What Does Teamwork Mean to Qualitative Researchers?
Hello Qualitative Mind,
“Teamwork makes the dream work” is a famous saying attributed to John Maxwell. If you’re a qualitative researcher and academic navigating teamwork, you might have second thoughts about that saying and your thinking might fall more along the following lines…
Teamwork makes stressful work.
Teamwork makes hurried work.
Teamwork makes one-sided work.
Teamwork makes painful work.
OR the most common one…
Teamwork makes more work for me!
Qualitative research is highly relational, and almost always requires working with other people. Also, it seems that those people almost always have little to no experience with qualitative research. So, what can we do to get closer to teamwork that is indeed making the dream work? In today’s blog post, I’m going to share with you strategies my mentors and supervisors used during my PhD, as well as strategies I’ve been using as an entrepreneur to manage my projects.
I know what I’m about to write might not be what you want to read, but I’m writing it anyway. Qualitative research projects are never flawless but the impactful ones have effective leaders. Whether you like it or not, you need to decide if you are a leader or a team player in the projects you’re involved in. If you’re a leader, I’d recommend that you pay close attention to what Maria Mayan – one of my PhD supervisors – did for almost two years while we (the research coordinator and I) collected data that ended up making up the bulk of my graduate work.
-> Weekly Meetings (that aren’t a waste of time!)
Maria was extremely busy with both academic and administrative duties. Still, she met with us on a weekly basis for one hour. During those meetings, we discussed and reviewed everything that any qualitative research project entails (from ethics proposal to writing findings). We tackled research issues in a timely fashion and had the opportunity to get to know each other as individuals as well. Both Jessica (the research coordinator) and I looked forward to those meetings. We knew we would have Maria’s expertise and fresh pair of eyes ready to support us.
When we started analyzing the data, Maria would often book a room with a large whiteboard and erasable markers of various colours. This was amazing and, in my opinion, one of the reasons I became such a visually-guided person when it comes to analyzing qualitative data (if you have no idea what I’m talking about, you need to check out the FREE mini masterclass From Qualitative Data to Paragraphs).
It was in one of those meetings that I found myself being challenged as a dietitian. I wanted healthy eating to matter to pregnant and postpartum women more than the data was showing it did, and both Maria and Jessica helped me to realize that. So, and trust me when I say this, as the leader of a qualitative research project your attention to how qualitative data is being collected and analyzed is invaluable to challenging preconceived ideas and ensuring data validity.
Is meeting on a weekly or regular basis time consuming? Absolutely YES! However, this is where you need to set your priorities straight. If an undergoing qualitative project is your priority, it’ll be reflected in your schedule and you’ll be dedicating more time to it.
-> Writing Meetings
I asked Kim Raine, one of my committee members and all-time favorite academics out there, to help me write the paper reporting the work we did in rural Alberta. Kim said yes, and patiently worked with me as I struggled to write and then publish those results. We met monthly and before each meeting I sent her whatever I had written in the previous weeks. I felt my time with her was too precious to be wasted, so I did my best to make progress and ask questions. If you want your qualitative research (or your trainee’s research) to be written and published sooner, this strategy can help. No matter your role and academic position, be kind and respectful to people’s pace and emotional wellbeing. I never felt pressured by Kim, and that played a big role in our meeting results.
-> What if I’m not the leader (or the principal investigator) but still care about the progress of the project?
I think there is always room for giving as long as there is room for receiving. Before you try to give your time and step up as a leader, talk to whoever has that “official” title and make sure you’re on the same page about how you’ll be mentoring and working with graduate students, research assistants, community members, etc.; managing the data; and writing the findings (this includes an open discussion about publication authorship).
Moreover, make it your goal to keep everyone in the loop by using Google documents with brief meeting minutes that emphasize action items and timelines. Communication that is efficient and informative can prevent so many unnecessary problems from happening in a research project.
-> Now Strategies Borrowed From My Entrepreneurial Experience
I have two strategies for project management that I highly recommend. Both Jess and I use Asana (some of you might use Trello or Monday) to manage our Quali Q tasks. We’re able to assign each other tasks with timelines and additional comments. Asana is free for what most of us need to accomplish as small teams. It’s also easy to learn and use. If you don’t want to learn by trial and error (that’s what I did), there are hundreds of Asana tutorials available to you on YouTube. You can propose using Asana to your immediate team members and ask them about their progress and needs at the various stages of the project. Asana (or any other project manager software) isn’t a magic pill that will solve all teamwork challenges, but it might bring much needed clarity and accountability to those involved in a qualitative research project. This way everyone knows what they’re responsible for, and by when they need to do it.
The other strategy I’ve been using for more than a year involves some serious weekly planning (for you). I use the Full Focus Planner and my weekly priorities and standing meetings are laid out on my paper calendar and transferred to my Google calendar every Sunday or Monday morning. I’ve shown the planner to some friends in academic circles, and they didn’t think it would work for them. It worked for me as a graduate student but it’s not the planner itself that is essential. The essential thing is setting weekly priorities that align with your project and career goals. If your weekly work/calendar doesn’t support you in making progress towards your key projects and career advancement, something is off. Cathy Mazak has so many podcast episodes and materials related to this. I highly recommend that you delve deeper into understanding what matters to you as a qualitative researcher, and how it is reflected in your habits, routines, work schedule, etc.
How are you feeling about your current and future teamwork in qualitative research? Which strategies do you want to try? This blog post was written after a reader shared with me that working in teams to accomplish qualitative research goals was challenging for them. I look forward to hearing what you think about I what I’ve shared here.
As always, talk soon!
Maira