Smorgasbord of Research

by Dr. Kimberly A. Barchard

The oft-quoted advice to “Follow your passion” is little help to people who have no particular interests or too many. However, if you want to do research, you need to pick one or more specific topics to study. I myself am interested in many research topics and have a tendency to take on too many projects and feel overwhelmed. I’ve met several students who have the same issue. I’ve also met students who weren’t sure where their interests lay and who waited for inspiration to strike rather than diving in.

Picking your research topics is hard. I had an insight that I hope will inspire you to make these difficult choices: Picking your research topics is like deciding what to eat at a smorgasbord. With smorgasbords and with research topics, there are several different strategies and errors one can make.

Scenarios

Ashley was hungry. She went to a smorgasbord. There were so many wonderful things to eat, she couldn’t choose. She looked and looked, but she couldn’t make up my mind. Eventually, a staff person told her they were closing and she needed to leave. She hadn’t decided, and then it was too late to decide.

Alex loves research. There are so many interesting topics, he finds it difficult to choose between them. It’s a big commitment to pick one topic to study for all of graduate school and perhaps for his whole life. So, after graduating, he took a gap year, trying to figure out what he wanted to study. After a year, Alex wasn’t any closer to deciding, and so he just stayed with the retail job he had. He hoped to save up money for graduate school while he figured out what he wanted to do. After two years, he realized that none of his professors would remember him, and so he would need to take more classes to get letters of recommendation. After five years, he realized his GRE results weren’t valid anymore, and so he would have to take the exam again (and study for it again). He hadn’t decided what area to study, and so now he probably wouldn’t go to graduate school at all.

I’ve never seen a person go to a smorgasbord and leave without eating. However, I have seen students fail to create a plan for what to do after they complete their undergraduate degree, and end up not applying their degree either to a career or to further education. This breaks my heart. Let’s avoid having this happen to you.

Brian went to a buffet. The food looked great and so he piled his plate as high as he could. He took the teetering plate back to his table, holding it carefully with two hands as he weaved through the tables and people. He tried really hard, but he couldn’t eat it all. He ate until he was completely stuffed. When he went to leave, his pants were tight, and he felt bloated and nauseous. He had turned something he liked (eating) into something that he disliked (feeling ill).

Bianca was so excited about research that she jumped at the opportunity to join new projects. After a while, she had multiple projects going with each of her co-authors. This sometimes made it hard to keep track of where each project was, but she so enjoyed starting new projects that she couldn’t help herself from diving in. After a while, she noticed that she was neglecting some projects. She felt guilty about letting people down, and so she worked evenings and weekends, trying to get caught up. It was impossible though. She was overwhelmed. Like Brian, she had turned something she liked into something that made her feel bad.

This happens all too often. I see this every time I go to a buffet: people eating more than they should and making themselves sick. But I also see this in research. Graduate school is demanding and students have to work really hard to get through it. But when people continue on to their careers, they often keep this same schedule, sacrificing their person lives and making themselves stressed and unhappy. Ideally, we would find some sort of balance, so we don’t make ourselves sick with too much food or too much work.

Clara went to a smorgasbord. There were so many choices, it was hard to decide what to have. So she piled her plate with the same things her friend was having. Some of the food was good, but a lot of it was too greasy or too salty for her taste. She forced it all down, so it wouldn’t go to waste. She thought she was playing it safe, but really she just guaranteed she wouldn’t get what she liked the most.

Charles liked research, but wasn’t sure what topic he should study. His graduate school mentor was interested in one particular topic and provided suggestions for Charles’s thesis and dissertation. Charles learned a lot about this topic and eventually was able to design his own studies within that research area. He wasn’t really all that excited about this area, but it was easier to study things that interested his mentor than to make his own choices. He thought he was playing it safe, but he gave up the opportunity of finding something he truly loved.

I’m not sure if this happens at smorgasbords, but it does happen in research. When students are unable to develop sufficient interest in their mentors’ topics during graduate school, they are unable to push through the difficult times. They either drop out of graduate school or switch mentors to find a better topic. Switching mentors is okay (and much better than dropping out), but you do lose time learning about the new area. When you first start working with a mentor, try to find a topic that really motivates you.

Dean liked crab legs. He went to an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet and piled his plate with them. With careful balancing, he could get 10 of them on his plate in a single towering pile. He devoured the first couple, snapping the shells so the juices squirted out at him, poking out the meat with the special fork. Then he slowed down, gnawing away like it was a chore. The last couple weren’t really appetizing, but, hey, they were crab legs, and he liked them, right? Besides, this was all-you-can-eat, and he was going to get his money’s worth.

His plate finished, Dean sat back and surveyed the scene. All around, other people ate a variety of foods, delicious smells of spicy soups, fried rice, garlic potatoes. His mouth watered, and he decided he wasn’t really full. So he went back to get more crab legs.

Danielle specialized in one kind of research and had become was a real expert in the area. It was easy for her to design those studies, analyze that data, and write up those results. She sometimes thought of herself as a research-and-publishing machine. On the other hand, she sometimes felt like she was in a rut, that she wasn’t doing anything new or innovative or interesting.

She looked at her colleagues. Some had several research interests. She shook her head at them, sure that focusing on one area was the way to be efficient and productive. On the other hand, she saw that some of those people were inventing new ideas and make breath-taking discoveries. She wasn’t sure how that happened, because she hadn’t had any new insights about her own research area for many years.

Focusing on one thing can be great, boosting productivity and creativity, especially if you love one particular topic. But focusing too narrowly or for too long can undermine your original interest and creativity.

Emily loved buffets. There were so many choices. She walked along each of the counters, looking everything over before taking anything. Then, on her first pass, she took a tiny bit of many different things: some tabouli salad, a dab of mashed potatoes, a slice of turkey, a piece of salmon, a California roll. She returned to her table excited to try them all. This was delicious. That was okay. That one was strange, but she was glad she had tried it. Her friends were still working their way through their overly filled plates when she was ready for more. She had picked out four things she loved and joyfully went back for more. She prowled the counters again and found a couple more things to try. On her third round, she had a bit more noodle soup, wryly amused that she had gotten her courses backwards. After that, she was pleasantly full. She had eaten the very best food, but not too much of it. She felt great.

Erik loved problem-solving, connecting ideas, trying new things. There were so many interesting research areas, each with its own knowledge base, classical problems, and technical challenges. From his courses, he had learned a little bit about many different areas, giving him a broad overview of the field. But that didn’t tell him what research problems he should study. So he tried projects in several different areas. He learned something from each project. From one project, he learned he liked cleaning data. From another, that mouse pee smells disgusting. From a third, he discovered his passion for social justice.

Over the next few years, Erik expanded the projects he liked and looked for new projects that were similar. Eventually, he settled into three major research areas that he found fulfilling and important. As opportunities arose, he dabbled in other areas, always starting small, so that he didn’t commit himself to a large project that he wasn’t sure he would enjoy.

I recommend you try several different research topics before committing yourself. Find out what kinds of work you like to do, what topics inspire you, what environments you want to work in, what kinds of technical skills you like to use. Once you have found areas that suit you, pursue them, but consider other interesting opportunities as they arise. Don’t let your enthusiasm fracture your interest across too many projects. Don’t let advice about how to get ahead force you into focusing on a single topic until you’ve lost all interest. Your productivity and creativity will be greater if you find a limited number of topics that truly interest you.

Kimberly A. Barchard is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at UNLV and is the Director of the Interactive Measurement Group. She works to empower lab members to accomplish their personal and professional goals, particularly through the development of leadership, research, and organizational skills.