Hand in Hand or Head in Hand: A Wilde Discovery

OUTTAKE

As a second-year PhD student, I can already appreciate the likelihood of instances in a research study that cannot be anticipated. In the first year of the program, my cohort was asked to run a pilot study for one of our classes. This assignment gave me the opportunity to apply for an IRB, put together a research design, and collect empirical data, all for the first time.

The following research outtake discusses a surprising event that occurred during this study, which kept me, quite literally, at the edge of my seat. People have argued for centuries whether art imitates life or life imitates art. I tended to agree with the former, which goes against Wilde's (1902) statement that "Life imitates art far more than art imitates life" (p. 10). Therefore, I was shocked and amazed when I witnessed a scenario in my research that would have made Oscar Wilde smile and say, "I told you so."