Research Roles

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IFS students participate in research primarily through two roles: Principal Investigator (PI) and Research Associate (RA).

 

These are not rigid tracks or permanent labels. They describe the responsibility a researcher has within a particular project.

 

A student may lead one project as a PI while contributing to another as an RA. Roles can also change as projects develop, new questions emerge, and collaboration expands.

 

Principal Investigator

 

A Principal Investigator develops and takes primary intellectual responsibility for a research project.

 

PIs work closely with faculty to refine the research question, review existing scholarship, develop an appropriate research design, consider ethics, identify methods, collect and manage data, interpret findings, and carry the project toward presentation, publication, thesis work, or another serious academic or professional outcome.

 

The defining feature of the PI role is intellectual responsibility for the inquiry, not simply physical presence on Isla Mujeres.

 

A PI may conduct the full research period on the island, combine remote and on-island work, or—in some cases—lead a project entirely remotely.

 

Remote Principal Investigators

 

A Principal Investigator does not necessarily need to be physically present on Isla Mujeres for the entire project.

 

Some projects can be designed and led remotely through literature and documentary research, digital ethnography, stakeholder contact, remote interviews, analysis, collaboration, and continuing faculty mentorship.

 

When a project requires forms of data collection that can only be conducted on Isla Mujeres, the remote PI may work with researchers who are physically present in the field.

 

Those researchers may serve as Research Associates on the remote PI’s project, gathering and helping interpret the evidence needed to answer the project’s research questions.

 

The PI remains actively involved in directing the inquiry, reviewing emerging findings, identifying new lines of inquiry, and adapting the research design as the project develops.

 

Research Associate

 

A Research Associate contributes substantively to an active research project led by another investigator.

 

RAs may participate in:

 

• interviews;

• participant observation;

• fieldnotes;

• stakeholder contact;

• documentary or digital research;

• data organization;

• coding;

• qualitative analysis;

• interpretation;

• team research meetings;

• follow-up data collection;

• writing and presentation development.

Research Associates are not simply assistants carrying out instructions. They contribute observations, judgment, interpretation, and field knowledge that may directly shape the direction of the project.

 

PI and RA Roles Can Overlap

 

The same researcher may hold different roles across different projects.

 

For example, a student may:

 

• lead an independent project as PI;

• contribute fieldwork to a remote PI’s project as an RA;

• participate in collaborative analysis on another project;

• develop a smaller inquiry that grows out of work originally conducted as an RA.

This flexibility reflects how real research teams work.

 

The goal is not to assign students a permanent rank. The goal is to give each researcher meaningful responsibility appropriate to the project.

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Collaborative research has long been part of IFS. Students have contributed field observations, data collection, analysis, and interpretation to projects beyond their own primary inquiry. The PI/RA framework makes those collaborative responsibilities explicit while preserving the intellectual leadership of the researcher directing each project.

 

Collaboration Across Distance

 

IFS research can combine on-island and remote participation.

 

A researcher in the field may conduct an interview, produce fieldnotes, or gather observational data and then meet remotely with the PI to discuss what was learned. That discussion may identify a new question, require a follow-up interview, or redirect the next phase of data collection.

 

In this model, remote and on-island researchers remain part of the same active research process.

 

Scholarly Credit and Co-Authorship

 

Meaningful research contributions should receive meaningful scholarly credit.

 

Researchers who make substantive contributions to project design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or writing should receive appropriate recognition for that work.

 

Where those contributions meet accepted standards for authorship, Research Associates should be included as co-authors on resulting conference presentations and/or publications.

 

IFS encourages project teams to discuss expected contributions and authorship early in the research process and to revisit those expectations as the project develops.

 

Research Is Collaborative

 

Serious ethnographic research rarely develops in isolation.

 

PIs bring questions and intellectual direction. RAs bring field presence, evidence, interpretation, and collaborative insight. Faculty provide mentorship, methodological guidance, and support throughout the process.

 

The result is a research environment in which students can learn both how to lead an inquiry and how to contribute meaningfully to someone else’s.