Being the researcher.
(Uk.sagepub.com, 2016)
"Bryan left my office after venting his frustration over his interview skills, and I didn’t hear from him for a while. I decided no news was good news, meaning he must have been working hard, collecting data in the field. I knew he would visit me sooner or later, and I was right.
So, on a Monday morning during my office hours, Bryan showed up with a stack of paper along with a thick notebook. His first words came out before even saying hi to me.
Bryan: I am overwhelmed, Dr. Kim. Look at these pages of transcripts and I still have more interviews to transcribe. By the way, how are you?
Me: Fine, thank you for asking. And you?
"Bryan left my office after venting his frustration over his interview skills, and I didn’t hear from him for a while. I decided no news was good news, meaning he must have been working hard, collecting data in the field. I knew he would visit me sooner or later, and I was right.
So, on a Monday morning during my office hours, Bryan showed up with a stack of paper along with a thick notebook. His first words came out before even saying hi to me.
Bryan: I am overwhelmed, Dr. Kim. Look at these pages of transcripts and I still have more interviews to transcribe. By the way, how are you?
Me: Fine, thank you for asking. And you?
Bryan: I would feel better if I were done with this stuff.
Me: What stuff?
This research stuff. It is so time consuming to get an interview tape transcribed. I have transcribed three so far and I have five more to go. It is so time consuming and overwhelming.
Me: Welcome to my world, Bryan. It’s good that you’re trying to transcribe your tapes yourself. I commend you. It’s tedious, but worth it. Believe me. When I finished my data collection, I was overwhelmed, too. I had a thick notebook filled with observational notes of my fieldwork and had 13, 120-minute-long microtapes to be transcribed. I also had a huge box full of artifacts to look at. Yes, transcribing the interview tapes seemed to take forever. I didn’t hire a transcriptionist, not just because of my tight budget but also because of the importance of the initial learning opportunity about my interview data. And then, I had to read, re-read and re-re-read the transcripts and field notes for analyses. This process was really daunting and even depressing. I didn’t enjoy it much, I admit. But I felt a tremendous responsibility and accountability, realiz- ing that I was “the” researcher for the first time with a mountain of my own serious data! And, you know something? I didn’t know it during the data analysis period, but after finishing it, I felt like I went through a rite of passage to my researcher-hood, and THAT was exciting.
Bryan: Wow, a rite of passage to the researcher-hood!
Me: What stuff?
This research stuff. It is so time consuming to get an interview tape transcribed. I have transcribed three so far and I have five more to go. It is so time consuming and overwhelming.
Me: Welcome to my world, Bryan. It’s good that you’re trying to transcribe your tapes yourself. I commend you. It’s tedious, but worth it. Believe me. When I finished my data collection, I was overwhelmed, too. I had a thick notebook filled with observational notes of my fieldwork and had 13, 120-minute-long microtapes to be transcribed. I also had a huge box full of artifacts to look at. Yes, transcribing the interview tapes seemed to take forever. I didn’t hire a transcriptionist, not just because of my tight budget but also because of the importance of the initial learning opportunity about my interview data. And then, I had to read, re-read and re-re-read the transcripts and field notes for analyses. This process was really daunting and even depressing. I didn’t enjoy it much, I admit. But I felt a tremendous responsibility and accountability, realiz- ing that I was “the” researcher for the first time with a mountain of my own serious data! And, you know something? I didn’t know it during the data analysis period, but after finishing it, I felt like I went through a rite of passage to my researcher-hood, and THAT was exciting.
Bryan: Wow, a rite of passage to the researcher-hood!
Me: Yes, Bryan. Think of it as a rite of passage into researcher-hood. You’re
not the only one. I had other doctoral students literally crying in my
office, overwhelmed. But they made it! You’ll pass through this, too.
So, go have some fun flirting with your data.
You will enjoy doing the fieldwork after finally gaining access to your
research site. Like Bryan, however, you will also feel overwhelmed by the amount
of data you accumulate over time, not knowing what to do with them. You are
about to enter the maze of data analysis and interpretation,"
Uk.sagepub.com. (2016). [online] Available at: https://uk.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/68279_Kim_Chapter_6.pdf [Accessed 17 Mar. 2018].:
https://uk.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/68279_Kim_Chapter_6.pdf
Uk.sagepub.com. (2016). [online] Available at: https://uk.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/68279_Kim_Chapter_6.pdf [Accessed 17 Mar. 2018].:
https://uk.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/68279_Kim_Chapter_6.pdf
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