Woes of research

February 27th, 2010 by Joel | Posted in life, work |

Another week has come and gone, the Olympics rage on, unrelenting in their persistence, while I sat in my office and did my damndest to sublimate research. While a Master’s student, I found it easy to somewhat randomly select a topic for research—mostly based on what I had last read in my coursework at the time—but now that I’m swimming with the big dogs (running with the sharks), I’m finding it decidedly harder to land on a research topic I’d like to pursue long-term. There’s a lot out there to get into, of course, but as I read into one area, I find sources and references that lead me into some other avenue of thought. Other than reading everything, I’m starting to find it hard to believe that I’ll ever be able to land on just one focus. How does one go about selecting just one field to go into and specialize in for years on end? Granted, in the end, anyone worth their salt is going to read extensively and cross into other specialties in order to fully understand and further their own. Still, it seems a bit daunting to read and retain everything.

Whiny much? Yes. But it’s a valid concern. Just a few months ago, I thought sociocultural aspects of SLA might be the way to go, but today I’m knee-deep in cognitive linguistics. Of course it helps to read broadly and establish a wide background of knowledge, but I’m a bit puzzled as to how a researcher/teacher decides to go for just one field out of so may possibilities. Flipping a coin (or maybe an umpteen-sided die) sounds kind of nice at this point.