Research: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Although I usually split my time between the research lab and the hospital, I have spent the majority of the last two weeks working in the lab. Consequently, I consider myself able to comment on the ups and downs of life as a researcher.

(Disclaimer: These are just my views and no way do they reflect the views of any researcher that I know)

The Good:

1. The Hours. One can arrive anytime they like, and leave anytime they like, as long as they do what is required of their project. Thus, this means that sometimes one will arrive at 9am and work through to 10pm, and sometimes one will arrive at 1pm and leave at 4pm! And as my dad always says: Any job that allows you to arrive after 9am is a job to keep.

2. Ground-breaking. No matter what research you are doing, no matter how trivial it may seem, it literally is ground-breaking stuff. You are researching things that no one has ever researched before. Furthermore, regardless of your results, you can be sure that someone, somewhere, will be interested in them, and use them to further their own knowledge.

The Bad:

1. Scientific Jargon. All research papers need to come equipped with a glossary, because I spend more time looking up words then actually reading the articles. Conversely, one could just not use scientific jargon.

The Ugly:

1. Incubation. The fundamental component of any lab protocol is an incubation period. Now, I accept in all jobs there are times when there will be nothing to do, but when you have to sit and wait for something to incubate for two hours on a regular basis, it gets extremely tedious. There is only so much socialising with colleagues, messing around on the internet, and exploring the hospital that one can do, before they succumb to incurable boredom.

Therefore, that’s two good points, and two, not so good points. Thus, I reason that conducting research is just like any other job in the world, with its good and its bad coming in equal measure.