At the beginning of this semester, I did not know how to properly write a literature review, I knew nothing about operationalizing research or writing a research survey. My previous process for academic research usually involved blindly searching for semi-relevant topics and hoping to find something of use or searching for good resources but not knowing how to synthesize information from them. Through this class, I was able to learn how to find and use the resources I need for academic research.

            My process for evaluating and selecting sources, starts with searching relevant key words for my topic, reading over titles of the sources and abstracts, and glancing through the main points of the article. The sources that apply to my topic and have information that helps explain the background information or theories, are added to a list that I later re-examine to choose the best sources from. In this assignment, I originally chose articles without fully understanding my topic nor the direction that I wanted to take it in. Because of this, I ended up changing up several of the articles that I had originally chosen to use, and I replaced them with sources that better explained my topic.

            The main challenge I encountered while researching information was finding information that pertained to my topic and applied to the right age and demographic groups. Much of the literature focused more on parental involvement and socio-economic status or adolescents in minority families. However, upon deeper reading of the articles, I found that some of the information applied to multiple categories – including the groups I was looking for – or it was research about elementary aged children that had been applied up to adolescents and could be used in my research.

            Upon completion of this semester, I feel more confident in my ability to conduct research and locate the resources that I require. Having completed this research assignment and being able to look back on all that I have learned, I have a new understanding of the processes of research and a stronger appreciation for other researchers. Because I have gotten to experience what it is like to be a part of each step in writing the survey, analyzing the data, and applying the research to our questions, I no longer feel as though research is an impossible task.

            Applying what I have learned and experienced this semester, “Thinking like a researcher” means being in tune with the details of the project while keeping the big picture in mind and working toward the resulting end goal. A researcher needs to be able to conceptualize what they will need in the process and be flexible enough to know how to adjust if and when something does not go according to the plan. For instance, the surveys that we collected data from this semester had a low total return of 22%. This was not ideal for our research, but that does not mean that the data was useless. We were able to still learn a lot about how to conduct research and, though the results are not generalizable, we were able to get completed data and research out of the surveys.