Running head: REFLECTIVE ESSAY FOR MEDT 8484 RESEARCH AND SEMINAR 1
Reflective EssayforMEDT 8484 Research and Seminar
Damon Jefferson
West Georgia University
MEDT 8484
Introduction
Initially, I was hesitant about taking this research course over the shortened summer semester with all of the requirements associated with the course. However, in addition to it being a requirement for graduation, I knew the benefits and relevancy that it could have on me in the profession of teaching. Johnson and Christensen (2008) suggested that understanding appropriate research techniques could possibly help one in a career as a student, teacher, counselor, or coach. I also knew that learning appropriate research methods would assist me in developing leadership skills for potentialinstructional technology positions in the future.
This course also afforded me the opportunity to research a topic that I had already begun to develop an interestin prior to taking this research course. I was able to apply learned concepts and strategies to decipher relevant data while researching the perceptions and attitudes of the stakeholders (teachers, students, administrators, and programs) involved in distant learning programs. The popularity and use of online learning programs has increased with most higher education institutions and some K-12 learning environments opting to use some form of educating students without traditional methods (Kirby and Sharpe, 2010).
Review of Learning
I was able to meet all four of the course objectives by completing the assigned tasks. The discussions were particularly important to meeting the requirements of the course. The format of posting and responding to other peers increased the level of understanding of research practices to an even greater degree. The links to the different testing sites provided a great resource tool that I did not know was even available for public use until now. I also answered and used the chapter questions to help guide my reading in the textbook. This was very helpful because the chapter questions were written in the same order that the chapters were outlined in the text.
This course also helped me to understand how to read and interpret data, assess the demographics, and understand the methodology used in each study. Prior to this course, I was inexperienced with understanding some of the key terms associated with research, recognizing the need for multiple relevant research studies on similar topics, and the importance of conducting studies that value ethical standards. The Human Participants Certification assignment provided the most significance to me in this course. It provided a wealth of historical information related to research studies and the importance of ethical standards. Although I was already familiar with the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, I was not aware of the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial following World War II which exposed how German scientist had used captive human subjects in gruesome experiments (Trochim, 2006). I also was not as knowledgeable of how organizations like the Institutional Review Board (IRB) were initially formulated to govern and uphold ethical standards in research practices.
The process of gathering the supplemental materials for my research topic was not hard to accomplish at all. I had obtained prior knowledge for collecting information electronically by using the ERIC database in previous courses at West Georgia University. In addition, the research article review chart and the literature review map assignment provided a good method for organizing journal articles for the research project.
Although there were not many things that I feel I did not do well on in this course, I wish that I had commented more on the discussion board with other peers. Peer interaction can potentially provide a greater understanding of difficult topics and lead to more awareness of unknown findings. I was often reluctant to challenge some of the information presented by peers because of the lack of one knowing the intended tone in an online environment.
Implications
My experience in this course will influence my approach to the profession of education as a teacher. Prior to this course, I might not have recognized the need to obtain multiple research studies that suggest a particular view. Now, I understand the need for collecting data from several studies to assess a particular point of view. In education, teachers are often bombarded with products and methods in which an isolated research study was conducted to promote their cause. I can now assess the legitimacy of new products and methods. This course has equipped me with knowledge to assess the methods, the type of study conducted, consider the demographics, and acknowledge what the researchers primary purpose for conducting the study.
Conclusion
In closing, I have been able to learn a tremendous amount about research practices in a short amount of time in this course. While it was disheartening to learn of some of the unethical research practices that transpired in the past and the deaths that occurred as a result, it did justify the need for organizations like the Institutional Review Board (IRB) to govern research practices. There were other benefits to completing this course as well. The course helped guide my thoughts of what makes data reliable and valid. Being able the decipher the different types of data, the researcher’s methods, acknowledging different demographics, and understanding the primary purpose for a research study, will contribute to a better understanding of choosing appropriate research to justify a product or method that I could potentially utilize in the profession of education in the future. The completion of the sequential order of the assignments also helped to shape my thoughts and organization for the final literature review research project. They were all useful because most of them were related to the culminating project at the end of the course.
References
Johnson, R.B. & Christensen, L.B. (2008). Educational research: quantitative, qualitative, and mixed approaches. California: Sage Publications, Inc.
Kirby,D. & Sharpe, D. (2010). High school students in the new learning environment: a profile ofdistance e-learners. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology 9(1), p.83-88.
Trochim, W. (2006). Ethics in research. In Research Methods Knowledge Base. Retrieved from