Throughout this semester, I have acquired a variety of skills to help when conducting research and collecting data. For starters, the process in which I conduct research has changed since the beginning of the semester. Before this research study, I was unaware of the importance of participant anonymity and confidentiality. Now, I know that individuals must remain either anonymous or at least confidential throughout the study. I also have learned the importance of formulating the correct question format, in order to prevent having loaded questions and double-barreled questions, both of which can skew data.
Another aspect of research that I have become well versed in is the process of selecting good sources for my research. I took my time when finding the best sources for my literature review. I kept in mind my research question and searched databases to find the best articles to support my study. I found that there was a hole in the research that my study could fill, so I tried to find articles that could support the hypothesis I presented. I was able to pick articles that agreed with my stance and supported my research question, therefore, I didn’t have to change any of my sources after turning in my annotated bibliography.
Even though I tried to be strategic when conducting research, I still faced challenges throughout the process. A big challenge I faced was trying to find common trends within the open-ended, qualitative questions to support my research question and hypothesis. Once I was able to see one trend, however, more became apparent and I was able to continue collecting data. Another challenge I faced was when my hypothesis, hours of work effected the hours of parent-child interaction, had no correlation. Every researcher wants their hypotheses to be correct, however this one had no correlation, so I had to report that there must be a variable that is unaccounted for.
In the beginning of the semester I was nervous about collecting data. I figured I would have difficulty formulating questions, collecting both quantitative and qualitative data, and being able to present the data in a written format. However, at the end of the study I now know better strategies to collecting data. I am also aware of the importance of formulating good questions that wont create skewed data. When I was faced with collecting qualitative information from a statistical program I was concerned about messing up the data that was collected, however, with some work and dedication I became more confident in finding correlates between two variables and being able to present this data in a table format.
To me the term, “Think Like a Researcher” means always keeping your research question and hypothesis in mind. It is easy to accidentally record data that has nothing to do with your research, however if you keep this part of your research in the forefront of your data collection, you will be able to find data that supports your question. I also think that researchers think critically about the information that is presented to them and test this information to see if it is credible and relevant.