Since completing this research, my overall process has made some changes. I have only participated in one other academic research project prior to this course in which only involved a proposal. However, this project required me to convey more in-depth research and analysis. Throughout the process of writing the final paper, I found myself returning to previous literature on the topic for more clarity and support on my hypothesis/research question.

My process for selecting and evaluating my sources was fairly lengthy yet necessary to ensure they were relevant and consistent with my research question. First, I used the Greenwood Library database to find journal articles by searching key terms such as “parental involvement” and “child academic achievement”. I was able to find a couple of credible sources using this database that I thoroughly reviewed before deciding to use it in my literature review. I then checked online sociology journals to find the rest of my sources. I would always read the journal article’s abstract to find if the research topics were relevant to my own before reading onward. Using this strategy, I was able to use and keep all of my original sources for the final paper.

Some challenges I encountered throughout this project mainly involved the data analysis process for the qualitative and quantitative findings. For the qualitative findings, it was difficult to find and organize all the common themes. While the actual analysis wasn’t too challenging, the motivation to read through and organize the responses was difficult at times. I was able to push through by breaking down the amount of surveys I read and organized to about 7 each day for 5 days since there were 35 in total. For the quantitative findings, it was challenging to choose the questions and responses I wanted to compare for my analysis. However, I was able to overcome it by carefully sifting through the survey responses that directly related to my research question.

My overall attitudes and perceptions of research projects have changed throughout this semester. Before, I had a basic understanding of the processes and necessities, but I was unaware of the actual execution of academic research. For example, I had no prior experience or knowledge of how data analyze were conducted for an actual project. I’m glad I was able to learn about and engage in this process so I can use it in the future. I believe the saying “Think Like a Researcher” means to think critically and analytically about the relationships between concepts and don’t assume one thing directly causes another.