Qualitative Researcher Entry 

A journal entry about my research.
It’s my research, but it’s for them, the communications field.
There is so much value in being a qualitative researcher. To think that our backgrounds and who we are as a person shapes meaning and findings that other researchers in the field could benefit from.
I like the idea of words, papers, research, and findings done by me being ‘out there’.
My art and what I’ve put out there as a writer, thinker, dancer, human, is just as relevant as the papers I write as a behavioral scientist. Which I find many classmates don’t acknowledge.
What shapes me, also shapes my findings in the best way.
I am good at understanding and leading conversations and then analyzing words to find patterns and meaning.
It’s the most beautiful thing, to listen and give meaning into what people have to say.
This ’blog’ could have been a dating profile, a clever fiction story, or some juicy tea about the company I worked for. But instead, It’s a journal entry of what I do best; write.
As I transcribe and translate, I remember the participants quite well, I remember their personalities and understand their mind through the different answers they all give to the same question. There is a beauty about people and how their backgrounds shape their understanding and perception of the world.
Is it weird to say that I got ‘attached’ to the participants because I’ve listened, read, re-read, translated, and analyzed their words multiple times?
They make up the project that has taken up most of my winter months. I am grateful for words, sentences, expressions, and dialogue. It’s beautiful how even when someone is trying to say everything and takes up 6 sentences to say nothing, even then, it matters. I will always encourage people to be self-resilient and say what they really think.
Because as a qualitative researcher, honesty is crucial to find the right patterns and make sense of true meaning.
Hey! Yes you, our words matter.