The frightening state of academic research

[roguepuppet]

I am going to sound old in this post. I must talk about "the way things used to be". I am hoping it stirs discussion and you can give me some counter examples.. i really do NOT want to lose faith in the system as much as I feel I have. If this is all too much work, then just blow me off as an old geezer going on about "the good ole days". ( I must

Comments

[going_not_gone]

Research and development=good.
Research OR development=not so much.

Because without original research of the sort that occasionally leads nowhere, there's rarely anything original to develop, just incremental improvements to older ideas.

[rethought]

I agree. The publish or perish ethos makes my blood boil. I have to not only try to compete with it, but have to listen to papers like 'The Imagery of Frogs in Revelation'. *headdesk*

I believe that inquiry should be open ended if research is to be fully explored. Sure, give us an update on what you're doing ('Research into Revelation Imagery') but don't chop it up into soundbyte type nonsense (as above).

I feel like I'm constantly hampered by this. I know that if I go too far down a research path that isn't publishable that it will be time wasted. So, I have difficulty getting the publishable finished because my heart isn't in it.