Research Means Re-search!

By Harini Venkatesh | August 22, 2022

Hey everyone! It’s Harini again.

Doing research can be tedious, difficult, and sometimes downright painful! It can take FOREVER to compile a research base strong enough to support an innovation, but when it’s complete, it’s definitely worth it.

When I did my research, it took me a LONG time to find just one source that supported my project idea! I couldn’t even find anything that related myopia to the optic disc, and that was infuriating at times. I persevered, though, and when I found my first source, I was ecstatic. One source quickly turned into two, then four, and now I have a plethora of information to support and enhance my research! Obviously, research definitely means re-search, again and again and again!

Speaking of research, gathering background information is really important to a project. Not only does research create a factual backing to an innovation, it also provides more ideas for improvement! When I completed my second prototype, I was still researching my project, and I found a huge dataset of images that I could use! This spurred me to create another iteration of my model, and so on and so forth. It’s incredibly important to do a lot of research as well! Having just one or two sources doesn’t imply a reliable statement; having four or five, on the other hand, provides a much stronger claim.

The biggest issue I have while researching my project is having the capability to execute the results of my research. For example, I’m constantly revising my idea for a final prototype, and in one of my revisions, I came up with the idea of using a handheld retinal camera paired with my computer program. However, it would be unreasonable to do this, because it makes no sense to pay $7000 for a handheld retinal camera instead of paying less than one tenth of the cost for a generic eye exam, even for greater accuracy. Fortunately, I’ve come up with a different way to present my prototype, but that’s going to stay a surprise for later!

Until next time,

~ Harini