Previously I raised a question: why are you doing science. A lot of people responded and most of them say they love science. I have seen lot of researchers most of time they are sad, I observed most of them are quite frustrated; particularly students and researchers on ad hoc (project assistants, research associates, post doctoral researchers). My question is how to manage frustration in research it may be due to number of reasons (tension of grant, job security, unable to publish etc.), Please share your experience.
What I've found is that one just has to accept that there will be frustration and heart break in science. This is what research is all about. We evaluate evidence and suggest a hypothesis... which in most cases is either wrong or the methods are technically challenging. It takes time, effort, and sometimes frustration. It is not easy to be confronted with problems, troubleshooting, and failures on a regular basis. But this is part of research and its all a part of learning. That's what a lot of people need to understand.
The best way to manage it? Accept that there will be failures and make time in your life for other things. Make sure to spend at least 1 day or at least a few hours every week just to enjoy yourself. Make it more than a day if at all possible.
I am a student and I have been trying to reach this point to be able to do research for a long time. Some times waiting for approval or trying to solve problems can be frustrating, but I also love science and am grateful for the chance to do research despite the problems. i try to focus on the positive.
Most important, I feel is the backing by the current supervisor. There should be a healthy understanding between the sup and researcher. Scientific experiments don´t have to follow always a successful result, if so, there must have been something very very wrong going on. This is why its wild and naturally undetectable, or untenable. One has to understand, whatever may be the reason, you are working in research for the betterment of life and etc etc.. but at the same time you are also a part of the living world, even if you are working in the space station or in jungles of Amazon. you should look after your self. Just calm down and take deep breaths, chocolates help. listen good music, take a break, talk to the guide. The last one should be a understandably healthy talk. talk to your family on issues other than your science. Now days, I feel science is becoming more a trade of publications than actually what it should meant, and that this brings pressure on all hierarchies in scientific administrations which at most of the times is frustrating rather than science being fun on bench. Be hope full. You are the best.
What I've found is that one just has to accept that there will be frustration and heart break in science. This is what research is all about. We evaluate evidence and suggest a hypothesis... which in most cases is either wrong or the methods are technically challenging. It takes time, effort, and sometimes frustration. It is not easy to be confronted with problems, troubleshooting, and failures on a regular basis. But this is part of research and its all a part of learning. That's what a lot of people need to understand.
The best way to manage it? Accept that there will be failures and make time in your life for other things. Make sure to spend at least 1 day or at least a few hours every week just to enjoy yourself. Make it more than a day if at all possible.
I am sustained by the maxim that ‘Every experiment works’. Each result is an accurate informative reflection of the conditions that I set up. I may not have expected a particular result but that is because I did not fully realize what I was doing. If I spend time examining each detail of my experiment I begin to appreciate overlooked details that ultimately had profound effects. In this way I gain a much deeper appreciation of the phenomenon that I am researching. I gain far more from experiments that ‘fail’ than those that work as expected. My understanding of a research area has been radically improved by spending time examining the wealth of information provided by a ‘failed’ experiment. Yes it is frustrating to perform a ‘straightforward’ experiment and to get an ‘anomalous’ result. But this usually means that the experiment was not ‘straightforward’ while the ‘anomalous’ result is an open door into whole new realm of understanding.
Hi everyone to overcome frustration in research simply take two days leave to enjoy in lovely place and return to your lab and start your research with fresh mind
I am doing yoga regularly..
its helping us to overcome stress and frustration in our life.
"Simple, Start enjoying frustrations! If you can, than only the path follows you! "
@Jagat, don´t enjoy frustrations, just accept them as neccesary and keep your balance. Helpful are disputes or discussions with friends.
Just be able to say 'no'; start to tackle simple (feasible) problems; do not be overambitious; accept that people are not machines; accept that people are not perfect; accept that people have good days and bad days also because each individual is involved in an 'invisible' individual-specific social network; take your time
@ Darasingh Shyoran: If, we do things which we are not enjoying than each moment frustrations develops. Just take right decisions of doing honest and lovable job... specially PhD really teach you that....for sure!
Ideally its look nice to read that we should do what we enjoy. We should do research only if we enjoy research. Question is do we really have all options in our hand. Most of time we are doing research because we have no other option.
Researcher as subject of research:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733317300422
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