aims和objectives：这两个词有什么不同？ [英国媒体]

aims and objectives – what’s the difference?

“aims”和“objectives”——这两个词有什么不同？



You’re ready, you’re aimed, and now you have to fire off the objectives. But you’re a bit confused. What”s the difference between the two?

你做好了准备，你也成了目标（aimed），所以现在你不得不对目标（objectives）开火了。但是你有点儿晕了。这两个词都表示目标，它们之间的区别到底是什么？

An aims-objectives confusion might arise when you are writing thesis proposal and the introductory thesis chapter. It’s always an issue in research bids. The what’s-the-difference question can have you going around in ever smaller unproductive circles if you can’t figure out a way to differentiate between the two things. And the difference is something I’ve recently been asked about, so I’ve decided to post something of an answer.

对于“aims”-“objectives”这两个词的混淆，在你开始写论文开题报告和导论章节时可能会常常遇到。在研究过程中，这确实是一个问题。这种“到底有什么区别”的问题会使你钻进获益不大的牛角尖，如果你找不到区别它们的方法，就会一直纠结于此。最近我常被问到这类“区别”的问题，所以我决定撰写这篇文章来进行解答。

Dictionaries are only vaguely helpful when thinking about aims and objectives. My desk dictionary says that an aim is to do with giving direction. An aim is “something intended or desired to be obtained by one’s efforts”. On the other hand an objective is to do with achieving an object, it’s about actions, “pertaining to that whose delineation is known”. Now who actually speaks like this? The fact that these definitions are offered in this very formal language doesn’t help clarify matters. But, once past the antiquated expression, you might discern that the difference between the two is somehow related to a hope or ambition (aim) versus a material action (objective). Or we might say – and it is what is commonly said about aims and objectives – the aim is the what of the research, and the objective is the how.

在区别“aims”和“objectives”时，字典能帮上的忙有限。比如我桌上的这本字典就说了，aim是指给定了方向去做的事，是“经由个人努力而有可能或者有希望获得的东西”。而objective则是为了某个对象而去做的事，是着重于行动的，“与已知的已阐明的某事相关”。这说的是人话吗？实际上这些文绉绉的解释根本没办法为人解惑。不过，看过这种古文一样的解释过后，你或许有点明白这两个词之间的差别在于一个是关于希望与抱负（aim），而另一个是关于实际行动的（objective）。或者可以这么说——其实大家通常也是这么解释aims和objectives的差别的——aim指的是为什么去做研究，而objective则是指怎么去做研究。

So taking this what-how as a kind of loose and sloppy differentiation between the two, the rough rule of thumb with aims and objectives is generally that:

好了，先心里有这么一个印象，这两个词大概的区别就是这样，下面是分辨“aims”和“objectives”的干货：

(1) The aim is about what you hope to do, your overall intention in the project. It signals what and/or where you aspire to be by the end. It’s what you want to know. It is the point of doing the research. An aim is therefore generally broad. It is ambitious, but not beyond possibility.

aim是指，你到底希望做什么，你做这个项目的意图到底是什么。它指示了你的最终志向在哪儿和/或是什么，你做研究究竟是想知道什么，你做研究的出发点。因此，aim是一个宽泛的范围，是渴望而且可及的。

The convention is that an aim is usually written using an infinitive verb – that is, it’s a to + action. So aims often start something like.. My aim in this project is …  to map, to develop, to design, to track, to generate, to theorise, to build … Sometimes in the humanities and social sciences we have aims which attempt to acknowledge the inevitable partiality of what we do, so we aim ‘to investigate, to understand, and to explore… ‘ But lots of project reviewers and supervisors prefer to see something less tentative than this – they want something much less ambivalent, something more like to synthesise, to catalogue, to challenge, to critically interrogate ….

按惯例，aim通常是用动词不定式表达的——一般写为to+action。说到aim一般是这么开头的：My aim in this project is …  to map, to develop, to design, to track, to generate, to theorise, to build … 意即我这个课题的目标是指导/发展/设计/追踪/分类/挑战/批判性地提出……在人类和社会科学中，有时我们的目标（aim）会带上了个人偏好，我们得承认按照自己的研究走下去将无可避免地得到自己偏好的答案，因此可以说我们的目标（aim）是“调查/理解/探究……”。但是项目的评审和领导一般不喜欢看到这么模棱两可的说法的，他们喜欢的果断有力点儿的表述，像是“综合/分类/挑战/批判性地提出……”这种感觉的词。

(2)The objectives, and there are usually more than one, are the specific steps you will take to achieve your aim. This is where you make the project tangible by saying how you are going to go about it.

objectives是指，你为了达到你的目标（aim）要走哪些具体步骤。你要通过表述“怎么去做”来让你的课题丰满具体。

Objectives are often expressed through active sentences. So, objectives often start something like In order to achieve this aim, I will… collect, construct, produce, test, trial, measure, document, pilot, deconstruct, analyse… Objectives are often presented as a (1) (2) (3) formatted list – this makes visible the sequence of big steps in the project. The list of objectives spells out what you actually and really will do to get to the point of it all.

objectives一般用表示动作的句子来描述。所以，说到objectives时一般是这么开头的：In order to achieve this aim, I will… collect, construct, produce, test, trial, measure, document, pilot, deconstruct, analyse…意即为了达成研究目标（aim），我将会搜集/构建/生产/测试/实验/测量/提供文件来证明/引导/解析/分析……一般会将objectives按（1）（2）（3）列出来——这样会让项目的步骤更为直观。这个目标（objectives）列表表明了你实际上将会怎样一步步完成研究。

You have to make the objectives relatively precise. Having a bunch of vague statements isn’t very helpful – so ‘I will investigate’ or ‘I will explore’ for example aren’t particularly useful ways to think about the research objectives. How will you know when an investigation has ended? How will you draw boundaries around an exploration? In thinking about the answer to these questions, you are likely to come up with the actual objectives.

目标（objectives）是清晰而具体的。模糊不清的用语是没什么帮助的——类似“我将调查”或者“我将探索”这类表述在考虑研究目标（objectives）时最好不要使用。你怎么知道调查何时结束？你怎么给探索划个范围？当你在想类似上述这两个问题的答案时，你就在接近真正的目标（objectives）了。

Objectives have to be practical, do-able and achievable. Research reviewers generally look to see if the time and money available for the research will genuinely allow the researcher to achieve their objectives. They also look to see if the objectives are possible, actually research-able.

目标（objectives）是可实践的、可操作的并且可以达成的。课题的评审者一般着眼于是否有足够的时间和预算真正让研究者去达成这些目标（objectives）。他们还会着眼于这些目标（objectives）是否可行、是否能够通过这个课题的研究来达成。

Because the objectives also act as project milestones, it’s helpful to express them as things that are able to be completed – so for example scoping an archive of materials will have an end point which may then lead on to a next stage/objective. Even if objectives are to occur simultaneously, rather than one after the other, it is important to be clear about what the end point of each step/objective will be, and how it will help achieve the aim.

因为这些目标（objectives）就像是课题的里程碑，可以把它们理解为能够完成的一件件事——例如在搜集归档材料时，你总有一个限度，做了多少就可以进行下一步骤/目标（objective）。即使目标（objectives）是同步进行的，而非一个接一个的，弄清楚每一个步骤/目标（objective）的止点及其对目标（aim）的完成有何帮助也是非常重要的。

What not to do

不要做什么

It’s really helpful to think about what can go wrong with aims and objectives. There are some predictable problems that you want to avoid when writing them. These are some common aims-objectives issues:

思考会搞砸aims和objectives的事也是很有帮助的。在你写课题的aims和objectives时，要避免下面那些可预计的错误。下面列出了一些写aims-objectives时常犯的错：

• There are too many aims. One or two is usually enough. (I might stretch to three for other people’s projects if pushed, but I usually have only one for my own projects.)
•  Aims and objectives waffle around, they don’t get to the point and the reader doesn’t have a clue what is actually intended and will be done – aims and objectives need to be concise and economically expressed.
• Aims and objectives don’t connect – the steps that are to be taken don’t match up with the overall intention.
• The aims and the objectives are not differentiated, they are basically the same things but said in different words.
• The objectives are a detailed laundry list rather than a set of stages in the research.
• The objectives don’t stack up with the research methods – in other words they are either not do-able, or what is to be done won’t achieve the desired results.

太多的目标（aims）。一或两个就够了。（我最多可以被逼忍受别人课题中出现3个aims，但是我自己的课题通常只有一个aim。）
aims和objectives搅在了一起，哪个都没写清楚，读者完全不明白你想要和你将要完成什么——aims和objectives应当表述得简洁清楚。
aims和objectives没有联系——你的研究企图无法通过你列出的步骤来达到。
没有区分aims和objectives，只不过是把同一件事换句话又说了一遍。
把objectives写成了一大堆细节而非一系列研究步骤。
研究方法无法完成objectives——换句话说就是objectives要么是没有可操作性，要么是无法得到想要的结果。

The final thing to say is that aims and objectives can’t be rushed. Because they generate the research questions and underpin the research design, sorting the aims and objectives are a crucial early stage in planning a research project. Aims and objectives are a foundation on which the entire project is constructed, so they need to be sturdy and durable.

最后要说的一点就是aims和objectives是不可以仓促写成的。因为它们是研究问题的概述和课题设计的构架，对aims和objectives进行分类是做好课题计划的先决步骤。aims和objectives是整个课题的地基，所以必须是结实耐用的。