Wow! It has been a month since this website has been updated and I humbly apologise... Most of us NTUSS folks have been caught up with our internships and it has been a wild ride.
So much has happened since the last entry! We had the HSS Tea Party, an upcoming forum to plan, elections election elections (a historic first for the society!) and of course, our internships.
Well, we are honoured to have our second RA, Liyanah who kindly spilled the beans on the lessons she picked up as an RA. Good on ya Liyanah!
"Hi there fellow sociologists and society members. I've been asked to give the skinny on research assistantship, based on my own experience as a research assistant.
Lesson number one is: It is never only you and 'the research'.
It is also about who you are and who you are working with - interpersonal dynamics. It is also about what days you are able to work, and at what time, taking into consideration how much you're paid for them - personal commitment. It is also about when you get paid and the logs that you have to keep to get paid - administrative concerns.
These other factors may sound petty, but believe me, if you fail to 'sit down and count the costs', you may end up resenting the experience of being a research assistant, instead of enjoying it. Decide whether you are able to 'play by the rules, with so-and-so'. If you are not, the wisest thing to do is leave. Trust that there will be other research assistantship opportunities with other professors. Knock on their doors to ask if you want.
Lesson number two is: Sometimes the research alone is the easiest part of it all, and if so, you're lucky.
Sometimes, the research that you have to do goes beyond your abilities and knowledge. This is when you have to exercise your courage and initiative to tell who you are working for that you are not able to do what you have been entrusted to do. It sounds as if you'd be putting yourself in an unfavourable light by your admission. The answer is maybe, but remember that datelines have to be met, and your professor has set them to keep on both of you on track. If you cannot do the work, your professor can, will, and should assign the work to someone else. It's the most responsible thing to do.
If you are not able to know whether you are up for the task until you have tried your hand in it, tell your professor so, and negotiate a trial period. Be honest with your capabilities. Make explicit to both parties which parts of the research that you 'want' to do, and which parts you 'can'.
The third and final lesson is: Do not discuss the research and the professor you're working for, with other sociologists, or if you can, other fellow university mates.
Your professor will make it clear that the research material is confidential, even among fellow research assistants working on the same project for the same professor. If the latter point is not clear to you, ask your professor about it explicitly. This is because, professors may give you work that suits your background and your temperament, which may not be suitable or acceptable to other people's background and temperament.
Then, there's the issue of personal idiosyncrasies. Remember that you and your professor make one combination, and there are many combinations that can be made between your professor and other research assistants, potential or existing. Maybe you find your professor difficult with some things or at some points, but don't tell on the professor. Tell the professor instead, or reconfigure the arrangements between you and your professor, but never tell. If it's serious, tell it to someone who can seriously help you and your professor, someone like Prof. Kwok Kian Woon who is the head of the Sociology department. Do not spoil the experience for other schoolmates - give them the opportunity to form their own opinions about the research and who they're working for. That's fair. Moreover, negative expectations have a nasty way of turning into debilitating and defeating self-fulfilling prophesies.
The less ominous in all of this is the great amount of things that you will be able to learn about doing research - what (unconventional) sources to pay attention to, how to get information out of interviewees specifically and people in general, how to be a good interviewer, how to organise your data manually on a computer software, how to interpret data, and in what ways you can rely on other professors for their expertise on different subjects.
There is a very good difference between learning these things from a book and letting the penny drop through experience. Above all, and the greatest reward is that you will learn how to cultivate a sociologist's intuition. Its cost? Priceless." - Nur Liyanah Binte Ali Mohamed
Labels: The RA Files