SIG: Higher Education

Postgraduate students who work as research assistants are expected to learn about research and about academic life. However, very little is known about the day-to-day workings of research assistantships because few scholars have investigated the learning opportunities available for research assistants. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the interactions between a professor and a postgraduate student during a research assistantship. The postgraduate student was actively involved in all data collection, analysis, and presentation activities related to an interview-based study of research education in social science disciplines. This paper draws from audiotapes of weekly research meetings, fieldnotes and research journals written by the professor and research assistant, and draft documents created throughout the research assistantship. Consistent with the conference theme, this paper focuses upon learning potentials within the research assistantship