I am speaking English right?
I had a meeting with my PI today. Overall it was ok but sometimes I feel like I must be speaking another language.
For example:
me: Here is a graph of preliminary data. See these first two treatments have n=7. While the last bar only has n=3 because I still need to run the other animals on that treatment. I think when I add more data the error bars will decrease because more data will be included.
PI: hmmmm what about this why is this so variable? Your error bars look big here. So how many are in this bar? (pointing to the last one?)
me: There are only a few animals in that treatment, I haven't finished running the other sessions yet.
(the meeting moves on we discuss other stuff)
Then PI: so in this last treatment not all the animals are included?
um yes.....
Didn't we already discuss that? How do I explain it any more clearly? I swear sometimes they tune out the intro until they digest the graph and then they ask what??? Even though that is what you were trying to explain at the beginning. If you wait for them to look at the graph first you get: "So, what do you have here?" Sometimes you just can't win!
(I know PIs have a lot going on and need refreshers as to what you may be actually working on but the selective remembering can be difficult.)
For example:
me: Here is a graph of preliminary data. See these first two treatments have n=7. While the last bar only has n=3 because I still need to run the other animals on that treatment. I think when I add more data the error bars will decrease because more data will be included.
PI: hmmmm what about this why is this so variable? Your error bars look big here. So how many are in this bar? (pointing to the last one?)
me: There are only a few animals in that treatment, I haven't finished running the other sessions yet.
(the meeting moves on we discuss other stuff)
Then PI: so in this last treatment not all the animals are included?
um yes.....
Didn't we already discuss that? How do I explain it any more clearly? I swear sometimes they tune out the intro until they digest the graph and then they ask what??? Even though that is what you were trying to explain at the beginning. If you wait for them to look at the graph first you get: "So, what do you have here?" Sometimes you just can't win!
(I know PIs have a lot going on and need refreshers as to what you may be actually working on but the selective remembering can be difficult.)
2 Comments:
At 9:25 AM,
Unknown said…
This so reminds me of my old adviser. She is particularly bad when reviewing papers. She'll tell you to change something one way, then when she reads it the next time she'll tell you to change it back without even remembering that she requested the change in the first place. Making it through edits with her was quite difficult.
At 2:47 PM,
PG said…
Maybe try giving the PI your graph, thena minute to look at it, then give your explanation. I find that when someone shows me a graph, I try to understand it on my own and stop listening to what the person is saying.
kar- when my supervisor does that, I make a point of saying "ok - so you want me to change back this section, ignoring your previous comment about making this change?"
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