The aim of this study is to understand initial qualitative research experience and the qualitative researcher identities they try to build via diaries they reflect. This research is a analytical research model. Research data were obtained 25 diaries which were selected by criterion sampling from 60 doctoral students' diaries that they wrote in qualitative research methods course between the years 2008 and 2014. Content analysis was applied to the data. As a result of the analysis, "becoming a

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... alitative researcher" category which consists of "I learned from my experiences", "I discovered my researcher identity", and "I discovered myself" have emerged. I learned from my experiences themes that compose "I learned from my mistakes", "I read, implemented, reflected", and found out that "I realized that I wasn't a qualitative researcher." I discovered my researcher identity theme includes subthemes such as "I should be open-minded", "I should try to understand", and "I should be patient." I discovered myself theme consists of subthemes such as "I realized my prejudices", "I learned criticizing myself", and "I saw the limits of my abilities." It has emerged that researcher diaries are functional tools to understand the research experiences of PhD students. Therefore, doctoral students can be encouraged to write diaries in the research process.