Before I my students turned in their papers on Wednesday I'd been working on some data (re)analysis and writing a second piece on some data from a project I ran last year. Now that the papers are done I've been back to work on the writing process...which has mostly been freewriting, re-reading, going over data, and checking back in with some theoretical pieces.

I just had a complete and total breakthrough about an hour and a half ago. It was one of those weird things where you're halfway through a thought when you go, "Oh. Oh. OH! That's the big picture. That's the contribution." I sketched it out for myself on paper and I did some double & triple checking that I could really say all that. And now I'm excited.

Normally I'd proceed without a second thought to writing.

But. As I was going over all this again, I suddenly was slammed with reality. This is not my idea. Well. Not entirely anyway. One of the things I appreciate most about a certain friend of mine is that she asks hard questions and has smart answers when I ask the questions. Over the last while she's really stretched the way I think about one of the main things I study, and she encourages me to try on new perspectives about how ideas fit together. This is not something I'm used to because I was in a cohort of students in grad school who did nothing like what I did. MentorProf was helpful but not actually an expert in the actual content of my work. In talking with CAMentorProf and PersonWhoStartedWhatIStudy I've had the opportunity to talk, be challenged, and try on some new ways of thinking, but they've always been about developing me as a scholar. There's a teaching-learning aura around these conversations. In conversation with this friend of mine, however, it's feels more like an exchange of ideas.

Well. Months ago she asked a question and we got to talking about how a particular construct functions, and why the literature seems to skip over some important parts of the construct's development. It was a good talk. And I filed it away in my memory.

Until. I just looked at my data, my analyses, and my findings and went, "Crap. I think I've just scooped my friend."

Let me elaborate. I don't think it's a full on scoop. Some of the ideas are original, and talk about ideas and connections between constructs we hadn't talked about. But the big picture is what we talked about. So. You know how people talk about whether people can see the forest or the trees? It's like we talked about the forest, and I'm wanting to write about the forest, except that when I wandered into the forest I found out a bunch more--like that the trees are Oaks and Pine trees. Pretty much too similar to her original question for me to feel like ethically I can stick my name on the forest. Here sits Jane's forest completely inspired by Jane's friend.

So. I'm in an uncomfortable ethical situation. On the one hand I grow and learn and enjoy conversations that are intellectual. But now I'm afraid I need to not talk to people, especially my friends, because I might inadvertantly steal their ideas. I know now that I'm going to be very conscious not to end up where I am now. I could just pass over the data to her. But I'm not that nice. :) And I do believe there is some uniqueness in the analyses. I also don't believe that this small study would close the book on similar studies. I certainly don't have the answers. So what's a girl to do when she feels like she's scooped her friend?

I don't frankly know. So. I'm going to call said person and talk it through with her...see if we can co-author the paper. Something like that....

But seriously. If you have any ideas or thoughts I'd greatly appreciate them.