Thoughts

I realize I haven't posted in a while.  It seems that teaching, grading, dissertations, and life sometimes gets in the way of things I want to do.  "Should's" often get in the way of "want to's", even for researchers.  I have been reflecting on the third quarter of the lab for a while now.  I wonder if three quarter's are too many to keep up the interest in the project?  In traditional research, there is a shorter turn around between each step: IRB, data collection, analysis, etc.  Does drawing it out through the educational piece make it harder to ensure the enthusiasm?  And yet, without the educational piece would students gain as much?  Would the student research efficacy be enhanced if students simply followed direction and did not have an element of trial and error? 
I am at a point where I want to write about our study, yet I want the students to be able to contribute and feel they had a part in the total process.  I think right now, I want to know what students thought they knew about the process and now know they don't.  Our students have taken courses in research design, analysis, and certainly have gotten feedback about APA style throughout their courses.  Is it different when those things must be used, not for a course, but for a journal article?  Does being in a lab change both the expectation of the investigator and the student?
Again, these are just my thoughts..... As I think about these things, I think of ways to measure, examine, and investigate in the future. And each thought becomes another question.......