The unabashedly messy aspects of the research process are often hidden from published view, and are therefore not available to encourage and instruct. The authors tell specific stories about "messy" research, arranged around: (1) evolving research questions; (2) methodology or methods surprises; (3) problematic answers; and (4)publication dilemmas. These stories are from work amongst diverse categories and frames of inquiry, and are meant to encourage fellow students to persist and problem-solve mid-process. We hope that having real researchers tell their own stories of mucking around the methodologies and ethics of inquiry can encourage others to engage and persist, and can be the beginning of a more process-oriented and perhaps more nuanced conversation that opens active discussion and scrutiny amongst critical friends. (Contains 2 figures.)