Reproductive Health Research: Behind the Scenes

I am now five years into my journey of reproductive health research. From my senior year of high school researching adolescent endometriosis to my master's work examining menstrual health literacy in Alabama, I've gained a tremendous passion for menstrual education and menstrual disorders. But with the academic highs came bouts of culture shock, anxiety, and self-doubt as the literature I'd so carefully scouted time and again failed to apply to my research situation.

Of course, I always knew that the very definition of research was finding something new- and with that would come many unknowns. But as I reflect back on my previous projects and, even now, as I work with data from a survey constructed by my nineteen-year-old self, I lament the errors preventing my work from enacting real change.

In my previous blog post regarding menstrual health education in Alabama, I shared the challenges that accompany conducting focus groups, especially with nonprofit organizations. Having spent weeks preparing a comprehensive educational slideshow for eighth graders, I was confronted by fourth graders, many of whom hadn't had their periods at all yet. The second part of my exploratory study involved a survey of female Alabama undergraduates about their period knowledge, comfort levels, education, and experiences with menstrual disorders. I received a tremendous amount of responses- an amazing result, until I began to break down the data.

As someone with no quantitative background, cleaning over 700 data responses was a nightmare. Open-response questions that should have been close-ended, questions that might not even measure the construct they were intended to, questions that I should have asked and now I'd never know about... And then there was the lack of validation questions, which made parsing through real versus AI data next to impossible. All of this, combined with my lack of Qualtrics knowledge or any ideas about where to turn to gain that knowledge, eventually led me to spiral. I was stunted by the fear of further failure, of investing time into something with absolutely nothing to show for it at the end of the day. And so the project sat, and my guilt festered, as other pre-med responsibilities piled up and I continued to make excuses.

What is your biggest struggle with research?

• I've never done research.
• I feel like I don't know enough.
• There's too much to do at once.
• I make too many mistakes.

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Looking back, these problems might have been avoided. It’s more difficult when you're on a project alone- maybe I should have pulled someone else in. Maybe I should have told my advisor my doubts and feelings. Maybe I should have taken more accountability. I blamed my mentor for not suggesting the inclusion of simple vetting questions, but I must give them grace, as I must give myself grace. A mentor might have years and years of qualitative research experience, but I hypothesize that sometimes this translates to oversights- they are there to help flesh out the meat of your research questions, but at the same time, some essentials get glossed over precisely because they are essentials.

Then, I attended a conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico for my work with another maternal health professor. On a whim, I shared what a disaster I felt that my project had become with one of our master’s students. She nodded thoughtfully, and then simply said, “You should write that up.” I stared. Write what up? Had she not just heard that my data was practically unusable? But as she continued, “Research as an undergrad is impossible. But the failings are part of your research. It’s how you learn and grow. You should write about this process, about the ins and outs of your experience as an undergraduate researcher.” That encouragement began to transform my view of my research, and myself.

It used to be rare for undergraduates to conduct research. We were thought not educated enough, not experienced enough, to be of any use on academic projects. But the view has shifted to more participatory learning styles. Now, at least as a pre-med student in the US, you are nearly required to conduct research. So here I am, sharing my process, hoping that by reflecting I can make fewer mistakes in my future research career and perhaps give hope to someone else struggling to feel that they can do anything right. The goal isn't always to do perfectly, but to do as well as you can and reflect on the process.