• Question: How many hours do you spend doing your research?

    Asked by Adrienne Brady to Kellie, Jonathan, Kevin, Melissa, Stephanie on 27 Apr 2016. This question was also asked by Gymnast, NotSergeandAdrian, mystery.
    • Photo: Kellie Jaremko

      Kellie Jaremko answered on 27 Apr 2016:


      Hi 824hemb36,

      Every day is different for me since I have to do my research in my free time and its not actually part of my current job. Some days I spend zero hours doing research, other days right before a deadline it can be 14+ The best and worst part about research and science is that every question you answer makes you think of at least 2 more. Once you’re curious about something there always seems to be more questions and research to do, which is great since I want to do this for the rest of my life. When I have a research job then I work on average around 8-10 hrs a day on it.

    • Photo: Jonathan Jackson

      Jonathan Jackson answered on 28 Apr 2016:


      I usually spend between 10 and 14 hours a day doing research. I don’t *have* to, but I *want* to! When you spend your days studying things you are very interested in, the hours often just fly by.

    • Photo: Kevin Baker

      Kevin Baker answered on 28 Apr 2016:


      I spend about 9 to 10 hours doing research a day. But it all depends on the day!

    • Photo: Stephanie Moon

      Stephanie Moon answered on 28 Apr 2016:


      Every day is different, so I might be teaching more one day and reading or writing… then other days I’ll be working in the laboratory doing cell culture experiments or isolating RNA, DNA or protein. I would say I’m at work for ~8-9 hours a day during the week, but it depends on what you consider work. For example, it’s fun to talk about science with other people in the lab, and that’s part of my job.. but it doesn’t feel like work. The other interesting thing is that people tend to over-estimate the amount of time they are at work (including scientists), and there’s a bit of a myth out there that you have to be in the lab “working” all the time to be productive. I think there is more evidence out there that the more organized you are (the better you are able to manage your time), the more productive you are. And that doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to work more time- just use your time more wisely. If you want to read more about this idea and some of the evidence for it, here’s a good resource: http://www.nature.com/news/the-lab-that-knows-where-your-time-really-goes-1.18609#/truth

    • Photo: Melissa Wilson Sayres

      Melissa Wilson Sayres answered on 30 Apr 2016:


      My current job is 40% research, 40% teaching, and 20% service. I am usually at work 8-10 hours. Once a week I usually have a 14 hour day. I typically spend another hour answering emails in the evenings, and do writing on the weekends (4-10 hours).

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