FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITYCOLLEGE OF HUMAN SCIENCES

M. Kay Keller, James Moore, David Albright &Valerie King

Results Atlas-Ti Families:

ACTORS Demonstrates the diversity of social connections in

Gadsden County as experienced by research subjects.

Exemplar: “The person who went into the migrant Head Start certainly

accomplished her goals in terms of being able to do on site observations,

to do interviews with caregivers about how they crossed as

African-Americans and Hispanics, how they crossed the communication

divide with each other and with children and families.”

AGE Noted differences in experiences of younger research subjects versus older research subjects.

QUALITATIVE TOOLS Nature of research conducted influenced

experiences of research subjects.

Exemplar: “She gave me an interview herself, I mean accidentally, but

she gave me an interview about her perspective and then told me…to feel

free to work with her staff, set up interviews. Even that was a little bit of a

challenge because sometimes when the boss tells you to do something you

may or may not want to do it. So I had to call two or three times, kind of

build up a rapport with one of her workers, and get an interview scheduled.”

RESEARCH GROUP Notes connections between research subjects as part

DISCUSSION

SIGNIFICANT THEMESBoundaries, Actors – Social Connections, Emotive & Cognitive Experiences, Qualitative Tools, Research Group, Serendipitous, Ties

CONTRIBUTIONSExploration of the experiences of researchers is applicable across all disciplines of the scientific community.

Contribution to the literature on the impact of conducting research.

REFLEXIVITY

Problem Statement: This qualitative study explored the experiences of researchers who participated in a Florida State University Qualitative Parent Study in the Spring of 2007. Researchers in this parents study conducted interviews and took pictures of Gadsden County. Their sense of “Self” vs. “Other” was challenged during this parents study and thus the question of “Researchers as Subjects” begged further exploration.

Exemplars– “I had no idea food on my table meant so many people had experiences which contributed towards that food. I had no real idea of what the people who grow the food and pick the food were exposed to or how their lives differed from my own.” “I thought I had an idea but after these interviews, I realized my ideas were just faint superficial notions. Now I bless my food and all of the hands of the people who touched the food before me.”

Literature ReviewResearch literature gap - Lacked peer reviewed articles discussing what if any impact Qualitative Research has on researchers themselves.

Theoretical FrameworkSocial Network Theory stresses the importance of relationships and ties of objects within a network

EXPLORATION OF A RESEARCH TEAM: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY

older research subjects.

Exemplar: “I was really intimidated because they (other research subjects) were a lot younger.”

EMOTIVE EXPERIENCES Codes and code family representative of the emotive experiences of the research subjects in the parent study. Feelings experienced by research subjects. Feelings experienced by participants ofthe parent study.

Exemplar: “I called it anger because they said they were the most over researched county in the state but nothing ever happens. So…we really took that to heart as a group.”

COGNITIVE RESPONSES Cognitions by research subjects of the parent study indicate reliance upon experience by research subjects over the age of 35 and lack of experience by research subject under the age of 35.Research subject extensively discussed undergraduate research experiences.

Exemplars:“But how it’s affected me professionally is I feel like I’ve come home in that I realize that, you know, my seven years here have beenabout research papers and, you know, quantitative stuff and I really don’tresonate to that the way I do qualitative work.” “Just class experience. That was actually the first research that I’d been involved in. Do research papers count?”

BOUNDARIES Latent, Fluid, Social Capital

Exemplar: “I called it anger because they said they were the most overresearched county in the state but nothing ever happens. So…we reallytook that to heart as a group.”

MOTIVATION Emotional and cognitive reasons for research subjects to engage in parent study.

Exemplar: “I hadn’t been to Gadsden County much more than just drivingout through Quincy so…I kind of saw it as an opportunity to get out of myspace a little bit and go see something interesting.”

RESEARCH GROUP Notes connections between research subjects as part of what research subjects experienced.

Exemplar: “[Researcher E] and I were in another class. But, other than that, I didn’t know any of the participants. I barely knew [Researcher B] because she was my new Chair of my dissertation.

TIE Social connections that research subjects made in community. Demonstrates importance of social connections to research subjects’ Ability to experience the parent study.

Exemplar: “The relationship that I had with [Researcher B] was extremely valuable because, obviously, they were listening to her and she could say I’m a professor from Florida State University and we’re doing this study. And it’s different than being in a class and saying oh I’m a student in this class. Being the professor is more, you know, it’s a higher level so they listened to her. And, also, she already had previous contacts with a principal, the principal at East Gadsden High. So I was able to go meet with her and talk to her about it.”

SERENDIPITY: How random chance contributed to the success obtaining interviews which otherwise would not have occurred through the relationships developed in either the community or the research subjects.

Exemplar:“We did finally get an, actually, I had several interviews. I mean, I ended up interviewing the Director. I ended up interviewing thelady that was responsible, I also don’t speak Spanish so the worker was gonna translate. I ended up interviewing her about her experience. I ended up interviewing a teacher about, she had grown up, both of them had grown up as migrant workers so they told me about their experience about being a migrant worker in Gadsden County.”

REFLEXIVITYExemplars: “As I coded I found myself wondering how much different my codes would be as I am coding an interview in which I was the interviewer, so this will be interesting. I don’t know if my codes will be dramatically different from the others because it is me speaking.”

“During the coding process, I did not even consider cognitive responses of the research subjects. I wondered if I was digging deep enough into the research subjects’ experiences during the interviews. While I attempted to dig deeper, I was never sure if I was successful.”

IMPLICATIONSCode motivation implied a common bond. Cognitive experiencesAge of research subjects Interpersonal boundary shifts between participants and research subjects of the parent study

CONCLUSIONS�Platform for scientific discourse�Expand ethical concerns to include the researchers conducting research and �Consideration of opportunities for experienced students to influence less experienced students (Peer Mentoring).

References: Barry, Christine A, Britten, Nicky, Barber, Nick, Bradley, Colin, & Stevenson, Fiona (1999). Using reflexivity to optimize teamwork in qualitative research. Qualitative Health Research, 9(1), 26−44.

Readdick, C. A., Alden, M. Q., Clarke, L., Kalifeh, P. C., Keller, M. K., Manes, R., et al. (2007). National Council on Family Relations Conference Gadsden: Globalization: How families are faring in rural Gadsden County, Florida. Florida State University.

Social Network Theory stresses the importance of relationships and ties of objects within a network

Social Capital refers to the location of these objects and the ability to utilize resources within their network

Research QuestionWhat were the experiences of Florida State University graduate students conducting an ethnographic research project in Gadsden County, Florida?

MethodsQuantitative vs. Qualitative -Knowing vs. knowing how, when, why, whether, and for whom (Sandowski, 2004). Explores the depth and dimension of personal experiences & relationships & dynamics of the team.

•Research team comprised of four people with different disciplinary backgrounds, 2 females & 2 males

•Phenomenological study

Seeks to determine how the world is experienced from the perspective of the actor rather than the researcher

•Explored the experiences of the Gadsden County researchers through one on one interviews.

•Data analysis - The transcripts were examined using a computerized data system, Atlas-Ti. Open and in vivo coding were used to develop codes into families and highlighting emerging themes.

SampleGender: Female (7/7) Ages: 18-34 (2/7), 35+ (4/7) Education: Undergrad (2/7) Graduate (5/7)

Prior Research Experience: None (1/7), Undergrad (1/7), Graduate (4/7),

Undergrad & Graduate (1/7) and Post Graduate (1/7)

Recruited from Parent Study

Sample Population = 10

Inclusion/Exclusion = 0

Enrolled = 8

Participated = 7

Unavailable = 1

Declined = 2