How long does it usually take to figure out what you have discovered?

Question: How long does it usually take to figure out what you have discovered?
- Keywords:
  discover
Asked by anon-291048 on 20 Mar 2021.
- Karen Burstow answered on 20 Mar 2021:
  
  I think this depends on what you’ve discovered. In my job, I use lots of different analytical techniques to work out what samples are made from or information on their structure. Sometimes I can see what the analytical results are showing me straight away. For example: if the elemental composition of a clear, hard crystal is sodium and chlorine, I can identify it as salt (and not glass like it can be confused with by customers!) But other times, the results can be more complicated and I need to speak to senior colleagues to get their help! 🙂
- Mark Hamilton answered on 20 Mar 2021:
  
  It can take a while sometimes! Usually, you generally get a good idea of what your results are, but there can be lots of little details that are sort of hidden at first. Making graphs of the data that’s been collected always helps – it lets you see if there are any patterns that are obvious straightaway. But usually we do other computer tests as well, that tell us if we’ve missed anything. These can be quite hard to understand sometimes, so that part can take a while.
  Even if you don’t discover anything new, it can still be really useful to get the same results as someone else because it adds more evidence to that discovery.
- Tim Burrow answered on 21 Mar 2021:
  
  That is difficult to answer as that can quite easily vary from being quite quick to being quite long!
- Claire Price answered on 22 Mar 2021:
  
  It depends on the experiment you are doing. The experiment itself can take days, but it can take moments to figure out the result afterwards. Sometimes the experiment is quick, but you have to do a lot of maths to figure out the answer and that can take a while
- Jess Buddle answered on 22 Mar 2021:
  
  Hey! If its something small then a few weeks perhaps, but to figure out the bigger picture it can take years!
- Lizzie Pendlington answered on 23 Mar 2021:
  
  Like the other scientists said, it can take quite a while! It can depend what other scientists have also found out before you as this might save some time in an experiment or research project.
- Alba Park de la Torriente answered on 23 Mar 2021:
  
  Many things take a long time to discover completely, but you go step by step, and each step could take a few weeks or a couple of months. These results will lead to new steps to try and the process would be repeated. When you gather all your results you get a nice big discovery.
  
  Some things take much longer time, but usually when this happens, we look for other methods, other alternatives instead of trying the same eternally.
- Megan Metcalfe answered on 25 Mar 2021:
  
  Sometimes things are obvious in the data, but not always. Sometimes I never find out what I’ve discovered! I use data to look for archaeology such as shipwrecks. Occasionally I see things in the data that look like they might be really interesting but, unless it gets dived on or investigated by ROV, I might never find out whether I’ve discovered an incredible shipwreck or just a pile of old rubbish on the seabed…

Question: How long does it usually take to figure out what you have discovered?

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