When you hate your research and want to quit your PhD or postdoc
If you hate your research, don’t think about quitting. You are likely on the verge of tremendous growth as a scholar.
I hated my first PhD project and thought it was garbage. I didn't like the assumptions we used, and my advisor couldn't see the limitations as well as I could. Our question was good, but I thought our contribution to it would basically be zero. I procrastinated and contemplated quitting most weeks. I started other projects instead. I did nearly everything wrong.
You might be in a similar situation. Do you
dislike your question/hypothesis?
not trust your results?
think you've not made progress?
realize this research is getting eclipsed by rapid progress in the field?
This isn’t the problem you think it is
We generally start a PhD and train as postdocs because we want to become experts on solving a particular type of tough problem. We're ambitious. It's normal to be frustrated and depressed if you feel like you're making no real progress.
Again, this is NOT the time to quit.
This is a growth point. Realizing your research has problems, potentially deep ones, is an important and inevitable hurdle for all scholars. We're doing hard work. Hard work necessarily involves false starts. It's rational and good to decide sometimes that a direction or even an entire project should be abandoned. This will free you up for better work!
Pausing and pivoting are important skills to learn.
Ask yourself:
Does the question need to be reframed?
Have you realized a good answer will require much more work, potentially in an area that's not your focus?
Have you realized you need to rethink your assumptions?
Skillful doubting, especially of our own work, is part of becoming a great scientist. The most successful people I know are the ones who pay attention to their feelings without being ruled by them ("This feels bad, so I should quit"). These feelings often point to important observations. Your doubts and aversions now indicate you're well on your way to becoming a discerning scholar who notices what’s wrong. You’re developing taste and standards.
A plan to end frustration, procrastination, and burnout
Great, you think, but I still hate it. Here’s what you can do next:
Your dislike for your research is probably driven by beliefs. Write them down. What precisely do you dislike about the work? (I’m assuming the problem isn’t burnout from working >60 hours/week. If you’re working that hard, by all means, reassess after you’ve taken a break. I’m also assuming the problem isn’t mostly driven by imposter syndrome, which warrants a different approach.)
Write down the most logical next steps for handling or investigating each concern. Do you need to repeat an experiment? Spend a day refactoring and checking code? Dive deep into the literature to confirm what has been shown before? Or is a new approach needed, one potentially involving a new team or massive resources that you might not have? Was the hypothesis poorly constructed to begin with? Note: If you’re bored, I’m sorry. Some boredom is inevitable in achieving great things, IMO. I think of it like running or lifting or scales or nearly anything that requires putting in the reps or drills. Perhaps you need a different project to look forward to, or a few days of reading or attending a conference?
Rank the problems in order of importance. Sometimes I can identify what’s important by what gives me the most anxiety.
Spend a few minutes thinking about what you would be working on, if it weren't this project. This helps you consider the opportunity cost of different options. (Of course, new directions can look deceptively trouble-free from afar.)
If your concerns are easy to investigate quickly, just do it. If they are not easy to investigate quickly, set up a time to discuss them and your proposed next steps with your advisor. These kinds of decisions about research direction and effort are exactly what your advisor is there for. They’re making similar decisions all the time as they run a research group.
Getting support from your advisor
You have an advisor for a reason. Sample text to put in an email or to say in your next meeting:
"This is a difficult topic, but I have some concerns about the [underlying question/approach] we use in this project. I'm hoping we can figure out the best solution together. In a nutshell, the main problem I [see/think reviewers will see] is X, and I think the best solution to it is Y. I'll explain now in more detail...."
The wording here (a) shows consideration of your PhD or postdoc advisor’s feelings, (b) is solution-oriented, and (c) reminds them that they need to help you here as a collaborator.
It might not seem like it, but bringing up research concerns like this is a mark of a mature, considerate scientist and a trustworthy collaborator. It makes you look really good. I truly love it when I can see trainees thinking this deeply about their work, even if we end up concluding together that a project needs to be abandoned or massively changed. That’s just part of doing research. Your advisor is there to help you manage that risk and continue building your career after setbacks.