Fall 2020
With Dr. Sorrell

In August of 2020, Longwood students were preparing to return to school.  After a sudden leave in March and finishing the Spring 2020 semester online, students like myself did not know what to expect but were ready to get back into the classroom.  Before the semester officially started, I was asked to join a research team for an internship.  The goal of the study was to analyze student’s feelings and perspectives about the impact of the pandemic on their undergraduate experience.  The research project was a great way for me to utilize my math skills, but also drive my passion for education and student support as a future educator.   

I was honored to be a part of this research team and believed that this research was important and necessary so that Longwood, and similar colleges and universities, could learn what care and support their students needed.  At first, I was excited about the project but also intimidated.  I had never done a project like this one and did not know what it fully entailed.  In addition, I was the only student working on the project.  My professor was very helpful with addressing any questions I had and guiding me in the right direction, however my work throughout the week was fully independent. 

To get the project started, I had to learn how to work with the statistical software JMP and learn new statistical significance test.  Learning JMP took lots of time and patience.  However, the more I worked with it the more natural it became.  It proved to be a very useful software and very helpful for analyzing the survey data from the study. 

From this project, I learned that research takes grit and perseverance.  Multiple times, I found mistakes in my work, and had to redo it.  In addition, I learned that it is important to take time to look at the data at different time and in different ways to keep ideas fresh and think about how the information can best be presented to accomplish the goals of the research.  Seen below, is a pdf a power point that I created for myself and my professor to review my progress over the first three and a half months.  I suggest this for anyone who is trying to keep their files in order and write reflections on their progress.  In addition, I attached the final presentation with the results from the study.