"I Love Science, Sometimes Science Doesn't Love Me": Cultural Analysis of Perceptions of Failure Among Preclinical PhD Students of Medical Science
(2024) TKAM02 20241Division of Ethnology
- Abstract
- Failure is an unavoidable part of scientific research, as well as crucial for the generation of new knowledge. Paradoxically, recent studies have noted that highly competitive scientific environments leave little room to make use of failure’s potential, and instead represent the latter as undesirable or even threatening. These notions are reproduced to new generations of scientists in training and have been described to negatively impact mental health and retention in medical research. In this thesis, I aimed to understand the ways in which PhD students of preclinical medical science at Lund University define, experience, and manage failure with regards to their research projects and in the context of the academic culture and social... (More)
- Failure is an unavoidable part of scientific research, as well as crucial for the generation of new knowledge. Paradoxically, recent studies have noted that highly competitive scientific environments leave little room to make use of failure’s potential, and instead represent the latter as undesirable or even threatening. These notions are reproduced to new generations of scientists in training and have been described to negatively impact mental health and retention in medical research. In this thesis, I aimed to understand the ways in which PhD students of preclinical medical science at Lund University define, experience, and manage failure with regards to their research projects and in the context of the academic culture and social relations in which they are situated. I relied primarily on ethnographic interviews with PhD students who I recruited using the snowball effect, and whose responses I contextualized with those from master’s students and a faculty administrator. I used concepts of cosmodicy, performance and happy objects to integrate my conclusions with prior theoretical works. I show that in absence of consistent positive framing, failure turns from a common outcome to be managed, to an extraordinary event which should have been avoided and which is understood in non-constructive personal and moralistic terms. Experiences of failure are emotionally charged and commonly shared between PhD students, affecting feelings of belonging, alienation, and passion for science. I find that establishing a supportive working environment which is not conditional on individual experimental outcomes is necessary for PhD students to develop professional independence and confidence. Finally, I discuss specific approaches to guidance and leadership on the level of research groups and the faculty which affect perceptions of failure in medical research. With this thesis I bring together and expand existing understanding of professional failure and higher education on the case of PhD studies of medical science with the hope of contributing to supportive, high-quality learning and work environments in competitive research fields. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9167124
- author
- Koderman, Ana LU
- supervisor
-
- Rui Liu LU
- organization
- course
- TKAM02 20241
- year
- 2024
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- failure, medical science, PhD students, meaning making, emotions, belonging, wellbeing, ethnography, cultural analysis.
- language
- English
- id
- 9167124
- date added to LUP
- 2024-06-27 08:58:11
- date last changed
- 2024-06-27 08:58:11
@misc{9167124,
abstract = {{Failure is an unavoidable part of scientific research, as well as crucial for the generation of new knowledge. Paradoxically, recent studies have noted that highly competitive scientific environments leave little room to make use of failure’s potential, and instead represent the latter as undesirable or even threatening. These notions are reproduced to new generations of scientists in training and have been described to negatively impact mental health and retention in medical research. In this thesis, I aimed to understand the ways in which PhD students of preclinical medical science at Lund University define, experience, and manage failure with regards to their research projects and in the context of the academic culture and social relations in which they are situated. I relied primarily on ethnographic interviews with PhD students who I recruited using the snowball effect, and whose responses I contextualized with those from master’s students and a faculty administrator. I used concepts of cosmodicy, performance and happy objects to integrate my conclusions with prior theoretical works. I show that in absence of consistent positive framing, failure turns from a common outcome to be managed, to an extraordinary event which should have been avoided and which is understood in non-constructive personal and moralistic terms. Experiences of failure are emotionally charged and commonly shared between PhD students, affecting feelings of belonging, alienation, and passion for science. I find that establishing a supportive working environment which is not conditional on individual experimental outcomes is necessary for PhD students to develop professional independence and confidence. Finally, I discuss specific approaches to guidance and leadership on the level of research groups and the faculty which affect perceptions of failure in medical research. With this thesis I bring together and expand existing understanding of professional failure and higher education on the case of PhD studies of medical science with the hope of contributing to supportive, high-quality learning and work environments in competitive research fields.}},
author = {{Koderman, Ana}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{"I Love Science, Sometimes Science Doesn't Love Me": Cultural Analysis of Perceptions of Failure Among Preclinical PhD Students of Medical Science}},
year = {{2024}},
}