Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Research Complications

I really want to blog about my recent experiences in social science research, but I'm not sure I can blog about it in an anonymous manner. Let's just say that it's pretty confusing when you try to work with other people rather than just being in control of your own project. I'm trying to follow the proper procedure according to university rules and the people I'm working with weren't. Yet somehow I feel like a narc because in the process of me trying to follow the rules I managed to bring their breech of protocol to the attention of the authorities.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, I feel for you. I've had occasions when I've worked with people who don't believe in following protocol in the same way I do and it can cause conflict. Generally, it's not too difficult to follow the rules -- just takes some forms and some time. No big. Going around the system, to me, often is an indicator of not being prepared in the first place (which is not good research).

Hrm. You're inspiring me to post about something that's been bugging me for a few days.

Ms.PhD said...

Yeesh. I hope that turned out okay and didn't get you in too much political trouble.

I haven't needed IRBs for my work thus far, since I've only done in vitro work, but I've been in similar situations where my idea of what's kosher vs. what other people seem to find "perfectly normal and ok" clash severely. Good for you for bringing it up.