Lunar Homestead Research Manual – A guide to help LH Crew Members successfully start, run, and complete a small-scale research project that has real value. I also have some ideas for video or podcasts that would supplement the manual.
The LH Research Manual is a reward for joining the Lunar Homestead Crew at the Lunar Homestead Researcher level ($5/month). Check out the Join the LH Crew page for more information.
Draft Introduction (Feb 13, 2019)
The purpose of this manual is to help you conduct meaningful research into Lunar settlement solutions and to present your findings in a format that is usable to Lunar Homestead. Anyone can slam a bunch of hyperlinks into a list and fire them off in an email. That’s about the least useful and efficient type of research. That said, all research has value and is useful so we’ll take it if that’s the best you got.
The term “research” tends to make most people nervous. Maybe they get flashbacks of high school and/or college. Maybe they think only people with PhDs in a particular field can do research. Maybe they think research is only conducted in expensive labs using expensive equipment.
The truth is very different. Merriam-Webster defines “research’ as:
- Careful or diligent search
- Studious inquiry or examination
- The collecting of information about a particular subject
Lab coats and college degrees are never mentioned.
The fact is that ANYONE can conduct research. Here’s what you need:
- Curiosity
- Motivation
That’s it. Anything else is just a bonus. Anyone with these qualities can learn something new and unlock the secrets of the universe. Don’t kid yourself though. These two qualities are not in abundance these days. Anyone willing to dedicate time to unpaid research when they could be watching TV or playing on social media is considered an oddity by society. So, welcome my fellow weirdos!
I’ve broken Lunar Homestead research into 4 basic levels:
- Internet research – Using multiple search engines to find web pages, articles, papers, references to papers, and links with information on the desired topic.
- Literature research – Literature in this case means peer-reviewed scientific papers and other professional writings. Some of these documents can be accessed on the Internet for free. Others are behind paywalls. And quite a few are only found in print form in the library.
- Theoretical research – You can start putting your own ideas together once you have a basic understanding of the issue and where we are (scientifically speaking). I mean, you can certainly start formulating your own ideas before you understand the topic but the chances of them being worth much are slim.
- Practical research – Now that you have some knowledge and idea, try to build some stuff. The goal of Lunar Homestead is to have the necessary technology “on-the-shelf” and ready to go when Homesteaders need them. Your research could be just what they are looking for.
Each level builds on the previous ones and gets progressively more demanding of time, effort, and resources. A casual Internet search (Internet research) is a lot less complex than designing, implementing, and analyzing a physical experiment (practical research).
You don’t have to stick with one level exclusively. Mix and match as your research progresses. Often times you’ll have to switch levels based on something you just found or thought of. That’s the fun of research. You never know what you’ll learn or find!
What are you going to do with all your research? Share it, I hope! Send it to Lunar Homestead so I can put it on the website for everyone to use. Talk about it in LH Discord channels. Ask other Crew Members to get involved.
Finally, you don’t have to quit your job to contribute meaningful research. Do what you can, when you can. It all moves us forward. And Lunar Homestead will help.
OK, so what can you expect from this manual? This document has two purposes:
- To help Lunar Homestead Crew conduct meaningful research into topics that interest them. Most people are confused and intimidated by the concept of research. I want to show people that anyone can be a scientist and conduct good research.
- To help Lunar Homestead Crew put their research into a standardized, usable format. Then I can put their research on the website for everyone to use.
That’s it. Let’s get to work.
Current outline (Feb 27, 2019) (32 pages long)
- Introduction
- Level I – Internet research
- Intro
- Required equipment
- Search engines
- Selecting search words
- Document your research
- Additional Internet research tips
- Finding reliable sources
- How to cite
- Putting it all together
- What to do with your research
- Conclusion
- Level II – Literature research
- Needs to be written
- Level III – Theoretical research
- Needs to be written
- Level IV – Practical research
- Needs to be written
- What to do with your research
- Needs filling out but basically done
- Conclusion
- Needs to be written
- Appendix A
- List of sources template
- Research document template