Defining a field’s core problem is a hard-won achievement, not a starting point.

Evidence

The discovery of primary problems usually culminates much work in positive study: it is a critical and difficult achievement. Before core problems can be defined with precision, there usually is much prior observation, speculation, debate, and, especially, diffuse dissatisfaction, a sense of growing mystery rather than of illumination. One gradually comes to see, through long groping, the basic puzzle that a subject presents: where to begin if a genuine unfolding of theory is to occur. Two decades seem a long time to get to that point, but it usually takes much longer (though afterwards progress is swift). — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4256

Categorization

• SEED: Angle for an essay on academic field formation: how every discipline’s foundational question only crystallizes after two decades of groping and diffuse dissatisfaction.
• APHORISMS: A genuine piece of wisdom about research and discovery: the real difficulty is locating the right question, and once found, progress is swift.