Journal of Research Practice - JRP (Athabasca University Press)
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Collaborative Research in Energy: How the US-USSR Initiated a Research Project 40 Years Ago
Get PDFThis article is a response to a Main Article published in this journal:
Thurner, T. W., & Proskuryakova, L. (2013). Collaborative research in energy efficiency and renewable energy: Evidence from 5 years of US-Russian research cooperation. Journal of Research Practice, 9(1), Article M4
Researching With Undergraduate Students: Exploring the Learning Potentials of Undergraduate Students and Researchers Collaborating in Knowledge Production
Get PDFThe article presents a particular case of undergraduate students working on subprojects within the framework of their supervisors' (the authors') research project during Autumn Semester 2012 and Spring Semester 2013. The article's purpose is to show that an institutionalized focus on students as "research learners" rather than merely curriculum learners proves productive for both research and teaching. We describe the specific university learning context and the particular organization of undergraduate students' supervision and assistantships. The case builds on and further enhances a well-established and proven university model of participant-directed, problem-oriented project work. We explore students' and researchers' experiences of being part of the collaboration, focusing on learning potentials and dilemmas associated with the multiple roles of researchers and students that characterized this particular intertwined research and education arrangement. We show that the connection to the research project assisted students to orientate, learn, and contribute in relation to empirical and theoretical aspects of research and supported the development of broad perspectives and deep analysis
Challenging Fieldwork Situations: A Study of Researcher's Subjectivity
Get PDFResearching two different work settings, police work and hospice care, the authors experienced a strange sense of discomfort in their bodies during their fieldwork when investigating professional training and work situations, especially in encounters with citizens and patients. In some of those situations, the authors withdrew physically or mentally from the situation without wanting to do so, feeling emotionally affected by the uncertainty of the situations, not fully grasping the meaning of what was going on. In a strange way they felt awkwardly detached from their research activities and their bodily involvement in their fieldwork. In this article, the authors seek to explore the meaning of awkwardness embedded in some kinds of ethical dilemma. Through a phenomenological analysis based on the concept of intentionality of the body and a model of inner dilemmas, they reach a renewed understanding on the phenomenon of awkwardness as a natural way for researchers to respond to challenging fieldwork situations. Finally, they propose and unfold mutual interviewing and cooperative analysis as methods of investigating researcher's subjectivity in facing such situations
From Research Assistant to Researcher: Being Wakeful in a Mentorship Journey About Methodology, Poverty, and Deficit Thinking
Get PDFThis article explores how insights and new knowledge were incorporated about narrative inquiry methodology, poverty, and deficit ways of thinking through a journey of mentorship. The experiences of a graduate student, as she journeys through the roles of a research assistant and graduate researcher, all the while being part of a positive mentorship experience, are relayed. The article describes the journey of an evolving researcher who becomes wakeful through the narrative inquiry methodology while engaged as a research assistant as well as a graduate student alongside her supervisor
Cognitive Apprenticeship and the Supervision of Science and Engineering Research Assistants
Get PDFWe explore and critically reflect on the process of science and engineering research assistant skill development both within laboratory-based research teams and, when no team is present, within the faculty supervisor-research assistant interactions. Using a performance-based measure of research skill development, we identify research assistants who, over the course of an academic year of service as a researcher, markedly developed, modestly developed, or failed to develop their research skills. Interviews with these research assistants and their faculty supervisors, seen through the lens of cognitive apprenticeship, provide insight into this variation. We found that within the contours of supervisory relationships and research teams, research skill development is indelibly shaped, for better or worse, by supervisor influence and abundant trial-and-error
Research Skills for the Future: A Consultant's Perspective
Get PDFThis article is a response to a Viewpoint & Discussion article published in this journal:
Ulrich, W., & Dash, D. P. (2013). Research skills for the future: Summary and critique of a comparative study in eight countries. Journal of Research Practice, 9(1), Article V1
From Research Assistant to Professional Research Assistance: Research Consulting as a Form of Research Practice
Get PDFResearch assistantships have long been viewed as an extension of the formal education process, a form of apprenticeship, and a pathway into the professional practice of research in institutional settings. However, there are other contexts in which researchers practice research. Our self-reflective analysis identified that RAship experiences during the masters and the PhD may serve developmentally foundational roles in the advancement of an RA’s knowledge, skills, and passion for research. Further, analysis of participants’ experiences revealed that RA supervisors play critical roles in the development of RAs as researchers. We conclude with the understanding that RAships may be formative in contributing to the development of individuals who go on to specialise as professional research consultants as research consulting is a natural extension of the RA role. Students entering into RAships, current RAs, new faculty members, current RA supervisors, faculty members looking to improve their research productivity, and Chairs of departments will all benefit from reading this paper and its contribution to the current understanding of how RAships impact the development of researchers, and specifically how RAships contribute to the development of research consultants
The Ethical Treatment of Research Assistants: Are We Forsaking Safety for Science?
Get PDFScience inevitably involves ethical discussions about how research should be implemented. However such discussions often neglect the potential unethical treatment of a third party: the research assistant. Extensive anecdotal evidence suggests that research assistants can experience unique physical, psychological, and social risks when implementing their typical responsibilities. Moreover, these research assistants, who perhaps engage in research experience to bolster their curricula vitae, may feel coerced to continue to work in unsafe environments out of fear of losing rapport with the research supervisor or letters of recommendation for their future endeavors. In the present article, we address two important issues regarding the ethical treatment of research assistants. First, we present evidence suggesting that research assistants may experience substantive risk when implementing their assigned responsibilities. Second, we propose a document, the "Research Assistant's Bill of Rights," as a possible ethics code for people supervising research assistants. This document is independent from typical institutional review board processes, and it has the potential to maximize benefits to research supervisors and research assistants