Research in Color: A hands-on roadmap to literature reviews in the social sciences · LibreTexts
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2.4: Emotions and Research
Opening the book…
“It’s just a huge [sigh] collection of emotions.” (Graduate student participant, as cited in Droog et al., 2024, p. 837)
Notice Emotions
Research involves not only skills and concepts (cognitive), but also emotions or affect (Jakobovits & Nahl-Jakobovits, 1987; Kuhlthau, 1988; Schroeder & Cahoy, 2010). We often translate the need to be scientific into trying to be emotionally unimpacted by the research. However, while the scientific method is important, we are still human.
If we ignore our emotions, we run the risk of believing our thoughts to be unbiased facts, rather than more accurately seeing how our emotions might be impacting our research.
Additionally, our emotions can guide us. If we're aware of how anxious or overwhelmed we feel at a particular step, we can consider what that emotion might be telling us.
For example, if we're overwhelmed by not finding any sources, it can be a great time to meet with a librarian who can make this step simpler.
Likewise, if we pay attention to when the research excites us, this can help fuel us through the overwhelming steps. Recognizing our excitement can also point to how we want to focus our research.
I’ll help you keep track of how your emotions shift throughout your research journey.
Let's pause and notice your current emotional state in relation to research.
Activity: Emotions \(\PageIndex{1}\)
Stop - Be sure you drew the concept of research in the previous section before doing this activity.
Look at your drawing on the previous page. What emotions do you experience when you think about research?
The activity of drawing research and using it to consider your emotions was first presented to me at a conference (Droog, 2020). The presenter led us through the activity you just did. I drew a wavy line with frowning faces at the low points and happy faces at the high points, depicting what I'd seen students experience during their research, ranging from anxiety to excitement during different points in the process.
Kuhlthau's pivotal research shows that high schoolers and undergraduates experience a range of emotions at different steps in the research process (Kuhlthau, 1988). I worked with a graduate student in art therapy to visually depict these changing emotions along the research path. Note the yellow ribbon flowing up and down and peaks and valleys. This validates the full range of emotions we experience as we research.
My own research about graduate students' experiences of research shows that this model does not fit for graduate students. Their emotions tend not to follow such a linear path. So don't worry about whether your emotions match this. There's no right or wrong way to feel about your research, and likely you'll feel a bit differently depending on the project.
In the next section, we'll continue to focus on you as an individual.
