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The diagram isn't about "research." It is about doing a PhD. And for better or for worse, doing a PhD in the sciences usually involves making an improvement in
by michaelhoffman 14y ago
The diagram isn't about "research." It is about doing a PhD. And for better or for worse, doing a PhD in the sciences usually involves making an improvement in a narrow area rather than something that addresses multiple areas. Frankly, doing that is much more difficult and often not really an appropriate topic for a PhD student because it is more likely to fail.
- acgourley 14y agoWhat's so wrong with failure?
- CognitiveLens 14y agofailure to get your PhD after 4-8 years of work is a pretty big risk to take (it generally means you will never get your PhD), particularly since you generally have much more freedom to pursue "risky" approaches to research after you have the degree, and even more so after you have tenure.
- fatjokes 14y agoyou have freedom after you receive tenure, but virtually no freedom before that. during your phd and postdoc, and certainly while you're tenure-track, you want to be pursuing projects that will nearly guarantee you publications at top-tier conferences / journals. so you don't want to be too risky, lest you go a few years without any good publications.
- seanmcdirmid 14y agoYou can always do it the wrong way and just research what you want. Surprisingly, I haven't starved to death yet.
- derleth 14y agoHave you finished anything yet?
- seanmcdirmid 14y agoThat is the million dollar question eh? I've published some results but I don't think I'm finished. And what does finishing even mean? Maybe when I'm tired of accumulating I'll go off and do my own full super programming language?
- fatjokes 14y agoYou have a very lenient advisor.
- seanmcdirmid 14y agoWell, I've been out for more than 7 years, but I think my adviser was pretty patient. I'm lucky that my current research boss is cool about what I do.
- warrenmar 14y agoThere's a phd comic on this. There's no freedom after tenure either. http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1436 http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1436
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]