I really enjoyed doing the ethics reflections, because it ties in with the line of thought I have about students, which is that in all that they do, they are budding moral philosophers. I like anything that is morals/ethics related.
I think the most helpful thing that I have heard in class is the notion of not picking what kind of research you are going to do, (quantitative vs. qualitative), but rather picking a topic/question first and letting that dictate what kind of research you need to do in order to answer the questions that you're asking. Qualitative research appeals more to me, but I realized that many of the questions I was coming up with lent themselves more to quantitative research.
I liked the in-class ERIC tutorial; it was very helpful. Since I am no good at almost all things computer-related, it was nice to get some hands-on experience. I find myself zoning out a bit when the discussion gets a little too mathematical, i.e. ratio data, so next week I'm going to work on honing my focusing skills. I'm wondering if this is because I haven't been a student for the last two years. Did anyone else notice the overlap in classes when we talked about the reliability and validity of test scores? I did, and I felt really smart for a hot second. Alright, that's all I got in me for now, see y'all at Rose's.
3 comments:
Lia, I am betting that you have a handle on it!! But you didn't give me much more than a hint of what topic you are thinking about. Ethics? Cheating?
Lia, I noticed the overlap in our classes, too, and was ridiculously proud of myself--I mean, hey, this is grad school. If we're picking up on this stuff, we must be geniuses. :)
As far as qualitative vs. quantitative studies go, I agree with your point that it's important not to choose which kind of study you want to do before selecting a question. Like you, I really loved the ideas and studies that qualitative research promotes, like narrative histories and ethnographies. Also like you, I find that the kinds of data I'm leaning toward actually collecting for my study seem much more quantitative in nature.
I love your idea of students as "budding moral philosophers"--you have a lot of faith. :) I will be interested to see whether you opt to use this as a basis for a classroom study.
Hey Lia, I liked the stream of consciousness blog, so SoCal of you! Budding moral philosophers...please elaborate! I wasn't able to read what you wrote about this week in your blog yet but am excited to see what your narrowing down on. I know I had chatted with you about some possible topics and I think you like me, are so passionate about certain topics, that it is most lgocial to want to use this research opportunity to want to find BIG answers. Look forward to seeing whats in store. I think we must keep in mind what Dr. Milner talked about, specifically the applicability of our research. Good Luck!
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