Which is more enjoyable: Studying or Research Work?

[andytoh]

Students, perhaps the best way to get an answer is to compare your studies to any intense research project that you may have done (or simply imagine that you are doing original research).
Professors, you can directly compare you research work right now to back when you were studying.

Please don't let money and employment issues influence your decision. Just think about which of the two you find more fun.

 

[Ki Man]

It seems to me like you'd have to do the first one before you could do the second one

 

[andytoh]

That's true. I'm merely asking which of the two you think would be more enjoyable. And please don't think about employment issues. Please focus on the activity itself.

 

[quasar987]

I've never done actual research but I believe I would find it more enjoyable.

 

[quark80]

Research, research, research...

 

[radou]

Both should be almost equally enjoyable, since, in order to "study from a textbook, do exercises, and learn new topics" in a propper manner, you have to have at least a bit of a researcher's spirit. And if you have it, then you're already doing research in a way.

 

[arunma]

Well ultimately I'm going to go with research, but it's a close call. I really enjoy studying textbook material as well. As someone who doesn't yet even have any graduate education in physics, there's a lot of subject matter that I don't know anything about. Nonetheless, it is ultimately a bit more rewarding to build an apparatus, collect data, and see that theories derived on paper can actually be confirmed empirically.