The (Un)Grateful Researcher

no-show after no-show for research appointments

Y'all already know I love doing empirical research. Interviews, observations, surveys, data analysis- I love it all. It's why I do what I do. My dissertation project has been a difficult time for me though, and there aren't many spaces to share my ungratefulness, so here it is!

Gathering Participants

Gathering participants in research that has little to no incentives is one of the most difficult parts of research. My dissertation research was originally unfunded when I started in June 2025. That lack of funding really showed in the lack of participants I had. I sent multiple reminder emails, shared it with friends and family both professionally and through social media like Facebook and Reddit, and had less than a handful, which was not enough for a project of this size. I did receive small funding from my program to hold a drawing for gift cards in September, and hoped that along with the start of the fall semester would help recruit participants. So far, it's been about the same as my summer recruitment... not enough.

It kind of sucks knowing the current presidential administration does not support grants for my kind of research due to banned words and people I work with. It's disheartening that many participants seem to enjoy working with me after our time together but it is so hard to find people who are willing to give me the chance to work with them. I don't take it personally; I know money for time seems fair. Still, I am tired of the rejection.

No Shows

I honestly think this is worse than the lack of participants. Some people will show initial interest in my project. They might even sign up for a time to meet. Even if the time is too early or late in the day for me, I set time aside for it because of how much I appreciate their willingness to work with me. If you don't have many participants, you also can't afford to be picky. And if they don't show up at first, I wait for them. 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes... and I mark them a no-show, which prompts Calendly to send them a link to reschedule our meeting. Some will reschedule; some will never be heard from again.

I recently was cancelled on three times in 3 days by one person signing up with different names and emails, but was eventually found out to be the same person. I couldn't help but feel pranked. I sent an email prior to the meeting sign up that said what was needed was a quiet space, a laptop, and time to write... and this person no-showed, showed up late with an AI summarizer, which I deleted from the chat as it changed the privacy setting and I didn't want AI scraping my research protocols, and last, tried to do the observation while on public transit without a laptop. I feel ignored by my students often; these interactions felt disrespectful.

Then more and more participants kept missing their appointments with me. And many did not sign up for a different time. I feel disrespected even thought I doubt it is personal. I feel angry... but there is no room for these feelings in research. We have trouble getting participants. We have no-shows and people who show up 30 minutes late. We have people who sign up for other meetings and people who do not. It is all part of the process of working with real-life people. And it kinda sucks.

Ungrateful

As a researcher, I feel grateful to those who sign up, who complete the research with me even though it may be challenging for them, who invest their time, energy, and honesty with me, a strange researcher in Rhetoric. When they leave happy after our discussion of what often is left undiscussed and unanalyzed, I do too. It's the rewarding part of research.

However, the ungrateful side of me can't be shown in research, and that makes research hard. I can't be mad about all the no-shows or participants who don't read the requirements, the ones who want money without truly completing what I ask them to do. I can't be mad at the one who shows up 15 minutes late, but still completes the study. I can't be mad at the people in classes or colleges I contact, asking to share my research. I can't be ungrateful that they don't care. I must be grateful for the time and opportunities they give me. So the feelings swell until they release themselves in research journals or blog posts like these. Research is wonderful, but there are hard days too. This week has been littered with bad days. And I'm tired. Thanks to the participants who make up for those bad days. You have no idea what your willingness to exist with me does for my researcher self-esteem.

#IDMD #IDisappointMyDad #research #noshow #cancellations #interview #observation #dissertation #gradschool