Metaquestion - is research ever left over?

[oursin]

Proviso: I am writing as a historian with a large number of physical and digital files of research materials relating to books and articles already written and published, as well as stuff I took notes on or had copied that wasn't strictly relevant to the project I was working on but looked interesting.

Even the files specifically created for a particular project contain a fair amount of material which didn't get into the finished product.

Nonetheless, I hang on to these files, on the grounds that
a) I may need to go back to the original materials at some point;
b) The stuff I didn't use might come in for another project.

I'm perfectly happy, should someone mention something they're researching, which makes me go 'aha! I found something of relevance in X archives when I was looking for something slightly different', to pass on copies of anything of relevance I might have to them.

But I'm really, really, reluctant to think that the basic materials are ever actually finished with.

Is this terribly idiosyncratic of me, or do other people hang on to research in case it might come in handy at some future date?

Anyway, this is a sort of excuse for why I've never actually posted anything to this community, in spite of the aforesaid files.

Comments

[cesy]

I am also a data hoarder, and I think it makes perfect sense - when data storage is cheap and searching is efficient, it's worth keeping things just in case.

[heartequals]

Sometimes I hang onto research because I feel I might need it again, but more often I find myself hanging onto research out sentimental attachment.

[quinara]

The way I see it, if I throw something away, it'll be the one thing I half remember when I start a new project and then have to research all over again...

This would be the reason why I haven't posted anything either! Though, of course, as a literature person my research data tends to just be lots and lots of theorising quotes, which I'm not sure people will find interesting.

[commodorified]

my research data tends to just be lots and lots of theorising quotes, which I'm not sure people will find interesting.

I would!

And, you know, hey, if you post it here it ought to be easy to find again, yeah?

[quinara]

Hmm... *eyes notebooks* Maybe there should be a purge in the summer...

[msilverstar]

I read the "leftover" part as "the part I didn't get to explain in the story/post".

Being an amateur, I may not have any use for it later, and even if I do, I don't lose for having shared. Posting here gets me to organize my thoughts, and that's good.

[commodorified]

That was the original meaning of 'leftover', but nothing in the rules should ever be read in such a way as to deprive us of Cool Stuff, or at least that's my hope. :-)

[esteleth]

I am currently in the process of mapping out and writing my Ph.D. thesis. My advisor told me to deliberately leave an unanswered question and/or hole in the narrative. I was confused by this and questioned this. His reply: "When you become a PI in your own right, you want somewhere to start." I know this is not exactly what you meant in your question, but I think it goes to the same point: how many times have you, in your research, found a dusty folder of random clippings / faded manuscript / packet of data that nothing really was done with that sets off something in your mind, gives you insight or sets you off in a new direction? This has happened to me multiple times. When you leave stuff behind - data or its conspicuous absence - you are creating a starting point for yourself or someone else later on.

[oursin]

I think I've lost count of the projects I've pursued because there was something missing in the previous endeavour that really needed following up (usually something I wished there had been more about for me to refer to when I was engaged in the previous endeavour). As well as the paths that forked off...

[commodorified]

I don't think I ever wrote a paper without including at least one paragraph to the effect of "this is potentially Rilly Rilly Cool and Relevant but a) outside the scope of this endeavour b) the data's incomplete/not available within the time/resources I have c) somebody needs to do a massive investigation on it and nobody ever has."

I suppose I mostly did it to say "hey, I DID think of this, look, I am SMRT!" (I AM that student, alas) but I like the idea of leaving notes to the future, too...

[lizvogel]

I can't imagine *not* hanging on to research after the immediate project is done. I might need to fact-check something later, for myself or for a beta-reader/editor. I might have a related project. I might simply be curious.

Of course, being able to find it again is another matter. But I know it's around here somewhere!

[sidravitale]

I hang on, because 1) as a fiction author, everything really is grist for the mill; and 2) as a lawyer, you never know what question some client may walk in the door with. I reuse overlapping bits of research in the legal field all the time.

[kaptainvon]

I am still furious that the better part of four years of research notes are trapped on an overpriced white brick that used to be a Mac Mini until its hard drive exploded. I also hoard paper notes, often for longer than I keep the things that they're notes on - a project is often finished, out there in a way that makes further editing and tweaking unhelpful to someone, but notes are like compost for ideas - they're more fertile the longer they're left.

[oursin]

notes are like compost for ideas - they're more fertile the longer they're left
So true. And how terrible about the hard disk explosion.

[flarenut]

I also hang onto stuff when I imagine that no one else is going to save it. Someday, I imagine, a historian will either thank or curse me. As I do research online this happens less and less often, because it's easier to retrieve some things from google or archive.org than to find them in my own files.