Random people/lay people emailing professors?

Dave!

Hey there folks,

Not sure where this thread should best go, but this is probably the closest forum.

Often if I'm reading about something or trying to research a particular subject or topic, for a debate on boards, or just for my own benefit, I'll end up with some questions that I can't answer, or some research that I don't know how to interpret.

I didn't stick around in college beyond the requisite 3 years , and none of my friends are academic types either, so I don't know any doctors or researchers or anything that I can bring a question to.

So what I'm wondering is, if I were to randomly send an email to some professor in a university (their emails are usually on the department websites), to ask a specific question or to ask for their perspective on a topic, would they respond? Would they be glad that someone is taking an interest, and that they sought them out for their opinion? Would they think it was a waste of time, and they'd rather spend that time doing research or talking to their own students?

Obviously not being a reporter or anything, it would be only myself that would benefit from the knowledge they impart , so I could understand if they told me to píss off.

I'm usually well enough informed, so my questions might be something like "most of the studies I've looked at about X point to this, but there's a couple that go the other way, are they significant?" or "this has been in the news lately, what does the research say on the subject?"

I know some academics are sought after for their opinion by the media and so on, but if I picked some random anonymous person, they'd surely have the time to respond, right?

Cheers gang

djpbarry

Dave! wrote: »

Often if I'm reading about something or trying to research a particular subject or topic, for a debate on boards, or just for my own benefit, I'll end up with some questions that I can't answer, or some research that I don't know how to interpret.

I didn't stick around in college beyond the requisite 3 years , and none of my friends are academic types either, so I don't know any doctors or researchers or anything that I can bring a question to.

So what I'm wondering is, if I were to randomly send an email to some professor in a university (their emails are usually on the department websites), to ask a specific question or to ask for their perspective on a topic, would they respond? Would they be glad that someone is taking an interest, and that they sought them out for their opinion? Would they think it was a waste of time, and they'd rather spend that time doing research or talking to their own students?

I think in most cases they will take the time to respond, unless they are simply too busy. You’ll always get the odd arrogant so-and-so, but like anyone else, academics take pride in their work and will, in general, be genuinely happy to take the time to discuss it with others. I would certainly have no issue answering an email from someone on something I had written – I’d be quite happy to do so.

For example, my missus used to be involved with The Alchemist Cafe in Dublin – you’d be surprised how receptive people were when they were approached about speaking about their work in a pub! There was of course the odd exception, but generally, academics/researchers were more than happy to participate.

Focalbhach

djpbarry wrote: »

I think in most cases they will take the time to respond, unless they are simply too busy. You’ll always get the odd arrogant so-and-so, but like anyone else, academics take pride in their work and will, in general, be genuinely happy to take the time to discuss it with others. I would certainly have no issue answering an email from someone on something I had written – I’d be quite happy to do so.

I'd second this. The point of doing research in the first place is to find out something useful and to share that information, so most academics would probably be happy enough to respond to a genuine, well-informed question from a layperson. It might even be seen as an interesting 'aside' from the day's usual work! It depends on the question, of course - something that can be answered with a little thought is more likely to get a reply than something requiring a couple of hours ferreting through data. But then, if the question is interesting enough...

boarddotie

I am just thinking would I respond to such an email. I think it depends on how it is written and what you were asking. If it was something to settle a bet or for a pub quiz I would ignore it. But if it was a well thought out email which showed that the emailer was genuinely interested and seemed to have done his own bit of reserach on it I would be happy to reply!

I have the opposite problem to some academics as they say, every fooker down the pub puts there two cents into my subject area and has their own opinion, means I end up spending too much time talking shop out of work with the 'lay people' haha! Pity my area isnt FTO gene expression or transgenic mice breeding :cool:

Dave!

Cheers guys, good to know!