize the status of research in your field and explain how your project fits in.

In the narrative part of the Specific Aims of many outstanding applications, people also used their aims to

Explain how they plan to interpret data from the aim’s efforts.

Depending on your situation, decide which items are important for you. For example, a new investigator would likely want to highlight preliminary data and qualifications to do the work.

Many people use bold or italics to emphasize items they want to bring to the reviewers' attention, such as the hypothesis or rationale.

Detail Your Aims

After the narrative, enter your aims as bold bullets, or stand-alone or run-on headers.

How focused should your aims be? Look at the example below.

Spot the Sample

Read the Specific Aims of the Application from Drs. Li and Samulski , "Enhance AAV Liver Transduction with Capsid Immune Evasion."

Aim 1. Study the effect of adeno-associated virus (AAV) empty particles on AAV capsid antigen cross-presentation in vivo .
Aim 2. Investigate AAV capsid antigen presentation following administration of AAV mutants and/or proteasome inhibitors for enhanced liver transduction in vivo .
Aim 3. Isolate AAV chimeric capsids with human hepatocyte tropism and the capacity for cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) evasion.

After finishing the draft Specific Aims, check that

I keep to the one-page limit.
Each of my two or three aims is a narrowly focused, concrete objective I can achieve during the grant.
They give a clear picture of how my project can generate knowledge that may improve human health.
They show my project's importance to science, how it addresses a critical research opportunity that can move my field forward.
My text states how my work is innovative.
I describe the biology to the extent needed for my reviewers.
I give a rationale for choosing the topic and approach.
I tie the project to my preliminary data and other new findings in the field.
I explicitly state my hypothesis and why testing it is important.
My aims can test my hypothesis and are logical.
I can design and lead the execution of two or three sets of experiments that will strive to accomplish each aim.
As much as possible, I use language that an educated person without expertise can understand.
My text has bullets, bolding, or headers so reviewers can easily spot my aims (and other key items).

For each element listed above, analyze your text and revise it until your Specific Aims hit all the key points you'd like to make.

After the list of aims, some people add a closing paragraph, emphasizing the significance of the work, their collaborators, or whatever else they want to focus reviewers' attention on.

Your Research Strategy is the bigger part of your application's Research Plan (the other part is the Specific Aims—discussed above.)

The Research Strategy is the nuts and bolts of your application, describing the rationale for your research and the experiments you will do to accomplish each aim. It is structured as follows:

Significance
You can either include this information as a subsection of Approach or integrate it into any or all of the three main sections.
If you do the latter, be sure to mark the information clearly, for example, with a bold subhead.
Possible other sections, for example, human subjects, vertebrate animals, select agents, and others (these do not count toward the page limit).

Though how you organize your application is largely up to you, NIH does want you to follow these guidelines:

Add bold headers or an outlining or numbering system—or both—that you use consistently throughout.
Start each of the Research Strategy's sections with a header: Significance, Innovation, and Approach.

For an R01, the Research Strategy is limited to 12 pages for the three main sections and the preliminary studies only. Other items are not included in the page limit.

Find instructions for R01s in the SF 424 Application Guide—go to NIH's SF 424 (R&R) Application and Electronic Submission Information for the generic SF 424 Application Guide or find it in your notice of funding opportunity (NOFO).

For most applications, you need to address Rigor and Reproducibility by describing the experimental design and methods you propose and how they will achieve robust and unbiased results. The requirement applies to research grant, career development, fellowship, and training applications.

If you're responding to an institute-specific program announcement (PA) (not a parent program announcement) or a request for applications (RFA), check the NIH Guide notice, which has additional information you need. Should it differ from the NOFO, go with the NIH Guide .

Also note that your application must meet the initiative's objectives and special requirements. NIAID program staff will check your application, and if it is not responsive to the announcement, your application will be returned to you without a review.

When writing your Research Strategy, your goal is to present a well-organized, visually appealing, and readable description of your proposed project. That means your writing should be streamlined and organized so your reviewers can readily grasp the information. If writing is not your forte, get help.

There are many ways to create an outstanding Research Plan, so explore your options.

What Success Looks Like

Your application's Research Plan is the map that shows your reviewers how you plan to test your hypothesis.

It not only lays out your experiments and expected outcomes, but must also convince your reviewers of your likely success by allaying any doubts that may cross their minds that you will be able to conduct the research.

Notice in the sample applications how the writing keeps reviewers' eyes on the ball by bringing them back to the main points the PIs want to make. Write yourself an insurance policy against human fallibility: if it's a key point, repeat it, then repeat it again.

The Big Three

So as you write, put the big picture squarely in your sights. When reviewers read your application, they'll look for the answers to three basic questions:

Can your research move your field forward?
Is the field important—will progress make a difference to human health?
Can you and your team carry out the work?

Add Emphasis

Savvy PIs create opportunities to drive their main points home. They don't stop at the Significance section to emphasize their project's importance, and they look beyond their biosketches to highlight their team's expertise.

Don't take a chance your reviewer will gloss over that one critical sentence buried somewhere in your Research Strategy or elsewhere. Write yourself an insurance policy against human fallibility: if it's a key point, repeat it, then repeat it again.

Add more emphasis by putting the text in bold, or bold italics (in the modern age, we skip underlining—it's for typewriters).

Here are more strategies from our successful PIs:

While describing a method in the Approach section, they state their or collaborators' experience with it.
They point out that they have access to a necessary piece of equipment.
When explaining their field and the status of current research, they weave in their own work and their preliminary data.
They delve into the biology of the area to make sure reviewers will grasp the importance of their research and understand their field and how their work fits into it.

You can see many of these principles at work in the Approach section of the Application from Dr. William Faubion , "Inflammatory cascades disrupt Treg function through epigenetic mechanisms."

Reviewers felt that the experiments described for Aim 1 will yield clear results.
The plans to translate those findings to gene targets of relevance are well outlined and focused.
He ties his proposed experiments to the larger picture, including past research and strong preliminary data for the current application.

Anticipate Reviewer Questions

Our applicants not only wrote with their reviewers in mind they seemed to anticipate their questions. You may think: how can I anticipate all the questions people may have? Of course you can't, but there are some basic items (in addition to the "big three" listed above) that will surely be on your reviewers' minds:

Will the investigators be able to get the work done within the project period, or is the proposed work over ambitious?
Did the PI describe potential pitfalls and possible alternatives?
Will the experiments generate meaningful data?
Could the resulting data prove the hypothesis?
Are others already doing the work, or has it been already completed?

Address these questions; then spend time thinking about more potential issues specific to you and your research—and address those too.

For applications, a picture can truly be worth a thousand words. Graphics can illustrate complex information in a small space and add visual interest to your application.

Look at our sample applications to see how the investigators included schematics, tables, illustrations, graphs, and other types of graphics to enhance their applications.

Consider adding a timetable or flowchart to illustrate your experimental plan, including decision trees with alternative experimental pathways to help your reviewers understand your plans.

Plan Ahead for Video

If you plan to send one or more videos, you'll need to meet certain standards and include key information in your Research Strategy now.

To present some concepts or demonstrations, video may enhance your application beyond what graphics alone can achieve. However, you can't count on all reviewers being able to see or hear video, so you'll want to be strategic in how you incorporate it into your application.

Be reviewer-friendly. Help your cause by taking the following steps:

Caption any narration in the video.
Choose evocative still images from your video to accompany your summary.
Write your summary of the video carefully so the text would make sense even without the video.

In addition to those considerations, create your videos to fit NIH’s technical requirements. Learn more in the SF 424 Form Instructions .

Next, as you write your Research Strategy, include key images from the video and a brief description.

Then, state in your cover letter that you plan to send video later. (Don't attach your files to the application.)

After you apply and get assignment information from the Commons, ask your assigned scientific review officer (SRO) how your business official should send the files. Your video files are due at least one month before the peer review meeting.

Know Your Audience's Perspective

The primary audience for your application is your peer review group. Learn how to write for the reviewers who are experts in your field and those who are experts in other fields by reading Know Your Audience .

Be Organized: A B C or 1 2 3?

In the top-notch applications we reviewed, organization ruled but followed few rules. While you want to be organized, how you go about it is up to you.

Nevertheless, here are some principles to follow:

Start each of the Research Strategy's sections with a header: Significance, Innovation, and Approach—this you must do.

The Research Strategy's page limit—12 for R01s—is for the three main parts: Significance, Innovation, and Approach and your preliminary studies (or a progress report if you're renewing your grant). Other sections, for example, research animals or select agents, do not have a page limit.

Although you will emphasize your project's significance throughout the application, the Significance section should give the most details. Don't skimp—the farther removed your reviewers are from your field, the more information you'll need to provide on basic biology, importance of the area, research opportunities, and new findings.

When you describe your project's significance, put it in the context of 1) the state of your field, 2) your long-term research plans, and 3) your preliminary data.

In our Sample Applications , you can see that both investigators and reviewers made a case for the importance of the research to improving human health as well as to the scientific field.

Look at the Significance section of the Application from Dr. Mengxi Jiang , "Intersection of polyomavirus infection and host cellular responses," to see how these elements combine to make a strong case for significance.

Dr. Jiang starts with a summary of the field of polyomavirus research, identifying critical knowledge gaps in the field.
The application ties the lab's previous discoveries and new research plans to filling those gaps, establishing the significance with context.
Note the use of formatting, whitespace, and sectioning to highlight key points and make it easier for reviewers to read the text.

After conveying the significance of the research in several parts of the application, check that

In the Significance section, I describe the importance of my hypothesis to the field (especially if my reviewers are not in it) and human disease.
I also point out the project's significance throughout the application.
The application shows that I am aware of opportunities, gaps, roadblocks, and research underway in my field.
I state how my research will advance my field, highlighting knowledge gaps and showing how my project fills one or more of them.
Based on my scan of the review committee roster, I determine whether I cannot assume my reviewers will know my field and provide some information on basic biology, the importance of the area, knowledge gaps, and new findings.

If you are either a new PI or entering a new area: be cautious about seeming too innovative. Not only is innovation just one of five review criteria, but there might be a paradigm shift in your area of science. A reviewer may take a challenge to the status quo as a challenge to his or her world view.

When you look at our sample applications, you see that both the new and experienced investigators are not generally shifting paradigms. They are using new approaches or models, working in new areas, or testing innovative ideas.

After finishing the draft innovation section, check that

I show how my proposed research is new and unique, e.g., explores new scientific avenues, has a novel hypothesis, will create new knowledge.
Most likely, I explain how my project's research can refine, improve, or propose a new application of an existing concept or method.
Make a very strong case for challenging the existing paradigm.
Have data to support the innovative approach.
Have strong evidence that I can do the work.

In your Approach, you spell out a few sets of experiments to address each aim. As we noted above, it's a good idea to restate the key points you've made about your project's significance, its place in your field, and your long-term goals.

You're probably wondering how much detail to include.

If you look at our sample applications as a guide, you can see very different approaches. Though people generally used less detail than you'd see in a scientific paper, they do include some experimental detail.

Expect your assigned reviewers to scrutinize your approach: they will want to know what you plan to do and how you plan to do it.

NIH data show that of the peer review criteria, approach has the highest correlation with the overall impact score.

Look at the Application from Dr. Mengxi Jiang , "Intersection of polyomavirus infection and host cellular responses," to see how a new investigator handled the Approach section.

For an example of an experienced investigator's well-received Approach section, see the Application from Dr. William Faubion , "Inflammatory cascades disrupt Treg function through epigenetic mechanisms."

Especially if you are a new investigator, you need enough detail to convince reviewers that you understand what you are undertaking and can handle the method.

Cite a publication that shows you can handle the method where you can, but give more details if you and your team don't have a proven record using the method—and state explicitly why you think you will succeed.
If space is short, you could also focus on experiments that highlight your expertise or are especially interesting. For experiments that are pedestrian or contracted out, just list the method.

Be sure to lay out a plan for alternative experiments and approaches in case you get negative or surprising results. Show reviewers you have a plan for spending the four or five years you will be funded no matter where the experiments lead.

See the Application from Drs. Li and Samulski , "Enhance AAV Liver Transduction with Capsid Immune Evasion," for a strong Approach section covering potential. As an example, see section C.1.3.'s alternative approaches.

Here are some pointers for organizing your Approach:

Enter a bold header for each Specific Aim.
Under each aim, describe the first set of experiments.
If you get result X, you will follow pathway X; if you get result Y, you will follow pathway Y.
Consider illustrating this with a flowchart.

Trim the fat—omit all information not needed to make your case. If you try to wow reviewers with your knowledge, they'll find flaws and penalize you heavily. Don't give them ammunition by including anything you don't need.

As you design your experiments, keep a running tab of the following essential data on a separate piece of paper:

Who. A list of people who will help you for your Key Personnel section later.
What. A list of equipment and supplies for the experiments you plan.
Time. Notes on how long each step takes. Timing directly affects your budget as well as how many Specific Aims you can realistically achieve.

Jotting this information down will help you Create a Budget and complete other sections later.

After finishing a draft Approach section, check that

I include enough background and preliminary data to give reviewers the context and significance of my plans.
They can test the hypothesis (or hypotheses).
I show alternative experiments and approaches in case I get negative or surprising results.
My experiments can yield meaningful data to test my hypothesis (or hypotheses).
As a new investigator, I include enough detail to convince reviewers I understand and can handle a method. I reviewed the sample applications to see how much detail to use.
If I or my team has experience with a method, I cite it; otherwise I include enough details to convince reviewers we can handle it.
I describe the results I anticipate and their implications.
I omit all information not needed to state my case.
I keep track of and explain who will do what, what they will do, when and where they will do it, how long it will take, and how much money it will cost.
My timeline shows when I expect to complete my aims.

If you are applying for a new application, include preliminary studies; for a renewal or a revision (a competing supplement to an existing grant), prepare a progress report instead.

Describing Preliminary Studies

Your preliminary studies show that you can handle the methods and interpret results. Here's where you build reviewer confidence that you are headed in the right direction by pursuing research that builds on your accomplishments.

Reviewers use your preliminary studies together with the biosketches to assess the investigator review criterion, which reflects the competence of the research team.

Give alternative interpretations to your data to show reviewers you've thought through problems in-depth and are prepared to meet future challenges. If you don't do this, the reviewers will!

Though you may include other people's publications, focus on your preliminary data or unpublished data from your lab and the labs of your team members as much as you can.

As we noted above, you can put your preliminary data anywhere in the Research Strategy that you feel is appropriate, but just make sure your reviewers will be able to distinguish it. Alternatively, you can create a separate section with its own header.

Including a Progress Report

If you are applying for a renewal or a revision (a competing supplement to an existing grant), prepare a progress report instead of preliminary studies.

Create a header so your program officer can easily find it and include the following information:

Project period beginning and end dates.
Summary of the importance of your findings in relation to your Specific Aims.
Account of published and unpublished results, highlighting your progress toward achieving your Specific Aims.

Note: if you submit a renewal application before the due date of your progress report, you do not need to submit a separate progress report for your grant. However, you will need to submit it, if your renewal is not funded.

After finishing the draft, check that

I interpret my preliminary results critically.
There is enough information to show I know what I'm talking about.
If my project is complex, I give more preliminary studies.
I show how my previous experience prepared me for the new project.
It's clear which data are mine and which are not.

References show your breadth of knowledge of the field. If you leave out an important work, reviewers may assume you're not aware of it.

Throughout your application, you will reference all relevant publications for the concepts underlying your research and your methods.

Read more about your Bibliography and References Cited at Add a Bibliography and Appendix .

Throughout my application I cite the literature thoroughly but not excessively, adding citations for all references important to my work.
I cite all papers important to my field, including those from potential reviewers.
I include fewer than 100 citations (if possible).
My Bibliography and References Cited form lists all my references.
I refer to unpublished work, including information I learned through personal contacts.
If I do not describe a method, I add a reference to the literature.

Look over what you've written with a critical eye of a reviewer to identify potential questions or weak spots.

Enlist others to do that too—they can look at your application with a fresh eye. Include people who aren't familiar with your research to make sure you can get your point across to someone outside your field.

As you finalize the details of your Research Strategy, you will also need to return to your Specific Aims to see if you must revise. See Draft Specific Aims .

After you finish your Research Plan, you are ready to write your Abstract (called Project Summary/Abstract) and Project Narrative, which are attachments to the Other Project Information form.

These sections may be small, but they're important.

All your peer reviewers read your Abstract and narrative.
Staff and automated systems in NIH's Center for Scientific Review use them to decide where to assign your application, even if you requested an institute and study section.
They show the importance and health relevance of your research to members of the public and Congress who are interested in what NIH is funding with taxpayer dollars.

Be sure to omit confidential or proprietary information in these sections! When your application is funded, NIH enters your title and Abstract in the public RePORTER database.

Think brief and simple: to the extent that you can, write these sections in lay language, and include appropriate keywords, e.g., immunotherapy, genetic risk factors.

As NIH referral officers use these parts to direct your application to an institute for possible funding, your description can influence the choice they make.

Write a succinct summary of your project that both a scientist and a lay person can understand (to the extent that you can).

Use your Specific Aims as a template—shorten it and simplify the language.
In the first sentence, state the significance of your research to your field and relevance to NIAID's mission: to better understand, treat, and prevent infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases.
Next state your hypothesis and the innovative potential of your research.
Then list and briefly describe your Specific Aims and long-term objectives.

In your Project Narrative, you have only a few sentences to drive home your project's potential to improve public health.

Check out these effective Abstracts and Narratives from our R01 Sample Applications :

Application from Dr. Mengxi Jiang , "Intersection of polyomavirus infection and host cellular responses"
Application from Dr. William Faubion , "Inflammatory cascades disrupt Treg function through epigenetic mechanisms"
My Project Summary/Abstract and Project Narrative (and title) are accessible to a broad audience.
They describe the significance of my research to my field and state my hypothesis, my aims, and the innovative potential of my research.
My narrative describes my project's potential to improve public health.
I do not include any confidential or proprietary information.
I do not use graphs or images.
My Abstract has keywords that are appropriate and distinct enough to avoid confusion with other terms.
My title is specific and informative.

Previous Step

Have questions.

A program officer in your area of science can give you application advice, NIAID's perspective on your research, and confirmation that your proposed research fits within NIAID’s mission.

Find contacts and instructions at When to Contact an NIAID Program Officer .

How to Write a Good Specific Aims Page

This nci sbir plan webinar series focuses on: how to write a good specific aims page.

The specific aims page is a critical part of an SBIR/STTR application. The aims page should be treated as a standalone page from which a reviewer can gain a reasonable understanding of the critical components of the project without reading any other parts of the application.

The first half of the aims page should cover key background information, highlighting the product, its significance, and innovation. The second half of the aims page should state the specific aims and milestones to be completed. Applicants are only allowed one-page for their specific aims.

In this PLAN series, prior SBIR/STTR awardees with a variety of cancer technology products such as therapeutics, diagnostics, devices, and digital health explain how they tackled various issues related to writing a good specific aims page, including but not limited to adding quantitative milestones, writing aims page for fast track or phase 2 applications, and more. Please find advice videos from each panelist below.

How it works

How to Write the Dissertation Aims and Objectives – Guide & Examples

Published by Grace Graffin at January 27th, 2023 , Revised On October 9, 2023

Aims and objectives are among the essential aspects of a dissertation. If you write aims and objectives effectively, they can act as a foundation to give your research clarity and focus.

This article will provide you with all the necessary information regarding aims and objectives, their differences, writing tips , and the common mistakes you should avoid while writing them.

The aim is often a single sentence or a short paragraph that describes your dissertation’s main goal and intent. It tells what you hope to achieve at the end. You should write the aim so that it becomes identifiable when it is achieved with the completion of your dissertation .

The aim is written in a subsection of the introduction to clarify the overall purpose of the dissertation .

Example: It is often observed that employees in culturally diverse workplaces struggle to work effectively in a team. A probable cause of this issue is bullying at the workplace. This research investigates the impact of bullying on employee job satisfaction at culturally diverse workplaces and the resulting loss of employee productivity. This research will use surveys and case study analysis to analyze the impact of bullying on employees.

The objectives in a dissertation describe the ways through which you intend to achieve the research aim. They are specific statements that break down the aim into several smaller key sections of the overall research. Suitable objectives can help you stay focused and conduct research in the direction of your aim.

The number of objectives should be realistic; usually, between three to six, and each one should be possible to achieve. The following example shows the objectives for the previously-mentioned dissertation aim.

1. identification of the behaviors that are considered as bullying 2. exploring the factors that cause bullying at a culturally diverse workplace 3. analyzing the relationship between bullying and job satisfaction of employees 4. providing suitable recommendations on minimizing the bullying at the workplace

The objectives of a dissertation should be SMART.

Specific: should be precise, focused, and well-defined
Measurable: the progress should be measurable, and you should be able to determine when you have achieved an objective.
Achievable: you should be able to carry out the required action within your available resources
Relevant: should be related to the dissertation aim
Time-bound: should be possible within the available time

Differences between aims and objectives

Aims and objectives are often mixed, but there are clear differences between them.

Aims	Objectives
describes “what” you intend to achieve through your research	focus on “how” you will achieve the aim
usually written in broad terms covering the entire dissertation	are specific statements describing steps through which the research aim will be achieved
is written as a single sentence or a small paragraph	should be written as a numbered list.
focuses on long-term outcomes	focus on short-term and immediate outcomes.

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How to write aims and objectives?

There is no particular way or standard to write the aims and objectives. Different researchers have different writing styles, and often it can be influenced by your research supervisor. However, you should follow certain basic principles while writing aims and objectives in a dissertation.

Writing the aim statement

The aim statement should cover the following essential elements.

Why is the research necessary? (covers the underlying problem on which the study is to be conducted)
What is the research about? (description of the research title)
How are you going to conduct it? (a brief statement of intended research methods)

An appropriate aim clearly defines the research purpose without confusing the reader. If you struggle to explain your research and its importance in simpler terms, you should consider refining your research to clarify it further.

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. (Verbs to be used: collect, select, demonstrate, estimate)
Two to three objectives can cover the critical evaluation or discussion chapters (Verbs to be used: analyze, compare, evaluate)
The final objective will cover the conclusion or recommendation portion. (Verbs to be used: conclude, recommend)

Instead of writing like a paragraph, the objectives should be written as a numbered list to give them more clarity.

How many aims and objectives should be there?

It depends upon the topic of your research and mainly upon your supervisor’s requirements. Generally, a dissertation has a single broad statement as the research aim. However, it is acceptable to include a main aim along with two to three subsidiary aims.

Similarly, the number of objectives should be realistic and sufficient to measure the progress regarding the achievement of the research aim. Their number can generally vary from three to six depending upon the aim.

Common mistakes to avoid while writing research aims and objectives

Writing a broad research aim

Writing a broad research aim is a common mistake, and it often becomes difficult to achieve. It may create a problem when you are asked to prove how you have achieved your aims during your viva defense . It would be best to narrow your study to a specific area in the early stages of the dissertation.

Formulating overlapping research objectives

The objectives should be written such that they are measurable and distinct from each other. If they overlap, it makes it difficult to structure your dissertation properly in specific chapters.

Setting unrealistic aims

Students often get over-ambitious while describing the research aim and face problems afterward in achieving those aims. You should avoid this mistake and be realistic about what you can achieve in the available time and resources.

Aims and objectives are the sections that require significant time and attention to avoid future hassles while conducting research and writing your dissertation.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to set dissertation aims and objectives.

To set dissertation aims and objectives, define your research goals clearly. Aims state what you want to achieve, while objectives outline specific, measurable steps to reach those goals. Ensure they align with your research question and contribute to your study’s significance.

How To Write a Specific Aim – 3 Parts to a simple and clear aim that your reviewers will “get”

The Specific Aims (for NIH) or Objectives (NSF) are the key to what you are proposing. You want them to be not only clearly understandable to your reviewer (right?), but also captivating and interesting. It seems like a straight-forward writing goal, but unfortunately, I’ve seen many people wander off into confusing, overly-detailed, or just plain boring aims.

So, what makes an Aim / Objective really WORK?

In this video, I take two separate, high scoring NIH proposals in different fields, and examine the primary Aims. I break them down for you into 3 major parts, and what you want to communicate in each of these parts (very concisely!).

Watch this if you want to ensure the Aims you write are connecting with your reviewers.

If you want more clarity on getting funded in our currently crazy environment, I’ve got a free online training that will teach you how to get your reviewers excited and ready to fund your project. Sign up here.

2 replies to "How To Write a Specific Aim – 3 Parts to a simple and clear aim that your reviewers will “get”"

dear dr giddings and team–your live event isn’t accessible yet–and it’s 7 minutes after. unfortunately we can’t all sit at our computers and wait

I sincerely apologize. I thought I was broadcasting, but due to a newbie type mistake, I wasn’t. I restarted about 15 minutes in, I realize some people will not have had time to wait that long.

Beginner’s Guide to Research

Click here to download a .pdf copy of our Beginner’s Guide to Research !

Last updated : July 18, 2024

Consider keeping a printed copy to have when writing and revising your resume! If you have any additional questions, make an appointment or email us at [email protected] !

Most professors will require the use of academic (AKA peer-reviewed) sources for student writing. This is because these sources, written for academic audiences of specific fields, are helpful for developing your argument on many topics of interest in the academic realm, from history to biology. While popular sources like news articles also often discuss topics of interest within academic fields, peer-reviewed sources offer a depth of research and expertise that you cannot find in popular sources. Therefore, knowing how to (1) identify popular vs. academic sources, (2) differentiate between primary and secondary sources, and (3) find academic sources is a vital step in writing research. Below are definitions of the two ways scholars categorize types of sources based on when they were created (i.e. time and place) and how (i.e. methodology):

Popular vs. academic sources:

Popular sources are publicly accessible periodicals–newspapers, magazines, and blogs–such as The Washington Post or The New Yorker . These sources are most often written for non-academic audiences, but can be helpful for finding general information and a variety of opinions on your topic.
Academic sources , known also as peer reviewed or scholarly articles, are those that have undergone peer review before being published. Typically, these articles are written for other scholars in the field and are published in academic journals, like Feminist Studies or The American Journal of Psychology . Literature reviews, research projects, case studies, and notes from the field are common examples.

Primary vs. secondary sources:

Primary sources are articles written by people directly involved in what they were writing about, including: News reports and photographs, diaries and novels, films and videos, speeches and autobiographies, as well as original research and statistics.
Secondary sources , on the other hand, are second hand accounts written about a topic based on primary sources. Whether a journal article or other academic publication is considered a secondary source depends on how you use it.

How to Find Academic Sources

Finding appropriate academic sources from the hundreds of different journal publications can be daunting. Therefore, it is important to find databases –digital collections of articles–relevant to your topic to narrow your search. Albertson’s Library has access to several different databases, which can be located by clicking the “Articles and Databases” tab on the website’s homepage, and navigating to “Databases A-Z” to refine your search. Popular databases include: Academic Search Premier and Proquest Central (non-specific databases which include a wide variety of articles), JSTOR (humanities and social sciences, from literature to history), Web of Science (formal sciences and natural sciences such as biology and chemistry), and Google Scholar (a web search engine that searches scholarly literature and academic sources). If you are unable to access articles from other databases, make sure you’re signed in to Alberton’s Library through Boise State!

Performing a Database Search

Databases include many different types of sources besides academic journals, however, including book reviews and other periodicals. Using the search bar , you can limit search results to those containing specific keywords or phrases like “writing center” or “transfer theory.” Utilizing keywords in your search–names of key concepts, authors, or ideas–rather than questions is the most effective way to find articles in databases. When searching for a specific work by title, placing the title in quotation marks will ensure your search includes only results in that specific word order. In the example below, search terms including the author (“Virginia Woolf”) and subject (“feminism”) are entered into the popular database EBSCOhost:

A screen capture of search results on EBSCOhost. Green highlighting points out the search function, with the caption "Search bar with basic search terms." In the highlighted search bar is the query "virginia Woolf and feminism." Below are search results, with text matching the search term(s) in bold.

Refining Your Search Results

Many databases have a bar on the left of the screen where you can further refine your results. For example, if you are only interested in finding complete scholarly articles, or peer-reviewed ones, you can toggle these different options to further limit your search. These options are located under the “Refine Results” bar in EBSCOhost, divided into different sections, with a display of currently selected search filters and filter options to refine your search based on your specific needs, as seen in the figure below:

Another screen capture of EBSCOhost, this time with green highlighting pointing out the refine results area to the left. The first caption, located at the top, points to the "Current Search" box and reads "Displays your selected filters." The second caption, pointing to the "Limit To" and "Subject" boxes, reads "Options to filter your search."

Search results can also be limited by subject : If you search “Romeo and Juliet” on Academic Search Premier to find literary analysis articles for your English class, you’ll find a lot of other sources that include this search term, such as ones about theater production or ballets based on Shakespeare’s play. However, if you’re writing a literary paper on the text of the play itself, you might limit your search results to “fiction” to see only articles that discuss the play within the field of literature. Alternatively, for a theater class discussing the play, you might limit your search results to “drama.”

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How to Make a “Good” Presentation “Great”

Guy Kawasaki

Remember: Less is more.

A strong presentation is so much more than information pasted onto a series of slides with fancy backgrounds. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others. Here are some unique elements that make a presentation stand out.

Fonts: Sans Serif fonts such as Helvetica or Arial are preferred for their clean lines, which make them easy to digest at various sizes and distances. Limit the number of font styles to two: one for headings and another for body text, to avoid visual confusion or distractions.
Colors: Colors can evoke emotions and highlight critical points, but their overuse can lead to a cluttered and confusing presentation. A limited palette of two to three main colors, complemented by a simple background, can help you draw attention to key elements without overwhelming the audience.
Pictures: Pictures can communicate complex ideas quickly and memorably but choosing the right images is key. Images or pictures should be big (perhaps 20-25% of the page), bold, and have a clear purpose that complements the slide’s text.
Layout: Don’t overcrowd your slides with too much information. When in doubt, adhere to the principle of simplicity, and aim for a clean and uncluttered layout with plenty of white space around text and images. Think phrases and bullets, not sentences.

As an intern or early career professional, chances are that you’ll be tasked with making or giving a presentation in the near future. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others.

Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist at Canva and was the former chief evangelist at Apple. Guy is the author of 16 books including Think Remarkable : 9 Paths to Transform Your Life and Make a Difference.

Partner Center

Project 2025 is an effort by the heritage foundation, not donald trump | fact check.

The claim: Project 2025 is a plan from Trump

A July 5 Facebook post ( direct link , archive link ) includes nine slides describing supposed policy propositions from former President Donald Trump. The slides include an image of Trump along with the title "Project 2025."

“Trump has made his authoritarian intentions quite clear with his Project 2025 plan,” reads the post's caption.

It received more than 500 shares in four days.

More from the Fact-Check Team: How we pick and research claims | Email newsletter | Facebook page

Our rating: False

Project 2025 is a political playbook created by the Heritage Foundation and dozens of other conservative groups, not Trump, who said he disagrees with elements of the effort. There are, however, numerous people involved in Project 2025 who worked in Trump's first administration.

President decides which policy recommendations to implement

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank , collaborated with more than 100 conservative groups for Project 2025, also known as the Presidential Transition Project. The result is a more than 900-page playbook with policy recommendations for the next Republican president that reflect the think tank's goal of "(rescuing) the country from the grip of the radical Left."

Trump, however, has sought to publicly distance himself from the effort, as reported by The Washington Post .

“I know nothing about Project 2025,” Trump wrote in a July 5 Truth Social post . “I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.”

Trump didn’t specify which Project 2025 proposals he disagrees with in the statement.

Fact check : No, AP did not report Trump may face 'molestation' charges

Project 2025 said it “does not speak for any candidate or campaign” in a July 5 post on X , formerly Twitter. Its playbook is comprised of suggestions the coalition believes will benefit the "next conservative president."

“But it is ultimately up to that president, who we believe will be President Trump, to decide which recommendations to implement,” the post said.

That said, Project 2025 does involve numerous Trump allies.

Director Paul Dans , for example, was the chief of staff at the Office of Personnel Management during the Trump administration. Trump advisor Stephen Miller and the Trump campaign's National Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also appeared in a video supporting the project’s “Presidential Administration Academy."

There is also overlap between Trump's platform and Project 2025's proposals.

The project has called for an end to illegal immigration while Trump has vowed to "carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history" and "terminate every open borders policy of the Biden administration ," if re-elected.

Project 2025 also supports shutting down the Department of Education , which Trump pledged to do in a 2023 campaign video .

The Heritage Foundation said in a January 2018 news release that Trump had adopted nearly two-thirds of its policy recommendations within his first year in office.

USA TODAY has debunked an array of claims about Trump, including false assertions that he selected Michael Flynn as his vice president , that a video shows “Trump Force One” buzzing a Washington-area airport after the June presidential debate and that Trump was found guilty in his hush-money trial by a jury stacked with Biden supporters .

The Facebook user who shared the post told USA TODAY it's a "logical inference" that Trump supports the project because of the number of his allies who are involved, even if he has not publicly endorsed the effort.

Our fact-check sources:

Project 2025, accessed July 8, About Project 2025
Donald Trump, July 5, Truth Social post
Project 2025, July 5, X post

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or e-newspaper here .

USA TODAY is a verified signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network, which requires a demonstrated commitment to nonpartisanship, fairness and transparency. Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Meta .

Systematic review
Open access
Published: 17 July 2024

Adaptability, Scalability and Sustainability (ASaS) of complex health interventions: a systematic review of theories, models and frameworks

Lixin Sun ORCID: orcid.org/0009-0004-8328-5845 1 ,
Andrew Booth 1 &
Katie Sworn 1

Implementation Science volume 19 , Article number: 52 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

491 Accesses

13 Altmetric

Metrics details

This systematic review aims to identify and critique theoretical frameworks concerned with three features of implementation; adaptability, scalability and sustainability (ASaS). By dismantling the constituent theories, analysing their component concepts and then exploring factors that influence each theory the review team hopes to offer an enhanced understanding of considerations when implementing CHIs.

This review searched PubMed MEDLINE, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Google Scholar for research investigating the TMFs of complex health interventions. Narrative synthesis was employed to examine factors that may influence the adaptability, scalability and sustainability of complex health interventions.

A total of 9763 studies were retrieved from the five databases (PubMed, MEDLINE, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Google Scholar). Following removal of duplicates and application of the eligibility criteria, 35 papers were eligible for inclusion. Influencing factors can be grouped within outer context (socio-political context; leadership funding, inter-organisational networks), inner context; (client advocacy; organisational characteristics), intervention characteristics (supervision, monitoring and evaluation), and bridging factors (individual adopter or provider characteristics).

This review confirms that identified TMFS do not typically include the three components of adaptability, scalability, and sustainability. Current approaches focus on high income countries or generic “whole world” approaches with few frameworks specific to low- and middle-income countries. The review offers a starting point for further exploration of adaptability, scalability and sustainability, within a low- and middle-income context.

Trial registration

Not registered.

Peer Review reports

Contributions to the literature

This study identified that current existing theories, models and frameworks (TMFs) focus on high income countries or generic “whole world” approaches with few frameworks specific to low- and middle-income countries.

This study explored the factors influencing the adaptability, scalability and sustainability of complex health interventions within current TMFs.

This study evaluated the applicability and feasibility of current TMF in low- and middle-income countries.

This systematic review examines the adaptability, scalability, and sustainability (ASaS) of complex health interventions (CHIs), which are increasingly used in public health, clinical research, and education to alleviate global disease burdens [ 1 ]. The effectiveness of CHIs depends on various factors, including health resources, education levels, and economic status [ 2 , 3 ].

CHIs are interventions with multiple interacting components, posing unique evaluation challenges beyond the usual practical and methodological difficulties [ 4 ].

Adaptability, scalability, and sustainability are crucial concepts in implementing CHIs, addressed through stages of evidence efficacy, scaling-up, and long-term sustainability [ 5 ]. Initial research phases focus on adapting interventions to local contexts and needs [ 6 ]. Once effectiveness is proven, the goal shifts to broader implementation, aiming for sustainability in real-world settings [ 5 ].The definitions of the ASaS is shown in the Table 1 .

Theories, models and frameworks are used extensively to advance implementation science [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ], to guide the design and implementation of complex interventions, and to help in assessing their quality. The resultant models can also be used to elucidate causal mechanisms between influencing factors and to identify contextual factors associated with changes in outcomes [ 10 , 11 , 14 ]. In turn, TMFs offer a lens for the exploration of the complex fields of public health, health policy and social care [ 10 , 13 ].

Generally, a theory is:

“a set of inter‐related concepts, definitions and propositions that present a systematic view of events or situations by specifying relations among variables, to explain and predict the events or situations [ 15 , 16 ].

Simply put, theories, are closely related to models. Specially, theories are characterized as combining the explanatory alongside the descriptive, and models are defined as theories with a narrowly defined scope of explanation [ 16 ]. A framework is:

“a structure, overview, outline, system or plan consisting of various descriptive categories including concepts, constructs or variables, and the relations between them that are presumed to account for a phenomenon” [ 16 , 17 ].

Compared with theories and models, frameworks do not seek to be explanatory; rather than describe the internal relationships of concepts, they simply present the concepts [ 16 ]. However, despite some diverse characteristics, the terms “theory”, “model” and “framework” (TMF) are often used interchangeably.

However, most existing frameworks and measures for determining implementation factors and outcomes have originated in high-income nations [ 18 ]. A study indicated that although the number of frameworks related to program sustainability is increasing, these frameworks are rarely applied and evaluated in low- and middle-income countries or vulnerable communities within high-income countries. The primary reason for this phenomenon is the unique challenges faced by these countries and regions in terms of community and workplace capacities [ 19 ]. Therefore, it cannot be assumed that current TMFs are suitable for resource-limited settings [ 20 ].

Consequently, the aim of this review is to conduct a systematic review of theoretical frameworks concerned with at least one of the three ASaS concepts, to deconstruct the constituent theories, and to analyze the influencing factors within these frameworks. Another aim of this study is to assess the applicability and feasibility of these TMFs in diverse settings.

Specifically, the objectives of this review are:

To explore definitions of scalability, adaptability, and sustainability.

To identify published theoretical studies concerned with at least one of the concepts of sustainability, scalability and adaptability of complex health intervention-related frameworks and to assemble and explore relevant models and frameworks;

To explore inter-relationships between factors influencing scalability, adaptability, and sustainability of the complex health interventions;

To analyse the applicability and feasibility of these TMFs;

To appraise the methodological quality and reporting quality of the included literature.

Search strategy

Systematic review methods were employed to identify and select TMFs. Specifically, the BeHEMoTh procedure was used as a systematic approach by which to collect theoretical frameworks [ 10 ]. The BeHEMoTh procedure offers auditability and transparency when identifying published TMFs [ 21 ]. Specific features of the BeHEMoTh search process are outlined in Additional file 1. The search begins with a structured BeHEMoTh question. First, the researcher reviewed TMFs identified from a scoping review in order to construct a systematic search procedure for retrieving ASaS related TMFs via Google Scholar [Step 1a]. PubMed MEDLINE, CINAHL and Web of Science, were systematically searched using the same search strategy, in a process similar to a conventional systematic review search [step 1b]. Titles and abstracts were screened for TMFs using a spreadsheet with each additional instance being added to the list of TMFs previously identified via step 1 [step 2]. Named models retrieved from step 2, together with models found from scoping via Google Scholar, were then searched to retrieve additional related reports [step 3]. Searching of source references for these TMFs was used to reveal cited studies [step 4a and step 4b].

Search terms

Search terms across all sources were organized within five search term groups including the three ASaS concepts (See Additional file 1). By searching for the three ASaS concepts individually rather than for their intersect, the search strategy recognises that few models involve all three factors of ASaS with many involving one or two factors.

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Identified publications were imported to Endnote 9 software and duplicates were deleted. Specific inclusion criteria for factors that influence ASaS of CHIs are shown in Table 2 .

Data extraction and appraisal

The titles and abstracts were screened, and the full papers of potentially relevant studies were obtained. Two authors independently assessed 10% of all titles and abstracts with a single reviewer then selecting full text papers for eligibility. An initial data extraction form was modified and adopted after revision. A single researcher independently extracted: (1) Study identification: year of publication, authors, name of study and name of the theories, models and frameworks; (2) Methods: study design, and study context; (3) any TMFs used; (4) Purpose of the theories, models, and framework; (5) Theories, models, and frameworks: definition, conceptual model, framework; (6) factors influencing ASaS of CHIs and inter-relationships between these concepts. These tables are shown in Additional file 3.

Quality assessment

Quality assessment criteria for assessing reports of TMFs are not common. Three papers were identified that either develop or utilize criteria for assessing theories [ 22 , 23 , 24 ] and these papers were used to compile the following quality assessment criteria:

Is the methodology identified and justified?

Was a theoretical lens or perspective used to guide the study, with a reference provided?

Is the theoretical framework described?

Is the theoretical framework easily linked with the problem?

If a conceptual framework is used, are the concepts adequately defined?

Are the relationships among concepts clearly identified?

Are the influencing factors of concepts clearly identified?

Are the relationships among influencing factors clearly described?

Quality assessments were undertaken by a single reviewer, quality assessment judgements are reported in Additional file 4.

Given that the literature relating to TMFs derives from multiple disciplines, the researcher decided to use a narrative synthesis approach, which allows for synthesis of diverse types, designs and contexts for studies [ 25 , 26 , 27 ].

First, collected TMFs were categorized against a pre-existing classification: (1) Process models; (2) Determinant frameworks; (3) Classic theories; (4) Implementation theories; (5) Evaluation frameworks [ 16 ] (Table 3 ).

To effectively analyze the factors influencing the adaptability, scalability, and sustainability (ASaS) of complex health interventions (CHIs), this review integrates insights from multiple frameworks. Initially, the EPIS (Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, Sustainment) model was utilized, categorizing influencing factors into four key dimensions: Outer Context, Inner Context, Intervention Characteristics, and Bridging Factors. However, a more comprehensive understanding was needed, as the EPIS model alone did not fully capture the complexity of these factors.

To address this, features from the CFIR (Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research) and insights from the NASSS (Non-adoption, Abandonment, Scale-up, Spread, and Sustainability) framework and the Dynamic Sustainability Framework (DSF) were integrated. This meta-model enhancement involves expanding the descriptions within each EPIS dimension to cover additional critical elements found in these other frameworks.

Specifically, within the Inner Context, the organizational characteristics were elaborated to reflect deeper organizational dynamics affecting CHIs. In the Outer Context, the Sociopolitical Context was added, acknowledging its crucial influence on intervention outcomes. Further, the Intervention Characteristics were detailed more extensively to capture the nuanced nature of the interventions themselves.

This enriched model aims to provide a robust analytical framework that better reflects the complex interplay of factors influencing the ASaS of CHIs. By adopting this meta-model, the study offers a comprehensive theoretical foundation that underpins the examination of these complex interventions, paving the way for more targeted and effective implementation strategies in diverse settings.

Finally, the Theoretical Quality Tool, adapted from Hean et al. [ 31 ], was employed to rigorously assess the applicability of the collected (TMFs) in the context of Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs).

Characteristics of included studies

The flowchart of the search results (Fig. 1 ) shows that the search identified 9763 studies. Following removal of duplicates and application of eligibility criteria, 37 studies remained for inclusion in the review. 25 studies provide macroscopic TMFs for CHIs [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 30 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 ] worldwide. A further seven included TMFs [ 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 ] that were developed in high-income countries and only five studies [ 21 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 ] targeted LMICs.

PRIMA diagram of article selection

Types of TMF

Overall, 28 [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 21 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 55 , 57 , 58 , 61 ] of the 37 studies describe macroscopic TMFs and nine studies [ 30 , 47 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 56 , 59 , 60 ] describe TMFs for specific relevant interventions. Categorising these according to the five categories of Per Nilsen's schema (Table 3 ) reveals that 14 of the 37 TMFs are process models, 14 are determinant frameworks, one is classic theory, one is implementation theory, and seven are evaluation frameworks (See Additional file 5). One classic theory and one implementation theory are included. The Detailed classification for collected TMFs is described in Table 4 .

Adaptability, scalability and sustainability definitions

All 37 included studies reported at least two out of the three concepts of ASaS, and the specific concepts involved in each study. (See Table 5 ). Definitions of ASaS found in the included studies are shown in the Additional file 2.

The process of implementation and relationships of adaptability, scalability and sustainability

Diverse TMFs support a strong correlation between the three ASaS concepts and the implementation process. Twenty-five of the TMFs explicitly mentioned implementation of CHIs; while the remaining ten did not [ 6 , 8 , 21 , 39 , 40 , 44 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 62 ].

This review confirms the interconnectedness of adaptability, scalability, and sustainability in the implementation of complex health interventions (CHIs). The findings suggest that adaptability is crucial during the initial stages of CHI deployment, determining the potential for effective and cost-efficient implementation. As the intervention progresses, scalability becomes critical, ensuring that strategies effective on a smaller scale can be expanded to broader populations and regions. Ultimately, sustainability is achieved in the final stages, focusing on maintaining the benefits of the intervention over time and making necessary adjustments based on ongoing feedback and changing conditions.

In essence, the successful scaling and long-term sustainability of CHIs fundamentally depend on their initial adaptability. This streamlined approach highlights the critical progression from adaptability through scalability to sustainability, without delving into the specifics of various models and frameworks.

Influencing factors of adaptability, scalability and sustainability of complex interventions

This study collected and analyzed factors affecting the adaptability, scalability, and sustainability (ASaS) of complex health interventions (CHIs), systematically categorizing them into four distinct categories: outer context, inner context, intervention characteristics, and bridging factors. This classification helps clarify the various factors that influence the implementation of health interventions.

While all these factors impact the three concepts of ASaS, some have particularly close relationships with specific ASaS concepts. Subsequent sections will explore these factors in detail, emphasizing those closely linked to individual ASaS concepts. This approach highlights the multidimensionality of these factors and their varying impacts on the adaptability, scalability, and sustainability of CHIs. The overview of the factors influencing the ASaS is shown in the Table 6 .

Outer context

Name of influencing factors, suggested definition, frequency of influencing factors of Outer context is shown in Table 7 .

Sociopolitical context

This study has identified multiple studies highlighting how sociopolitical factors deeply influence the adaptability, scalability, and sustainability (ASaS) of complex health interventions (CHIs) [ 8 , 30 , 35 , 37 , 39 , 42 , 44 , 47 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 64 ]. These factors, including religion [ 58 ], ethics [ 39 , 56 ], legislation [ 30 , 35 , 39 , 44 , 54 , 58 , 59 , 64 ], norms or regulations [ 7 , 21 , 35 , 38 , 49 , 54 , 56 , 58 ], and policies [ 6 , 7 , 9 , 21 , 35 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 44 , 50 , 51 , 54 , 56 , 57 , 59 ], play a critical role in shaping health outcomes and addressing healthcare disparities. The influence of sociocultural factors such as common traditions, habits, patterns, and beliefs was also evident across different populations [ 35 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 44 , 50 , 52 , 54 , 57 , 58 , 62 ].

Interorganizational networks

Interorganizational networks bridge full-scale relationships across organizations [ 65 ], and it was found to significantly enhance the implementation of CHIs, enabling better adaptation to local contexts and sustainability at lower costs through effective resource sharing and communication.

Also, the role of funding was another major factor discussed, highlighting its critical importance for providing necessary resources such as training, materials, and health services [ 66 ]. Nineteen of the identified models or frameworks emphasize fiscal support prioritized in implementation [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 21 , 30 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 38 , 39 , 44 , 45 , 50 , 54 , 55 , 58 , 59 , 64 ].

Client advocacy

Three of the 37 studies identify client advocacy as an important influencing factor [ 9 , 45 , 50 ]. During implementation client advocacy assists healthcare workers, participants and their families in navigating the healthcare system [ 67 ].

Finally, 16 of the 37 studies emphasize leadership [ 6 , 21 , 30 , 35 , 36 , 40 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 50 , 51 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 ]. Specific subgroups may offer either approval or conflict. Strong leadership can promote effective use of resources while encouraging personnel to work towards a common goal.

Inner context

Name of influencing factors, suggested definition, frequency of influencing factors of Outer context is shown in the Table 8 .

Organizational characteristics

Organizational characteristics influence the process of implementing complex health interventions (CHIs) through structures and processes within organizations. These characteristics encompass ten influencing factors including absorptive capacity [ 6 , 8 , 9 , 21 , 36 , 37 , 40 , 44 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 56 , 57 , 59 , 64 ], organizational readiness [ 8 , 30 , 50 , 51 , 52 ], structure [ 6 , 7 , 35 , 38 , 40 , 44 , 49 , 51 , 52 , 59 , 64 ], values or visions [ 35 , 37 , 40 , 43 , 44 , 51 , 59 ], working environment [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 41 , 45 , 50 , 51 , 54 , 56 ], tension for change [ 6 , 49 , 51 , 53 ], organization culture [ 6 , 35 , 40 , 43 , 50 , 58 ], leadership [ 6 , 21 , 35 , 36 , 40 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 50 , 51 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 ], credibility and reputation [ 43 ]. The adaptability, scalability, and sustainability (ASaS) of CHIs are significantly dependent on these organizational elements.

Organisations with strong organisational power may be likely to implement CHIs because they have stronger leadership and more frequent communication than those with weak or decentralised organisational structures [ 68 ].

Readiness for change

In addition, strong organisations are prepared and aware of possible encountered changes and can adjust their strategies and approaches of working in time to enable CHIs to be carried out well. Readiness for change is related to other factors including organisational culture, and individual attitudes [ 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 ].

Absorptive capacity

During the exploration and preparation phases of a CHI, an organisation's absorptive capacity (the ability to identify, assimilate, transform, and use external knowledge, research and practice [ 73 ]), readiness for change and receptive environment exert a significant impact on the adaptability of CHIs.

Individual adopter or provider characteristics

Individual adopter or provider characteristics include participants’ personal characteristics, age, race/ethnicity, education, training, foundation subjects, professional experience, adaptability, personal values and goals, and personal character creative ability.

Fourteen included studies emphasise how the CHI is accepted and scaled-up by participants and health care workers [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 41 , 45 , 47 , 51 , 53 , 54 , 56 , 58 ]. In parallel to the organisational level, individual ability or capacity [ 6 , 35 , 44 , 51 , 53 , 56 , 57 , 64 ], training or education [ 7 , 8 , 35 , 36 , 40 , 51 , 52 , 56 ], and tenacity for change [ 6 , 51 , 53 ] constitute important factors. CHIs are more easily adapted and diffused when led by experienced and leaders [ 6 , 21 , 35 , 36 , 40 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 50 , 51 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 ] with common visions or views [ 6 , 35 , 51 , 53 , 56 , 60 , 64 ]. In addition, race [ 35 , 50 ], spoken language [ 35 , 50 , 52 ] and individual culture [ 35 , 53 , 56 , 59 ] are considered to be vital influencing factors. Specifically, when there is a high degree of fit between the norms and values of the individual, organisation and CHIs, individuals may find that they achieve higher efficacy when implementing CHIs [ 64 ].

As mentioned above, 16 of the 37 included studies emphasize leadership [ 6 , 21 , 30 , 35 , 36 , 40 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 48 , 50 , 51 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 ].

CHIs require sufficient, well-trained healthcare workers. Fourteen of the 37 studies list staffing as an important factor in their TMFs [ 7 , 30 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 56 , 64 ]. Job candidates may be selected so that their knowledge, skills, competencies, and attitudes [ 74 ] match the requirements of the CHI.

Supervision, monitoring and evaluation

Supervision, monitoring and evaluation refers to the collection, storage, analysis and use of data to assess whether complex interventions are achieving their intended objectives, and further influences improvement, policy development and advocacy of complex intervention [ 75 ]. Nine of the 35 studies argue for the vital role of monitoring and evaluation in providing an effective approach by which to assess the effectiveness of complex interventions [ 21 , 30 , 40 , 43 , 44 , 50 , 51 , 58 , 64 ].

Intervention characteristics

The characteristics of the intervention itself is also an important factor. Specifically, the physical and community environment, the cost of the intervention and access to resources (8 studies) [ 6 , 21 , 30 , 34 , 38 , 51 , 52 , 56 ] and the source of funding all exert a direct impact. Project champions are committed to supporting and promoting the implementation of CHI, along with a strong belief in the value of carrying out CHIs [ 76 ]. The factors within intervention characteristics is shown in the Table 9 .

The included frameworks attest to how the characteristics of the CHI decide whether an intervention can be adapted, scaled-up and sustained [ 6 , 8 , 33 , 36 , 47 , 51 , 53 ]. Although researchers hope that CHIs can be adapted and conducted as quickly as possible, it takes time for both healthcare providers and participants to adapt to new interventions [ 77 ]. Also, when interventions change significantly within a short period of time, the lack of sufficient time to adapt to the intervention and adjust to relevant cultural factors prevent staff and participants from adopting a new CHI [ 78 ].

Bridging factors

Factors influencing the inter-relationship of outer and inner context are described as “bridging factors” in the EPIS framework. Bridging factors include community engagement and Purveyors/Intermediaries.

Twelve studies stress the importance of the community. Development of complex interventions within a community may be facilitated when they utilise existing community resources, available structures and staff, reducing dependence on external funding [ 21 ]. For example, community members were proud to participate in a project to improve malaria prevention through insecticide-treated mosquito nets and thereby contribute to disease control within their community. Consequently, the project was speedily adapted, replicated and scaled-up locally [ 79 ]. The community function is also affected by socio-political factors [ 80 ]. If the visions and beliefs of the policy are inconsistent with community objectives, the policy hinders spread and sustainability even where the community possesses powerful leadership, project champions and sufficient resources [ 80 , 81 ].

Purveyors/Intermediaries take on a critical bridging role for key processes in the implementation of CHIs [ 45 ]. Purveyors, who may be individuals, groups or communities, aim to facilitate the effective and sustainable implementation of CHIs [ 82 ]. Intermediaries provide consultancy and training services to governments, organisations, etc., and also develop and implement different health-services and projects for them [ 82 ]. They also provide monitoring, support, quality improvement and evaluation services at the end of the project [ 82 ]. The factors within bridging factors is shown in the Table 10 .

Applicability and feasibility of the collected TMFs

This study employs the Theoretical Quality Tool, adapted from Hean et al. [ 31 ], to rigorously assess the applicability of various Theoretical Models and Frameworks (TMFs) in the context of Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). The detailed outcomes of this assessment are presented in the Additional file 6. The summary table highlights the applicability and feasibility of TMFs in LMICs.

Of the 37 TMFs reviewed (two studies identify EPIS), seven demonstrate high applicability and feasibility, readily integrating into LMIC healthcare environments without necessitating significant overhauls. For example, models like the AIDED and NPT are readily implementable in LMICs due to their practicality and context-sensitive design. They integrate seamlessly into existing healthcare systems, offering solutions without the need for extensive system overhauls, crucial in resource-limited environments. Twenty-five TMFs require adaptations to align with the local conditions of LMICs, entailing modifications to fit cultural, economic, and healthcare infrastructure nuances. For example, the EPIS framework, CFIR framework, PRISM Model and Chronic Care Model, though broadly applicable, need customization to fit the unique cultural, economic, and healthcare infrastructures of LMICs.

For the remaining five TMFs, their inherent theoretical complexity and the fact that some were specifically designed for High-Income Countries (HICs) pose significant barriers to adoption in in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). This finding highlights an important disconnect between their foundational assumptions and the practical realities of healthcare systems in LMICs. The evaluation outcomes of the applicability and feasibility of the collected 37 TMFs are shown in the Table 11 .

This theoretical systematic review identified common features and differences across 37 TMFs associated with ASaS.

Similarities and differences between the TMFs

All identified TMFs emphasize the importance of one or more of the three ASaS concepts. These frameworks aim to enable CHIs to adapt to new contexts and populations, scale up interventions, and ensure long-term effectiveness. The components of different TMFs share broadly similar descriptions, even if the terminology varies. For example, the EPIS framework divides the implementation process into four phases: exploration, preparation, implementation, and sustainment whereas Sarma’s framework [ 5 ] describes three domains: i: evidence – efficacy to effectiveness; ii: Scaling-up; and iii: sustainability. A further study [ 36 ] describes four stages 1. Training (dissemination); 2. adoption (planning); 3. implementation; 4. practical improvement and two key points (preparation and maintenance).

In the EPIS framework, during exploration and preparation, adaptability is considered to determine whether the complex intervention can be conducted effectively with affordable cost. Domain I of Sarma’s framework [ 5 ] includes the four vital components of intervention sources, evidence strength and quality, relative advantages, adaptability and complexity. The Framework - oral health [ 36 ] emphasizes adoption within the second stage. Hence, these three stages have the similar key components. The EPIS framework describes how a pilot study is further implemented across diverse participants and areas, which is similar to Domain ii: Scaling-up in Sarma’s framework [ 5 ] and the implementation stage in Framework - oral health [ 36 ]. Finally, the sustainment stage in EPIS framework, Domain iii: sustainability in Sarma’s framework [ 5 ] and the maintenance point in Framework - oral health [ 36 ] all convey a shared understanding of sustainability.

Similar stages may be presented in a different order within various models, reflecting the inherently multi-stage and non-linear nature of CHI implementation. Significant differences across different TMFs primarily relate to influences on ASaS. Furthermore, even when different TMFs use the same terminology to describe influencing factors, the meanings may differ due to the inherent complexity and dynamics of these factors.

The complexity of influencing factors of adaptability, scalability and sustainability

The TMFs reflect how CHIs and associated influencing factors do not operate in isolation, but are non-linear, interacting and interdependent. Some influencing factors appear across multiple studies. For example, researchers share a consensus about the importance of funding [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 21 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 38 , 39 , 44 , 45 , 50 , 54 , 55 , 58 , 64 ]. Some studies emphasise adequate and sustained financial support from governments and foundations as prerequisite to the sustainability and spread [ 5 , 44 , 50 , 61 ], while Sarma [ 5 ] recognizes the need to sustain interventions in the absence of adequate funding [ 21 ]. In addition, the sociopolitical context, leadership and organizational characteristics are repeatedly mentioned as essential components for implementation. Furthermore, all the factors mentioned in the literature are bi-directional; the same influencing factor may act differently under diverse conditions, either as a facilitator or as a hindrance.

To be specific, first, in terms of the outer context, strong leadership can facilitate effective use of resources while encouraging personnel to work towards a common goal. Also, sociopolitical factors covers ethical considerations [ 39 , 56 ], legislation [ 35 , 39 , 44 , 54 , 58 , 64 ], norms or regulations [ 7 , 21 , 35 , 38 , 54 , 56 , 58 ], policies [ 6 , 7 , 9 , 21 , 35 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 44 , 50 , 51 , 54 , 56 , 57 ], and religion [ 58 ]. Legislation and policies not only guide, and often guarantee, complex interventions at the macro level, but also, at the empirical level, provide a basis for adapting CHIs to the local environment thereby making interventions suitable for scale up and long term sustainment [ 35 , 39 , 44 , 54 , 58 , 64 ]. High quality interorganizational communication contributes to the implementation and sustainability of CHIs [ 83 ]. Additionally, weak leadership exerts a negative impact on the management of the organisation, funding applications and the recruitment of staff.

Leadership remains an important factor in relation to the inner context. Given that complex interventions are often run by the state, an organisation or a group, strong leadership can facilitate complex interventions. Also, the organisational culture, the vision/belief and the structure of the organisation interact with each factor and are influenced by funding, leadership and staffing.

Strong leadership needs to be accompanied by a structured organisation with a common vision in order to achieve the objectives of complex interventions. People as the carriers of culture, organisation, professional and personal attitudes, norms, interests and affiliations [ 84 ] also fulfil an important role. Individual adopter or provider characteristics are important influencing factors. When people within the organisation are aligned with the organisation's philosophy and culture, along with sufficient financial support, strong leadership and effective supervision, adaptation, scale up and long-term sustainment become possible for CHIs. Finally, intervention factors are influenced by both the outer context and the inner context, and bridging factors serve to unite the outer context, the inner context, and the intervention factors.

The dynamics of influencing factors of adaptability, scalability and sustainability

Factors that influence complex interventions are dynamic in both temporal and geographical terms. The role of these factors may change over time [ 85 ]; anticipated barriers may become facilitators [ 85 ]. For example, in the early stages of an intervention, individual adopters may exhibit skepticism and distrust, presenting a barrier to CHI delivery. However, in later stages, if the intervention proves effective, participant attitudes may shift, motivating them to cooperate and thus becoming facilitators. Similarly, in the early stages, newly recruited or local staff may be unfamiliar with the intervention, posing a hindrance. Conversely, as staff become familiar with the intervention, they are better equipped to implement it, thereby becoming facilitators.

Identical influencing factors may have different effects in various geographical and national contexts. For example, women are generally considered a vulnerable group worldwide, particularly in LMICs, where they tend to have lower income and social status compared to men, making it difficult for them to access better health care resources [ 86 ]. However, in the matrilineal community in Indonesia, women occupy similar or even higher social status than men, with a cultural tradition of controlling family finances [ 87 ]. Therefore, in this context, gender and culture may facilitate interventions, especially maternal and child health related interventions. In relation to funding, reliable sources of funding help to sustain interventions [ 5 ], and one of the challenges to sustainability is the lack of long-term available funding [ 21 ]. In summary, this systematic review offers a comprehensive understanding of factors influencing ASaS and provides a theoretical framework for effective CHIs in the future.

Have gaps in knowledge been addressed?

This is the first systematic review of ASaS related TMFs of CHIs. By focusing on the three factors of adaptability, sustainability and spread the review has been able to explore complex interactions of each with each other and with other important factors.

How have authors defined scalability, adaptability, and sustainability?

Additional file 2 consolidates definitions of scalability, adaptability and sustainability as identified across the included studies. It is noticeable that “sustainability has evolved from being considered as the endgame of a translational research process to a suggested 'adaptation phase’ that integrates and institutionalizes interventions within local organizational and cultural contexts.” [ 7 ]

This literature argues that sustainability is, in fact, a manifestation of adaptability, and that the two concepts are closely related.

Which theoretical studies explore at least one of the concepts of scalability, adaptability and sustainability of complex health intervention within a relevant model/frameworks;?

This review reveals the scarcity of theoretical models for LMICs. The review identified four main categories of theoretical models, (i) the generic TMFs (e.g. RE-AIM and CFIR), with no obvious geographical target (26/37); (ii) tailored TMFs developed by some high-income countries (e,g. [ 52 , 53 , 56 ]. for local needs (6/37); (iii) adapted TMFs (e.g. EPIS and Framework of Dissemination in Health Services Intervention Research), originally designed for high-income countries but now adapted to CHIs worldwide; (iv) TMFs specific to low and middle income countries (5/37) (e.g. [ 21 , 57 ]). 85.7% of the included theories are either generic or specific to high-income countries, with a lack of TMFs specifically targeted at LMICs. As a result of this literature review the team have proceeded to develop a framework for Adaptability, Scalability and Sustainability that is suited for a low- and middle-income country context.

Thirty seven studies explore at least one of the concepts of sustainability, scalability and adaptability. However, no previous studies have explored all three ASaS concepts within a single TMF. Although some studies invoke the need to explore influencing factors and correlation among ASaS, no studies have actually conducted this research.

What inter-relationships have been demonstrated between factors influencing scalability, adaptability, and sustainability of the complex health interventions?

The meta-framework provides a comprehensive structure to explore the complexities of CHI implementation, emphasizing the interplay among four critical domains: outer context, inner context, intervention characteristics, and bridging factors.

In the outer context, the interplay between strong leadership, sociopolitical factors, and interorganizational networks is crucial. Strong leadership promotes resource optimization and strategic alignment toward CHI goals, essential for ASaS [ 35 , 39 , 44 , 54 , 58 , 64 ]. Sociopolitical factors, including legislation, policies, and norms, provide a regulatory framework that guides the adaptation of CHIs to local settings, enhancing their feasibility and long-term integration [ 83 ]. Additionally, robust interorganizational communication facilitates effective adaptation of CHIs to local contexts, potentially lowering costs and enhancing sustainability.

Within the inner context, organizational culture, structure, and leadership significantly interact, affecting CHI outcomes. Strong, visionary leadership is crucial for fostering an organizational culture that supports CHIs and aligns with broader intervention goals [ 84 ]. The organization's structure further influences the implementation of these interventions, with well-structured organizations likely to achieve better scalability and sustainability. Additionally, the characteristics of individual providers and adopters play a critical role, impacting their ability to effectively implement and sustain CHIs.

The characteristics of the intervention itself directly impact its implementation. Factors such as the intervention's complexity, cost, resource requirements, and specific design elements determine the ASaS especially for the stages of adaptability and scalability [ 6 , 21 , 30 , 34 , 38 , 51 , 52 , 56 , 59 ]. Support from project champions and stakeholder involvement are crucial in facilitating the implementation process, ensuring that the interventions are well-supported and aligned with stakeholder expectations [ 8 , 21 , 34 , 36 , 37 , 40 , 44 , 49 , 50 , 56 , 60 ].

Bridging factors like community engagement and the role of purveyors/intermediaries are vital for linking the outer and inner contexts of CHIs. Community engagement leverages local resources and capacities, which is essential for the localized adaptation and sustainability of interventions [ 8 , 9 , 21 , 30 , 34 , 38 , 42 , 44 , 45 , 54 , 56 , 58 ]. Purveyors and intermediaries facilitate the transfer of knowledge and best practices, enhancing the overall effectiveness and reach of CHIs [ 45 ]. These bridging roles ensure that interventions are not only well-integrated within communities but also maintain fidelity to their objectives and outcomes over time.

Lack of TMFs designed for LMICs

The lack of specifically designed TMFs for LMICs presents significant challenges in effectively implementing complex health interventions (CHIs) in these settings. Evaluating existing TMFs reveals a gap in their suitability and feasibility for application within the unique healthcare environments of LMICs.

Of the 37 TMFs assessed, many were found to require adaptations to align with the local conditions of LMICs, necessitating modifications to fit cultural, economic, and healthcare infrastructure nuances. For instance, frameworks such as EPIS, CFIR, PRISM Model, and Chronic Care Model, though broadly applicable, need customization to fit the unique contexts of LMICs.

Five of the TMFs reviewed were identified as inherently complex and primarily designed for high-income settings, posing substantial barriers to their adoption in LMICs. This highlights a critical disconnect between the foundational assumptions of these models and the practical realities of healthcare systems in LMICs, which face challenges such as limited resources, differing disease burdens, and varied healthcare delivery systems.

Despite these challenges, some models demonstrate higher applicability and feasibility. For example, the Dynamic Sustainability Framework (DSF) and the AIDED model are noted for their practicality and context-sensitive design, aligning with the continuous adaptation and learning required in LMICs. These models integrate seamlessly into existing healthcare systems, offering solutions without the need for extensive system overhauls, which is crucial in resource-limited environments.

The findings underscore the need to develop or adapt existing TMFs specifically tailored to the conditions of LMICs. This involves considering local healthcare practices, resource limitations, and cultural factors to ensure that the frameworks are both applicable and feasible in supporting the effective implementation and sustainability of CHIs in these settings.

Strengths and limitations

This systematic review retrieved relevant literature through a comprehensive search across four databases. Only studies published in English were included, potentially missing those from the grey literature. Identifying relevant implementation TMFs proved challenging due to the complex and diffuse terminologies used in this field. Exhaustive lists of synonyms would have been prohibitive, resulting in lack of specificity and numerous false positives. The authors sought an optimal balance between sensitivity and workload. Although the included studies were evaluated using a quality assessment tool, the risk of bias remains, particularly since only one author was responsible for data extraction.

Furthermore, although this review has identified how influencing factors interact, no clear theoretical model charts the specific TMFs, routes, and pathways from the influencing factors to the ASaS of CHIs. Finally, concepts such as acceptability, fidelity, and feasibility, are recognized as important features of CHIs [ 88 ] but fell outside the remit of this review.

Only one classic theory and one implementation theory are included. There are two possible reasons. Classical theories are borrowed from such disciplines as psychology, sociology and organisational development (e.g. the Diffusion of Innovation theory [ 89 ]. Similarly. the Health Belief Model was published in 1950 [ 90 ] and the Theory of Planned Behavior in the late 1980s [ 91 ]. Given that inclusion requires publication after 2000, many classic theories predate the study period. On the other hand, other theories, such as the implementation climate theory [ 92 ], may not be conceptually related to ASaS, resulting in their exclusion. The Detailed classification for collected TMFs is described in Table 4 .

This review synthesizes 37 TMFs that document factors influencing the ASaS of CHIs. It confirms the wide variety of definitions used for adaptability, scalability, and sustainability within current TMFs, which typically do not include all three components. Current approaches focus on high-income countries or generic “whole world” approaches, with few frameworks specific to low- and middle-income countries. Numerous attempts have been made to describe and explore the interrelationships between implementation components. Of these, the EPIS and CFIR frameworks seem to possess the greatest inherent value, particularly within a model consisting of outer context, inner context, intervention characteristics, and bridging factors. This review offers a starting point for further exploration of adaptability, scalability, and sustainability, particularly within a low- and middle-income context.

Availability of data and materials

All data cited in this review derives from published papers and therefore already available.

Abbreviations

Adaptability, scalability and sustainability

Capability, Opportunity, Motivation and Behaviour

Complex health interventions

Evidence-based practice

Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, Sustainment (EPIS) framework

Low- and middle- income countries

Medical Research Council

Theory, model and framework

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We gratefully acknowledge Prof. Andrew Booth and Dr. Katie Sworn their review of the manuscript and guidance on the systematic review process.

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Sun, L., Booth, A. & Sworn, K. Adaptability, Scalability and Sustainability (ASaS) of complex health interventions: a systematic review of theories, models and frameworks. Implementation Sci 19 , 52 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13012-024-01375-7

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Variations and determinants of tissue carbon concentration of 32 sympatric temperate tree species

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Published: 20 July 2024
Volume 35 , article number 113 , ( 2024 )

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Jun Pan 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 na1 ,
Jing Zhang 1 , 2 na1 ,
Xingchang Wang ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6502-1422 1 , 2 na1 ,
Xiuwei Wang 1 , 2 na1 ,
Qi Wang 5 na1 ,
Yankun Liu 6 na1 ,
Yulong Liu 6 na1 ,
Yunfei Diao 6 na1 ,
Xiankui Quan 1 , 2 na1 ,
Chuankuan Wang 1 , 2 na1 &
Xiaochun Wang 1 , 2 na1

Plant carbon (C) concentration is a fundamental trait for estimating C storage and nutrient utilization. However, the mechanisms of C concentration variations among different tree tissues and across species remains poorly understood. In this study, we explored the variations and determinants of C concentration of nine tissues from 216 individuals of 32 tree species, with particular attention on the effect of wood porosity (i.e., non-porous wood, diffuse-porous wood, and ring-porous wood). The inter-tissue pattern of C concentration diverged across the three porosity types; metabolically active tissues (foliage and fine roots, except for the foliage of ring-porous species) generally had higher C levels compared with inactive wood. The poor inter-correlations between tissue C concentrations indicated a necessity of measuring tissue- and specific-C concentrations. Carbon concentration for almost all tissues generally decreased from non-porous, to diffuse-porous and to ring-porous. Tissue C was often positively correlated with tissue (foliage and wood) density and tree size, while negatively correlated with growth rate, depending on wood porosity. Our results highlight the mediating effect of type of wood porosity on the variation in tissue C among temperate species. The variations among tissues were more important than that among species. These findings provided insights on tissue C concentration variability of temperate forest species.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Huimin Song, Danyang Yuan, Di Liu for their help in field sampling, and Yanpeng Li for drawing the correlation matrix figure. The Mudanjiang Forest Ecosystem Research Station provided the logistic support.

Jun Pan and Jing Zhang have equally contributed.

Authors and Affiliations

Center for Ecological Research, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, 150040, People’s Republic of China

Jun Pan, Jing Zhang, Xingchang Wang, Xiuwei Wang, Xiankui Quan, Chuankuan Wang & Xiaochun Wang

Key Laboratory of Sustainable Forest Ecosystem Management, Ministry of Education, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, 150040, People’s Republic of China

Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510650, People’s Republic of China

University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, People’s Republic of China

National-Regional Joint Engineering Research Center for Soil Pollution Control and Remediation in South China, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Integrated Agro-Environmental Pollution Control and Management, Institute of Eco-Environmental and Soil Sciences, Guangdong Academy of Science, Guangzhou, 510650, People’s Republic of China

Heilongjiang Institute of Ecology, Heilongjiang Academy of Forestry, Harbin, 150040, People’s Republic of China

Yankun Liu, Yulong Liu & Yunfei Diao

Correspondence to Xingchang Wang .

Publisher's note.

Project funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32171765).

The online version is available at https://link.springer.com .

Corresponding editor: Tao Xu.

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (PDF 1017 KB)

Rights and permissions.

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Pan, J., Zhang, J., Wang, X. et al. Variations and determinants of tissue carbon concentration of 32 sympatric temperate tree species. J. For. Res. 35 , 113 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-024-01764-0

Received : 28 October 2023

Accepted : 06 May 2024

Published : 20 July 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-024-01764-0

Carbon fraction
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Renee Davy , a PhD candidate in Educational Studies, is a 2023 recipient of the International Doctoral Research Awards (IDRA). Funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and managed by Universities Canada, the IDRA aims to enhance research skills in Canada and the Global South, with the goal of improving the lives of people in the developing world. In 2023, 25 doctoral students from 12 Canadian schools each received up to $20,000 in awards. Her project entitled Transforming Writing Instruction: Engaging Marginalized Youth in a Community Publishing Approach to Writing explores how marginalized youth’s engagement with community writing and grassroots publishing can shape their social and academic identities. Using a participatory action research approach, her work aims to challenge the deficit discourse surrounding marginalized youth and their language and literacy development. Renee’s research is being supervised by Dr. Amir Kalan .

Sitong Wang , a PhD candidate in Educational Studies, has been awarded the Graduate Mobility Award, which encourages graduate students to study and conduct research abroad as part of their McGill degree program by defraying part of the cost of the international experience. Titled “Discovering the Reading Subject”: Reducing Linguistic Prejudice in Writing Assessment in Academic Writing, focuses on reducing linguistic prejudice in writing assessment. This award enables Sitong Wang to collect material and data to examine writing course outlines, institutional language policies, and other relevant documents from universities in China. This research contributes to a thorough analysis and comparison of pedagogical methodologies and materials across universities in diverse countries, helping to determine the ubiquity of linguistic prejudice in writing education and thereby addressing Wang's research questions. Sitong Wang's research is being supervised by Dr. Amir Kalan .

Chama Laassassy , an MA student in Second Language Education, has been selected as an incoming young leader for the 2024-25 Pathy Foundation Fellowship at the Coady Institute. This prestigious 12-month fellowship, supported by the Pathy Family Foundation, provides each Fellow with up to $40,000 in funding to implement a self-designed initiative. Chama Laassassy's initiative, ⵉⵙⵡⵉ | ISWI aims to support youth at a high risk of school abandonment in Nador, Morocco (الناظور, المغرب). This project seeks to create a supportive environment for young people, helping them develop skills and opportunities that promote their personal and professional growth. offers community-focused experiential learning opportunities for graduating students. Chama Laassassy is in the final year of her MA program, focusing her research on the impact of outside-of-the-classroom language practice on language learning. Her commitment to fostering sustainable positive social change has earned her this important fellowship. Chama Laassassy's research is being supervised by Dr. Susan Ballinger . Learn more about the Pathy Foundation Fellowship .

Congratulations to the winners for their commitment to driving social change in international contexts!

Department and University Information

Write specific aims that test a single, overarching hypothesis, and not individual aims connected to their own hypotheses. Note: Depending on the grant you are seeking, this rule may not be possible or desirable. For example, if you are applying for an R01 grant in health services/outcomes research, the typical grant in this area has a data collection project at its core that often addresses ...

Draft Specific Aims. After you have decided the area of research to pursue, start thinking about your planned experiments by first drafting objectives, known in NIH lingo as Specific Aims. Be sure you can complete your Aims within the typical timeframe for your chosen Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). For an R01, that's typically four to ...

Guide to Specific Aims Page for NIH Application Source: NIH Grant Applications- The Anatomy of a Specific Aims Page by Michelle S. LINK. The Specific Aims section is the most vital part of any NIH grant application. In this section, you must quickly gain the reviewers' trust and confidence while simultaneously convincing them that your work is

Steps to Success. Step 1: Develop and Refine Your Research Idea. • Define the research niche you are systematically trying to develop that will move the field forward. • Collect and critically analyze background information. • Generate a preliminary idea that is pertinent to your research problem.

The goal of this template is to help you focus your aims, one vital component of writing a successful proposal. This template is derived directly from R01's of mine that were ... Specific Aims In the template below, I use examples from a proposal of mine that was ... proteomic research is focused on identifying post-translational modifications

The Anatomy of a Specific Aims Page Release Date: Aprit 09, 2015 Category: Scientific Grant Writing Author: Michelle S., Ph.D., E.L.S. The Specific Aims section is the most vital part of any NIH grant application. In this section, you must quickly gain the reviewers' trust and confidence while simultaneously convincing them that your work is

Outlining Specific Aims. Step 1: Determine whether your research questions are exploratory (hypothesis-generating) or confirmatory (hypothesis-testing). If confirmatory, make sure the hypotheses are focused, testable, built on a solid scientific foundation, and important. Step 2: Draft aims to generate and/or test the hypotheses feasibly within ...

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 ...

the research if the grant is funded. Some people write their Specific Aims first and then develop a hypothesis; others do the reverse. The correct method will depend on the approach that works best for you and your proposed research. A strong hypothesis should be well-focused and testable by the Specific Aims and experiments.

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 ...

A specific aim outlines how the researcher will address the study's primary goal or objective. They are typically crafted using action-oriented verbs, such as "to determine", "to compare", or "to estimate". Specific aims can be exploratory or confirmatory, intended to either generate or test a hypothesis, respectively.

Writing the actual aims of your research. And then describing the outcomes of the project. The goal of your aims section is to grant your reviewers a full picture of what you'll do to achieve your overall project objective. Then, in a few short sentences at the end, you describe the impact you expect to have. In other words, your aims are ...

Team's qualification and research environment: Specific aims: Major variables in each aim linked to gap: ... This article provides a recipe for writing an effective specific aims page using a simple four paragraph structure and gives formatting and style recommendations. It is ideal to optimize aims pages with readers who are educated ...

es important cellular pathways including gene expression, proliferation, apoptosis, and polarity. Over the years, Tax has proven to be a valuable model system in which to interrogate cellular. rocesses, revealing pathways and mechanisms that play important roles in cellular transformation. Although the Tax oncoprotein has been shown to ...

Write a draft of your Specific Aims. Write your Research Strategy. Start with your Significance and Innovation sections. Then draft the Approach section considering the personnel and skills you'll need for each step. Evaluate your Specific Aims and methods in light of your expected budget (for a new PI, it should be modest, probably under the ...

Paragraph 3: Specific Aims • Aims must test all parts of your central hypothesis • Aims should flow logically, but not be dependent • Brief, informative, attention getting "headlines" to convey why that part of the research is being proposed (not what is being done) • Should be global and open-ended to allow for alternative

The writing of effective research aims and objectives can cause confusion and concern to new and experienced researchers and learners. This step in your research journey is usually the first written method used to convey your research idea to your tutor. Therefore, aims and objectives should clearly convey your topic, academic foundation, and ...

Specific Aims Page Checklist. I describe the underlying science to the extent needed for my reviewers. I give a rationale for choosing the topic and approach. I tie the project to my preliminary data and other new findings in the field. I explicitly state my hypothesis and why testing it is important. My aims can test my hypothesis and are logical.

Specific Aims: research steps for testing your hypothesis or accomplishing your objective. Background and Significance: concise description outlining the important need addressed by your research, its scientific merit, and the impact of the research to the field of science and to public health (tailored to your research focus) Preliminary ...

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.

The Specific Aims (for NIH) or Objectives (NSF) are the key to what you are proposing. You want them to be not only clearly understandable to your reviewer (right?), but also captivating and interesting. It seems like a straight-forward writing goal, but unfortunately, I've seen many people wander off into confusing, overly-detailed, or just plain

Beginner's Guide to Research. Most professors will require the use of academic (AKA peer-reviewed) sources for student writing. This is because these sources, written for academic audiences of specific fields, are helpful for developing your argument on many topics of interest in the academic realm, from history to biology.

Summary. A strong presentation is so much more than information pasted onto a series of slides with fancy backgrounds. Whether you're pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing ...

Trump, however, has sought to publicly distance himself from the effort, as reported by The Washington Post. "I know nothing about Project 2025," Trump wrote in a July 5 Truth Social post ...

Similarity Report and AI Writing guidance: Academic integrity tools: Creating PeerMark assignments guidance: Class and assignment management: Creating and managing QuickMarks, rubrics and grading PeerMark assignments guidance: Grading and feedback: User profile guidance for administrators and instructors: User profile settings

Complex health interventions (CHIs) are increasingly used in public health, clinical research and education to reduce the burden of disease worldwide. Numerous theories, models and frameworks (TMFs) have been developed to support implementation of CHIs. This systematic review aims to identify and critique theoretical frameworks concerned with three features of implementation; adaptability ...

Three graduate students from McGill University's Department of Integrated Studies in Education (DISE) have been honoured with prestigious fellowships and awards for their international research endeavours. Renee Davy, a PhD candidate in Educational Studies, is a 2023 recipient of the International Doctoral Research Awards (IDRA). Funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC ...

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how to write specific aims for research

Introduction to the Specific Aims Page of a Grant Proposal

Anne M. Libby

1. Introductory Paragraph

2. Rationale Paragraph

3. Specific Aims

4. Overall Impact Paragraph

5. Formatting and Writing Style

6. Additional Resources

Writing Specific Aims

Outlining Specific Aims

Writing the Specific Aims

Introduction

What Are Aims and Objectives?

Example of a Research Aim

Research Objectives

Example of a Research Objective

Restructuring Research Objectives as Research Questions

Difference Between Aims and Objectives

How to Write Aims and Objectives

Research Objectives

Table of Research Verbs to Use in Aims and Objectives

Checking Research Objective Example Against Recommended Approach

Mistakes in Writing Research Aims and Objectives

2. Making Your Research Objectives Too Ambitious

3. Formulating Repetitive Research Objectives

Browse PhDs Now

Research Aims, Objectives & Questions

Overview: The Golden Thread

What is the “golden thread”?

Research Aims: What are they?

Research Aims: Examples

Need a helping hand?

Research Objectives: What are they?