Although the most frequently espoused goal of Ph. D. training in sociology is to produce professionals who actively engage in research, the Ph. D. student is rarely introduced to the many personal and social confrontations inherent in the research process. The authors examine research‐oriented courses offered at a randomly selected sample of universities granting doctorate degrees in sociology. Finding little formal recognition of such problems in the course offerings, an in‐depth study of the research experiences of both faculty members and graduate students of a sociology department was undertaken. Results of the study are used to generate an alternative procedure for such preparation.