When people ask me “what are your plans after graduating?” I always used to tell them I’d never go into academia, that was far too scary: all that analysis, drawing on huge theories of knowledge with ancient traditions – there’s too much pressure. But after hearing Patrick talk about his own individual take on research, it really resonated with me. Coming from a background in the very objective world of science, it was enlightening to see such a personal project.
His paper encompassed an eclectic mix of gay Koreans, in America, using Samoan interview methods. Patrick understood that his heritage influenced his research, so instead of trying to assume complete impartiality, he embraced his culture and brought indigenous ideas of thought into his more western academic methodology and research methods.
I was surprised at the freedom he had to devise a completely never-seen-before research method. By building strong relationships with those he was researching, he bridged the gap between the researcher and the participant, and he offered parts of himself up so that the men he worked with could connect and be comfortable in sharing their often harrowing stories. It’s those connections that allowed Patrick to co-construct a new body of knowledge, together with his participants. He brought himself into the research, rather than the solely outside approach that I’m used to. But I think it’s not creating bias, it’s more tailoring research to the individual researcher.
His work showed me that research is about sharing parts of other people’s whole worlds, not just cherry-picking elements to help illustrate the story you think best fits the data; you need to account for the variability of our lived experiences and understandings. He demonstrated that there’s another option: to be a social researcher, not just a scientist who hounds empirical data. To me, he tried to pull out generalisations from participants’ experiences and he wasn’t looking to produce a specific statistic; that wasn’t the goal of his research. Learning from this, I’m now excited to realise I can really truly get involved in projects I’m passionate about, looking into something personal, explore themes that I’ve seen reflected in my own life and not be scared to take a new individual spin on other ideas.
Yes, the academic world is harsh, but maybe it’s a little bit more forgiving than I first thought.
