how common is it to work in a lab for a year and not get any results?

[teletubbie]

ive been volunteering in a lab for a year and i have yet to generate any data. worse part is that i want to apply for PhD programs at the end of this year, but with no results i think thats going to be difficult.

[bsharpe269]

I think this REALLY depends on the lab and luck and the project. Also, what do you mean by havent generated ANY data? Do you mean that you have helped with a project but havent gotten anything publishable out of it or that all of your work messed up or what? It would also be helpful to know what sort of project you are working on to let you know what is normal.

 

If you have been helping out in a lab for a year but havent ended up on publications or found out anything awesome then I wouldnt worry at all. At an undergrad level, your goal in working with a lab is to help out on a project and learn valuable skills. If asked during an interview, would be be able to exaplain how you directly benefitted the lab and discuss specific skills you aquired? If so, then I think you should feel accomplished and not worry.

[teletubbie]

I think this REALLY depends on the lab and luck and the project. Also, what do you mean by havent generated ANY data? Do you mean that you have helped with a project but havent gotten anything publishable out of it or that all of your work messed up or what? It would also be helpful to know what sort of project you are working on to let you know what is normal.

 

If you have been helping out in a lab for a year but havent ended up on publications or found out anything awesome then I wouldnt worry at all. At an undergrad level, your goal in working with a lab is to help out on a project and learn valuable skills. If asked during an interview, would be be able to exaplain how you directly benefitted the lab and discuss specific skills you aquired? If so, then I think you should feel accomplished and not worry.

i havent been able to generate data that corresponds with that of my mentor, so i havent been able progress with the project. i am currently practicing to see if i can get believable data. thank you for your response. 

[bsharpe269]

Keep in mind that research usually involved tons of mistakes or dead ends before gettting anything publishable. What you are experiencing is normal and should not hinder you in grad school. Keep working and be able to talk about how you overcame these obstables in your SOP/interviews.

 

Edit: You can spin this however you what for grad school. You can say you didnt get any results blah blah.. or you can say that you learned TONS and get how frustrating resaerch is but love it anway and are up for the challenge.

Edited February 28, 2014 by bsharpe269

[thegirldetective]

Keep in mind that research usually involved tons of mistakes or dead ends before gettting anything publishable. What you are experiencing is normal and should not hinder you in grad school. Keep working and be able to talk about how you overcame these obstables in your SOP/interviews.

 

Edit: You can spin this however you what for grad school. You can say you didnt get any results blah blah.. or you can say that you learned TONS and get how frustrating resaerch is but love it anway and are up for the challenge.

 

That.

 

I don't know how many hours a week you work, or the nature of your particular project, but it's really not that unusual. My undergrad thesis ended up being all negative results.

 

Yes, getting something publishable is helpful for grad school, but honestly unless it's a canned project (something already planned and almost certain to work, usually because it is just tying up minor loose ends from a previous paper or something) starting in a lab and getting a publication within one year is not common in  most fields. It takes some time to learn the techniques of the lab, and usually takes a few dead ends before you get a publishable result (remember, most hypotheses are wrong, particularly when you are trying to answer really difficult and exciting research questions). As long as you get a strong recommendation from your research mentor, it's not a huge deal to not have any pubs.

[teletubbie]

thanks for the reply everyone. i posted this under the biology forum, but its not just that i am getting negative results but rather that i am not able to get results similar to my mentor's. right now im practicing. 

[bsharpe269]

thanks for the reply everyone. i posted this under the biology forum, but its not just that i am getting negative results but rather that i am not able to get results similar to my mentor's. right now im practicing. 

 

It took me a little while to get comfortable with this idea... but it is ok that it is taking you a while to catch on. Your mentor has been doing this tuff for SOOO long compared to you. Make sure you are reading outside of the lab too and trying to understand as much as you can that can help you in the lab.

[whirlpool4]

I'm a 2nd year MS student and this month marks my 1-year in my lab. My PI has given me "the talk" about being more careful and paying attention and being able to think critically multiple times. I have little to no results to show for what I've been working on and it sucks. It's like every little easy thing that every undergrad can do, somehow the gods of science are against me and I don't get anything. It's frustrating to have your boss tell you you're obviously doing something wrong when I'm pretty sure I didn't. It's like I'm going crazy.

 

/rant

[Queen of Kale]

Well if you care to take a poll I would say I've gotten basically no results my first year but I have learned a huge amount. And it would be nice if the emphasis of the first two years of grad school could be shifted back towards building a foundation of knowledge & skills versus publishing & presenting asap.  Just IMHO.

[teletubbie]

I'm a 2nd year MS student and this month marks my 1-year in my lab. My PI has given me "the talk" about being more careful and paying attention and being able to think critically multiple times. I have little to no results to show for what I've been working on and it sucks. It's like every little easy thing that every undergrad can do, somehow the gods of science are against me and I don't get anything. It's frustrating to have your boss tell you you're obviously doing something wrong when I'm pretty sure I didn't. It's like I'm going crazy.

 

/rant

I'm actually in the same exact position, but I haven't gotten the talk from my PI yet. I did get a talk from my postdoc adviser, telling me to be more assertive though. 

 

Well if you care to take a poll I would say I've gotten basically no results my first year but I have learned a huge amount. And it would be nice if the emphasis of the first two years of grad school could be shifted back towards building a foundation of knowledge & skills versus publishing & presenting asap.  Just IMHO.

thanks for sharing

[St Andrews Lynx]

From what I've seen in my discipline, graduate students are usually in their 2nd year when they start generating publishable data and getting first-author publications. That's due to many things: new projects that don't get off the ground, going down dead ends with their investigations, getting used to new experimental procedures/equipment/levels of rigour. 

 

If you're new to research then I think the odds are that you are doing something(s) wrong if you can't replicate data. That's not meant as a criticism - the level of precision and attention required for some lab disciplines is really high, and I don't think undergrads coming into those labs really appreciate how much damage a single slip-up can do to their experiment. Getting experiments right takes a lot of practice of the simple stuff before moving on to the difficult projects. As long as you remain self-aware, keep on asking others for advice/assistance, keep on thinking about why things are going wrong (Are you 100% sure that you made the correct material to the required level of purity? Is it a problem with the analysis method itself? Is there a variable that you aren't accounting for that might be obvious to an experienced researcher but which you've just never considered) then results will eventually come. 

[themmases]

I also think it makes a big difference how your mentor feels about it. Is your mentor happy with your progress and can you expect a strong LOR from them? Are they maybe not over the moon but feel that your progress is normal? Obviously they've kept you in their lab for a year and continue to work with you, which should count for something.

 

(I don't know how it works for science students working in a lab in their field, but as an undergrad I did research outside my field that I picked up on the job board, and I totally could have been fired without anyone worrying they were hurting me academically. So IME when people kept working with students, it was because said students were doing an OK job.)

Edited March 18, 2014 by themmases