I was never sure of what I wanted to choose as a career. At first, I thought of being a teacher because my mom is a teacher. I quickly learned that it wasn’t for me after I got a job as a substitute teacher at a daycare. While I did enjoy being with the kids and their silly antics, it wasn’t something that brought me joy. But in my third year at UIC, I was asked to be a research assistant for my Communication Professor. And as I worked with her, I realized that this was
something I wanted to do as a career.
As a research assistant, I loved being a part of a bigger project. Being able to conduct focus group research and collaborate with others. I enjoyed being able to talk about the topics of research with other colleagues and find solutions to the problems we’ve come across. Our research is focused on the communicative contexts in the food environment and the food influence that comes from the media we consume or the resources around us. I’ve enjoyed being able to transcribe our focus group audio and organize our meetings with the Chicago Public Libraries we’ve chosen in order to host our focus groups.
After working with my Communication Professor for a little less than a year, I can say that I enjoy researching. I enjoy the ability of curiosity that I can figure out with research, and being able to find solutions with a group is challenging but at the same time it’s fulfilling. While
at times it can be frustrating, for example, when we don’t have enough participants for a focus group or when our meeting times conflict with the library’s availability, there is something about pushing through the hard times that makes finding a solution satisfying.
I never thought I would want to take the career path of a researcher but as a Communication major, taking lots of research classes and being in group projects has allowed me to experience what collaborating in research is like; working together to showcase what
you’ve done.
A class I had to take titled COMM 301, was my first research group project experience which let me fall in love with research. At first, it was hard because we didn’t know what we were doing, but as we learned about researching in class we were able to organize our work. As a group leader, I had to learn how to take charge while also listening to my group members. I never wanted to be a strict leader because I wanted my group members to know that I valued their input. In this class, I learned the importance of understanding different leadership styles and being able to organize a research group successfully. It’s important that the people you collaborate with feel heard because their input matters too, and that is the reason they are in the
group. Communication is so important in group projects which is what I heavily focused on with my research group because collaboration is not only working together but being open with your group members and their ideas. This class impacted me so much because it opened my eyes to a career path I wanted to pursue and also how I wanted to pursue it.
As a researcher, I want to be curious and I want to be able to dig up information about my research topics. But I also want to lead my own research in a collaborative way, I never want my colleagues to feel less than because their voices matter to me. Being a researcher is important to me because there are lots of topics that aren’t covered because no one is covering them. Being a researcher is about communication, you have to be able to communicate effectively in order to
get the information you need, whether it’s interviewing people, conducting focus groups, or even talking with your group members. It’s being able to look at all the information available and analyzing it to come up with your own findings. A researcher doesn’t only look at information to analyze but they also have to follow the research ethics of justice, respect for persons, and beneficence. These are the 3 core values that protect those involved in research and the strict guidelines a researcher must take into account. As a researcher, I will follow the core principles of research ethics while also making sure that my curiosity, communication, and honesty in research play a big part in the topics I want to cover.
