RESEARCHER IDENTITY MEMO FOR A RESEARCH PROJECT ON STUDYING- RELATED STRESS ISSUES AMONG FIRST-YEAR UNDERGRADUATE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN THE UNITED STATES

Researcher Identity Memo for a Research Project on Studying-Related Stress Issues among First-Year Undergraduate University Students in the United States

Ekaterina Grebenyuk

University of Hawai'i at Manoa

  Every student at some point of his or her academic life is exposed to stress related to the learning process. It does not matter if one is a third-grader or a first-year graduate student - no one is immune to nervous tension and anxiety. I have a strong personal interest in the topic of stress because I have often experienced anxiety attacks as a student. Looking back at my academic career, I believe my freshman year at the Russian State University for the Humanities was the most stressful. Adaptation to a new learning environment as well as to unfamiliar educational approaches constantly made me nervous. Moreover, large amounts of homework, assignment deadlines and lack of educators' control caused me to stress out. At that time I did not know how to cope with anxiety. Often I did not even realize that I was under stress; I never sought out counseling services for help, and my tension grew. 

When I was in the middle of my freshman year, one of my friends told me that she was taking a stress management class. So I decided to join as well. I immediately found this class very helpful, especially the stress-relief exercises. Additionally, I started reading a lot on ways to prevent nervous tension. Eventually, I learned how to cope with anxiety. I also learned how to tell if a person is stressed-out. I began to raise stress awareness among my peers as it was clear to me that many of them were under some sort of tension. Therefore, from my experience, it is easy to see what drove me to choose the topic of stress and why my research focuses on undergraduate students. 

Observing students in the United States, I see first-year undergraduates going through similar experiences. However, for a young adult it may be hard to recognize that he or she is under stress and even harder to realize the possible consequences of not dealing with these feelings. Thus, I feel that the main goal of my research is to raise stress awareness among students and educators here at the University of Hawai'i, and as a result contribute to the improvement of the learning process as well as to making classroom environments more open and friendly. 

My experience shows that studying stress management techniques helps with fighting nervous tension and anxiety. In my view, including stress management in the undergraduate curriculum as a required course could be beneficial for first-year undergraduate students. Nevertheless, I must be aware that the students might not agree with this idea. So I must be careful not to project my own opinion onto them. I must control my emotions and constantly monitor what I say and how I say it, as I risk confusing students' opinions and ideas with my own. This brings me to the other goal of my research, which is to evaluate the University's need for including stress management course in the curriculum.

Writing this memo, I have come to see other validity threats my personal background could cause. First of all, being an international student, I must be aware that I might be under stress caused by language differences between myself and the research participants. Therefore, I must regularly monitor my stress level and do stress-relief exercises. Furthermore, I risk misunderstanding students participating in the research due to our cultural differences. This means I must constantly seek validation for my perceptions of the participants' words and actions in order to avoid making false assumptions. Finally, I feel that my bias might affect the process of selecting research participants. I might want to pick students who I am most comfortable speaking to instead of those who could give me a deeper understanding of the stress issue amongst first-year undergraduate students. Therefore, I must always put goals of my research first and be aware that this may require doing something out of my comfort zone. 

However, I believe that my personal base could contribute greatly to the research. To begin with, my own experiences of coping with stress can help me relate better to the people I interview, thus helping them open up and trust me. Moreover, having an inside perspective will guide me during the process of interviewing and help me alter interview questions according to each participant's story. Finally, being a new international student, I feel I can capture participants' stories more vividly and pay attention to every single detail, as I am very excited by the novelty of this new experience. 

In conclusion, I acknowledge that it will not be easy for me to prevent validity threats. Nevertheless, I believe that constant monitoring of my own actions, peers' feedback and advisor's guidance will help me avoid any revealed threats. Besides, my passion for the research topic will motivate me and help me commit to the project.