This is a good question about a fact in the life of each researcher. Sometimes, there are no positive results in certain topics of research such as preparing new substance or operating a newly constructed machine or the assumed function of a product does not work.

For this reason, I always held the opinion that any student ought to be prepared to research scientifically & psychologically. S/he must accept the fact that there will be ups & downs and to never lose hope.

If failure is due to shortage in effort or distraction, the researcher is to be blamed “self-criticism”. If failure is due to external factors, then these will be the targets to neutralize or negate one by one until success is achieved.   

take a week off. Then the unexpected solution comes.

Some vigorous physical activity will remove the researcher from lab or study, clear his mind, and often bring restimulation to work during the energetic exercise. I personally swim or powerwalk down scenic country lanes. Renewed impetus to work comes when least expected.

Scientific results are always positive, whatever the outcome (expected or not)! Perhaps unexpected results are more interesting

While we were sharing a research lab in our PhD studies, my classmate suddenly disappeared. His supervisor & his girlfriend came to the lab to ask me about him. So I went to the flat where he lives & asked all his flatmates about him but no one knew anything about the guy's whereabouts. I told those,who were concerned, that I think the bad news are fast to arrive & I think the missing guy is in good shape somewhere!

After 4 days, he appeared & told his story: I was under heavy stress so I decided to travel from England to Italy for skiing. I am now recovered & fresh to continue my work.

It was amazing how our respected teachers accepted what he has done & he was fully excused & forgiven. They were really excellent  "golden" teachers.

The result may support the hypothesis or it may not support the hypothesis. We may accept the null hypothesis or we may reject the null hypothesis and accordingly accept the alternative hypothesis.

Readings or data should lead us to results. If you result does not support the hypothesis you are testing, it is still a result.

Dear Marcel and dear Mahfuz,

I share your opinion about scientific results. If you start with a hypothesis and find a contradiction, it´s of course a scientific result.

The only frustrating situation, I could imagine, is to totally ask in a wrong manner, that means using the inappropriate tools for your researching task.

This is an important question since refers to unconscious mathematical work!

One needs to concentrate and work hard for some time. Then he should do something else, may be a vacation, a walk etc. and leave the "problem" for some time for incubation. Then attach again and so on.

Hadamard, describes the case of Poincare:

"Just at this time, I left Caen, where I was living, to go on a geologic excursion under the auspices of the School of Mines. The incidents of the travel made me forget my

mathematical work. Having reached Coutances, we entered an omnibus to go some place or other. At the moment when I put my foot on the step, the idea came to me, without anything in my former thoughts seeming to have paved the way for it, that the transformations I had used to define the Fuchsian functions were identical with those of non-Euclidian geometry. I did not verify the idea; I should not have had time, as, upon taking my seat in the omnibus, I went on with a conversation already commenced, but I felt a perfect certainty. On my return to Caen, for conscience’s sake, I verified the result at my leisure.”

"Most striking at first is this appearance of sudden illumination, a manifest sign of long, unconscious prior work. The role of this unconscious work in

mathematical invention appears to me incontestable."

We have also the method of Grothendieck: 

“ I can illustrate the second approach with the same image of a

nut to be opened. The first analogy that came to my mind is of

immersing the nut in some softening liquid, and why not simply

water? From time to time you rub so the liquid penetrates better,

and otherwise you let time pass. The shell becomes more flexible

through weeks and months—when the time is ripe, hand pressure

is enough, the shell opens like a perfectly ripened avocado!”

'Mental' exercise, like 'physical' sports, require time-outs.

There exist two possibilities:

So the answer is twofold:

The intriguing question would be: How can you identify yourself according to case 1. or 2. above?

Dear Costas Drossos,

I agree with you.

Expected result may not obtained, dosent means you are on wrong tract, try to published the result with some conclusion, you may get some correct,direction from fellow researchers !!!!!!!!!!!.

It is very important to use the right methodology, the right tools for collecting data, and the right statistical analysis, so as to reach to the right results.

"The Scientific Method is a logical and rational order of steps by which scientists come to conclusions about the world around them. The Scientific Method helps to organize thoughts and procedures so that scientists can be confident in the answers they find. Scientists use observations, hypotheses, and deductions to make these conclusions, just like you will use the Scientific Method in your science fair project. You will think through the various possibilities using the Scientific Method to eventually come to an answer to your original question".

For more details you may consult the following link:

http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/scientific_method.html

Self-assessment motivation promotes seeking and preferring information that provides accurate knowledge about the self. Such knowledge is not necessarily flattering or unflattering to one’s self-image. The operation of self-assessment motivation is seen when people seek accurate feedback about their limitations and liabilities, even though this information hinders self-enhancement

http://www.csub.edu/~mdulcich/documents/self_awarenes.pdf

Dear Praveen,

One should not expect results.It is better to say that you are trying to clarify things. If you were thinking intensively during some period without much success then try to change the activity. For example, read theory which is close to the question which you are studying. The main point is to have the sensation that  by the time you are more and more  closer  to the truth.

Beside many good suggestion, I will quote Dr Murthy :" In the research career one should treat doing research as a way of life and not just a job. In order to achieve a goal in the research one has to work harder. The harder one works the happier one feel!" Where is the research result in time expected!? It is somewhere close, even when you realise that there is no result, it is a great result! Then, the research area is reduced, which fact opens new views and ideas. 

For researchers, esspecially  for the younger researcher, I do enclose fine research study!

Ask a question on RG!  Seriously, discuss it with others for their thoughts.

Dear All,

Many thanks for your kind message

with all valid resins.

According to me if you spend some

time with your family members in a

day than hope you always motivated

WHAT IS YOUR OPINION?

Regards,

Not getting expected results has the same feeling with planning work, but the plan went upside down. I really hate it. What I do was keep thinking positive...ALWAYS, ALWAYS and ALWAYS think positive - TALK to supervisors, good friends (although not helping much), revise and make new strategies - and finally I watched comedy movies to laugh the tear out and spill the stress out - Oh and I played with my 2-yr niece. When the mind is relax, new plan will flow in.

Thanks for remembering my dear @Kamal. That thread had 80 answers and it is good to share it here!

Not getting expected results is part of the research process, it happens so don't be discouraged. Review the work again and again, you will find what went wrong...but in all be positive.

Being positive is the element key, if the results are not coming as expected, then it means there is much better possibility in the same field and some universal energy wants us to work for that result.

We must look at our previous works and shouldn't underestimate ourselves as the world is full of possibilities, and we are here to make it possible.. 

If everything is known from the beginning, things are not going OK. Always let data collected and analyzed lead you to the results. Results should not be pre-determined.

Motivation is that which pushes or pulls an individual to start, direct, sustain, and finally end an activity. Attributions are inferences about the causes of success and failure. Causes differ in locus, or whether the cause is internal or external to the person; stability, which designates as cause as constant or varying over time; and in controllability, or the extent to which a cause is subject to volitional alteration. Among the most prevalent inferred causes of success and failure are ability (aptitude), effort, task difficulty or ease, luck, mood, and help or hindrance from others.

http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2250/Motivation.html

I think if coming results are motivate for extend the result

than automatically a researcher motivate him self. 

How to provide inspirational motivation to people living with the constant insecurities. The human side [of change] is much harder than the technology side and the process side. It's the overwhelming issue.

• People will do anything if they accept the "emotional logic" - win the battle for their hearts as well as their minds.
• The human brain is "hard wired" for survival and self transcendence
• People will respond to their leaders efforts to connect with their emotional side
• Work with and through the informal social structures of the workplace.

http://www.strategies-for-managing-change.com/inspirational-motivation.html