What's My Role?: Functional Parts of Typical Collaborative Research Groups

        Note that none of these is intended to be exclusively the domain of any one group member, but people have typical strengths and preferences that often fall into clusters like these.  Or try trading roles--don't get stale or frustrated. 

Theoretician: define the problem, determine the relevant disciplines, search terms, and work with Implementer to determine the best methods to be used.  [Interdisciplinarity is almost always more productive than single-discipline research and attracts more productive collaborators.]

Implementer: invent solutions to derive relevant information and reasoning about the problem, seeking maximum creative use of resources and the most efficient and reliable process.  [Time available for project is directly proportionate to the size of the possible project.]

Researcher-Writer: master and organize secondary scholarly sources for the "review of the literature" to establish what already is known and hypothesized about the problem.  [Use the bibliographic annotations from this class, and from previous classes, as well as targeted new research--"a day in the library can save a year in the lab," says an FDA research biologist <11/4/09>.]

Lead Writer / Revising Writer: creates the narrative report to explain what the group has discovered, and/or revises the first draft of that report for coherence and unity of voice, taking care to represent remaining controversies in notes, appendices, the conclusion, or the body of the report as the debate ascends in importance.  [Often the writers' work cannot begin until after the theory, implementation, and research-writing have been nearly completed, so this role is ideal for participants who are very busy now but have time to devote to the project near the end of the semester.]