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Asked by 06marthc to Raquel on 22 Sep 2017.
Question: Is there something you don't like about researching
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Raquel Pinacho answered on 22 Sep 2017:
Hi 06marthc, thanks for your question! It’s difficult to find something I don’t like about researching since I really love it. However, there are a couple of things that come with it that I like a little less. One is just that sometimes it takes a very long time until you see the results of one particular experiment and that can be a bit trying if you are an impatient person like me! But it is also part of what makes finding those results so exciting! The other thing that I like less is applying for funding. You need to apply for funding to be able to do your research and that can sometimes be a very challenging process.
Comments
Imogen commented on :
It can be lonely sometimes as I spend a lot of time working by myself, but mostly I like that and I try to write with other people. It’s hard when you’re not sure what you think about something that’s ethically sensitive.
Sam commented on :
This is an awesome question. I love research itself, what I really dislike are things like the bureaucracy and paperwork side of things that eat time. The most difficult thing is the way that the incentive structures are in psychology, as they don’t necessarily reflect doing the best science you can. There is a shortage of funding that makes finding positions difficult at times as well. I have been lucky so far, but it can be very difficult. But again, the research itself is awesome
Tom Higham commented on :
For me there is not much that I don’t like about research, but I think the most frustrating thing is that when you find something interesting you realise that in order to share that with others in the scientific community and the general public you have to wait for months and months while the publication is produced. Science is published after rigorous peer review, as we call it. You write your results and submit them to a journal, the journal then selects some anonymous reviewers, think of them as people that work in the same field as you, and whose job it is to give feedback on your work, suggest ways of improving it, or, if it’s problematic, ways to ensure that it is not published (for example if more work is needed). Sometimes this process can last more than 6 months. By the time the work is published, at least for me, the novelty and excitement is less than the excitement you felt at that moment of discovery. Another frustrating thing is having a good idea for research but not being able to get the funding to do it. We have lots of amazing students who want to come and study but often they cannot secure the funding to be here, so are unable to enrol in the end.