Van de Ven & Poole (1990) use the expression "out of their own hides" when discussing research funding. A google search only returns two results. Is this expression idiomatic? What does it mean? The following is an excerpt from their text (emphasis mine):

> 
> (...) our experience has been that over the duration of a longitudinal
> study, nearly every hour of field work requires an equal hour of homework, with the
> latter occupying increasing proportions of time in the autumn of the research. Using
> MIRP as an example, this paper will focus on how researchers might spend their
> hours more creatively and efficiently in performing this homework. This homework
> tends to represent the less visible, more "introverted," less socially rewarding, yet
> often more technically complex and creative "back room" work of longitudinal
> research. Researchers must often support this homework "*out of their own hides*,"
> because funding and resources to support it are seldom adequate and difficult to
> obtain.
> 
> 
> 

**References**

Van de Ven, A. H., & Poole, M. S. (1990). Methods for studying innovation development in the Minnesota Innovation Research Program. *Organization science*, 1(3), 313-335.