Job Description

If I were to describe my job on a resume, I would say something like this

Served as a research assistant to collaborate on public health research investigating race disparities in factors associated with HPV vaccination behaviors. Recruited participants and administered questionnaires in English and Spanish.

When people I meet down here ask what I'm doing in Des Moines, I usually tell them I'm working on a research project at DMU and that I sit in a clinic waiting room all day and ask people to fill out a survey. Most nod their heads smugly and are secretly glad that they don't have to do that kind of work. Sitting in a clinic waiting room all day sounds boring, and asking strangers to take a survey just sounds uncomfortable.

Though the job sounds one-dimensional at first glance, there are many things I've learned and many skills I have garnered that will be valuable lessons in organization, collaboration, communication and extroversion which are hard to summarize in a succinct resume format.

Doing this work last year, I often felt like a predator preying on unsuspecting patients with the selfish motive of being one participant closer to the final goal of 300 and having a vast library of intimate facts about people. I cannot say why, but this year, I have felt much more comfortable pitching my spiel to people and not feeling guilty about it. I suppose that, after reading the manuscript that resulted from our work last year, I have more confidence in the potential benefits and fruits of our work.

Another aspect of the job that was significantly more difficult last summer was communicating effectively with Spanish-speakers. A combination of cultural knowledge and language skills that I have picked up in the last year have made all the difference in the world in getting the message across to Latinos and also answering questions and quelling concerns associated with sharing sensitive information. At this point last year, I had been exposed to Spanish primarily through classes - readings and lectures. A lot of one-way communication: it's either going in or coming out. The interchange of conversation was severely limited.

Since then, my exposure to Spanish has drastically changed. I spent three months in Costa Rica where both my listening and speaking saw noticeable improvements. I have made Spanish-speaking friends at home and at school. I have been more intentional about seeking out opportunities to speak and listen - namely in conversation tables. All this exposure over the course of the last ten months in addition to my continued classwork in Spanish has made me a much more effective communicator in participant recruitment this summer. It's encouraging to observe this noticeable change.

Perhaps the most valuable lesson from this work has been in the art of not making assumptions. The selection criteria have been young people (ages 15 to 30) and people who self-identify as either White or Latino. I have approached people who have been 50, but could be mistaken for late-20s, and I have approached people who have been 13, but could be mistaken for late teens. The racial determinations are also quite tricky. Turns out that Southeast Asians can easily be mistaken for Latinos. Lesson learned: don't trust your perception of someone's appearance. Better to ask than assume, and so long as you don't make assumptions, there's no reason to feel ashamed at making the wrong call.