The document summarizes a qualitative study that explored the experiences of researchers who participated in a previous study in Gadsden County, Florida. The researchers interviewed each other to understand how the original study impacted them. Key findings included that younger researchers felt intimidated compared to older ones, researchers developed both emotional and cognitive responses, and relationships within the community and research group influenced their experiences and ability to obtain interviews. The study provided insights into how conducting research can impact researchers themselves across various disciplines.

1. FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE 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 THEMES
Boundaries,Actors – Social Connections, Emotive & Cognitive
Experiences, Qualitative Tools, Research Group, Serendipitous,Ties
CONTRIBUTIONS
Exploration 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 Review
Research literature gap - Lacked peer reviewed articles discussing what if any impact Qualitative Research has on
researchers themselves.
Theoretical Framework
Social 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 of
the 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 been
about research papers and, you know, quantitative stuff and I really don’t
resonate 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 over
researched county in the state but nothing ever happens. So…we really
took 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 driving
out through Quincy so…I kind of saw it as an opportunity to get out of my
space 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 the
lady 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.”
REFLEXIVITY
Exemplars: “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.”
IMPLICATIONS
Code motivation implied a common bond.
Cognitive experiences
Age 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, ChristineA, 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 Question
What were the experiences of Florida State University graduate students conducting an ethnographic research
project in Gadsden County, Florida?
Methods
Quantitative 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.
Sample
Gender: 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