sharing research ideas?

[psybee]

so i emailed a prof asking for a pdf of his paper--recently came out, in my area, an area that little has been done in. in fact, his lab just recently listed this topic as one of the he areas he does research in. anyway, he was great, emailed me back right away with the article and a recommendation to follow up with another paper, and asked to see my manuscript. (i wish-i'm a 1st year and trying to finish up my research plan for my masters proposal--no data collection til at least mid summer, if all goes through the IRB well.) i want to be nice and return the favor and send him some articles i've been reading, maybe build up a collegial relationship--his references did not contain any of my core ones, and they'd be really relevant to his work. but the thing is, what makes my work special is that the foundation of it is me trying to assess a certain construct in a much more through and theory driven way than how the few other researchers have. so i also wonder if i should thank him and keep mum, because i'm feeling territorial and want to be the one to publish on this 1st, and i'm just me and he has a whole lab to do his bidding. but then again that feels wierd and i equally want to share ideas. am i being awful? paranoid? how does this sort of thing work?

many thanks for any advice!

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[Cosmo75]

I tend to air on the side of caution when sharing details about what research I'm doing. I've been burned once so I guess that influences me. But my primary research mentor is the same way. Then again she got burned too

I'd love to think people aren't going to rip our ideas off. Unfortunately it's difficult to gauge, especially with someone you don't really know. If I were you I personally would not share too many details up front.

 

[JockNerd]

I agree. 99% chance that the prof would have no intention of trying to scoop you; he probably has his own ideas for where to take his line of work. But, as Cosmo said, you don't really know the guy so I wouldn't talk about your own project in too much detail.

 

[Ollie123]

You always take a gamble doing something like this. I'm probably more free with stuff than I should be, but perhaps that's because I haven't been scooped yet I also kind of have the attitude that there are about a million studies I want to run that I have scribbled down all over the place, and very few ideas are super-original anyways. So I'd probably only be bothered if it happened after I'd already invested a substantial amount in the project. If someone steals one idea...meh. I'm not saying it wouldn't suck, but there's just soooooo much else I could do. That's one of the reasons I like breadth Of course, the kind of research I do is also super time-intensive, so to scoop one of these projects would be a lot more difficult than say...adding a couple additional questionnaires to a battery.

I'd just do a cost-benefit analysis. Is this someone you could see yourself collaborating with? Do they frequently have funding for post-docs? If its someone I could see myself working with in the future, I'm more inclined to share ideas than I would be otherwise.

 

[WannaBeDrMe]

I tend to air on the side of caution when sharing details about what research I'm doing. I've been burned once so I guess that influences me. But my primary research mentor is the same way. Then again she got burned too

I'd love to think people aren't going to rip our ideas off. Unfortunately it's difficult to gauge, especially with someone you don't really know. If I were you I personally would not share too many details up front.

I'm with you. I had a grad prof put me through hell saying he never received a project... found out 2 years later that he had published it within campus with HIS name. It was a stupid survey... definitely NOT worth the drama. It still made me extremely cautious.

I worry more about sharing with other students than professors... I move slowly and I don't want someone to scoop me because they are blessed with a fast brain or better connections.

Still, on occasion, I do share because who knows... my possibly mediocre ideas could spark genius in someone else with different experiences/resources. I shared my last idea with three people... two academics and one practice professional... and it has oozed rewards in every possible way! Even the skeptic in me tries to believe that professors want all students to excel... even ones not working within their labs.

Good luck,I know the sharing is a tough decision!

 

[numbereight]

good responses so far. my two cents says if i would basically stay mum. only share things that don't make a little bell of uncertainty go off in your head. you can thank her/him, tell him/her what your plans are and that you are excited to keep them in the loop and would appreciate their advice/feedback etc..

it may sound silly, but i view the building of academic relationships like a dance. even a courtship. you typically start slow, say hi, and continue the conversation, feeling the other person out. sometimes a relationship builds slow, sometimes fast - perhaps depending on chemistry. if s/he was hot to trot after one email, i would wonder why. it may be that s/he's just super excited about this topic! my advice is to build the relationship slowly and see more about what this prof is like.

more generally, i would also consider what kind of "legally admissible evidence" you have that your research is yours. if you have a really good idea, you might want to look into this further. a dated, signed, countersigned by a witness "laboratory" notebook is a good piece of evidence. i've heard of people forcing those who scooped them to put their names on papers based on the theft of their idea. if your idea leads to something like a survey that's sold you might litigate for recognition and a cut.

while i would go down this road if someone stole my idea and i had a way to fight (most times you don't), i would also stay out of this kind of thing as much as possible by being quiet about your ideas until they have sufficient momentum to be ahead of anyone else's efforts. you can always collaborate your butt off a year from now.

you could collaborate with this professor now if you like her/him and think that they could bring somethign to the table. is that a possibility?

 

[cara susanna]

Huh.. this thread is enlightening. Perhaps I should be more cautious when talking about my research. It's just that I love talking about it so much.

 

[psybee]

Thanks so much for all of your responses! I do think I may keep a little quiet on this for now--I won't get to begin collecting data 'til this summer, at the earliest, and being in a small lab in balanced program with a health emphasis, i have lots of coursework and lots of clinical responsibilities, meaning my research will be moving at a moderate pace--someone with a larger lab could easily collect data faster than I can, and i know he too has just started this area of research. I could see a possible collaboration later on, but i'd like to at least have a poster on this out at a national conference before i go into real details. I'm a very collaborative person and so it's odd to not share my interests and excitement about this important topic fully, but my spidey sense was tingling that maybe i should give it a few more months before i share outside of my Uni.

Thanks so much!

 

[The2abraxis]

This is quite interesting :-D