Preparation Exploration Negotiation Implementation
Researcher: I cannot fully support this project, but I have a whole roster of undergraduate/graduate students who can help, and they are all amazing. I need to spend a lot of time to mentor my students to get them ready for projects that involve practitioners. Not every student is immediately ready for this.
Practitioner: I need expertise, and I don't have the time to hold the hand of a student during this project. When I hire a senior researcher, I expect that level of work and analysis and not the level of work of an inexperienced student.
Convergence: Academics: Set appropriate expectations for students Practitioners: Anticipate that you may give as much as you get in the short term, but that hosting a student can pay long-term dividends. Students are also excellent at supporting reviews of existing documents and research that others simply do not have time for. Ask to have a discussion about the level of involvement of students and the amount of supervision.
Questions Researchers Can Ask:
What is the SOW and specific deliverables for this collaboration?
How can I set appropriate expectations for my students?
How can I prepare my students to assist you?
What will my students gain that could positively impact and enhance our department and the students' academic experience?
What can my students learn from working with practitioners that they can’t learn by working only with academics?
Who will provide my students with guidelines and measurables to track their progress, challenges, and success?
How will you ensure that the tasks that you assign to each student are achievable in the given amount of time?
What is ethically useful for students to be involved in? Ex: Hierarchical power over others
Questions Practitioners Can Ask:
How will you prepare students to work in a practitioner setting?
How many students will be available per project or per semester?
How many field or office visits will occur each year?
How are your students prepared to translate their academic background into meaningful contributions that advance a project in the field?
How many of your students have prior field experience that is related to the project?
If your students do not have prior field experience, how have their current studies prepared them to take on a large role that requires low supervision and yields a high quality of measurable results?
Will students be willing to be flexible and patient and learn from a different culture, pace, and perspective that is not found in the classroom?
What are the time expectations per week/month/semester for mentoring the student(s)?
Questions Both Can Ask:
Based on the work, what level of student would best accomplish the task (Master's, Ph.D.)?
What university credit are they getting for this work (internship, thesis, dissertation)?
What is the work plan for the student?