I wish I knew this before starting my Ph.D research

It's the beginning of the year, and as I look back at the last couple of them I have learned a great deal during this time: about my research subject as well as the nature and nitty-gritty of doing research. The latter knowledge, perhaps, being more essential in the long run. I believe these learnings will resonate with most of the researchers who have traversed this path and could be relevant to young researchers who are just starting their careers. A little mental preparedness as to what is coming ahead is always helpful. So, here, I am listing down the top 5 important lessons that I learned from my research career:

1. It’s almost the same every day!

This might sound like a killjoy, but most research involves doing the same thing over and over again. You are likely to use the same few techniques for data acquisition and analysis repeatedly, which can get quite mundane. It’s the results and interpretations that may keep changing but the process remains largely the same. My personal advice to prepare for the “tediousness” of this is to automate it as much as you can! This would save you both time and effort in acquiring data and give you more time to spend interpreting it, which is far more exciting!

 2.  Data is noisy

Ever dream of curves where all data points would fall in a line? Well, open your eyes and forget that dream! Research is all about noisy data. In fact, most scientists would raise eyebrows at very clean data and think that it is likely fudged! Noise can be reduced but not completely eradicated. As a matter of fact, noise can sometimes lead to very interesting insights. So, don’t worry too much about noisy data or that imperfect curve, and take your data with a pinch of noise!

 3. Negative results are still results

Do you have nightmares about negative results? Well! These nightmares are often the reality of research life. But, don’t feel sorry or sad if you regularly come across them. Instead, take them as opportunities to think of alternative scenarios. Make sure to get over the negativity quickly, at max, a night, or over your favorite beverage. Accept it and move on; that’s the best you can do. In fact, try to look at it positively, they could still be results that help you rule out certain hypotheses or provide newer small challenges. After all, somewhere deep inside, all researchers love challenges.

 4. Research is a lot about troubleshooting

Whether you are starting a new experiment or repeating one, sometimes an experiment may not work at all! Reasons could be numerous and that’s where troubleshooting becomes essential. It is important to understand that you cannot escape troubleshooting and it is quite likely that you would spend a significant amount of your research time doing just that! Since you can’t avoid it, keep your calm and remember, a little thoughtfulness, vigilance and an understanding of what each step does in your experiment can be very helpful to get that experiment working like it should! Another critical piece of advice about troubleshooting: change ONE thing at a time while troubleshooting, or you will never know what just did trick!

5.  To err is human

This is one thing you should make peace with. Sooner the better! Often researchers are overworked since they are trying so hard to address a problem. Sleepless nights, an overdose of coffee, and continuous hours of work can sometimes lead to absent-mindedness. Consequently, errors happen. It’s also possible that in your sane mind, you missed a very crucial parameter that might change the interpretation of your results or the results themselves. In these scenarios, remember – to err is human. Accept your error, admit it in front of your PI or peers, and move on. If it helps, remember, everyone goes through a similar situation at some point or the other. They will understand. Your error could be a setback, but it is not the end of the world, and it can be overcome!