P2P No. 5 — The barbell strategy of research
Explore and exploit in the mental gym.
Exploration and exploitation is a common theme in research that poses a genuine quandary about what quests to embark on. Nassim Nicholas Taleb of The Black Swan fame advocates cutting the Gordian knot by going for the barbell strategy. It refers to (not just financial) asset allocation such that no-risk and high-risk assets are present simultaneously: the first acts as an insurance policy, while the latter is about making bets. Exploitation and exploration, that is.
I wrote previously about publish or perish to voice my concerns about quantity and my support for understanding via high quality. Unfortunately, the quantity of publications (or citations) is often used as evidence for good performance. Although this can lead to publication factories exploiting the system, the intent behind such objective metrics is valuable.
Regardless of how much we agree with the current system, it is within our reach to define how we interact with it. For me, the dichotomy of publish or perish is resolved seamlessly with the barbell strategy of research:
Research should be split between exploiting the low-hanging fruits and exploring high-risk bets.
The former will ensure a reasonably constant stream of papers, though this is not about quantity per se. It is (and should be) about learning, but we should not ignore that some questions are simpler to answer. On the other hand, we should let ourselves indulge our curiosity in exploring our wildest ideas.
How does the barbell itself come into the picture? Although Taleb uses it to visualize that assets are allocated to the extremes, it also has a connection to sports. Polarized training is a well-known paradigm that emphasizes easy and hard training. Not either-or, but both.
As no one trains constantly with maximal or minimal effort (for the interested, there are different physiological benefits for both), we should learn from this view for our Ph.D. Combining the low-hanging fruits with pioneering research questions will provide a sense of constant progress while we can also enjoy the rush of adrenaline.
The best perk the barbell strategy can provide is a mental cushion. The diverse endeavors it encourages will be a haven when the muses refuse to guide us through an impasse. The big bet is a defeat? We can fall back on our insurance policy. A project got stuck? We can switch to another one.