Examining how the researcher's personal experience shapes the research context was the object of this exploration into the parallel paths of the researcher and research subject. The subject, a preservice science teacher, was studied from her last year of an undergraduate teacher education program through her student teaching experience in an investigation of the role of experience in professional development. The researcher, a science teacher educator, saw the research as a way to learn more about designing teacher education experiences. In the course of the study, the researcher began to examine her own learning about the process of research as a parallel to the subject's learning about being a teacher. A number of parallels were found. Both entered the collaboration with experiences that influenced beliefs about their professions. Both saw themselves as professionals, and both encountered tension in thinking about their respective professions. Both felt a mismatch between their abstract thinking about the experience and the reality of their practices. As a result, both began to see their practices in a new way and to understand the complexities of their professions. Examining researcher and subject roles resulted in deeper understanding of the relationships among procedure, context, and human action. (Contains 11 references.) (SLD)