Fuzzy thoughts for Friday…
Take a look at the post from hypertextual, below. Ignore that the orginal rules were written for developers… put aside that they have been reworded for knowledge workers… and reinterpret as “you are not your research / thesis / paper”…
… then ask yourself:
- does this work for you as a researcher?
- could this smooth the path in collaborations?
via hypertextual
This got me thinking (watch out!)
For me, I have never considered ego in research, at least not where the ego concerned was my own. The topic of ego tends to arise in discussions about other researchers, particularly where the relationship could be considered unequal (with regard to experience or academic hierarchy): such as doctoral researcher & supervisor; or postdoc & principal investigator.
But me… have an ego…?
I’m currently awaiting a date for my viva. I have invested nearly five years of my life, and a lot of myself in my doctoral research. To me, it’s like a member of the family: I don’t necessarily like it, or think it’s anywhere near the best, and sometimes I feel a bit embarrassed to be connected to it. I’m fully aware of all its faults, yet it’s mine, and therefore I love it. I don’t always want to talk about it with other researchers, and I can’t help making comparisons with others’ work. Someone else’s research is always more exciting, worthwhile and ground-breaking than my own. But, to take the family analogy a little bit further: if anyone else dared to attack my research, I would defend it to pretty much the death (of my future career, probably). So it seems I cannot disconnect entirely from my research. I cannot see the line between “me” and “it”. And I’m defensive about my work… hmmm…
Which means I do have an ego. And I need to keep the rules in mind when I have my viva.
I think I’ll be printing out those rules and starting to practice them from right now…
Happy Friday, have a great weekend
Sarah 
Hi Sarah,
Thanks for linking to Hypertextual article.
Great post eventhough I’m afraid you seem to be quite related to your work.
However, I can understand you have a very close relation with the fruit of 5 year research.
But bare in mind that critics may help your thesis and at the eventually, could make the research better, clearer, more straight forward etc …
Posted by ceciiil | July 9, 2010, 16:40Hi Cecil,
Thank you – your comment brings us back to where we should be when considering the purpose of the viva. Peer review, learning to be a researcher…
Also, it’s easy (for me) to forget that the doctoral thesis will (hopefully) be the least interesting, least read, and lowest impact piece of research I will ever do. It’s hard to remember that the doctoral process is a learning thing, and the result is credibility as a beginning researcher. The doctorate isn’t a product, it’s a journey. That’s my interpretation anyway
Is it just me, or did it momentarily sound like I was disassociating from my ego?
Sarah
Posted by Sarah R-H | July 9, 2010, 17:42