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Asked by anon-40225 on 15 Nov 2022.
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Hao Shi answered on 15 Nov 2022:
Of course, problems often arise with our projects, and this is a normal part of exploring unknown matters. There are times when some unexpected mistake can lead directly to failure, but the more these times come, the more we need to be positive and figure out what’s wrong in order to move forward.
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Vincent Monchal answered on 15 Nov 2022:
Yes, there is always things that can go wrong. For example, I spend 5 days travelling to Walles going across all the coast, encounter soldiers because they were training at the site I wanted to go. All of that for nothing because at the end I analyse the samples collected there and they were all unusable.
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Siobhán O'Flaherty answered on 15 Nov 2022:
Yes and the problem can be explained or sometimes unexplained. It’s very disheartening but problems are a part of everyday life.
In life you have to be able to adapt. -
Anna Desmond answered on 15 Nov 2022:
Yes, things can go wrong but this is part of discovering new things. I can get frustrated sometimes when things don’t work out like i expect it to be but I must figure out what’s going wrong to fix it and move on.
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Sean O'Halloran answered on 15 Nov 2022:
All the time. That’s what makes it a challenge and really gives you motivation to work hard!
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Vanessa Rodrigues answered on 15 Nov 2022: last edited 15 Nov 2022 4:49 pm
It always feels like it is all going terribly wrong until it goes right. These are most of my projects.
But there was that one…
I had to make a pattern with a laser on a new hygroscopic (water-absorbing) material. It needed a special environment for storage and to be handled. I did the best I could and ran the experiment for almost 48 hours controlling the exposure. Eventually, it still managed to turn cloudy from absorbing moisture and the whole pattern was ruined. -
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Simon Sorensen answered on 15 Nov 2022:
Great question. Research is uncertain and you don’t always get the answers and results you were hoping for. This doesn’t mean the project has gone wrong! I have worked on many projects that didn’t achieve what we wanted but were still very successful. And I’ve learned a lot more from things that didn’t work than from things that did 🙂 You can only do your best
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Ingmar Schoen answered on 16 Nov 2022:
Not a project as a whole.
If you have a new idea for a project, it is helpful to conduct some first experiments that can tell you if the idea is likely going to work or not. If the results of these preliminary experiments tell you that it will be very difficult, you better not start this project.
What happens more regularly is that a project takes an unexpected direction because you discover something interesting and unexpected on the way. -
Cristina Cuesta Marti answered on 30 Nov 2022:
Definitely, it is very common that experiments do not work in the lab and you need to first figure what the problem/s is and solve it. But this is one of the most interesting part of research, trouble solving and never giving up!
Comments
Changhong commented on :
Yes, a lot of things happen before you know it…
One of the things that sticks in my mind the most was that we tried to collect data for two different experiments at the same time and no one had any idea that the two unrelated experiments would interact with each other in the process of collecting data. This resulted in one of the experiment showing extra good results and leading to some remarkable conclusions. We had even written up the experimental report and it was only when the other experiment was carried out that the error was discovered.