Quick question,

I was awarded funding for a proposal I wrote at the end of my undergrad, I have spent my last few months of downtime working on a paper with my supervisor, which is different to the area I got the funding for, and is something I would like to pursue next year.

I could handle either topic, but would rather the new one, do most of you enjoy the area you are researching? Could you get by approaching it as 'just work'? I know he would support my change of mind, but I dont want to risk the (much needed) funding (although they do state that candidates may deviate slightly from initial proposals).

I would talk to your supervisor about this and see what they advise (if you have a good relationship with them, and trust their opinion, I'd go with what they suggest).

Remember, a PhD is 'only' a research exercise ... and from personal experience, whatever you write about will inevitably bore you to tears at points and has to be treated as 'work' (otherwise you'll never finish!). Having said that, it does help if you are (slightly) engaged with what you are study, but I'm trying to emphasise that it whatever you study chances are ... it won't maintain your interest for 3 plus years (not most of the time anyway).

Maydude,

I see it in a similar way as Goods. The whole research project is seems to be based on answering a very specific question and very explicitly documenting what you are doing. This inevitably gets boring, and is a matter of "getting the job done", not really pasion regarding the subject. Obviously it helps if you like your subject, yet even in an interesting area the same nittygritty will occur and you have to finish it.

Thanks for the replies, I do enjoy the research process, and both topics are interesting (for now!!), I guess I'm just trying to minimize potential boredom, as selfish as that sounds.

hi maydude,
some very successful people (professors, really several different ones) have told me that it is actually better NOT to be totally tied up with your research topic - or 'married to your PhD'. because if you are, then every setback to your research - and these will inevitably happen - is a setback to yourself, and you will never accept anything to be good enough, you will identify with your PhD and thus make it very tension-loaded.
while i see this point i also agree with what the others have said - there will be boring times and if you aren't at least a little interested, it will be very hard to keep going.
my personal choice would be to go for the project which interests me more. but then, this has landed me in a very uncomfortable situation, funding-wise. so think about it all very carefully!

Thanks, I'm going to enjoy my 3 months of freedom before the politics hit! I'm thinking it makes more sense to go with the moneymaker. Its not a compromise at all though, I know I would be perfectly happy with it. I was just curious to know if there may be anyone who got through it all without any real love for their topic. That sounds horrible, sorry