• Question: what makes a good scientist in your sector of work and all sectors/

    Asked by shaz to Zarah, Kon, Kirsten, Jena, Freddie on 6 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Jennifer Bates

      Jennifer Bates answered on 6 Nov 2016:

      Three words: passion, curiosity, drive.

      You could add a bit of critical thinking skills in there for archaeology, as we always have to ask ‘but are you sure about that…?’ and then pull the idea apart.

      Passion: you have to love the subject. It’s the same across all sectors, but especially in archaeology, as you could end up in the field in a hole in the rain for a month and unless you love it, it could be pretty miserable. Thankfully I LOVE my job! And besides, who wouldn’t want to be digging for a month? And the rain just makes it more fun!! 🙂 It helps to be a team player too, with a good sense of humour. All science is a collaborative effort, and being able to work together makes it so much easier. Especially when you’re in the field as there’s a rota and eventually it will be your turn to do the laundry… It’s not all fame and glory, sometimes it’s Bob’s socks.

      Curiosity: pot sherd, pot sherd, pot sherd, pot sherd… archaeology can get tedious, but wait! What does that pot tell us? Is there a sample in it? How do I process that new sample? Can I radiocarbon date that wood? So many questions and all of them interesting! A curious mind can make up for it. Patience though is useful as those radiocarbon dates are not instant. And those pot sherds aren’t going to wash and sort themselves! And besides, you need to wash them before you can get to the fun question of how many painted sherds are there and what does that mean…?

      And finally drive: it’s not a quick road to becoming a scientist in any sector, but it is so worthwhile I promise. Set a goal and aim for it, but don’t become blind to all the amazing opportunities that may present themselves on the side. I wanted to be an Iron Age hillfort specialist then my supervisor handed me a bag of soil and told me to process it and BINGO plant specialist in the making. Still working on a hillfort, but plants are now the big goal, have been for 6 years. It takes a bit of time but eventually you get to don the white lab coat of power (or in my case wield the trowel of glory) and it is the best feeling in the world.

    • Photo: Kirsten Brandt

      Kirsten Brandt answered on 7 Nov 2016:

      In my sector of work, a good scientist must have enough knowledge of the topic and confidene in the quality of their own experiments that they can recognise if some results don’t match the expectations and pursue this observation until it becomes clear if it is the expectations or the results that are correct. Since this is where a new interesting discovery may be made!
      In particular a good scientist is one that understands statistical methods well enough to use them to help find out which explanation is most likely to be correct, while not-so-good scientists often use statistics to confirm an expected explanation no matter what the results actually show.

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