Move Along with the Field Posted on February 21, 2006 David Brent (bio) advises thinking ahead when choosing research questions.

You need to try to think, if you can, about where the field is going, because if you work on what's being funded now, then it's already a little bit out of date, and then if you continue with that paradigm, then in five years, it may or may not be a successful way to approach things. I think that you have to at least ask yourself, "Is there any reason why what I'm doing would be less compelling five years from now? What might happen that might change things?"

I think that that is probably more true if your career development focuses on a technique or some kind of methodologic innovation that in itself is part of a field that's moving rapidly. You don't want to become wedded to a particular technique that is likely to be supplanted by something else unless you're also planning to move along with the field.

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