Reading Research Articles

Author: Hannah Baker | Majors: Political Science and Social Work

I am Hannah L Baker, a Fulbright Honors College student majoring in Social Work and Political Science. My mentor is Dr. Kim Stauss from the School of Social Work. In Spring 2021 we began working on my thesis research to be completed in Spring 2022. Following the completion of my research and graduation, I plan to take a gap year and then proceed to law school to work in legal advocacy.

During Spring 2021, I began brainstorming ideas for my thesis. Having recently came out and in the process of exploring my own sexuality and gender identity during a pandemic, I used social media to learn about the LGBTQ+ community. On social media, I began noticing a common topic regarding slur usage. Debates over who could use certain slurs based on gender and sexual identities, historical and social contexts, and individual experiences gave rise to self-reflection on the labels I choose to give myself and questions about why individuals choose to use or not use slurs for self and other-labeling.

While reclamation in the social and political contexts of a variety of groups has been explored, research on it in an individual context for the LGBTQ+ community is scarce. The existing LGBTQ+ research focuses mainly on the reclamation of “queer”. “Queer” was originally used as a slur but following a process that began with a political activist group the term is now commonly used in spaces from pop culture to academia. Yet, research also revealed that even within the reclamation of “queer,” different opinions of its reclamation exist on a generational divide as the older generation often experienced it personally and negatively. This led me to further question the individualistic nature of slur usage, and the lack of existing research on more modern slurs made me to want to explore them.

I brought the articles, ideas, and questions to my advisor, Dr. Kim Stauss, who I had “cold called” in an email asking her to discuss being my mentor. I had never met Dr. Stauss before, but she was excited about my research questions and accepted the mentor position. Dr. Stauss pointed me towards the research grant, educated me on qualitative research, and assisted in filling out IRB forms. Around this time, I also met with Dr. Mark Plassmeyer. Dr. Plassmeyer had previous experience with reclamation in the substance use community, so we discussed reclamation in a broader social context that aided in my basic understanding.

In Fall 2021, I began reaching out for participants using Newswire. Eligibility requirements consisted only of two criteria: being a member of the LGBTQ+ community and being a University of Arkansas student. I quickly began receiving responses and scheduling interviews. Because the study is qualitative, interviews needed to be conducted either in-person or via Zoom. Participants were free to choose either based on their availability and comfort levels with the ongoing pandemic. By the time I had everyone scheduled, I had 15 participants. I had planned to conduct 10-15 interviews, so scheduling 15 gave me leeway if I encountered any dropouts. By the end of my interviews, I had completed 13.

Interviews themselves were quite simple. An interview would begin with a few demographic questions on their age, academic level, ethnicity, gender identity, sexuality, and hometown type. All of these questions were open-ended. This was especially important for gender identity and sexuality because I wanted participants to feel comfortable giving any label they identified as rather than choosing from a predetermined list. Following the demographic questions, participants were asked questions regarding their personal experiences with slurs being used against them, whether or not they use slurs as self-labels or other-labels, their feelings associated with slurs, their perception of others when slurs are used, and how circumstances change whether or not they would use slurs. At the very end questions regarding their experiences specifically at the University of Arkansas and recommendations for improvement were asked.

While I loved getting to have that personal connection through the in-person interviews, the interviews came with difficulties During interviews, I struggled with keeping the conversation always on track. I had this set idea in my head of how I would ask questions and how to respond to different answers, but in practice, my idea of what should happen was often completely different than reality. I had to learn to adapt in the moment. Another skill that became a large part of the interviews and that I often discussed with Dr. Stauss was self-disclosure of my own identity, experiences, and opinions. For the participants, I disclosed my sexuality and gender identity because I felt that it would help them be more comfortable talking about their experiences that were personal and often traumatic. Experiences of my own were disclosed occasionally but never consisted of emotional or deeply personal stories to maintain professionalism. My personal opinions on slur usage were never disclosed. Any revealing of what I believe could have altered the interviews by causing participants to feel that they must change answers or exclude information. Thankfully, my participants appeared very truthful and honest throughout.

Currently, I am working on transcribing and analyzing the interviews, so I cannot speak on the findings yet. Moving forward, I will be conducting a focus group in early Spring with the interview participants to check findings and ensure that they are accurate with the participants’ experiences. Later in the Spring, I will be defending my thesis, and in March, I will be presenting my research at the NASW Arkansas Annual Conference.

This Honors College Research Grant allowed me to study a topic that is not only personal to me but examines individual experiences of slur reclamation, which in the long-term affects macro environments such as academia and social settings. This grant gave me the funds to incentivize participation in both the interviews and upcoming focus group and will give me the ability to travel to the NASW conference to present. I am thankful for these opportunities and for the completion of my research.