• Question: What research ended up with a result that was pointless.

    Asked by to Anna, Chris, Jane, Iain, Nick on 17 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Anna Middleton

      Anna Middleton answered on 17 Mar 2014:

      Hi vegoman
      I’m not sure I can answer that. Even negative results or studies that go wrong can tell you something, e.g. what not to do next time. It is all a learning experience and so personally I feel that there is usually a point to all research even if the outcome is not what we expect.

    • Photo: Iain Moal

      Iain Moal answered on 17 Mar 2014:

      Most research has some value, even when it fails. A failed research project is still useful because it shows us that efforts should be focusses on other avenues of exploration.

    • Photo: Nick Goldman

      Nick Goldman answered on 17 Mar 2014:

      There are some awards given each year for scientific research that seems pretty pointless: you can read about some winners here: http://www.improbable.com/ig/winners/

      But even in these cases, there is often a serious point to what the scientists are studying. So after you stop laughing, have a think about how they maybe found out something a bit useful.

    • Photo: Jane Charlesworth

      Jane Charlesworth answered on 19 Mar 2014:

      I can’t really think of any results that are pointless. A lot of my results haven’t given the answers that we’re hoping to find, but they have flagged up problems with our methods or shown us the way to more interesting questions, which I think is pretty worthwhile.

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