Read on Twitter
THREAD: As I'm prepping for my PhD viva this Friday, I have been reflecting on what I've learned over the past few years and thought I'd put something up for people who might be considering time out of clinical training to pursue research. 1/n
The research experience can differ depending on what sort of commitment you are planning:
- Are you planning to just do 1 year of research as a taster?
- Are you planning on doing 2 years or more and tie this in with an MD or a PhD?
2/n
- Are you planning to just do 1 year of research as a taster?
- Are you planning on doing 2 years or more and tie this in with an MD or a PhD?
2/n
A longer period of time out of training obviously offers more flexibility with what sorts of interests and skills you can develop and what sorts of questions you would like to answer. Also a longer period of time allows you a fuller experience of the research cycle.
3/n
3/n
The research cycle:
1. Background and context
2. Research question
3. Study design and protocol planning
4. Seeking funding
5. Seeking ethics
6. Identifying collaborators
7. Seeking buy-in from collaborators
8. Piloting the study processes
4/n
1. Background and context
2. Research question
3. Study design and protocol planning
4. Seeking funding
5. Seeking ethics
6. Identifying collaborators
7. Seeking buy-in from collaborators
8. Piloting the study processes
4/n
9. Refining study design. Again.
10. Going back to ethics. Again.
11. Running the actual study (collecting data)
12. Managing the study: questions you had not anticipated
13. Maintaining collaborator interest
14. Cleaning the data
5/n
10. Going back to ethics. Again.
11. Running the actual study (collecting data)
12. Managing the study: questions you had not anticipated
13. Maintaining collaborator interest
14. Cleaning the data
5/n
15. Analysing the data: more questions you had not anticipated
16. Presenting findings (posters, presentations, manuscripts, thesis)
17. New questions
As you can see, it's long and may not even go in a loop, you might start at 1, or you might start somewhere in the middle.
6/n
16. Presenting findings (posters, presentations, manuscripts, thesis)
17. New questions
As you can see, it's long and may not even go in a loop, you might start at 1, or you might start somewhere in the middle.
6/n
Whilst moving in the research cycle. You need to develop some skills do stuff:
1. Collating scientific literature
2. Reading papers
3. Forming an opinion about those papers
4. Presenting your ideas to people: pitching
5. Writing
7/n
1. Collating scientific literature
2. Reading papers
3. Forming an opinion about those papers
4. Presenting your ideas to people: pitching
5. Writing
7/n
6. Study design
7. Interview skills
8. Statistics
9. Programming
10. Project management
This list is by no means exhaustive!
8/n
7. Interview skills
8. Statistics
9. Programming
10. Project management
This list is by no means exhaustive!
8/n
Big lessons for me:
1. Learn to realise that you cannot accomplish everything in one day, research time lines are long. Much longer than I was previously used to in Anaesthesia and ICU training (where you can get immediate satisfaction from seeing pharmacology in action).
9/n
1. Learn to realise that you cannot accomplish everything in one day, research time lines are long. Much longer than I was previously used to in Anaesthesia and ICU training (where you can get immediate satisfaction from seeing pharmacology in action).
9/n
2. There is lots of downtime in between steps of the research cycle and sometimes you might need to do things in parallel, or have a few different projects on the go to experience different parts of the cycle. Collaboration allows you to work with others to help with that.
10/n
10/n
3. Seek help early:
- Doctoral school of the university
- Other fellows/students
- Your supervisor
- Identify a mentor who is not your supervisor
- The interwebs (Twitter, stackoverflow)
- Books on study methodology and stats
- Conferences & pre-conference workshops.
11/n
- Doctoral school of the university
- Other fellows/students
- Your supervisor
- Identify a mentor who is not your supervisor
- The interwebs (Twitter, stackoverflow)
- Books on study methodology and stats
- Conferences & pre-conference workshops.
11/n
4. Perfection is the enemy of good. Don't think you'll ever get a product that's perfect before you share it or submit it for review, the reviewers or other collaborators/co-authors will always have stuff to add. Sometimes stuff you never thought about before!
12/n
12/n
5. Be aware that bias pervades our existence. There is bias of opinion, bias in the data, bias in the interpretation of that data, bias in the statistical models, bias in getting funded, bias in getting published. Trying to seek truth is difficult in light of all the bias!
13/n
13/n
6. Which leads me to this last point: take care of yourself. The best way to stay resilient is to remind yourself that your welfare matters most. Make friends that you trust and get along with, keep in touch with your family, look after your loved ones. Don't stay isolated.
14/14
14/14
