In what type of environment do you prefer to conduct "your own research"?
--solo?
--collaborative?
--competitive?
Dennis
Dennis Mazur
1. Collaborative - discussions generate new ideas. When you are stuck, somebody helps you out and vice-versa. It has the same motivation effect as the competitive environment without a loser at the end.
2. Solo - you can work based on your own ideas in your rhythm, and publish a well-justified study.
3. Competitive - it is excellent in the business where I worked in executive positions for decades. It is essential in innovation. Less useful in theoretical or long-term research.
These are my priorities, I recognize and respect any other opinion.
Kirk,
Why do you think you might hold this preference?
Dennis
Dennis Mazur
1. Collaborative - discussions generate new ideas. When you are stuck, somebody helps you out and vice-versa. It has the same motivation effect as the competitive environment without a loser at the end.
2. Solo - you can work based on your own ideas in your rhythm, and publish a well-justified study.
3. Competitive - it is excellent in the business where I worked in executive positions for decades. It is essential in innovation. Less useful in theoretical or long-term research.
These are my priorities, I recognize and respect any other opinion.
Hi
I think this question is hard to answer because it depends to several factors. In some cases Solo is the best for doing a research. Generally speaking, Collaborative is the best one for conducting a research. In this case you can obtain and convey more things about a specific subject and it makes you stronger in your works. Moreover, it's undeniable fact that the collaborative works lead to huge amounts of synergy and I prefer to select this case.
the best
Azizian
Hi Asghar,
Thank you for your perspective.
1. Perhaps, solo is best for developing the project:
1.1 scientific objective
1.2 scientific design of methods
1.3 population to be studied
Then, a researcher moves to a collaborative framework (2.)
2.1 presentation to a group of collaborators with discussion to modify (1)
2.2 parcel out project tasks and responsibilities
Dennis
Dennis Mazur
Hi Robert,
At what stage of the research process (e.g., as suggested above) does the "competition" come into play. Or, more generally, where does "competition" enter the business model:
E.g.,
1. to design a new model of a product, where does the notion of "competition" first come into play.
1.1 At the very outset, knowing that another company in on the same/similar new product design.
1.2 At the end, when each has developed its own product.
Dennis
Dennis Mazur
Dear Salam,
Please, could you elaborate on your perspective of "starting in a 'competitive' research environment in order to reach a'solo' research environment?"
Dennis
Dennis Mazur
I suspect that there's a heavy dose of personality involved in this question. Some people simply work better alone, others in groups.
That said, I've found that I work best in an environment that fosters informal collaboration, where I have colleagues that know the area I'm working on to offer helpful ideas when I get stuck and help me to avoid obvious mistakes, while avoiding intense head-to-head competition;.my work slows to a crawl when competition becomes too intense, because I begin to worry about every little detail, and focus too hard on defending my prior work rather than breaking new ground. We mustn't be afraid to make mistakes, especially in the early stages of a project.
Dear Mutasem,
Which type of research do you prefer to do in a "more collaborative" research environment and which do you prefer to do in a "more competitive" environment? Or do you prefer a "more collaborative" environment early on, and a "more competitive" environment later after the project is underway?
Dennis
Dennis Mazur
I prefer collaborative it's great for brainstorming and obtaining different points of views
It depends on the type of research! Some problems can be researched individually, others are practically impossible to be developed without collaboration (actually collaboration is a complex concept - there lots of different styles of collaboration!). Moreover, a research project may have differents stages, some requiring individual work, others collaborative work (and most collaborative projects require work at solo). On the other hand, most of the projects with interest ("hot topics" present ) atract naturally competition. In summary, research is not routine (although it involves routine work) and you will have to be prepared to change the style of your of reseach whenever required. DISCLAIMER: A final remark that may explain this opinion: I have been in research since ca. 1967 in different branches of Chemistry.
Initially with my ownself and if the lab is high tech...with one or two basic graduates....
- Badges
- Science topic