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Experiments for thesis

Z

Hi everyone,

A couple of weeks ago I got the reviews for my first paper. The editor has asked for a replication which, essentially, means that I will be spending half of my 2nd year running the same experiment I run last year. Since it will be an exact replication of my first experiment it won't be adding anything new to my thesis.

I had another experiment ready to go but it will be pushed back as a result of the editor's decision.

I'm scared that I won't have enough experiments to write up a thesis in 1,5 years from now and I'm starting to panic. I was wondering how many chapters/experiments should be included in a thesis? I understand that this is a very subject-specific question and that there aren't any hard-and-fast rules when it comes to thesis contents..

I'm a bit overwhelmed and, quite frankly, scared that I won't finish in 3 years. My funding runs out at the end of my 3rd year and I can't afford sticking around for a fourth year :(

Best,

ZR

P

Quote From ZaoRazor:
Hi everyone,

A couple of weeks ago I got the reviews for my first paper. The editor has asked for a replication which, essentially, means that I will be spending half of my 2nd year running the same experiment I run last year. Since it will be an exact replication of my first experiment it won't be adding anything new to my thesis.

I had another experiment ready to go but it will be pushed back as a result of the editor's decision.

I'm scared that I won't have enough experiments to write up a thesis in 1,5 years from now and I'm starting to panic. I was wondering how many chapters/experiments should be included in a thesis? I understand that this is a very subject-specific question and that there aren't any hard-and-fast rules when it comes to thesis contents..

I'm a bit overwhelmed and, quite frankly, scared that I won't finish in 3 years. My funding runs out at the end of my 3rd year and I can't afford sticking around for a fourth year :(

Best,

ZR

You have a paper written up already. By any standard you are doing well.
I think it is way too early to be panicking about your thesis.
It is highly likely that you will be faster with the repeat as you are more competent now.
As for the thesis, I would say that 2 to 3 papers is a good PhD. Some have more than that but huge numbers of students end up with just one. Plenty end up with zero. All of them usually end up passing.
Talk to your supervisor and ask him to be blunt with you about all this.

Z

Many thanks for the advice. My supervisors see the problem with repeating the same experiment but they don't appear to be stressed about it... It's not a matter of being fast at testing - I'm working with special populations so recruiting is a nightmare.. Getting them to come to the lab once is a struggle, let alone 2 or 3 times!

ZR

T

Replication is a key part of a reliable scientific study, so try not to see it as not adding anything to your thesis, rather it's making your thesis stronger.

T

I think this is an unreasonable decision- should just reject if applying such onerous conditions.

There is an ethical issue in terms of recruiting additional people, when the research question has already been answered.

If it was me, I would either:
- Retract from the journal and submit elsewhere,
- Return with a covering letter explaining the implications of additional recruitment and add this as a limitation.

Z

Hi everyone,


Quote From TreeofLife:
Replication is a key part of a reliable scientific study, so try not to see it as not adding anything to your thesis, rather it's making your thesis stronger.


I completely agree. I'm not against replications in any way.. but it's a nuisance - especially if you're a PhD student


Quote From Thesisfun:
I think this is an unreasonable decision- should just reject if applying such onerous conditions.

There is an ethical issue in terms of recruiting additional people, when the research question has already been answered.

If it was me, I would either:
- Retract from the journal and submit elsewhere,
- Return with a covering letter explaining the implications of additional recruitment and add this as a limitation.


The weird part is that only one out of the three reviewers specifically requested a replication so the editor just grabbed on to that and asked us to repeat the experiment. We did send a cover letter before hoping to change his mind but it didn't work.. I did want to send it to elsewhere but it's one of the top journals in the field and my supps seem to think it's a good idea to stick with it..

Best,

ZR

D

Quote From ZaoRazor:
Hi everyone,


Quote From TreeofLife:
Replication is a key part of a reliable scientific study, so try not to see it as not adding anything to your thesis, rather it's making your thesis stronger.


I completely agree. I'm not against replications in any way.. but it's a nuisance - especially if you're a PhD student



It depends in what field you are working. In natural sciences you will most likely never publish something that wasn't confirmed in 2-3 independent repetitions of an experiment. Maybe that is different in social sciences/humanities.
If that is odd for your field I would submit it somewhere else.

C

Yes, it must be dependent on the field. Having run studies involving people and gone through the whole recruitment nightmare, there is no way I would entertain the idea of doing a replication. In my field, theories become reinforced by other people running similar studies using other groups of people and looking for overall trends.

Z

Hi everyone,

I'm doing Psychology/Neurosciences - We had this reproducibility crisis in 2015 and journals are more careful about what they are publishing now.


Quote From chickpea:
Yes, it must be dependent on the field. Having run studies involving people and gone through the whole recruitment nightmare, there is no way I would entertain the idea of doing a replication. In my field, theories become reinforced by other people running similar studies using other groups of people and looking for overall trends.


Exactly what I was trying to avoid :( Recruitment is not going to be easy!

C

I'm in Psychology too, but with a much bigger focus on qualitative work and stuff that you wouldn't expect to be replicable in any straightforward way. Funnily enough, and not that it helps you with this particular journal, I was reading something only the other day about how the replicability crisis was based on flawed research and there should have been no crisis!

Z

Quote From chickpea:
I'm in Psychology too, but with a much bigger focus on qualitative work and stuff that you wouldn't expect to be replicable in any straightforward way. Funnily enough, and not that it helps you with this particular journal, I was reading something only the other day about how the replicability crisis was based on flawed research and there should have been no crisis!


I can imagine that transcribing data for qualitative research might not be something that can be done in a month! Ah yes the Science paper :) I was actually tempted to send it to the editor in a last-ditch effort to convince him haha XD ...

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