People sometimes ask me what it looks like to be a “researcher”, so I thought I would take this week’s post and give you an idea of the sorts of tasks that I engage in regularly as a researcher (outside of actually doing the research/collecting data, because, honestly, that’s really only a small part of it!). As a reminder, there is a form on ICE to add research-related activities to your SWF, so you just fill out the form to officially document your research-related activities. Then you have a chat with Jean to agree on a number of weekly hours for the activities you have identified.
So, below are some activities in which I regularly engage as they relate to the entire research process (note: hyperlinked text will bring you to previous posts I have made on that topic):
- Thinking and talking to people: this is where most of the idea-generation occurs. As faculty, we often talk with our colleagues about what students are struggling with, or what we’re thinking of changing in our courses (and why). These conversations are great jumping-off points for research projects
- Reading: I’m sure we all engage in some sort of informal professional development where we read articles or blogs (or even listen to podcasts) about teaching and learning. We might read about what others have done in the classroom to inspire our own practice, or more theoretical pieces about how students learn. These readings can also spur research ideas: as you read what others have done you might think of a related research question, wonder whether you’d obtain the same results in your classroom (replication), or whether you could adapt their project to your class (extension).
- Writing: there is a lot of writing that happens at various stages of the research process, from the proposal stage where you might apply for some research funding, to completing the REB application for either primary research or secondary data (and revisions), to writing articles (peer-reviewed, editor-only reviewed, or more informal like this newsletter). There are also manuscript revisions if a journal is thinking about accepting your article.
- More thinking: research is cyclical, so as you conduct some research, it is likely to get you thinking about more questions, so you’re always kinda planning ahead to the next project, looking at upcoming research opportunities, and forming collaborations (or thinking about who would be a good team member for that particular project, including students!). One component that takes up some time (but pays off dividends to your future self) is organizing your current and future work, adding timelines to your planner, and keeping track of your current and future projects, which conference you plan to attend to disseminate your work, and where you have sent/published your work (and what state of the process each one is in: initial submission, revise and resubmit, accepted, in press, published).
If there is anything I can do to support your research or if you have suggestions for me in my role as Research Coordinator, please reach out via email or pop in to my virtual “office hours” on Fridays from 12:30-1:30pm in my Whereby.com room.
