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Research is hard

A Ph.D. student inevitably learns the tough truth sooner or later in their candidature:

Research is hard.

It’s harder then you thought it would be. It’s hard enough, that you begin to wonder: How does anyone manage to publish anything?

The ideal research pathway that a Ph.D. student fantasizes about is like this:

Have a novel hypothesis -> test it -> realize your hypothesis was true -> publish results

The difficulty of research does not come from getting negative results. That would actually still be fantastic. It would mean that we’ve learned something new and that we’ve generated new knowledge:

Have a novel hypothesis -> test it -> realize your hypothesis was wrong -> publish results

The challenge of research is due to the following, third path, that too often turns out to be reality:

Have a novel hypothesis -> test it -> arrive at this huge mess that you don’t even know how to make sense of, and realize that you don’t know what true or wrong means anymore

Sometimes you’re going to have to spend a considerable amount of time walking in the fog until you find the lights that will guide you to the nearest exit.