An Interview with Researcher, Dr. Diana Jeffery

1. Please briefly describe your current research.

 I am a full-time healthcare researcher for the Department of Defense, Defense Health Agency, where I conduct studies related to health behaviors of active duty military and their families; studies on quality and safety in different systems of healthcare; and prevalence, cost, and patterns of healthcare utilization of cancer patients over time, as well as military beneficiaries with other diagnostic conditions.  

2 How did you come to be in this area of study?

A combination of experiences stemming from an undergraduate senior project on psychosocial aspects of head and neck cancer, international research on psychosocial sequellae of gynecologic cancer and quality of life measurement, a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Cancer Institute, an internship in a Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and serving as a Program Director at the National Cancer Institute for a decade helping others shape their research to be competitive for federal funding. 

3. What do like best about doing research? 

Autonomy; feeling creative; the excitement of seeing and interpreting the statistical outputs after months of planning and data collection; collaborating with other scientists from across a number of disciplines; seeing my research results be used in support of policy (e.g., tobacco control) and clinical practice guidelines.  

4. What do you dislike the most about doing research?

The amount of time and effort it takes to get clean data sets and the endless paperwork for IRB and privacy office approvals.  

5. Advice for new researchers who would like to be published? 

Keep Introductions focused, concise, and short; end the Introduction with the aims of the study, with no more than three overall aims; include as many details as possible in the Methods section, including definitions of main outcomes (dependent) ad predictor (independent) variables, and including details of the statistical analysis; be concise and well-organized for presenting the major outcomes and don’t include narratives for describing information found in tables or figures; in the Discussion, restate the major findings and contrast them with pre-existing literature; and, in the Discussion, express YOUR opinions of what YOU think the findings mean. Most importantly, ask trusted colleagues to read a near-to-last draft for critical content, organization, comprehension, and grammar BEFORE submitting the manuscript for publication consideration.

 

 

Accepting Feedback Gracefully

An inevitable part of submitting a paper for review in a journal is getting criticism. This can be very difficult for people; they feel defensive and resentful. Please, take a step back from this and think about it, a reviewer has taken a great deal of time to read and review your paper. They do not like saying negative things any more than you like to receive them. However, it is the reviewer's job to help you get your paper into a publishable shape, and that is what he or she is doing when they give you feedback. It does not matter if a hundred other people think you are a marvelous writer, accept that this person does not, and see how you can fix it. 

How should you approach the feedback? I suggest quickly reading the feedback and if you find you are feeling defensive close it and think about it for a while, resist the impulse to immediately write back. Remind yourself they are trying to help with your paper, and they want you to have your paper published. Then when you feel you are ready (hopefully no more than a day!), begin the revisions, take each comment one at a time, think about it and revise. If you find you are not sure what the reviewer means with a comment. Carefully write out an email of inquiry to the editor of the journal. Here is an example: 

Dr. X,

Thank you so much for the thoughtful comments and suggestions on my paper, "Fear of Pencils!" I find I do have a question about a comment from reviewer A, in which he/she states: "I don’t know what you mean on p.3." Could I get this comment clarified please, what precisely is he/she referring to? 

Thank you again for your help,

Jane Researcher 

Always be polite, and thank them for their help. You will find you get much further with being open and kind than you ever will with being defensive.

An Interview with Researcher, Dr. Susan Ruiz

1. Please briefly describe your current research.

My current research interest examines social isolation in partners of veterans with PTSD. This was my dissertation research; it looks into the expressed experiences from partners of veterans diagnosed with PTSD. I continue to explore the individual perceptions from these partners. I am interested in how they cope with lack of social support from family and friends, and their perceived experiences with the stigma that many veterans with PTSD experience. As more and more active duty military transition into a veteran status, the prevalence of PTSD has increased due to the current war theatre in Iraq and Afghanistan. The emphasis of my research is on how these partners deal with the social isolation in their veterans, which is often dealt with alone. A significant degree of fear may be present as these veterans may resort to physical, emotional, and mental abuse of partners who no longer feel supported.

2. How did you come to be in this area of study?
I was once a spouse of a veteran diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and PTSD. In our circle of friends, other veterans abused their wives and resorted to substances, as did my spouse. Subsequently, I realized, we had no benefits and no support. Often, each spouse suffered alone. No one ever gave them a voice in which to express the deep and painful ordeals they experienced frequently. My desire was to give them that voice.


3. What do like best about doing research?
The literature reviews. I enjoy researching topics and making contact with authors. I benefited greatly from my conversations with inspiring authors during my dissertation research.


4. What do you dislike the most about doing research?
What I disliked about doing research was that often (or so it seemed), folks would interpret the research in a variety of ways and I had to learn to embrace different opinions and to expand my train of thought. It is also difficult to narrow a very broad topic to where an appropriate research question can be developed.


5. Any advice for new researchers who would like to be published?
I have not had years of experience providing support to those wishing to get published. I would recommend finding one or two seasoned, published researchers willing to give advice. If they give sound advice regarding a thought or direction for your research, take it to heart. They have been published and are well-versed in working with reviewers and final editors who know the quality of the research they have published, and what it will take to polish your manuscript. 


Ruiz, S. & Stadtlander, L. (2015). Social Media as Support for Partners of Veterans with PTSD. Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences, 9(1), 1-18.

Following directions

One of most common reasons that papers are rejected at journals is that the author(s) did not follow directions. For example, if the word limit for articles is 10,000 words, sending in a completed dissertation (probably 40-50,000 words) is not going to be accepted. How can you avoid these kind of problems and avoid having your paper rejected? Carefully read the submission instructions to authors, and follow them closely!

Next time, an interview with researcher, Dr. Susan Ruiz