Your Interim Report—Did You Time it Rightly?

Abstract

A scientist working on a research project of planned duration T—which includes a publication at the end—benefits from describing his work in an interim report. To obtain maximum verbal self-stimulation from his writing act, he should choose a time at approx 0.4T after the start of the project. A mathematical model of the situation leads to this rule of thumb. The description involves an assumed two-stage nature of research (stage I: defining the problem; stage II: solving it). The stages consist of random (Poisson) time sequences of thought flashes—“why-pulses” and “therefore-pulses.” The model fits a problem in nuclear physics, whose solution when translated back produces the timing fraction 0.4. The assumed statistical nature of brain activity is supported by evidence from other fields.