Hey everybody, so today I just turned in my research proposal. This was a really big task that required a lot of work to plan out how I will be conducting my research, so I am really happy and feel really accomplished that I finished this task. However, now that this task is behind us all, it is time to create a timeline and actually plan out when I would like to have each part of my research done.
Because of this, here is my timeline: (BTW I hope that you like my usage of this outdated meme)
January 8: When I return from winter break. I want to begin my collection of the general information about BASIS.
January 15: I would like to be finished collecting my general information about BASIS, and would like to have my surveys sent out to teachers. Additionally, I would like to have scheduled interviews with teachers.
January 22: I would like to be done collecting my surveys and will have begun my analysis of the data I received. Additionally, I would like to be in the middle of conducting my interviews, and will have started my classroom observations.
February 3: By the time that I finish attending class, I would like to be done with my interviews, be working on analyzing the data, and be in the middle of conducting my classroom observations.
February 10: I will be more than halfway done with my classroom observations. Additionally, I will be finished with my analysis of my surveys and interviews, and will be starting to analyze the data I have collected so far for my observations.
February 16: I will be done conducting my classroom observations, and will be finishing up my analysis of my data.
February 26: I will be done performing my analysis of the data, and will be working on writing the results portion of my paper.
March 10: I want to be done with the results section of my paper.
March 17: I want to have a draft of my paper finished.
March 24: I want to have a final draft of my paper.
April 2: I want to have my presentation done and memorized.
April 17: Present final presentation.
Now, the second part of this post will be about how I plan to analyze and present my results. For my methods, I have to sort through and organize information for three different methods, all of which needs to be analyzed and have meaning extracted from it. In order to do this, the first step in this process will be to organize the information collected into categories depending on whether the information is about BASIS students, its teachers, or its administrators. From there, for my data, I will then look to see what the data says to determine what parts support or reject the different parts of my hypothesis. Although I am not completely sure how I will accomplish this task, I plan on organizing my results for the classroom observations into a table based on the specific criteria that I looked for. Also, I believe that I will be able to extract meaning from my surveys by measuring how frequently teachers give a similar response to an answer. Lastly, for my interviews, I am unsure of how I will conduct my analysis because the results that I will be getting are very qualitative.
I look forward to getting your guys’ feedback on my timeline and your thoughts on my data analysis procedures. Until next week!
Hi Brian!
ReplyDeleteTo be honest with you, I laughed out loud at that meme…It’s been TOO LONG since I deprived myself of that lady. With regards to your data collection, I think that it’s great of you to jump into things as soon as we get back from winter break! Taking advantage of your last few weeks at BASIS (o man) by compiling information about your research topic will really help in not feeling rushed during the third trimester. It’s also great to see that you are overlapping your tasks. However, it seems like you may be putting too much on your plate in such a short span of time. You seem to be finishing a lot of your data collection throughout January, but I’m just concerned whether you will have the time to do all of this, since we will still have assignments, etc. in other classes. But, as long as you can handle what you are planning on carrying out, I think that finishing most of your research in January proves to be extremely beneficial in time management.
Regarding your analysis, I would suggest compiling the data in a spreadsheet, with clear separations between the three types of people – the students, the teachers, and the administration. Also, in order to pull meaning from your interviews, I would suggest having categories based on the themes you’re looking for. Then, I would pull out key words that associate with these themes from the surveys and categorize them accordingly. This is kind of like coding, and you will just want to make sure that you provide a good enough justification for why you are placing certain words in certain categories.
Hope this helps! Good luck with your research!
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Hey Brian!! Classic meme... I appreciate! Ok, so on to your plan. I'm really happy to see that you plan to have gotten the general information about the school and the surveys done by the end of January. I agree with Rema that this might be a tight schedule, but I honestly think that as long as you diligently stay on top of making sure you get the surveys back on time etc. you'll be in great shape! One thing, have you reached out to teachers about scheduling times to observe their classes? Because I think that if you can have a schedule before break, it'll just help you stay on track. Also, I think that in regards to getting the different sections of the paper done, you have given yourself a good plan of action.
ReplyDeleteFor the analysis of your data, it looks like you have the most confidence about analyzing the survey results. For the classroom observations, when you said you would organize it into a table with specific criteria, have you already determined what that criteria is? Because maybe we can talk about that today to see if that's a good way of organizing the data. Lastly, for the interviews, I agree with Rema to take an approach similar to a content analysis. It seems like that will be the best way to find trends in otherwise subjective responses. This is also something we can flesh out when we meet in groups today! Overall, I'm really excited about your project! You got this!