Using a reflective, self-study research design, this presentation documents the core learnings that three undergraduate research assistants and three faculty mentors identify as they self-reflect on their learning after they collaborated on a funded qualitative research study. The context of this study is a Canadian International branch campus in Qatar, the Middle East. Students were enrolled in a nursing program and were hired as research assistants for a qualitative study of Qatari high school students. The following themes emerged as the primary learnings from participation in the research project: development of researcher identity; tensions and considerations about the process of research, and the power of research in terms of validating theory and application to practice. The faculty mentor themes that emerged related to: complexities regarding Western research process and protocol in international contexts; recognition of the power of nationality as impacting opportunity; the power of learning potential for undergraduate research assistants attending predatory conferences..

Published in: World Congress on Education (WCE-2018)

• Date of Conference: 15-18 July 2018
• DOI: 10.2053/WCE.2018.0007
• ISBN: 978-1-908320-91-9
• Conference Location: Dublin, Ireland