Reflections on Entire Course

This course certainly has been an eye opening experience. During the first couple of weeks, I was still of the opinion that action research was little more than basic trial and error that most teachers have done since the beginning of time. However, as we progressed through the rather lengthy process of developing a specific research project, it became clear that it is significantly more complicated than that simple formulation.

As we worked through all the various phases of developing the topic, it was enlightening to see just how much planning and forethought was required to account for all the possible factors that could influence the results of the study.  The level of detail required was sometimes overwhelming and generated a whole new level of respect for those who engage in this work on an ongoing basis.  In particular, the massive amounts of reading required to do justice to the Review of Literature section were much more than I had realized going into the process.

It was a very productive exercise to engage in the Research Scavenger Hunt.  This provided a fun means of learning how to search the various databases as well as providing a needed tutorial in the basics of APA citation protocols.  While this process was made more complicated at first by the difficulty of installing the Virtual Private Network program, once that was finally put in place it became much easier to access the wide range of journals online.

Mertler's text was quite readable and understandable.  It really helped to make some of the complex concepts of research understandable to those of us who are new to this field.  Phillips seemed to cover the subjects in more technical depth, but was also a little more difficult to understand at times.  However, the two of them together seemed to balance each other out quite well and provided a well rounded background on these sometimes challenging issues.  The final chapter of Phillips, which was the assigned reading for this week, provided a good summary of the issues involved in bridging the traditional gap between the classroom teacher and the professional researcher. 

The videos did help to emphasize the main points of Mertler's book.  As I stated in an earlier post, they particularly were helpful in the sections dealing with statistical analysis.  Those of us who are not well trained in statistics can use all the help we can get in comprehending some of those concepts.

The additional videos were a mixed bag - mostly positive but one or two caused more puzzlement than anything about what the person was trying to convey.  In particular, the one rambling dissertation about what one would say to the President was rather strange.  Others, however, were quite good.  The "presentation Zen" particularly stood out as a very useful explanation of the basics of putting together a good visual package to enhance, rather than detract from, the message being communicated.  The NAMM videos towards the end were also quite good.

Overall I see the value in having this particular course as a part of the program.  With a capstone project being a required culmination of the degree program, at least now we will have some idea of where to start as we begin to develop our possible topics and questions.  It also has helped open my eyes to the value of what researchers can discover.  I don't know that I will necessarily continue as a researcher in the long term, but it certainly has given me a new respect for those who choose to do so.