At the beginning of the course, Social Research and Program Evaluation, the focus was on research methods through lectures and textbook readings. I had already taken a research methods course, but the specifics of sociology research were a little different, and it was beneficial for me to review topics such as types of data and ethics. The readings, lectures, and quizzes were timed well with the research conducted during the course and allowed me to review the important aspects of the research process before I had to complete them.
The further in the semester we got the more the course shifted toward doing the social research and program evaluation project. In this project, the class created surveys to send home to Head Start families who participated in completing Family Fun Time activities. Gaining this research experience was valuable as I learned that 15 weeks is not long enough to do proper research and that not everything will go as planned during the process. Unfortunately, the response rate was not enough to complete most of the research, and both the instructors of the course and the students were faced with the decision of how to complete the projects. I believe that this taught the valuable lesson of being able to pivot while conducting research. We examined data from the previous years of this research and the small number of responses from this year to complete our research papers and presentations.
Gaining research experience has been invaluable, I will continue to utilize these skills well into my professional career. Finding reliable sources and understanding the necessity of previous research on a topic has been the most advantageous skills to learn and reinforce. The initial sources I chose for the research project worked out great for my literature review and I kept all of them during my revisions. I did add one source for further information on the interconnectedness of parental education and child education.
Besides the low response rate, the rest of the research went relatively smoothly. Like any project working with peers, there were differences of opinion when developing the survey questions. Each of us had different literature reviews and independent variables that we were interested in collecting data on. When developing the questions, we had to deliberate what questions would be the most advantageous for all of us, keep the survey succinct, and use appropriate language to reduce confusion. An example of this was deciding if and how to ask about marital status, single-parent households, or to provide the number of adults caring for the child. It was also important to us to write demographic questions that remained considerate of inclusive-inoffensive language. This, coupled with APA standards and our interest in developing a demographic question that would not be overly open for respondents to select each answer brought on discussion in the class of how to best approach the question. Ultimately, we decided on a question that fulfilled all our needs.
This guided research project has increased my confidence in my research skills. In each section of the project, I was surprised at how well I performed. I found the research process to be enjoyable which I think aided in my good performance. The main portion of the project that I know I could improve on with practice is the literature review content. I need to make sure to connect the literature back to the current study and work on succinctly synthesizing the sources.
I consider “Thinking Like a Researcher” to mean questioning everything, looking up previous literature, and analyzing it to find the truth. “Thinking Like a Researcher” can be valuable in many facets of life, educational, professional, and especially personal. I already know what reliable sources of information should include, and where to find them, and I understand bias and ethics. I think preventing misinformation and confusion in my life can be done by simply recreating the research process using these skills.