One of the things I’ve learned as a Stanford grad student is that research results can be utter BS.

Some of you might remember a study at Yale that discovered cell phone conversations, rather than the act of holding the phone, was the real cause of driving accidents. This caught some attention because of the recent cell phone law in California.

In the past I would have just accepted it as truth. “They are Yale scientists. Of course they have it right.” But as a graduate student I have done some “research” myself and can say that often it is not much different than BSing on your highschool essay.

One of my greatest annoyances is when we perform research that is not realistic or relevant. We can’t replicate the exact thing we are studying so we make something similar. We make a not-so-real simulation and try to make real conclusions from it. Often an experiment is set up to produce the results we want. The opposition never had a chance.

When I see test results from a university I see a PhD student, somewhere in his 4th or 5th year of conducting research, trying to graduate and get out of his or her program before turning 30. Successful results would be nice, would be really nice and would make the last 4 years worth it.

I’m not saying they are always or even mostly bad, but it’s always good to think twice =D