Research Experience

  1. My process for doing academic research has changed greatly since the beginning of the semester. Before this semester, I had never done a real research assignment. When I was presented with this research project, I did not know where to begin. I did not realize the meticulous things that went into performing research. One thing that changed for me was how much I cared about the wording of survey questions. Before, I would have written a question and moved on to the next without hesitation. This semester I learned that it is important to reread survey questions and write them in a clear way. Wording is very important when performing academic research.
  2. When evaluating and selecting sources for my research assignment, I focused on levels of important and relevance. With my topic being satisfaction with the University Health Center, I was able to incorporate sources about the spread of COVID-19, COVID-19 on college campuses, and student health centers. I used a lot of sources that discussed statistics. It was important to me to look at sources that discussed plans surrounding COVID-19 on college campuses and how those plans were carried out. I stuck with the original sources throughout my research project, and I did not add or change any.
  3. One of my biggest challenges was the quantitative research assignment. While using Rstudio was very helpful, it was difficult for me to understand which data to use and what I needed to include for my reader to get an idea of the outcome of the quantitative questions that were asked in the survey. After meeting with my professor, I better understood what I was missing. I also learned how to do a bivariate table which I did not know how to do before this class.
  4. My confidence level about doing research has drastically increased since the beginning of the semester. Like I previously mentioned, this was my first real research project. I had so many questions when I first started, and I doubted all of my work. Doing everything step by step and being able to go to my professor with questions majorly boosted my confidence. I feel much better about academic research, and I believe I will be able to get through future research assignments with ease.
  5. To “think like a researcher” is to observe all things with your research in mind. This semester taught me that there is research to be done in all aspects of life. I have always been interested in data and surveys. This class taught me that there is always something to be researched and it taught me exactly how to go about that research.