Initiating Research Work - Comments

[ZapperZ]

ZapperZ submitted a new PF Insights post

Initiating Research Work

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[OldEngr63]

I really cannot disagree with anything said, but I would like to comment on one part in particular.

Zz said, "(ii) you need to know not only what’s interesting, but what is important."

This is true, but it needs to be taken with a grain of salt, I think. If we pay too much attention to the consensus regarding what it important, then everyone would work on the same problem. Each researcher certainly needs to know why his work is important, but it does not always come from the fact that someone else says so. If we always waited for someone else to endorse out idea, we would never get there first. If a student sees clearly that a question is important, and can truly justify it even if it disagrees with consensus, then I think he should pursue that idea and find out. The worst that can happen is that he learns something nobody cares about, but that is hardly the end of the world. He may very well discover something that lots of people will care about when they find out.