The surprising plot twist of grad school and studying trauma.
If you missed the news earlier this year, I’m in grad school for a Master’s in Professional Communication.
This grad school adventure led me to do qualitative research about how trauma impacts entrepreneurs (watch out Brene Brown). And it’s blowing my mind.
Not only is this research filling a very important gap I see (especially online and in the coaching world) when people talk about being trauma-informed, but it’s shedding so much light on what is really going on behind the patterns of self-sabotage.
I’m seeking a few more participants for my study and so if this resonates, here are the details. If you fit the criteria below, send me an email at angella @ angellajohnson.com.
Why am I doing this research?
Being trauma-informed is missing a lot of context in the online business and entrepreneur spaces and I want to change that.
The beta study that I did has been deeply insightful about how things like perfectionism, fear of rejection, and other patterns are showing up in people’s businesses as a result of trauma. More often than not though, those things are often thought of as things to overcome if people just worked harder or did more mindset work.
But there is a much deeper experience happening when we look at this through a trauma-informed lens.
Essentially, the study is me interviewing people about the ways in which trauma has shown up in their business. We don’t talk about the actual trauma, as those conversations are best reserved with a licensed professional. What we focus on are the beliefs, behaviors, and patterns that are present in a person’s business because of the trauma.
The conversations have been deeply moving and insightful and if you’re willing to participate, I would love to include your unique perspective.
Here is the criteria:
Please consider participating in my study if you:
1) Are at least 18 years old,
2) Are the sole owner of a business that has been in operation for a minimum of three years,
3) Have no more than 10 employees or contractors,
4) Identify as someone who has experienced trauma at some point in your life (this trauma does not have to be directly related to your business or from being a business owner),
5) Are not in an acute trauma response or use the participation in this study as a way to heal trauma.
How it works:
How it works is we’ll set up a time for an interview that will list no more than 60 minutes where I’ll ask you a few questions. The interviews are confidential and will be recorded.
Your interview is confidential.
How this is used will be for my project in my Master’s program as well as in my business for program curriculum and additional resources for my clients and students.
This research is IRB-approved. IRB is Institutional Review Board and this exists to make sure research is legit and ethical. This also means that the research is overseen by my academic advisor.
The official details from my program:
Hello, my name is Angella Johnson and I am a graduate student at Weber State University in the Professional Communication department working with Dr. Sarah Steimel.
I am conducting IRB-acknowledged research on how trauma impacts business owners and I’m inviting you to participate because you are a business owner and identify as a person who has experienced trauma, which has impacted your business and experience as a business owner.
Participation in this research includes participating in a semi-structured private phone interview with me asking you questions about the ways trauma has impacted your business as well as things you have done to mitigate or overcome that trauma. I will not be asking any questions about your specific traumatic experiences.
The interview process will be for you to first fill out a few demographic questions online on a secure portal. Then I will conduct an interview that will last up to 60 minutes. Your total time commitment will be about 70 minutes. The interview will be recorded and transcribed, however, any analysis of the conversations will use pseudonyms to protect your privacy. Upon request, you will be provided the analysis of the study.
If you experience discomfort, you can pause or stop the interview at any time without any explanation or penalties. If you choose to stop, you will also be given the choice to delete your interview recording if you wish.
The benefit to participating in this study is to add your experience to our understanding of the role that trauma plays in a person’s business and ideally lead to better solutions for business owners. There is no financial compensation for participating.
Please consider participating in my study if you:
- Are at least 18 years old,
- Are the sole owner of a business that has been in operation for a minimum of three years,
- Have no more than 20 employees or contractors,
- Identify as someone who has experienced trauma at some point in your life (this trauma does not have to be directly related to your business or from being a business owner),
- Are not in an acute trauma response or use the participation in this study as a way to heal trauma.
If you have any questions or would like to participate in the research, I can be reached at angella @ angellajohnson.com. Please send me an email with “Research Study participant” in the subject line and allow 48 hour business hours for me to respond.
