PhD Portfolio

Research

Reflections on Research Experiences and Competencies

I thought I knew a bit about research--after all, I'm trained as a school librarian and English teacher and have written a120-page master's thesis using Havelock the Dane and The Mabinogion as a way of examining the historical, literary, religious, and linguistic contributions of the Anglo-Saxons and Celts to medieval English culture. I'd taught research to thousands of high school students. I even knew something about the Chicago Style Manual, APA, and Council of Biology Editors since I'd taught two classes of undergraduates at Longwood University how to write up historical and scientific research. What I hadn't done, though, was any research in the social sciences. I have some expertise in conducting a literature review, and I have been acquiring a new set of skills that are preparing me to conduct the other aspects of educational research. Doc Seminar showed me the central position held by collaborative social science research in a collegiate culture and the infinite variety of research topics and designs.

As part of our study of organizational and leadership theory in Leadership Seminar, we examined the kinds of research questions raised and addressed, the ramifications for practice, and the limitations of each theory to help us develop our own perspective as researchers. We gained expertise by writing critiques of research artciles. Examining these articles from the standpoint of theoretical perspective and research validity added another layer to my experience. Writing literature reviews helped us to hone our critical skills. Along with Ways of Knowing, this course most useful in helping me with conceptual analysis and theory development--as they relate to my belief structure and research interests.

Problems and Methods in Education Research provided a real foundation in educational research. I will use the text as a reference tool for the rest of my days, and I will continue to hone the skills I began to develop in this class. The varying methods for gathering research data were not especially alarming; getting help with finding useful databases and relevant literature was nothing essentially new. New and alarming came into play when we learned about the complexity of the policies regulating research using human subjects. I understand the concepts of balancing internal and external validity and creating a chain of reasoning, but the practice is much more difficult than the theory. Writing and revising research proposals was the single most effective learning tool for me in that course. My first quantitative research proposal used a survey to identify obstacles to constructivist, inquiry-based English instruction. Of course, this was absurdly ambitious and loose. By the second draft, I had narrowed it down to an online survey about obstacles secondary English teachers perceive to their use of digital technology for instruction. My first qualitative proposal was to use action research to make recommendations about curricular choices and instructional practices in Advanced Placement (A. P.) Language and Composition English 11 and A. P. Literature and Composition English 12 courses taught to gifted secondary students at the Commonwealth Governor’s School (CGS) in Stafford, VA. By the second draft, this evolved into a constant comparison to describe curricular choices and instructional practices in the A. P. Language and Composition English 11 course taught to gifted secondary students at CGS. As an adviser for newspaper and journalism teacher, I had experience with surveys, interviews, and other means of eliciting information, but I learned a great deal about the development of educational research instruments and data collection in this class. The readings, the class discussion, and the hard work of creating research design and revising it with the able assistance of the professor have taught me enough to know how ignorant I am and how fascinating the world of educational research is.

I found my home in Qualitative Research. My experience with Dr. Maxwell in Doc Seminar had intrigued me. I left the course with an increased respect for the complexity and usefulness of qualitative research and a much more precise awareness of my potential flaws as a researcher. The design of the course assured that I know about the theory behind qualitative research, was exposed to a variety of qualitative studies, had experience evaluating qualitative research, and had guided practice as a real qualitative researcher myself. I have much clearer ideas about the role of the researcher, selecting a setting and participants, developing relationships, and collecting and analyzing data. This course has given me an inkling of what the dissertation process will be like. The process of doing a qualitative research project examining gifted high school students’ perceptions about their own learning styles and broadcast technology as an instructional method helped me to situate all I learned. The progression of my growing insight can be traced in the memos. My skills in instrument development, data collections, and data analysis improved radically in this class.

Program Evaluation helped me to define research by highlighting the differences between the purposes of evaluation and research. Examining the continuum between objectivist and participant methods of evaluation reinforced what I know about research methodology. Data collection and analysis reiterated many of the principles I first encountered in the qualitative research class. It's all started to soak in. The repetition of things like creating and analyzing surveys helped with my quantitative research class. Categoring evaluation as an examination of process, product, or program helped me to refine and define my thinking. There are clear differences between research and evaluation, but Program Evaluation reminded me of the importance of sensitivity to setting and participants, awareness of the effect of the researcher/evaluator on both, and the necessity to clarify precisely what it is I am examining and use the appropriate instruments and data collections methods--whatever my purpose. All phases of research require evaluation; we are constantly making judgments whether we call it research or evaluation. I also appreciated Dr. Galluzzo's forcing us to ground our work within a conceptual framework to complete our own program evaluation.

Quantitative Research has been a real struggle for me since I am math phobic. Thank goodness for SPSS! I understand the theory and can make use of the technology applications, but I fear that I will avoid using quantitative methods that are an obvious match for a research project I am working on simply to avoid possible error. I can do the work, but it takes a great deal of thought and deliberation and checking behind myself. The course has been wonderful in making my reading of others' research more critical. I am not including a link to my quantitative project because--as per our instructions--I created fictitious data set that I don't want posing on the Internet as real research and real findings. The posing of related research questions that can be specifically answered with a multiple regression, chi square test, or two-way ANOVA helped me to codify the connection between research, analysis, and interpretation. I learned a great deal about data analysis and using software applications to analyze data.

My current job has also provided me with opportunities to develop my research skills. A paper I co-authored with Dr. Priscilla Norton has been accepted by the Society for Technology and Teacher Education and a concept paper I helped research and write may be instrumental to finding funding sources for a new virtual program for gifted students.

What I Need Now

My biggest concerns at this point are staying focused on clearly defined research, not permitting myself to become distracted by attractive side roads, and not letting my math phobia interfere with what is best for my research project.

Major: Instructional Technology
Minor: Curriculum & Instruction

Graduate School of Education
George Mason University
4400 University Dr.
Fairfax, VA 22030