From Being an Identity Student to Identity Researcher: Need for Collaboration

From Being an Identity Student to Identity Researcher: Need for Collaboration Interactive Session Society for Research on Identity Formation 14th biannual conference, Washington DC, March 2007 Suna Eryigit, Miki Hachiya, Katie Stringer, Amber Paulk, Jennifer L. Kerpelman, & Joe F. Pittman Auburn University

JOE Transition to adulthood; adult attachment; identity in relationships; identity process and measurement JEENNIFER Identity development processes; identity control theory; identity domains: career, interpersonal, civic KATIE Identity development and how it relates to career SUNA Identity Dev. Adult Roles Readiness Cross-Cultural Persp. MIKI Identity development and Possible Selves AMBER Identity development in the context of romantic relationships

History of Identity Group • The beginning of the group…… • The transitions of the group…….. • The group today……………………………….

Rationale & Goals Building a collaborative relationship prior to completion of doctorate is vital for students Goals: • Discussing about building collaborative relationships in terms of - benefits of collaboration - challenges for forming and maintaining collaboration - strategies to deal with difficulties in collaboration • Forming a network among student members of SRIF

Rationale & Goals What do we mean by “Collaboration”? Team work Incorporating different knowledge and views Influencing and supporting each other

Benefits of Identity Meetings • Have learned more about the field • Have learned more about each other’s interests • Have tried to combine our interests to form research questions • Have given and received both instrumental and psychological support • Have improved skills necessary for collaboration • Have developed relationships with each other • Have received mentorship which facilitated our work

Challenges • Time: coordinating our schedules • Extra work • Understanding each other takes time • Merging our ideas to form a focused research project

Dealing with challenges • We put these meetings as a priority in our schedules • We always try to see these meetings as a part of our job, rather than extra work • We ask each other a lot of questions • Our mentors helped us when we lost our focus, or when we were in a transition BENEFITS OUTWEIGH THE CHALLENGES

What literature says… • Collaboration allows a higher level of thinking (Parsons & Stephenson, 2005) • Importance of having a network before conducting collaborative work (Kezar, 2005) • Mentorship in collaboration plays an important role (Drotar, 1998)

Group Activity • Benefits of a collaboration • Challenges of forming and maintaining collaboration • Possible strategies to deal with these difficulties - What can we do? - How can SRIF help us?

Discussion Benefits of collaboration and mentorship Challenges of forming and/or maintaining collaboration Strategies to deal with difficulties that we may face during collaborative work

Conclusion What can we do as students to form these relationships? How can SRIF help facilitate our efforts?

THANK YOU Please make sure that you write your contact information on the list, before you leave the room

From Being an Identity Student to Identity Researcher: Need for Collaboration