By Pavitra Makarla, Peer Research Ambassador
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
– Thomas A. Edison
If there’s any quote that wholly represents what research is, it has to be this one.
To the budding scientist, failure might seem like the worst possible outcome in the research process. Maybe you’ve attempted to run some code that continually gives back an error, or maybe you’ve hypothesized something that turned out to be the complete opposite of what you thought. Theoretically, failure is something you’d want to avoid, right?
I think it’s the opposite — you should embrace the concept of failure. Failing shows you what doesn’t work, and you can use that information to find out what actually does work. While the specific challenges you will encounter in research can vary from lab to lab, there are ways to deal with and overcome failures. Continue reading