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[voxprincipalis]

A motivational/support thread for reluctant researchers!

You can be permanently, occasionally, or temporarily reluctant. Maybe you love research in general but this one particular part is getting you down. Maybe you hate research and need encouragement to plow through it. Maybe you're going in a new direction and are unsure how to proceed. Maybe (like me) you are not in a traditional-research discipline and are starting a project that needs some traditional research. Maybe (also like me) you have questions about research methods and practices that you worry are too dumb to ask elsewhere.

I hope this will be like Paralysis Analysis for research-related tasks. You may state whether you prefer carrots or sticks for motivation. :)

(Making this thread is my first step towards becoming less reluctant!)

VP
both carrots and sticks, please

[promovenda]

Thanks, VP, for this new thread! As I have said before, carrots work better than whips for me. I'm pushing myself to write today, and just imagining swimming pools with warm jets of water, followed by saunas and massages. My research involves days sitting in archives, in libraries, and and at computers. It really makes one stiff.

Would you like to come with me for a massage after work? Or would you prefer a stick to begin with?

[fullprofessor]

I'm no longer a reluctant researcher, but I'm happy to cheer on or motivate or wave clubs in the direction of those who need it.

[chaosbydesign]

<holds carrot on a stick in front of Voxy>

Thanks for making this thread. I am a temporary reluctant researcher right now. Any advice on how to communicate with people to source research materials would be appreciated -- I'm new to this particular aspect of research, and because I'm not very good at it, it is holding the project back a bit. What is the best way to request materials from a company or another research group? I have tried emailing, but that has so far been unsuccessful.

[fullprofessor]

<holds carrot on a stick in front of Voxy>

Thanks for making this thread. I am a temporary reluctant researcher right now. Any advice on how to communicate with people to source research materials would be appreciated -- I'm new to this particular aspect of research, and because I'm not very good at it, it is holding the project back a bit. What is the best way to request materials from a company or another research group? I have tried emailing, but that has so far been unsuccessful.

If email isn't working, try phoning them during regular business hours.

[chaosbydesign]

<holds carrot on a stick in front of Voxy>

Thanks for making this thread. I am a temporary reluctant researcher right now. Any advice on how to communicate with people to source research materials would be appreciated -- I'm new to this particular aspect of research, and because I'm not very good at it, it is holding the project back a bit. What is the best way to request materials from a company or another research group? I have tried emailing, but that has so far been unsuccessful.

If email isn't working, try phoning them during regular business hours.

I was afraid this would be the solution. Phones make me nervous, and the last person I called regarding this was mean and unhelpful.

I suppose I cannot avoid the phone forever.

[promovenda]

I hate phoning too, but e-mails are so easy to ignore or lose or postpone responding to.

[indefatigable]

<holds carrot on a stick in front of Voxy>

Thanks for making this thread. I am a temporary reluctant researcher right now. Any advice on how to communicate with people to source research materials would be appreciated -- I'm new to this particular aspect of research, and because I'm not very good at it, it is holding the project back a bit. What is the best way to request materials from a company or another research group? I have tried emailing, but that has so far been unsuccessful.

If email isn't working, try phoning them during regular business hours.

I was afraid this would be the solution. Phones make me nervous, and the last person I called regarding this was mean and unhelpful.

I suppose I cannot avoid the phone forever.

All the more reason to get it over with at the first opportunity.

[chaosbydesign]

It takes me a while to get into the right mindset to make a phone call. I also need to write out what I'm going to say.

Happily I can put off this task until Monday, because nobody will be answering their phones today.

Vox, are you researching?

[indefatigable]

It takes me a while to get into the right mindset to make a phone call. I also need to write out what I'm going to say.

So, plenty of time to prepare before Monday. Practice it if you need to.

[voxprincipalis]

Vox, are you researching?

No, because I have spent the last HOUR on the phone with my father, who is trying to build a website, and who calls me instead of Googling for help on a program I have never used with a version of HTML that is far more advanced than when I made my own wee little website ten years ago. I am now so frustrated that I want to do violence to something, like a chocolate cake.

I also have to be out tonight, so tomorrow I will be sitting down with a book on my topic. I also made a to-do list today, which helps, and I should do some mind-mapping tomorrow as well, I think.

Promovenda, I think right now I need the stick. I feel guilty for Chaos even having to ask! She knows I have been struggling with this for awhile.

VP

[chaosbydesign]

I also have to be out tonight, so tomorrow I will be sitting down with a book on my topic. I also made a to-do list today, which helps, and I should do some mind-mapping tomorrow as well, I think.

All of this is progress. I hope your dad sorts out his website soon -- if not, there is no harm in telling him you can't talk right now because you have work to do if he calls at a bad time in future. Distractions are only distracting if you allow them to be.

I feel guilty for Chaos even having to ask! She knows I have been struggling with this for awhile.

I assume this is what you started the thread for... And I will keep on asking until your project is done, if that's what you need. Remember I can come after you with a real stick. I know where you live. ;)

[biomancer]

Oh, this is a thread I need to join.

I have one manuscript that needs about two solid days of revision before I re-submit it, but I'm so sick of looking at it that I just can't bring myself to finish it and send it on its way.

I have another that I'm sitting on until about two months before the conference where I want to present the work, because if the paper appears in press before the conference, the conference organizers may yank my presentation (and my administrator won't pay for me to go to said conference if I'm not presenting).

I also have three projects going in the lab. 

I think I need some carrots.  The stick is there - if I don't get these things published, I won't get tenure - and might not survive my next pre-tenure review.  I need some carrots, though.

[promovenda]

Whack! Whack! to Vox.
Juicy carrots to biomancer.

[crumpet]

Like biomancer I have been procrastinating on an article that just needs a few more days of solid work before it is off my hands. I did a bit today and I hope I can finish it tomorrow and submit on Monday.

I don't wanna.