Academic Courses > DOS 731
DOS 731 - Research Methods II
Course Description
This class was an extension of the Research Methods class from our first semester. We picked a topic for a group research paper and began formulating a plan for gathering data and performing analysis on it. I worked in a group of three, and between us, we divided the work up and took charge of various aspects of the project.
Assessment
This class took an interesting turn from all of our other classes to date. Instead of receiving nothing but individual grades, we earned group grades for almost 2/3 of the weighting of our final score. This meant we sank or swam together, which makes sense for a class based on collaborative research. We also had a chance to evaluate our peers' efforts in our projects. Another twist in the grading was that we were no longer being graded on a set curriculum. Instead, we were being graded on the coherence and style of a free-form writing project. We struggled with both at various points during the semester.
Discussions and Other Writing
There were no weekly discussion posts in this class, but there was still plenty of writing activity. My the end of next semester's Research Methods III class, my group will hopefully have a publishable manuscript covering our contouring research findings. This semester, we put together the framework for the paper and submitted two drafts several weeks apart for feedback. One of my fellow students wrote the first draft, and I wrote the second draft. The third student was instrumental in finding and classifying well over half of the citations from our literature search.
In addition to group work, we also submitted a small individual citations assignment to help us work on AMA formatting of citations. We needed to pick 5 or more sources that we might (or might not) use in our final manuscript. This assignment was just as much about typesetting as it was about content. In addition to reinforcing styling rules, I learned a bit more about how to deal with tab stops for lists in Word.
In addition to group work, we also submitted a small individual citations assignment to help us work on AMA formatting of citations. We needed to pick 5 or more sources that we might (or might not) use in our final manuscript. This assignment was just as much about typesetting as it was about content. In addition to reinforcing styling rules, I learned a bit more about how to deal with tab stops for lists in Word.
Reflections
At the conclusion of each course, students are asked to reflect on what they have learned about the material and about themselves. The reflection is guided by five questions:
The new knowledge and skills I gained during this course were...
This course was largely self-directed learning as we explored the topic of our group research. I learned quite a bit about contouring accuracy and variability, and their consequences for plan construction and evaluation. I have also learned more about how to coordinate the process of writing scientific papers with multiple collaborators.
The new knowledge and skills will benefit me by...
I hope to be heavily involved in research throughout my career. This class is walking my through my first attempt at creating something publishable, so my next attempts will be much easier.
I struggle with...
When several people are almost but not entirely aligned in their goals, the bumps at the edges can be tripping hazards. Our group struggled with defining our mission during our early stages as we tried to seek consensus in eternal loops of reframing and re-evaluation. It is important to be able to find a clear goal quickly.
I feel pretty good about...
I am happy that my group was able to establish contact with industry experts who are already established in the field of our research. I think these connections will be extremely valuable going forward.
Other reflective thoughts...
In some cases, spreading work evenly does not actually work. It is the fair thing to do, but it is not always the effective thing to do. Especially when writing, more work may fall to one author or another. Workloads can also shift over the course of a project. One person may make most of their contributions early on, while others may not have a chance to contribute until later in the process when tasks that are better suited for them are ready to be done.
The new knowledge and skills I gained during this course were...
This course was largely self-directed learning as we explored the topic of our group research. I learned quite a bit about contouring accuracy and variability, and their consequences for plan construction and evaluation. I have also learned more about how to coordinate the process of writing scientific papers with multiple collaborators.
The new knowledge and skills will benefit me by...
I hope to be heavily involved in research throughout my career. This class is walking my through my first attempt at creating something publishable, so my next attempts will be much easier.
I struggle with...
When several people are almost but not entirely aligned in their goals, the bumps at the edges can be tripping hazards. Our group struggled with defining our mission during our early stages as we tried to seek consensus in eternal loops of reframing and re-evaluation. It is important to be able to find a clear goal quickly.
I feel pretty good about...
I am happy that my group was able to establish contact with industry experts who are already established in the field of our research. I think these connections will be extremely valuable going forward.
Other reflective thoughts...
In some cases, spreading work evenly does not actually work. It is the fair thing to do, but it is not always the effective thing to do. Especially when writing, more work may fall to one author or another. Workloads can also shift over the course of a project. One person may make most of their contributions early on, while others may not have a chance to contribute until later in the process when tasks that are better suited for them are ready to be done.
Academic Courses > DOS 731
|
Published August 14, 2015
Second Semester, 8 Months into Internship |