Formulating actionable research projects with predictably legible results takes some fluency in a topic. This means a mentor who would do this for you (adjusting as you progress), unusual luck, unusual talent, or studying for at least a few years to figure out what’s going on. In hindsight, both mentor-guided research projects and self-directed study projects can turn out to be appallingly inefficient uses of time, so some care in picking these might go a long way.
Formulating actionable research projects with predictably legible results takes some fluency in a topic. This means a mentor who would do this for you (adjusting as you progress), unusual luck, unusual talent, or studying for at least a few years to figure out what’s going on. In hindsight, both mentor-guided research projects and self-directed study projects can turn out to be appallingly inefficient uses of time, so some care in picking these might go a long way.