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Asked by hannahbrown1 to Mona, Michael, Joseph, Jen, Emma on 16 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by beauclayton, antonia123, emilybrockwell.
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Michael Taggart answered on 14 Jun 2011:
oh, good question! I think the best joy for me is seeing an experiment actually work out – nothing beats actually watching something happen that you think (hope) you know the outcome to but, actually, have only made a best guess at and so it could do something else entirely. So shen it does work out there is a mixture of relief and excitement. So practical it is.
However, if you have a series of good experiments, then you want to be able to tell other people about your new discovery too and this means writing about them. Although it’s sometimes difficult to do – it isn’t always easy to write down a description of your experiments in a way that others can follow – it also is very rewarding.
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Jen Gupta answered on 15 Jun 2011:
I love the practical side of my science – getting data from telescopes and using that information to make images of galaxies is so much fun. However I don’t always enjoy writing computer programmes to make sense of these images so I don’t like all sides of practical work!
I thnk it’s the same for written work – as Michael said, once you’ve found out something interesting then you have to tell other scientists about it! The best way to do this is to write up your work in a report that we call a scientific paper and then get the paper published in a journal. I actually quite enjoy writing about my science although sometimes it’s a challenge. To get my PhD I have to write all my work up in a really long report called a thesis – this is a really big challenge and nearly everyone gets really stressed while writing it! I also enjoy writing about my science on my blog in a way that people who aren’t scientists can understand it.
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Emma Bennett answered on 16 Jun 2011:
Difficult question as my job involves doing both and what mood I’m in depends on what I’d prefer to do……. In general I prefer doing the practical work as you really feel like you are achieving something and it’s far more interesting to be blowing things up (all be it by accident) that sitting in front of a computer screen all day.
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