Scientific research is an art not a craft

In the ongoing heated discussion about the pressing need for reform and improvement in graduate education, little, if any, scholarly attention has been focused on one of the key points, namely how to teach scientific research methods and methodologies to graduate students. The most noteworthy and troublesome fact is that the teaching at research-intensive Chinese universities emphasizes merely the operational parts of research, that is the how-to, and neglects the motivation for scientific research, the theoretical foundation for research, and in particular the wise and prudent selection of a research question that has both academic and practical value.

As a result, in some disciplines of the social sciences, graduate students produce theses and dissertations with carefully and skillfully designed research methods, but their research lacks theoretical innovation, insight, and has little more use than earning them a degree that qualifies them as another "research craftsman".

This echoes the question "why can't our universities produce great masters?"