Research Experience

Throughout this semester and doing this research, I have gained many new skills that can help me go far in life. Some of the skills in which I have picked up from this experience are how to make a survey, how to edit survey questions to make the language more formal, how to analyze data, how to create an e-portfolio, and how to be an effective sociologist. These things are new to me because at the beginning of the semester I had no idea of how to do any of these things, but now I feel confident in my abilities to accomplish these tasks. The process for finding and selecting sources to complete this research assignment was a rocky road because at first, I had a few sources that were not academic, but after gaining some knowledge from this class and research I was able to find academic sources to replace the other sources and as a result was able to write a more formal paper. Some of the challenges in which I encountered while doing this research were finding relevant sources, separating the data between qualitative and quantitative, and creating correct tables. The strategy that I used to overcome these obstacles was to understand that my grade was at risk and that it is okay to swallow my pride and ask for help to ensure a good grade on the research and in the class. My attitudes and perceptions about doing research has changed over the semester tremendously. I feel like they have changed because at the beginning of the semester I was thinking about dropping the class because it sounded like too much work, I did not have any clue of how to do any of the tasks that we were to accomplish, and I did not feel like I was ready to do any research myself. However, I stayed in the class and after conducting the research and analyzing the data, I feel that I am capable of conducting research because I now have experience and the the knowledge necessary to accomplish it. I think this semester and doing this research has definitely taught me how to “think like a researcher”. I feel that to think like a researcher means to take yourself out of the student role and place yourself in the shoes of a researcher. In order to do this, it requires a change in mindset because a normal person’s mindset and a researcher’s mindsets are two totally different mindsets. I think in order to think like a researcher you have to exit your comfort zone and realize that this is reality, there are things that have to be accomplished and goals to be reached.