Why a researcher should not work alone
Doing research alone is most efficient: You design your study as you always do, make fast decisions and let routine do the rest.
However, this approach can lead you on the street of overconfidence. Experts very fast believe to control even complex situations and that solutions that worked before will work in the next project, too. When reading Kahneman´s "Thinking fast, thinking slow", I applied what I read on the work of scientists. Of course, scientists are trained to think objectively, to separate facts from interpretation, to know how definitive a certain piece of information is. However, we are still humans with the related limitations of our brains. Being experts and knowing methods, having been successful, can make us trust our expertise too much, like this is the case for other experts, too.
Therefore, the more experience I have with research, the more I believe that a researcher should never work alone. Working in a team forces the researcher to justify all decisions when they are made (and not when a journal reviewer demands more clarification, what can lead to artificial posteriori justifications), all material is reviewed, potential misunderstandings by interviewed persons and experiment objects can be foreseen by a partner.
The research partner needs not be more experienced than you. Even students can be great partners, because you need to explain them every step and they ask questions which are even better than they themselves believe them to be. Encourage them to ask and doubt, and they will. It is interesting for them to see how difficult good research is and how important details can be. So, the discussions become part of their learning process.
However, this approach can lead you on the street of overconfidence. Experts very fast believe to control even complex situations and that solutions that worked before will work in the next project, too. When reading Kahneman´s "Thinking fast, thinking slow", I applied what I read on the work of scientists. Of course, scientists are trained to think objectively, to separate facts from interpretation, to know how definitive a certain piece of information is. However, we are still humans with the related limitations of our brains. Being experts and knowing methods, having been successful, can make us trust our expertise too much, like this is the case for other experts, too.
Therefore, the more experience I have with research, the more I believe that a researcher should never work alone. Working in a team forces the researcher to justify all decisions when they are made (and not when a journal reviewer demands more clarification, what can lead to artificial posteriori justifications), all material is reviewed, potential misunderstandings by interviewed persons and experiment objects can be foreseen by a partner.
The research partner needs not be more experienced than you. Even students can be great partners, because you need to explain them every step and they ask questions which are even better than they themselves believe them to be. Encourage them to ask and doubt, and they will. It is interesting for them to see how difficult good research is and how important details can be. So, the discussions become part of their learning process.
AndreaHerrmann - 5. Sep, 10:36
