The fishy part of research

I enjoyed the readings this week from Luker.  While reading chapters two and three I kept thinking about my T.A for a Canadian Public Policy course who, in response to our anxious questions regarding a research paper, told the class not to worry and that all academics feel like fakes waiting to get caught. My T.A. had pinpointed exactly what I find to be the most uncomfortable part of writing a research paper–the inherent sense of authority in forming and stating a research question. This feeling was then compounded by the fact that I became increasingly aware of all the other variables that can account for the outcome(s) I had chosen to study along with the fact I was doing secondary research. When Luker writes that as reasearchers  “we are engaged in an enterprise of discovery rather than verification” it helped to alleviate some of those feelings I have experienced writing reseach papers and redefining (for me) what research is, a process and not an end result (37).