Progress on research

[newguy2]

Hi everyone,

 

I am doing my MS in engineering and this is my first research experience. I hope to graduate by the end of this year, as this is my second year in grad school.

 

So far, one of my three research projects isn't going as well as I hoped. Being almost 10 weeks into the semester, I still have no data to show for. Every time I take one small step, I suddenly take five steps back. I feel lost and don't know what to do. The goal is to publish two papers before I graduate, but the way things are going now, I feel like I may not get things done on time and I'm afraid of not graduating on time.

 

I was wondering if other students (preferably masters) have experienced such a roadblock in research and fear of not graduating on time. Is 10 weeks with no data concerning? I have heard/read other stories of Phds spending years and not getting things done, but as a MS student, time is not particularly on my side.

[Dedi]

Sounds like research to me, in terms of having more questions come up than answers.

 

My first research experience also didn't go over so well. However, I am an undergraduate and still have some freedom to make my mistakes and learn from them.

I guess my question is what do you mean by having no data to show for? Meaning that you crunched the numbers and no significant differences popped up, or that you have no actual numbers to crunch? If it's the former, then that's pretty normal for a first research experience. If it's the latter, I think there is something wrong with the methodology.

 

I guess I feel kind of silly for not really having an image in mind of how engineers do research...

 

Apologies for not being much help regarding graduating on time.

[bsharpe269]

This is so completely normal. Sometimes, research all goes perfectly. Sometimes, you just get a lot of questions from data that you can't really make strong conclusions from. Try your hardest and put a lot of time in but in the end, luck also plays a role. If you had been working on the project for a year without results worth publishing then I still would tell you it was normal and not to worry...

[sciencem]

This is so completely normal. Sometimes, research all goes perfectly. Sometimes, you just get a lot of questions from data that you can't really make strong conclusions from. Try your hardest and put a lot of time in but in the end, luck also plays a role. If you had been working on the project for a year without results worth publishing then I still would tell you it was normal and not to worry...

I agree with this reply...."Sometimes, research all goes perfectly. Sometimes, you just get a lot of questions from data that you can't really make strong conclusions from"