SOCL 345 & 346: This coursed focused on the methodology of research and data. The research question in these two courses was “Does Socio-economic Status Affect Parent Involvement?” Data was collected through a collection of surveys that were received back from parents.
CRIM 387: This was a researched based course that focused on issues within the American criminal justice system. In this course research was conducted on a specific issue one chose. The rationale behind the methodology I had chose was to examine whether or not punishment for drug use was efficient or not
SOCL 331: This course focused on the aspects of aging. For this course I conducted a research paper on Alzheimers which is a disease that many old people fall victim to. My research paper examines what the disease is, how it affects people, and possibly cures.
The first couple of papers that I have written that focus on methodologies were not as well put together and written professionally as they are now because writing that way was foreign to me. The first paper I included in this page was written two years ago and it focused on data collection from a project we conducted to measure parent involvement within families that attended Head Start and the Andy Taylor Center. This was the first big research I had ever conducted in my time at Longwood University. The second paper I included was written last semester and was solely research based. This was a group paper, I had group members to help aid me in my writing skills and research skills, my professor was also there to help aid me. From the help I received, I have gained new research knowledge and writing skills that made me a better writer. The third paper I included was written over the winter semester where I conducted my own research to examine a disease that affects the aged; what the disease is and how it affects people. In this process of conducting research it was easy for me to find sources and weed out the bad sources, my writing is organized, and well-written.
One of the major aspects of social research methodology that I have utilized and will be able to utilize in my future career is conducting surveys. One of the career routes I have been interested to work in is conducting research within law enforcement. For a career like this I would need to have knowledge on how to find sources and how to create good surveys. In SOCL 345 & 346 we took information that we had been given and conducted surveys on the aspects that we needed; some of the aspects we need filled consisted out the ages of the children, what activity they completed, how long it took them, and if the activity helped the family engage more with each other. I believe that having the knowledge of how to conduct surveys is very crucial to research processes and these courses have provided me with the knowledge of how to do so. Another crucial aspect to social research methodology is knowing what to do with the data. We took data we collected and created graphs to show what we had found.
As stated previously, some day I would be interested in conducting research within a law enforcement agency. The knowledge and skills that I gained after taking SOCL 345 and SOCL 346 are skills that would help me tremendously in a research field. I learned how to utilize the knowledge given to me to come up with questions to include when conducting research. When conducting research, it is very important to have certain criteria included to help you with the research you are conducting. From the surveys created, you then collect data and compile it into one big data sheet. This data can be examined and illustrated through graphs which will help the researcher or viewer look at the data from the bigger picture without having to look at them individually. This skills that I obtained will allow me to perform the duties that I am asked of my future employer.