Sociology 345: Program Research and Evaluation has been a highly informative and beneficial class. The class has completely transformed my academic research and writing, allowing me to produce better work overall, and especially suited for the field of social science. Before this class, I was unsure of how to effectively target my specific audience, but now I have learned how to target my audience. This includes providing definitions, and examples, and using different terminology that will help familiarize and give context to the audience, as before this I wrote as if my audience had the same knowledge as me, as if they were an instructor or fellow student. To write better, I had to select better sources first. I decided to search through Google Scholar, Greenwood Library, and other trustworthy academic sources. I decided to sift through articles beyond keywords alone and furthered my search by checking for peer-reviewed, updated, relevant, and newer articles (within five to 10 years). This led me to add additional sources for the final paper as some of the initial articles, although proven to be accurate and trustworthy, were older than I would have preferred.
An example of one of the challenges that I encountered when doing research assignments in this class was coding. I found this aspect to be particularly difficult, with numerous errors occurring frequently. I overcame this issue with the assistance of my professor and one of my roommates who is a computer science major. By asking for help from individuals who are skilled in aspects that I lacked, I was able to learn more efficiently. Another challenge that I encountered while working on research assignments was trying to decide on major themes for qualitative analysis. There was such a large variety of responses that it was difficult to narrow down and hone in on three key themes. In the end, I decided to pick the most frequently occurring that I could write the most on. While in reality there were at least five themes that occurred often and would make sufficient themes for the paper, I decided to pick the three that I could write the most/best on. This allowed me to write highly efficient and accurate work. One piece of advice that really stuck with me that my professor gave us was that research will always go wrong and that it’s best to just accept it. Research is difficult because you are creating your own data and aren’t simply interpreting someone else’s writing. My professor said that in all her years of teaching, there has never been a year where nothing has gone wrong. I believe that this is a good thing as it prepares you to adapt and overcome different situations, allowing you to become a better researcher overall.
My attitudes and perceptions towards doing research have changed drastically throughout the semester. At the beginning of the semester, I believed that research was fairly easy and that there would not be a difficult workload. I was proven wrong fairly early on in the semester, as there was a lot more work required to be put in behind the scenes than I would have initially imagined. The coding, program design, and overall thought that was required for each and every aspect of the class are just some of the many examples of things that were difficult. This resulted in me having a much greater deal of respect for researchers in every field. This newly found level of respect that I had gained for researchers made me think about the semester as a whole, the research that was conducted, and what it means to “think like a researcher”. I believe that thinking like a researcher is made up of a variety of aspects, with critical thinking and problem-solving at its core. These are key elements of research and are both essential aspects of performance, resulting in worse products with the lack of either. As I mentioned previously, it is normal for things not to be normal when partaking in research, so having problem-solving skills is a clear necessity. I also think that thinking like a researcher involves passion and curiosity. Being such a difficult task to complete, having a passion for research will assist you greatly. Finally, curiosity is arguably the most important as it draws you into research and keeps you there, setting you up for continuing research in the future.