I had earlier started writing a post describing in minute details an account of how I am managing to get past a hurdle that I have encountered in my research work. But after some time I realized that it probably won't be read by anyone! So I have decided to simply generalize some of my recent experiences without going into too many specifics.
I am beginning to see how intimidating sometimes working through the PhD thesis can be. And I have not even reached the crux of it yet. I am merely trying to replicate some mathematical results of some other researcher's past work in the hope of building upon it further. But it has turned out to be quite an arduous challenge! For one, I have not been able to understand the mathematical technique described in that work and thus had to look for ones that I could. This process itself took a couple of months. Finally, I got hold of a research paper which contained one alternative technique that I could understand well. I was overflowed with joy and hope when that happened. I then set down to develop solutions to that work's problem and after finishing I found my results, worked out using a different technique, not matching with the above stated ones.
Ever since, I have been trying to tackle this problem and it has proven to be a most challenging one. Without a systematic and logical way of handling it, this task can seem very daunting - like picking out a pebble of particular shape from a sack full of same colored and same sized ones, since theoretically there are so many possibilities where mistakes could have been made. So I had to think of a smart way to eliminate a large class of possible sources of error. I did that by checking results of a simpler (but similar) problem against some reliable reference. It took me some time to locate one such reference and after lots of efforts I finally managed to get a match between mine and those results today!
This exercise has greatly reduced the possible sources of errors of the actual results that I had originally intended to compare. I have begun to investigate the remaining possible ones and I seem to have found some! But from my past experiences I am not raising my hopes too high and have sort of prepared myself to take another blow.
Also, I haven't mentioned the full details as so to how I have been reducing the time spent on making the aforementioned comparisons since they are specific to a particular math problem.
Also, I haven't mentioned the full details as so to how I have been reducing the time spent on making the aforementioned comparisons since they are specific to a particular math problem.
I guess I just want to express my solidarity with other PhD students who find themselves in the same boat floating on perhaps an even wilder sea. I am not sure whether things always work out if one perseveres but certainly losing hope is not an option! Personally, in situations like these when one is thoroughly frustrated with repeated failings I find that abandoning the work for some time (hours/days - depending on the magnitude of the prevailing muddle) helps. Of course, what one does during that time also matters and in my case I try to listen to some music or watch some movies or read some articles which partially inspire me to not give up! I also draw inspiration from a fictional character (and one of my heroes!) - SHERLOCK HOLMES. This particular dialogue which is aimed at Dr. Watson has been a constant source of guidance to me in various situations including the aforementioned one :
How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?
Sometimes I also discuss it with my mother who has herself done a PhD and her suggestions, whether I find them feasible or not, do make me feel less lonely. I suppose this is where presence of good fellow researchers plays a crucial role - one doesn't feel like he/she is the only one in a limbo! [e.g. failing at repeated attempts to get the displacement fields due to a line-source double-couple elastic dislocation model of half-space obtained using Garvin's (1956) approach matched with Niazy's (1971)]!
Talking with someone helps!
Based on some recent experiences I would also like to mention that it is important to not lose focus (due to whatever reasons) for too long. These situations demand clarity of thought and patience in order to be tackled efficiently and it is better to keep a vigil on one's state of mind before jumping to any negative conclusions about one's inability to work things out or imagining the worst possible outcomes.
P.S. As can be seen from the time of posting, this entry has been made after an exhausting but eventually, a little hopeful day of research work.
