Last night I read an article by Michael Kleine titled “What Is It We Do When We Write Articles Like This One- and How Can We Get Students to Join Us?”. Throughout this article, Kleine talks about this heuristic of “hunting” and “gathering” that he thinks researches might be using to do their research.
Hunting and gathering??? Isn’t that what the cave men used to do?
Source: memegenerator.net
While that is what the cave men used to do, this is not what Kleine was talking about.
Kleine says how “a hunter finds what he is looking for; a gatherer discovers that which might be of use”
Throughout a research process, the researcher has times where they know exactly what they are looking for and have a clear strategy, while other times they will discover something by surprise that is completely new and then will adjust their research around that new discovery.
As I am currently in the middle of my research process, I found this to be very true. When I first went into the archives, my initial research question was “Who receives the majority of financial aid and has it changed over the years?” But, as I was looking through the archives for information on that topic, I came across some mental health reports that sparked my interest. I completely changed my research topic and decided to research the questions: “How prevalent are mental health issues in college students? What has caused these issues for the students? Is college and the environment surrounding it part of the reason why?”
I went into the archives as a “hunter” but I changed into a “gatherer”. This is what the research process is about. You do not have to be one or the other, you are both. As Kleine says:
“researches/writers need to collect data; then they need to sift the data rhetorically, keeping that which is relevant to audience and purpose,and throwing out that which is irrelevant; then they need to seek patterns in the data – and use those patterns to either to either make or confirm hypotheses; and finally they need to translate their findings into writing.”
Being aware that you need to be both a hunter and a gatherer in your research can be extremely helpful. Be open to discovering new information that may alter your research. It’s okay to not find everything that you wanted. But also, make sure to focus and work with a sense of purpose and if you discover something new that is interesting to your research, then adapt and accommodate it.
Researching is a process but if you go in with an open and focused mind, you will be successful. I promise!