When this research was first announced to us as a class, I didn’t really want to do it. I always found research tedious or uninteresting, but when I learned that the research was on parental involvement, especially in rural areas I started to get interested. The only problem I had then was that I did not know what other variable I wanted to research alongside parental involvement. And when I thought about the parent-child relationships and how parental involvement can be instrumental in establishing and maintaining a healthy parent-child relationship, that became my focus of interest within the research. And with that focus I was able to directly influence the survey and create a research question that measured my point of focus which I thought was great because I was able to contribute something to the creation of the survey.
During this research I found that I enjoyed the many trials and steps that go into creating and implementing program evaluation research. I found the part that I enjoyed the most was the process of creating the survey questions. Bouncing ideas off of each other felt good, especially getting everyone’s feedback and critiquing the surveys until it was the best we could make it. This also helped me acquire skills like communication and the skill to create concise survey questions. Having these skills is something that will benefit me in my future whether in graduate school or my field of employment. I also felt that seeing the results of the research we had done was something I was sort of impressed by, mainly because all of the research I had done up until now did not have actual results to show. But when the surveys came back and I coded the data and analyzed the results, I felt good that I was actually able to conduct research and get quantitative and qualitative data out of the surveys we had gotten back. I was also impressed with my ability to speak and present in front of a crowd that was bigger than a regular classroom. I was nervous, but when I had to present I was able to get comfortable with that nervous feeling and speak about our findings despite my nerves.
Altogether, I really enjoyed the research we conducted. Everything from the research topic to presenting the findings, the whole research project was great. I acquired many skills and overcame some small obstacles that normally hold me back from achieving greater things. After doing this research and seeing the results, I also have this feeling that I was apart of a large research project that has been affecting and improving the low income families in the community and that makes me proud of the work I did.