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Asked by anon-129382 to Megan, Mzamo, Ola, Olivia, Weiyi on 8 Nov 2016.
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Megan Seymour answered on 8 Nov 2016:
Logic is incredibly important to allow you think through the stages of an experiment, analyse data, present you results, and critically analyse the findings of others.
Creativity is useful too though, for example for when you think you have exhausted all possible options and you have to try to think of a new way to get to the result you want. The best scientists can do both. -
Ola Michalec answered on 8 Nov 2016:
Hello, I think logical/analytical/numerical thinking is enough to get you through most of daily tasks in scientific disciplines/laboratories.
However, creative thinking (in the broadest sense – e.g. could be thinking outside the box, having lots of ideas, wanting to try out new ways etc) – is what makes you stand out as a scientist. Without creativity, we wouldn’t be able to discover anything new and have the courage to challenge old, widely accepted theories (think Darwin, Einstein and Copernicus – and the times they lived in!).
Creativity and logic together are very useful and the good news is that you can train both skills so good luck!
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Olivia Ashton answered on 8 Nov 2016:
Both! Coming up with new experiments or things to explore is a combo of both – you need the logic to lead you to the beginning of the next path, and then some creativity to find your way along it.
Comments
Adrian commented on :
For laboratory research I think the most important is attention to detail. You can have educated deductions about certain intriguing details or observations, all of which should be bound by logic and known facts.
Creativity in the lab is a culmination of all of these traits, based on your ability to recall what you’ve read about other people’s work and carefully decide if their strategies could be modified to work for you instead.