A good list, and I’m enjoying peoples’ additions. An important point to keep in mind when formulating this sort of analysis is not to generalize more than the system in question merits. In this case, it’s not emphasized that most research is institutionalized, and fueled by the social needs or the beliefs of non-researchers.
I’ve heard many people suggest a variation on #3 + #4:
11) People have thought of your question before, but research has always been smothered by non-researchers. Those who provide resources for research in that field haven’t found the question to be worth their money/approval/etc. If you find independent funding from an iconoclast, and have the chutzpah to break from the primary research institutions, you have a unique opportunity.
Yes, agree you could go much more in depth on what people’s lack of attention / resources indicates and why they might be biased. But often you can pick up on what the sentiment of people in the actual field would like to do if they had the resources, and this is useful info.
Those who provide resources for research in that field haven’t found the question to be worth their money/approval/etc. If you find independent funding from an iconoclast, and have the chutzpah to break from the primary research institutions, you have a unique opportunity.
This is the one that has most stymied my creativity. Interesting research will often require resources, i.e. political backing. A researcher with powerful friends has far larger probability of success than the proverbial lone tortured genius.
A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to attend the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, which rotated into the city I was living in. It was all about drugs. If you have new techniques for treating mental illness which do not involve the pharmaceutical corporations, it looks to me like you are on your own.
In my own field if I want to pursue stuff that bosses and administrators are interested in, I have a large playing field. My own ideas? Nobody is even interested in listening to them, let alone permitting me work time, computer time, &c. And if I pursue them on my own I can get the “not team player” or “hobbyist” labels of career doom.
A good list, and I’m enjoying peoples’ additions. An important point to keep in mind when formulating this sort of analysis is not to generalize more than the system in question merits. In this case, it’s not emphasized that most research is institutionalized, and fueled by the social needs or the beliefs of non-researchers.
I’ve heard many people suggest a variation on #3 + #4:
11) People have thought of your question before, but research has always been smothered by non-researchers. Those who provide resources for research in that field haven’t found the question to be worth their money/approval/etc. If you find independent funding from an iconoclast, and have the chutzpah to break from the primary research institutions, you have a unique opportunity.
Yes, agree you could go much more in depth on what people’s lack of attention / resources indicates and why they might be biased. But often you can pick up on what the sentiment of people in the actual field would like to do if they had the resources, and this is useful info.
This is the one that has most stymied my creativity. Interesting research will often require resources, i.e. political backing. A researcher with powerful friends has far larger probability of success than the proverbial lone tortured genius.
A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to attend the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, which rotated into the city I was living in. It was all about drugs. If you have new techniques for treating mental illness which do not involve the pharmaceutical corporations, it looks to me like you are on your own.
In my own field if I want to pursue stuff that bosses and administrators are interested in, I have a large playing field. My own ideas? Nobody is even interested in listening to them, let alone permitting me work time, computer time, &c. And if I pursue them on my own I can get the “not team player” or “hobbyist” labels of career doom.