From May to August 2019, I completed an ARIA research project under the supervision of Dr. Barry Eidlin in the sociology department. His broader research currently focuses on the link between internal labour union contention and the effectiveness of these unions in negotiating contracts for their members. Within this broader research, I worked on two main projects. Firstly, I contributed to the cleaning of data to be quantitatively analyzed. Secondly, I worked on the qualitative side of the project by developing a coding scheme and using it to analyze newsletters produced by a labour union reform group.
From the beginning of my undergraduate career, I have been interested in gaining research experience. While I had previously worked as a research assistant, I was especially drawn to ARIA because of its structure which prompts more profound intellectual involvement of the student in the research process. After taking two classes with Prof. Eidlin and working on his project as a research assistant, I began a conversation about becoming more involved in his research through the ARIA opportunity.
Completing an ARIA project has been an extremely rewarding experience. When I first began my work, the research had not quite reached the stage where it was ready for my qualitative work, which is where we had originally intended I might contribute. Because of this, Prof. Eidlin invited me to work on the still ongoing quantitative work. This scared me, because I didn鈥檛 have any experience with data outside of a classroom setting. Although I was initially intimidated, I also saw this as a potentially valuable learning opportunity. Indeed, participating in the quantitative side of the project turned out to be an extremely rewarding experience. I gained new skills using data analysis software and, more importantly, developed a confidence in my ability to use data and to take on new challenges more generally.
One recurring challenge throughout my summer was the intellectual independence I was given. This also ended up being the best thing about my ARIA experience. I felt truly a part of the research team and was also treated this way, meaning that I was often tasked with finding solutions to problems that the professors had not yet looked at themselves. This allowed me to be creatively involved in the project, as opposed to simply carrying out directions. I did this both quantitatively, where I cleaned certain data on my own from start to finish, and qualitatively, where I developed and revised the coding scheme that is being used for the coding of newsletters.
The trust placed in me to conduct research at a high level with little handholding posed challenges because it pushed me somewhat out of my comfort zone. I felt intimidated by the completely blank page in front of me when it came to developing the qualitative coding scheme, and I was sometimes nervous when asked during our weekly team meetings to share my ideas about big questions in the overall research project. However, I am extremely grateful that I was given the opportunity to experience this kind of challenge. It is already difficult for undergraduates to get research experience of any kind, but it is especially rare to have the kind of profound involvement in scholarly inquiry that I was granted this summer. For me, the main challenge of my research experience was also what made this endeavour so worthwhile.
I conclude my ARIA project feeling that is has shaped my career path in two important ways. First, it confirmed my desire to do research. This was not particularly surprising to me, but I feel more confident applying to graduate school with the newfound confirmation that I thrive in a research environment. Secondly, my project helped me figure out what I want to research. As an honours student in both political science and sociology, I have worked throughout my degree to prepare myself to enter graduate school in either field. Which path to choose has been a dilemma on my mind ever since coming to UU直播. Now, I know that I want to study subjects at the intersection of these two disciplines, and that I can best do this from within sociology. By helping me sort this out, my ARIA experience will continue to have an impact on me long beyond the summer of 2019.
