The Reality of Trial and Error
August 19, 2014 9:14 am Leave your thoughts
While working on my projects this summer, one of the strongest takeaway lessons I’ve learned is the reality of trial and error in the real world. As a student, we learn by generating results from controlled tests, usually designed by TAs: all variables are in place, controls accounted for and results already predicted. While carrying out labs and experiments in school, we don’t truly experience the reality of carrying out a study independently in the workplace.
During my last month at Millar, I’ve had the opportunity to brainstorm and design a trial for a particular enzyme, which has the potential to treat the effluent going into the bioenergy project. The idea is that the enzyme would increase bioavailability in effluent, which would increase biogas production, thus making the system more efficient. In other news, we are taking a technology that has been developed for a different purpose and proposing to apply it in another context entirely. This is all very new and exciting, but the reality of learning how to steer this study in the direction we want it to go has been significantly more challenging than I had expected. After finally mapping out the first phase of the trial and constructing a plan to carry it out, I found myself back at square one, with no solid results, and needing to restructure my original plan. “What if this happens differently; will this result change? What if I relocate my original sample? How about changing dosages? What if my proportions are off? How do I know whether or not restructuring this part of the study will invalidate another part?” These are questions I found myself asking after phase one and realizing I needed to make some changes.
The fun part of all this is sitting down with my co-workers and brainstorming ideas and deciding how to move forward. One minute, we’ve decided to go a certain direction, then the next minute, the idea is scrapped, and we’re on to a new one. I’ve learned that trial and error is the key to making progress, and accepting a failure is all a part of the path to a conclusion. It’s not always going to be easy! These things take time, patience, and critical thinking.
Phase two has been up and running, and soon my results will be able to tell me whether or not I went in the right direction. Who knows? Maybe I will be back at square one for a second time, but that’s just the beauty of science.