Final Blog Post

This class has completely changed my view of research and all that it entails.  I had previously conducted an action research project for my externship and therefore thought I had a pretty good understanding of educational research.  However I came into the class not knowing the definitions of quantitative and qualitative research.  I have learned that the research I previously conducted was only one of the vast amounts of research studies that can be performed.  I now understand the complexities of educational research and the focus one must have when choosing a topic to study.  I also understand the great difficulties one can have when trying to actually conduct research in a school.  Having never taken a statistics class, the statistical techniques pertaining to research were completely new to me.  I have not used them a lot since I am designing a qualitative study, but I now have a better grasp of their meanings and uses.  It has been interesting in discussing the ethical concerns of research because I am also taking a class right now on educational issues and policies in which we discuss ethical dilemmas.  I have been able to take some of the ideas from that class and think about them in terms of using human subjects in research.  My opinion of research has definitely changed as I now realize how time-consuming and in-depth it can really be.  I think one of the hardest parts for me was narrowing down a research topic, but I think if we were actually conducting this research that the data analysis would also prove to be a tremendous task.  I am interested in doing further research, but I think I would need to find a topic of great interest to me in order to stay focused throughout the entire process.

Blog Post #9- Field Notes

Last week I observed the students and environment at VCU from an overhead walkway.  I believe this was my first time observing people without having to "look" for something in particular.  At first it was difficult to just write down what I saw instead of my opinions on what I saw.  It was a warm sunny day and I first thing I noticed was the feel of being in a small city.  Public transportation was readily available and the streets were filled with restaurants, shops and street vendors.  Although there was a lot of traffic, most people seemed to be walking or biking.  I assumed these people were students since they were all wearing backpacks.  Most of the people I observed were walking quickly and not interacting or acknowledging others.  I noticed cell phones and Ipods being used by those who were walking.  It was not a quiet scene because of the traffic and loud music coming from several of the cars.  For the fifteen minutes I was observing I saw VCU students of multiple ethnicities and ages.  Mostly all of them were dressed casually on this warm day (shorts, jeans, sandals, shirtless).  I did notice multiple people wearing VCU t-shirts which might indicate school pride or simply be a result of the recent basketball games.  The student culture at VCU did seem considerably diverse from what I observed, however also had many commonalities such as the modes of transportation.