What to do about a bad assignment

[Sbrail2]

Hey all,

I was just informed by my graduate advisor that my assignment for the fall is likely going to be in my school's Public Policy Research Lab. My field has absolutely nothing to do with survey research and my concerns voiced to him fell on deaf ears so I'm just trying to figure out if there's anything I can do or if I'm just stuck with a pointless assignment that won't be of any use to me.

[PoliticalOrder]

What is your field?

[Eigen]

I could be wrong, but isn't this assignment paying for your stipend and tuition?

If so, it's not really a pointless assignment. It's work you do to support your schooling.

[Sbrail2]

22 minutes ago, PoliticalOrder said:

What is your field?

Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

 

22 minutes ago, Eigen said:

I could be wrong, but isn't this assignment paying for your stipend and tuition?

If so, it's not really a pointless assignment. It's work you do to support your schooling.

Isn't the point of your assistantship in part to help you with your own studies, though?

[fuzzylogician]

8 minutes ago, Sbrail2 said:

Isn't the point of your assistantship in part to help you with your own studies, though?

It's of course better if it can help with your own studies, but the point is to work to satisfy your contract so that you can earn a salary/have insurance/get an education. Not unlike your situation, when people get assigned TAships, some of them will get to teach classes that are related to their area of study, but inevitably someone will teach something outside of their immediate interests, and someone will get stuck with something that's not even remotely close to what they do. Such is life. You can ask to switch with someone else and you can state your preference to have something that more closely matches your interests, but you have to understand that it may not work out. There are a certain number of positions and a certain number of people and the match isn't always going to be perfect. It will probably help the most if you could actually suggest an alternative solution: identify someone who you could switch with (who would also be happy to switch with you). Complaining without pointing out a solution is less likely to work. 

[Sbrail2]

3 minutes ago, fuzzylogician said:

It's of course better if it can help with your own studies, but the point is to work to satisfy your contract so that you can earn a salary/have insurance/get an education. Not unlike your situation, when people get assigned TAships, some of them will get to teach classes that are related to their area of study, but inevitably someone will teach something outside of their immediate interests, and someone will get stuck with something that's not even remotely close to what they do. Such is life. You can ask to switch with someone else and you can state your preference to have something that more closely matches your interests, but you have to understand that it may not work out. There are a certain number of positions and a certain number of people and the match isn't always going to be perfect. It will probably help the most if you could actually suggest an alternative solution: identify someone who you could switch with (who would also be happy to switch with you). Complaining without pointing out a solution is less likely to work. 

You're completely right and I know I should be grateful that I even got funded, it just sucks that I got an assignment I really didn't want.

[rising_star]

15 minutes ago, Sbrail2 said:

You're completely right and I know I should be grateful that I even got funded, it just sucks that I got an assignment I really didn't want.

Honestly, that's just part of being an academic. In grad school, you TA/teach courses outside of your field because that's what the department needs. Sure, you're interested in race, ethnicity, and gender but, when it's either TA the intro to comparative course or go without funding, people typically just do what it takes to be funded. (Note: Speaking from experience here. All of the non-100 level teaching and TAing I did in graduate school was in a different subfield than my research/focus because that's what the department needed and it was the easiest path to funding for me.) You become a professor and, especially if you're a VAP or new TT faculty, you teach courses you didn't and don't really want to teach. Complaining gets you nowhere then either. You just suck it up and do it. Or, if you really find the assignment that distasteful, you respectfully decline the position and its accompanying funding.

FWIW, I see lots of reasons why someone interested in race, gender, and ethnicity could or should be interested in a Public Policy Research Lab, given the ways so many policies either do or completely don't address issues of race/ethnicity and gender. From a survey research perspective, understanding how and why certain groups are underrepresented or how to sample so they aren't is incredibly important. So, you could look for the bright side of this or just continue to be pissed off and let that negative attitude affect your first semester in a new program. It's your choice, of course.

Edited August 3, 2016 by rising_star
to add more info

[Sbrail2]

1 minute ago, rising_star said:

Honestly, that's just part of being an academic. You become a professor and, especially if you're a VAP or new TT faculty, you teach courses you didn't and don't really want to teach. Complaining gets you nowhere then either. You just suck it up and do it. Or, if you really find the assignment that distasteful, you respectfully decline the position and its accompanying funding.

FWIW, I see lots of reasons why someone interested in race, gender, and ethnicity could or should be interested in a Public Policy Research Lab, given the ways so many policies either do or completely don't address issues of race/ethnicity and gender. From a survey research perspective, understanding how and why certain groups are underrepresented or how to sample so they aren't is incredibly important. So, you could look for the bright side of this or just continue to be pissed off and let that negative attitude affect your first semester in a new program. It's your choice, of course.

No you're right, just understand that I was hoping to work with certain faculty members whose work I've become more familiar with.

[rising_star]

2 minutes ago, Sbrail2 said:

No you're right, just understand that I was hoping to work with certain faculty members whose work I've become more familiar with.

That changes nothing for me. You can still work with them if you want to. If you choose not to, then that's up to you. 

This assignment isn't keeping you from working with anyone. You can do an independent study with them, take their courses, volunteer as a RA for them, etc. If you're going to use your assignment as an excuse for not working with certain faculty, then that's on you and no one else. Honestly, you're taking offense where there shouldn't be any and overreacting. 

[PoliticalOrder]

To be honest, getting placed as an RA in a center that is active in running surveys and polling is SIGNIFICANTLY better than TAing X intro course like most 1st year students at mid-ranked departments.

You get a chance to instantly get involved in learning how to write surveys, analyze data, and display information that you will learn about in your methods courses and can apply them during your position.

Consider this an advantage, not a disadvantage. 

[Determinedandnervous]

^ Even if you're assigned somewhere that doesn't seem related to your interests, odds are unless you're working on a fixed project you have a little leeway with what you want to do there. I'm sure you can use the lab's resources in some way that is beneficial to both the university and you. Plus, this gives you an opportunity to expand your network.

[ZeChocMoose]

Survey research is an extremely marketable skill especially in the social sciences.  I see a lot of industry jobs that are looking for that skill set so I would learn all I could from this assistantship especially given that the academic job market is brutal and TT jobs are not guaranteed.  As someone who is hopefully graduating this year (crossing my fingers!), it's really really important to work on other skills in grad school that will make you employable when you are done.

In my department, there is a matching process for first years to assistantships.  I know some people get less than ideal placements for them and usually the advice is to do the assistantship that they are assigned to for the year and during that year work on making connections to other professors so it is possible to switch in their second year to something more aligned with their research interests and/or what they want to learn.

You may also discover that you like your placement.  Since you haven't started yet, I would keep an open mind about it.