The Journey Through Research Can Be An Adventure

April Davis, Egypt Tramble, Elena Woodward

BSW Candidates

elwoodwa@umflint.edu

The Journey Through Research Can Be An Adventure

The fear of research is common in many undergrad students. This all changed for the three of us as we bravely entered as research students in our junior and senior years at the University of Michigan-Flint. We are all Social Work Majors, holding fast to the Social Work Code of Ethics, and out to change the world. The research we did on Children’s Peace that took place at the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Flint was an opportunity for us as first time research students to learn the important steps of qualitative research, along with valuable life lessons. This was a learning experience for all of us on how to present the data that was gathered in the phenomenological research study into a professional presentation. This study consisted of ten weekly interviews with a child, ages 8-12, in the peace class at the local Boys & Girls club, whom we affectionately referred to as “Peace Mentors”. “The interviews relied on using drawings, storytelling, and games to engage and empower the children to share their personal definition of peace” (Davis, Draper, Parks, Tramble, & Woodward, 2015). After the weekly interviews were completed, we learned to utilize grounded theory coding during this study to come to the powerful conclusion children do not have a language of peace.

Although, we were all looking forward to the opportunity, our lack of knowledge made us fearful of what to expect from participating in research. Some of us have had bad experiences from participating in group work and difficulties with coding. One of our group members lacked the self-confidence to take on leadership within the group. Another member from the group was questioning how this research experience would help her give back to her community. By reading this article, you will learn about each of our individual experiences participating in research for the first time and how it helped us to overcome our personal and professional fears.

Research Student, Egypt Tramble

I remember the moment that I was offered an opportunity to do research for the first time. So many thoughts were running through my mind including, “Why me?” What was so special about me that I was chosen to do research? I didn’t care what I would be researching and I didn’t know exactly what qualitative research consisted of, because all I heard was the word research.  It was soul food for my analytical mind. Needless to say, I was excited and nervous! When I discovered that my research team and I would be conducting research on the Children’s Peace, it was the icing on the cake. As a senior student, this is my second year conducting research and it has tremendously improved my life academically, professionally, and personally.

Here is how:

Before I became a research student, I was just going through the motions with school counting down until graduation. Being a part of research gave me a sense of purpose and helped me to discover my strengths as well as areas of improvement. It has also helped me to connect with faculty, such as our beloved team leader, who is not only the leader of the Children Peace Studies, but has also served as a mentor to the three of us throughout the entire process. So as you can see, being a part of research allows you to have a support system that is unmatched in your typical academic environment, due to the intimacy of being in a small group.

Through the exchange of trust and support that our research team was built upon, I was then able to develop leadership skills. Dividing up tasks within the group and attending research conferences where we present our findings to students, professors, and other professionals served as a great confidence boost. There is also that feeling of certainty when leaving an interview knowing the employer was impressed with my research experience. Being a part of research is a good look for any professional.

The most important aspect of our research is the children who we interviewed. Without them, this experience wouldn’t be possible. With their help, we learn what peace is (or isn’t) through the eyes of a child. This has impacted me personally because the children who we interviewed live in the same neighborhood as my children and I. As I’m interviewing my “Peace Mentor” I think about how I would want someone to treat my children. It also made me think about the things that occur in my household that may contribute to or detract from peace.

Research Student, Elena Woodward

I walked into my interview for the Children’s Peace Research Project expecting something close to a job interview. The team leader was kind and patient and she explained what the project was about and what would be expected of me as a researcher. I instantly became excited about studying peace from a child’s point of view. At the end of the meeting, which did not feel like an interview at all, I was asked to commit a full year to the project.

After giving it some thought, I whole-hardheartedly agreed to work on the research project. At the time, I had no idea as to how research was conducted. I had just began my junior year in the social work program at the University of Michigan-Flint as a transfer student from Mott Community College-Flint. During that time, I was still feeling out of place and had no idea as to what my future goals were as a social work student.

My style of learning and studying is different from the other team members and I was worried about fitting in. I do my best work and writing at home in a quiet place, while some of my team members’ work well writing in groups. I have always had difficulties with distractions while in discussions or lectures. This made quite time a necessity for me and not the others.

By the end of my junior year, I had an enormous appreciation for working in a group with common goals and was able to set professional boundaries. Unfortunately, I had worked in other groups that were extremely difficult, and my admiration for the Peace Team grew. Everyone remained kind, respectful, empathetic, and open-minded. Building a strong network is enormously important in social work and dismissing people because of personal feelings can be counterproductive.

Coding was a completely new concept for me and was extremely confusing. Our fearless leader was patient and explained the process step by step. I remember reading and rereading articles on coding and tried my best to comprehend what the end goal was for this research project. I was afraid that I would never understand the complete process. It was not until we came to the final conclusion that it all came together. This was the moment that the lights in research turned on for me. I was amazed that connecting all the dots of research could come to such an eye opening conclusion. I now have the understanding that research will take time and practice. Good research is not something that is easy or quickly done.

Research Student, April Davis

As a junior at the University of Michigan-Flint, I feel as though I looked at research like other students in my cohort: with hesitation, fear, and wonder. I did not realize the complete concept of research and the importance of its role in the life of social work. Of course we had heard about it in classes and learned that in order to change policy we must have the foundation of both quantitative and qualitative research. This sparked my interest, yet my fear of numbers in quantitative research held me back from wanting to grasp more knowledge of research. I did not realize the true separation distention between the two.

My personal long term goals have been to give back to the community of Flint, Michigan for all the help it has given me in the past. During this journey education has played a key role. I have also learned that research is at the center of making the substantial, long term-changes. This has helped me to face my fears of research. When given the opportunity to learn from this research project I had some reservations about my abilities to be able to separate the social work skills I had gained and the newly learned interviewing techniques that I was now responsible for. I knew my training was efficient and the support and guidance I would have outside the interviewing process with the children would be strong.

I decided to remain mindful of my fears. For the first time, I recognized how important research really was. I had to be conscious of my concerns in leading my Peace Mentor. Being in control is in my comfort zone and I needed to learn to let go. How often am I able to sit back and let others take the steering wheel and tell me their story? Do I get start the conversation: “What does peace mean to you?” and then allow them to explain in their way; not mine? This in itself was my “wow moment,” not just in research and social work, but in everyday life.

Although, I normally strive to be open-minded, this research opened up a whole new perspective for me. I have always valued abiding by the Social Work Ethical Standards and can be a tad bit outspoken. However, because of this experience, I begin to notice how much I directed conversations in the way “I” wanted them to flow. This is a hard habit to break for us strong personality types who have chosen to work for change in this unequal world.

Learning to let go of the steering wheel and realizing that I do not have to be the captain of every ship is now my new focus. This is a new and difficult lesson for me that is teaching me there is a time to lead and a time to sit back and let others lead. The Peace Research Team has been amazing in helping me to identify and redirect these particular struggles. I have also learned a valuable lesson from my team members that I have yet to consistently learn through my class experiences. This valuable lesson is there are team members out there that are dedicated, passionate, and direct, yet non-judgmental and want to see long-term changes as I do. As a compassionate, yet honest group of team members, they listened to what I had to say, valued my experiences and appreciated my feedback.

I believe this experience has helped in starting to shape my leadership skills as a leader and not as a director of people. Helping me as a student recognize that in my community I may not see the true problem, I must rely on those around me for guidance. I must learn to open myself up to learn from others the way they choose to teach and have open communication with them to build rapport.

Participating in research can have its challenges especially for first time research students. We all learned different lessons such as; learning to let go of control, the frustration of group work, and the hesitation of asserting oneself in a leadership role. However, the benefits outweigh the fear, frustration, and apprehension. By learning from our fears and overcoming them together we are able to look back and see what we as a team have accomplished. Being a good social worker is not just understanding knowledge provided in books and lectures, but being able to put knowledge and experience into action.  We can take these lessons into our future careers as social workers with the confidence that we have learned from our experiences. As we choose to face a whole new set of challenges with a new year of research, together we look forward to learning more about children’s peace.

Bio: All researchers involved in this article are BSW candidates at the University of Michigan-Flint with the expected graduation date of 2016.

References

Davis, A., Draper, S., Parks, J., Tramble, E., & Woodward, E. (2015). Can children in Flint define and experience peace? Flint. Poster session presented at the annual meeting of the minds conference of University of Michigan