After writing an essay on my recent archival experience, I felt that I understood my own research process quite well. However, through developing survey questions for additional research, I have been able to look at my research in a new perspective. As Michale Klein discussed in his article, “What Is It We Do When We Write Articles Like This One?” research can in a sense be viewed in two distinct categories: hunting and gathering. While these categories are limited in their ability to relate to varying research practices, I found them to be a helpful tool in analyzing my own experience.
First, there is hunting. This sort of research involves going out and seeking something, including data, information, or a quote. Just as a hunter tracks any given animal, a researcher engaging in this sort of research will use evidence to locate the source they are looking for.
Next, there is gathering. Unlike hunting, in which a researcher has a specific goal, gathering entails viewing all that there is to offer and then selecting that which might be useful. Just as a gatherer will come across both edible and inedible plants, a researcher engaging in this type of research will likely find some sources that are helpful and others that are not.
In consideration of these principles, I realized that my experience in archival research was mostly of the “gathering,” sort. In the archive, I perused the items on each table unsure of what I might find. Furthermore, I viewed a variety of documents before I found one that interested me. In this way, my search was mostly undirected and in a sense somewhat random. However, I did utilize some aspects of the “hunting” principle of research. When I began my search, I intended on locating an artifact which related to “student life at Santa Clara University,” and in this sense I was “hunting” for items of a specific type.
Similarly, I predict that my experience with survey research will likewise involve aspects of both the “hunting” and “gathering” styles. Since I will be choosing specific questions that target certain areas of interest related to my research questions, I will mostly be using “hunting” research techniques. However, once I have collected my data, I will need to sort through them and “look for any patterns” or relevant information that might supplement my research. In this way, I will also be utilizing “gathering” techniques.
In consideration of these new principles, I realized that I was able to evaluate my research in all sorts of new ways that I had not considered before. Although I was previously unaware of these ideas, I found that they were directly applicable to my own research process. For this reason, I believe that Michael Klein’s scale for evaluation of research processes is a useful tool for self reflection. Although Klein’s findings indicated that the scale was not sufficiently complex to accurately describe real life research processes, I found that the principles of “hunting” and “gathering” helped me to reflect on my own archival research experience.
mattsrobinson 