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Making sense of human participants-
something to think about. |
Scholar's Journal
Lesson 1: Researchers inhabit a precarious environment- so do your best, and then yell “Do Your Worst.” The summer began with anxiety. I needed 100 participants in 12 weeks. I captained a small group of research assistants that were planning on helping me over the summer. A broken leg (in three places), and a serious bout of depression took away two of my assistants who were going to run the female portion of participants. Needless to say, a study looking at pro-sociality is going to be a little skewed by a research assistant with crutches or depression handling participants. Lab space, physio equipment, advice, and time- all could be more abundant. I was pleased to find that with patience, relatively little political scheming, and a positive attitude I was in sympathetic company (or maybe it's because I'm in a lab that primarily studies pro-social and positive psychology). Midway through the summer, however, I felt relief. Data collection was going well, better than well actually, I was ahead of schedule. The small (now smaller) team of well prepared research assistants were performing admirably. My labors were showing a steady data collection. But in reflection, my labors were but a comet to the greater planets that needed to align for me to get this far.
Lesson 2: Using human subjects is somewhat like operating a nuclear power plant- it needs to be fool proof (but cannot) and may have devastating consequences. This wasn't my first experiment, so while I knew what was to come, surprises did exist. The effect I am looking for, if present, might be somewhat small. It can, therefore, be hidden in the static of other effects participants might bring to the lab that we hope to hold constant. “Please do not send or read text messages during the experiment”... "Please try to not fall asleep during the experiment” ... “Please raise your hand when the screen says 'Raise your hand now' so that we can proceed” ... “Of course I can watch your child while you take the experiment”...”Yes, you can skip this portion of the experiment because you 'don't like it' and still get credit” ... I said these, and more, with as little disappointment in my voice as was humanly possible. I find that I could manage the technical difficulties well, but sometimes a human just surprises you. I suppose that's why I do this research.
Lesson 3: If you don't know quite what you're looking for, you might as well cast a big net. My project sits on the edge of 3 sub-disciplines in social psychology. It is a rather experimental experiment. With the fall semester beginning I am looking at the data and not finding some of the key points I was expecting. Fortunately I have various parts of the experiment that were originally going to be peripheral but now look like they may be what I do most of the reporting on. Now I only wish that I had included other questions and find myself wondering “would socio-economic status have moderated this effect?” … “do Western and Easter centered cultures conceptualize this relationship differently” … “did gender frameworks produce this difference?” I knew this to some extent before, which is why I have something to publish on now, but a little more spice wouldn't have hurt the mix.
Summary: Research is a learning experience- be prepared and be humble (or be humbled).
