We have gotten a number of applications so far for the student researcher positions. Strangely, we have had few minorities apply. There is still time! Just send me an email and let me know if you would like the application form - we have extended the deadline just for you until Monday April 4!
Most of my time has been spent working with the applications. We also recruited some faculty members to rate our earliest memories from the last project - so I have also been working on this.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Application advice
Today I was mostly catching up after being out of town for the weekend. I printed off the applications that came in and entered the info on our spreadsheet. One thing that has been the biggest issue for students on the application - is not following directions! This is so important - make sure that you always check out what is needed, what materials are requested and send that. You do NOT get bonus points for sending 60 pages when 2 are specified! If the directions indicate you should draw an ecomap - then do that - do not use a program and make sure that you lay it out as indicated. An application is not a place to get creative. Your information will be compared to everyone else's, so if you are missing pieces, you will lose points in the scoring. We would like to have everyone who is interested participate, but we simply cannot risk having people who can't follow instructions.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Just how important is "grammar and spelling"?
I tell students all the time that spelling and grammar are the most important things when sending a prospectus, draft paper, or application. When faculty see typos or poor grammar, it is hard to see past those errors into the content of the document.
As students start to send their applications to be a part of the new research, it is soooooooooo important that they do spell check and grammar check, and follow directions. In the virtual world, the first impression that one makes is through writing. Certainly, one wouldn't go into a job interview with dirty jeans, shoes untied, or dirty face. I think that grammar, spelling and following directions are correlates, in the virtual world with how one presents themselves in the real world.
Don't misunderstand me, I am not angry or frustrated..... actually, I am sad that some folks may not be chosen due to their lack of attention to detail. I know that many professors will look at a student's prospectus and see errors in grammar or APA format, and not take on the dissertation committee due to this. Basically, everyone loses.
I wish there was a way, in the virtual world, not to have grammar and spelling be the first impression... but it seems that it is.
As students start to send their applications to be a part of the new research, it is soooooooooo important that they do spell check and grammar check, and follow directions. In the virtual world, the first impression that one makes is through writing. Certainly, one wouldn't go into a job interview with dirty jeans, shoes untied, or dirty face. I think that grammar, spelling and following directions are correlates, in the virtual world with how one presents themselves in the real world.
Don't misunderstand me, I am not angry or frustrated..... actually, I am sad that some folks may not be chosen due to their lack of attention to detail. I know that many professors will look at a student's prospectus and see errors in grammar or APA format, and not take on the dissertation committee due to this. Basically, everyone loses.
I wish there was a way, in the virtual world, not to have grammar and spelling be the first impression... but it seems that it is.
I did my ecomap...
Like Drs. Stadtlander and Giles, I did my ecomap this week in an attempt to help iron out instructions for it.
One issue for me, being a detail kind of person, was that I had to narrow my focus to the most proximal social support network, that being: immediate family, birth family, extended family, friends, and colleagues. I could have kept going because I find many layers of social support influence my life.
It was interesting to see all of those names on paper. Thinking about it from an RA perspective with regard to recruiting participants, it is a graphic depiction of how potentially rich/diverse our participants will be. Plus, it may be that the individuals we recruit are not folks who would typically be recruited for research studies using more typical sampling methods. I continue to find this sampling strategy - while new to my more quantitative sampling brain - fascinating and potentially invaluable in the online research world.
One issue for me, being a detail kind of person, was that I had to narrow my focus to the most proximal social support network, that being: immediate family, birth family, extended family, friends, and colleagues. I could have kept going because I find many layers of social support influence my life.
It was interesting to see all of those names on paper. Thinking about it from an RA perspective with regard to recruiting participants, it is a graphic depiction of how potentially rich/diverse our participants will be. Plus, it may be that the individuals we recruit are not folks who would typically be recruited for research studies using more typical sampling methods. I continue to find this sampling strategy - while new to my more quantitative sampling brain - fascinating and potentially invaluable in the online research world.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Many emails
I sent out 35 student researcher applications today! I also finally got a toll free fax number - you are welcome to use it to submit application materials if you wish: 855-505-4173.
We have had a number of students pose various questions to us in their emails, which tends to take some time to get resolved when working with 3 people. The other things I worked on today was setting up some mechanisms to keep track of applications, and what has been submitted/ done with each one. I set up an Excel spreadsheet that will track who submitted an application, if I sent a request for recommendation, and if we received it, along with the state the student is from. We would really like to get people from around the country - so that part is important. It is always hardest to get people from the center of the country for some reason.
I had to contact Walden's IT service today - I kept getting error messages in my email because of all of the large files I have been sending/ receiving. They helped me archive some of my old stuff - which freed up more room and made the server happy.
We have had a number of students pose various questions to us in their emails, which tends to take some time to get resolved when working with 3 people. The other things I worked on today was setting up some mechanisms to keep track of applications, and what has been submitted/ done with each one. I set up an Excel spreadsheet that will track who submitted an application, if I sent a request for recommendation, and if we received it, along with the state the student is from. We would really like to get people from around the country - so that part is important. It is always hardest to get people from the center of the country for some reason.
I had to contact Walden's IT service today - I kept getting error messages in my email because of all of the large files I have been sending/ receiving. They helped me archive some of my old stuff - which freed up more room and made the server happy.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
We're recruiting!
We sent out the ad for recruiting student researchers today! This is the ad for those who may have missed it:
We are looking for volunteer student researchers to assist in a mixed method study examining the relationships that people over the age of 85 have with their primary health providers as well as a new research method. If you are selected, you will be asked to commit to working on the project for three quarters (about 10 hours a week), the first quarter you will conduct interviews and administer surveys, the second quarter you will assist in data analysis and the third quarter you will assist in writing up the results for publication: if a publishable paper results you will be listed as a coauthor if you have completed all requirements for the project.
You will need to regularly participate in a one credit virtual lab on ecollege, and be trained in the research methods as to how to conduct a brief interview and to administer surveys. In addition, you will be asked to interview/ test 4 individuals over 85. We will also ask you to complete a demographic profile and a modified ecomap which looks at your social network, as we wish to examine the relationship between your characteristics and those of your participants.
If you are interested in participating, please contact Dr. Lee Stadtlander: leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu
Monday, March 21, 2011
More revisions
We have been revising our student researcher application forms today. The difficult portion is the ecomap - where students must draw out a graphical representation of their social networks. In an effort to make the final ecomaps consistent, we are fussing with the instructions. We then have each faculty member try to draw out their social networks based on the instructions. We are getting closer.
I also had a few of my doctoral students help us with the earliest memories rating scale. We had 50 people in the last study give us their earliest memories - and want to send them out for some experts to rate them along various criteria. But again we want to make sure the instructions are clear, so people understand what we need.
Researchers need to pilot test all instructions, as the developer you know what you want people to do - but you have to make sure that someone reading your instructions with no other background information clearly understands them. I think it helps to remind yourself that if someone doesn't do what you wanted them to do, you probably didn't make it clear. Your job as the writer is to make sure they get it.
I would also like to reinforce Dr. Sickel's comments about research experience - I also worked in a lab all through my undergraduate and graduate programs (and yes, I did pay tuition for the opportunity to do it). By the time I received my doctorate I already had several conference presentations and articles - it made getting a faculty position considerably easier! So I encourage you to take every opportunity you can get to do research. The best part of working with faculty on a project - is they take care of the details (IRB approval, developing the paperwork), leaving you the opportunity to actually work with the participants - which is the fun part!
I also had a few of my doctoral students help us with the earliest memories rating scale. We had 50 people in the last study give us their earliest memories - and want to send them out for some experts to rate them along various criteria. But again we want to make sure the instructions are clear, so people understand what we need.
Researchers need to pilot test all instructions, as the developer you know what you want people to do - but you have to make sure that someone reading your instructions with no other background information clearly understands them. I think it helps to remind yourself that if someone doesn't do what you wanted them to do, you probably didn't make it clear. Your job as the writer is to make sure they get it.
I would also like to reinforce Dr. Sickel's comments about research experience - I also worked in a lab all through my undergraduate and graduate programs (and yes, I did pay tuition for the opportunity to do it). By the time I received my doctorate I already had several conference presentations and articles - it made getting a faculty position considerably easier! So I encourage you to take every opportunity you can get to do research. The best part of working with faculty on a project - is they take care of the details (IRB approval, developing the paperwork), leaving you the opportunity to actually work with the participants - which is the fun part!
Glad to hear about the eCollege space!
That is wonderful news, that we have space in eCollege this summer! I worked as an RA throughout my entire doctoral program and it was an invaluable experience. In fact, I worked in research outside of my schooling for many of my graduate years and found that much like statistics, the more you use that part of the brain, the better it gets.
My first area of work was on content about which I had no experience - so I felt a bit detached from it and would have loved to have had a space such as this to regularly connect with my fellow RAs and the Principal Investigator.
I cannot say enough about how valuable research for all of our professional tool kits. When I think about how research is often conducted in brick and mortar institutions both before this electronic era (i.e. research was conducted slower and with potentially less cohesion between RAs and Investigators) and now - with a heavy reliance on social media (i.e. allowing for faster and more cohesive research teams), this classroom space will greatly enhance our students' research experience and seems to be the future for online research.
My first area of work was on content about which I had no experience - so I felt a bit detached from it and would have loved to have had a space such as this to regularly connect with my fellow RAs and the Principal Investigator.
I cannot say enough about how valuable research for all of our professional tool kits. When I think about how research is often conducted in brick and mortar institutions both before this electronic era (i.e. research was conducted slower and with potentially less cohesion between RAs and Investigators) and now - with a heavy reliance on social media (i.e. allowing for faster and more cohesive research teams), this classroom space will greatly enhance our students' research experience and seems to be the future for online research.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Busy day!
We had a number of things develop today - we got approve to offer the one credit lab course for summer (it hasn't been used for two years and is no longer in the catalog). Next step is to start recruiting students. The faculty are going to meet early next week to work out the final details on recruiting. We also need to finalize the syllabus we will be using. I have picked out the Mixed Method book that will be used for all 3 quarters of the lab:
Creswell, J.W. & Plano Clark, V.L. (2011). Designing and conducting mixed method research, 2nd edition. Los Angeles: Sage.
We decided to submit a proposal for presenting a poster at Walden's summer session in Minneapolis on the new research method we have been using.
I finally got approval from the grant office to start spending the fellowship funds :)
I have had some emails asking about the IRB process. There seems to be a lot of mystique and fear about getting IRB approval. The IRB is looking at the ethics involved in the study, you really have to think through what you are asking of your participants: how will they be recruited (they cannot feel coerced)? What will happen to them from the moment they come in contact with the researcher? Think through who your participants will be - where are the places that there may be problems? Let's use our oldest old study of relationships with physicians as an example. There are a lot of issues you have to consider when working with people over 85. For example, is the person mentally competent? They may have vision issues - have you accommodated that with larger font on your materials? How will you recruit the participants - in a nursing home? Senior center? Some other place? Who will approach them?
When working with student researchers we must show that they will be trained to deal with any issues that might arise in interviewing such elderly individuals. So knowing how to handle people that won't stay on topic is important, knowing how to handle confidentiality issues, and what to do if someone discloses that they have been abused (most states have mandated reporting laws with the elderly).
A final bit of advice on the subject of IRB - don't be in a hurry to send in the application - reread it - have other people reread it. Include all materials that the participants may see (including flyers, ads, etc.). Spell and grammar check - be professional! You can write to Walden IRB early in the planning process and ask them questions. They are really wonderful about helping you on issues- it is better to find out early that something is a problem than to wait until you have everything approved by your committee.
Creswell, J.W. & Plano Clark, V.L. (2011). Designing and conducting mixed method research, 2nd edition. Los Angeles: Sage.
We decided to submit a proposal for presenting a poster at Walden's summer session in Minneapolis on the new research method we have been using.
I finally got approval from the grant office to start spending the fellowship funds :)
I have had some emails asking about the IRB process. There seems to be a lot of mystique and fear about getting IRB approval. The IRB is looking at the ethics involved in the study, you really have to think through what you are asking of your participants: how will they be recruited (they cannot feel coerced)? What will happen to them from the moment they come in contact with the researcher? Think through who your participants will be - where are the places that there may be problems? Let's use our oldest old study of relationships with physicians as an example. There are a lot of issues you have to consider when working with people over 85. For example, is the person mentally competent? They may have vision issues - have you accommodated that with larger font on your materials? How will you recruit the participants - in a nursing home? Senior center? Some other place? Who will approach them?
When working with student researchers we must show that they will be trained to deal with any issues that might arise in interviewing such elderly individuals. So knowing how to handle people that won't stay on topic is important, knowing how to handle confidentiality issues, and what to do if someone discloses that they have been abused (most states have mandated reporting laws with the elderly).
A final bit of advice on the subject of IRB - don't be in a hurry to send in the application - reread it - have other people reread it. Include all materials that the participants may see (including flyers, ads, etc.). Spell and grammar check - be professional! You can write to Walden IRB early in the planning process and ask them questions. They are really wonderful about helping you on issues- it is better to find out early that something is a problem than to wait until you have everything approved by your committee.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Early pilot
Dr/oldest old study: Amy Sickel volunteered to take the Health Efficacy survey, she pointed out some issues we hadn't considered. We changed the likert scale points and modified some questions and will try some other people on it.
LOC study: We are still fussing with the earliest memory rating sheet for our judges, hope to get that going soon.
LOC study: We are still fussing with the earliest memory rating sheet for our judges, hope to get that going soon.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Filling in blanks
LOC study - Marty Giles and I talked about the qualitative analysis on the transcriptions.Briefly, we previously found that it was possible to determine locus of control from people's earliest memories. People with an internal locus of control believe that they control what happens to them in life. External locus of control means that a person believes that others control their future - such as fate or luck. In the LOC study we collected earliest memories from people across the lifespan, we also had them take the formal survey to determine their locus of control. We now need to have some judges who will give their opinion on each memory based on specific criteria.I will then take the ratings the judges give us and correlate them with the scores on the formal survey, and see if we are really on to something.
Also, the missing data from the student who had mislabelled data showed up today, yay! So I entered all of that.
Also, the missing data from the student who had mislabelled data showed up today, yay! So I entered all of that.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Considering changes
We have been discussing that we will need to file a Change of Procedures with IRB. There are a number of minor issues that we want to add or change, but I think we will wait until we do the pilot studies that have already been approved, then we can file the amended changes. Some things on the list yet to do:
Do the pilot study which will be a focus group of older individuals to have the interview questions tested.
Do the pilot study to pretest the Health Efficacy survey with some elderly people
Write an introduction letter to participants from the faculty researchers
We want to tweak the procedure for the Health Efficacy scale to do a reliability check 2 weeks post interview
On another topic, we have been discussing the syllabus for the lab course. We recently asked our former student researchers for suggestions on how to improve the subject recruitment process. They had some great ideas (thanks to all who responded!) - such as specific training on how to recruit, including the opportunity to practice; and having a letter from the faculty to give to potential participants that makes it feel more legitimate. Another idea that we incorporating, is giving participants options of how and where they can be interviewed, in their home, a neutral location such as a coffee shop, on the phone, or even on skype for the technologically minded.
Do the pilot study which will be a focus group of older individuals to have the interview questions tested.
Do the pilot study to pretest the Health Efficacy survey with some elderly people
Write an introduction letter to participants from the faculty researchers
We want to tweak the procedure for the Health Efficacy scale to do a reliability check 2 weeks post interview
On another topic, we have been discussing the syllabus for the lab course. We recently asked our former student researchers for suggestions on how to improve the subject recruitment process. They had some great ideas (thanks to all who responded!) - such as specific training on how to recruit, including the opportunity to practice; and having a letter from the faculty to give to potential participants that makes it feel more legitimate. Another idea that we incorporating, is giving participants options of how and where they can be interviewed, in their home, a neutral location such as a coffee shop, on the phone, or even on skype for the technologically minded.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
A good day!
Today was a good day! We got IRB approval for the new Dr/old study which I forwarded on to the grants office - we should now be able to access our grant funds.
I also finished entering the data and transcripts for the LOC study (except for the one student's who is mislabeled). Just to bring you up to date on this study - we looked at a new research method that we are calling a multi-point referral method. This is a modification of the traditional snowball technique which is commonly used in qualitative research (Creswell, 2008); in the snowball method a group of informants, known to the (single) researcher are contacted and asked for referrals. However, this method is rarely used in quantitative or mixed method research due to the criticism that it limits the diversity of the informants (Taylor & Bogdan, 1998). In the present study we started with 8 student researchers from across the US who were instructed to ask for referrals from their social network, with the rule that their final participants must not be known to them. Some results for you:
We ended up with 42 participants, 45% were white and the rest of different minorities. This is extremely diverse which suggests that we are on the right track. According to the US Census 75% of the US describe themselves as white. For you stats types - the race of our student researchers was strongly correlated with race of subject (r(41) = .61, p <.0001). So something to consider in the future.
Highest education level achieved: 4.8% had not finished high school, 14.3% had graduated high school or got a GED, 45.2% reported some college, 21.4% received a Bachelor's degree and 14% had graduate work. According to the US Census 19.6% of the US have not completed high school, 28.6% completed high school, 27.4% some college, 15.5% Bachelor's, 8.9% graduate work. So our sample was more highly educated than the US in general. I will pass along more results as it becomes available.
I also finished entering the data and transcripts for the LOC study (except for the one student's who is mislabeled). Just to bring you up to date on this study - we looked at a new research method that we are calling a multi-point referral method. This is a modification of the traditional snowball technique which is commonly used in qualitative research (Creswell, 2008); in the snowball method a group of informants, known to the (single) researcher are contacted and asked for referrals. However, this method is rarely used in quantitative or mixed method research due to the criticism that it limits the diversity of the informants (Taylor & Bogdan, 1998). In the present study we started with 8 student researchers from across the US who were instructed to ask for referrals from their social network, with the rule that their final participants must not be known to them. Some results for you:
We ended up with 42 participants, 45% were white and the rest of different minorities. This is extremely diverse which suggests that we are on the right track. According to the US Census 75% of the US describe themselves as white. For you stats types - the race of our student researchers was strongly correlated with race of subject (r(41) = .61, p <.0001). So something to consider in the future.
Highest education level achieved: 4.8% had not finished high school, 14.3% had graduated high school or got a GED, 45.2% reported some college, 21.4% received a Bachelor's degree and 14% had graduate work. According to the US Census 19.6% of the US have not completed high school, 28.6% completed high school, 27.4% some college, 15.5% Bachelor's, 8.9% graduate work. So our sample was more highly educated than the US in general. I will pass along more results as it becomes available.
Creswell, J.W. (2008). Educational research: Planning, conducting an evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. Columbus, OH: Prentice Hall.
Taylor, S.J. & Bogdan, R. (1998). Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods: A guidebook and resource, 3rd ed. NY: Wiley.
US Census.gov
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Transcriptions
I did more transcriptions today, I will be so glad to get them finished! I only have about 4-5 left. As Dr. Sickel mentioned - we had a conference call/ lab meeting today - to work out some details on the projects. We have been debating the best way to do the ecomaps. This is a graphic representation of a person's social network. We are requiring students to get referrals for participants from their family and friends - then update their ecomap to show who participated and who referred them. Last quarter, we wanted to students to use Microsoft Publisher - it turned out most students didn't have that. So we have been thinking about the best way to do it - one low tech alternative is simply to have them draw it out, which may make the most sense.
We also debated what do with data from a student researcher who did not follow protocol. As mentioned above, we wanted students to interview people they did not know based on referrals, but one person interviewed a couple of family members (we did not realize this until we saw the ecomap). We decided to not include that data in the analysis. There is an important reason for this rule. Someone you know answers differently than someone you do not know. You also respond to them in a different way than someone you do not know. Picture the difference between interviewing your grandmother vs. a stranger. You may not push for an answer in the same way with grandma as you would with the stranger. She may be more likely to share info than others may be.... or the reverse - she may be more likely to withhold embarrassing info than a stranger. This is why you should establish research protocols and insist that they be followed.
We also debated what do with data from a student researcher who did not follow protocol. As mentioned above, we wanted students to interview people they did not know based on referrals, but one person interviewed a couple of family members (we did not realize this until we saw the ecomap). We decided to not include that data in the analysis. There is an important reason for this rule. Someone you know answers differently than someone you do not know. You also respond to them in a different way than someone you do not know. Picture the difference between interviewing your grandmother vs. a stranger. You may not push for an answer in the same way with grandma as you would with the stranger. She may be more likely to share info than others may be.... or the reverse - she may be more likely to withhold embarrassing info than a stranger. This is why you should establish research protocols and insist that they be followed.
I was back in the literature today, continuing my search for test-retest reliability work on self-efficacy scales within an elderly population. Again, this was very interesting both because self-efficacy is a construct which allows for the creation of a task or skill specific self-efficacy scale for virtually anything that requires ability (e.g. 'partnership efficacy'; 'falls efficacy'; 'bicultural self-efficacy'; etc...) AND because there are special considerations with regard to the idea of efficacy in an elderly population. One study, for example, noted that cognitive impairment of their elderly participants affected test-retest scores, so this is something we may want to consider in our work.
So far, while some test-retest work allows for more brief (e.g. 5-7 days) time between tests and some allows for rather large time between tests (e.g. one year) by far the majority of studies reviewed to date use about two weeks between tests.
As we (myself, Dr. Stadtlander and Dr. Giles) discussed earlier on a teleconference, time frame may have unique meaning in our population. Certainly, our population could have a significant change in health status rather quickly and this is something we must consider.
So far, while some test-retest work allows for more brief (e.g. 5-7 days) time between tests and some allows for rather large time between tests (e.g. one year) by far the majority of studies reviewed to date use about two weeks between tests.
As we (myself, Dr. Stadtlander and Dr. Giles) discussed earlier on a teleconference, time frame may have unique meaning in our population. Certainly, our population could have a significant change in health status rather quickly and this is something we must consider.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Baby steps
We had some progress today. With the Dr/oldest old study we received the IRB feedback, they had some very minor tweaks - so I did that and returned it. We are thinking about adding a reliability check to the new health efficiacy scale in the study. To do this we need to have the same people retake the scale 2 weeks after the first time. If it is reliable, they should get a comparable score. If we decide to do this I will need to submit a Change of Procedure form to IRB.
I think I have made a decision on one book for the lab (probably for 2nd and 3rd quarters) it would be: Sternberg, R.J. & Sternberg, K. (2010). The psychologist's companion: A guide to writing scientific papers for students and researchers. NY: Cambridge.
I received the mixed methods books, but want to go through those more carefully before making any decisions.
A minor setback on the LOC data. I realized that one of the student researchers mislabeled the recordings they sent (e.g., said was 22 year old male, but was an 86 year old female). Doesn't say the person's name, and I have not received all of the student's paperwork, so not sure who each participant is.
Moving forward in baby steps...
I think I have made a decision on one book for the lab (probably for 2nd and 3rd quarters) it would be: Sternberg, R.J. & Sternberg, K. (2010). The psychologist's companion: A guide to writing scientific papers for students and researchers. NY: Cambridge.
I received the mixed methods books, but want to go through those more carefully before making any decisions.
A minor setback on the LOC data. I realized that one of the student researchers mislabeled the recordings they sent (e.g., said was 22 year old male, but was an 86 year old female). Doesn't say the person's name, and I have not received all of the student's paperwork, so not sure who each participant is.
Moving forward in baby steps...
Friday, March 4, 2011
Today I did some preliminary literature review for test-retest reliability work on self-efficacy scales in our population. If we wish to test the reliability of our health care provider self-efficacy scale over time, as opposed to the internal consistency of that scale, we will need to specifically test for it.
So far, it appears that in this population and regarding self-efficacy scale test-retest reliability - two weeks is the amount of time often used between measures. We need to continue to assess how such reliabilities have been previously tested, as we don't want memory/the effects thereof to interfere with our reliability assessment.
More work to come on this!
So far, it appears that in this population and regarding self-efficacy scale test-retest reliability - two weeks is the amount of time often used between measures. We need to continue to assess how such reliabilities have been previously tested, as we don't want memory/the effects thereof to interfere with our reliability assessment.
More work to come on this!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Hi Ladies - I found you!
I am very glad to have found our blog - what a great way to discuss and digest lab related information.
I like the health care provider efficacy scale and am eager to see how it pilots. Drs. S and G did a great job of pinpointing key provider issues for our population. What is particularly exciting is that should this measure pilot and work well in the main study, because there is truly a dearth of literature on such constructs, this will be a significant contribution to the field.
I like the health care provider efficacy scale and am eager to see how it pilots. Drs. S and G did a great job of pinpointing key provider issues for our population. What is particularly exciting is that should this measure pilot and work well in the main study, because there is truly a dearth of literature on such constructs, this will be a significant contribution to the field.
Ethical Issues
With all of these things that Dr. S has talked about there is always the ethical considerations. We have had to look at informed consent for both the students and the participants, cooperation letters if the participants are in facilities, how to ensure confidentiality, and a zillion more issues. What if the subject says he/she is being abused, what if he/she has a severe emotional reaction to the questions, what if he/she refuses to continue in the middle of the interview.... so many things to think about before the request to proceed with the study goes to the IRB. We have to make sure that each student knows the laws about mandated reporting in their own state, as laws very from state to state. Over all we have to ensure that the benefits of the study out weigh the risks to the subjects.... It means a lot of critical thinking about each question and each assessment and about what the answers may provide. All in all, there is a lot more to looking at the study beyond just what we want to do.....
Waiting Game
I feel like I am mostly waiting... waiting for the IRB approval.. waiting for books so I can do the new syllabus. I always try to do other things in the meanwhile - I worked on transcriptions today - but I am still very aware that I mostly waiting.
I thought it might be useful to talk a little about time management when you are doing research. I know as a student the inclination is wait until the last minute to do things... this is not a good strategy when doing research. When people start to feel rushed and stressed, there is a tendency to start cutting corners... which can easily slip over to unethical behavior with research. I go by the "a little bit everyday gets it done" idea. Everyday I try to work at least an hour on research, and do more when I can.
There are so many details involved in a project, particularly when you are doing it online! Before you start a project you must think through all of the details. A few examples - we are having students do our interviewing - how can we monitor what they are doing/saying? We are having them use digital recordings of the entire time they are with a participant which allows for quality control and also gives us the basis of the transcript. The digital recording can be directly downloaded into the computer and sent to me. So another detail we have had to consider is that the Walden email system will only handle a certain amount of info and locks up with large recording files (we learned this the hard way!). I discovered that there is a website yousendit.com that lets you download large files to their site (for a fee of course) they then tell the receipent it is there and they can upload it to their computer.
I thought it might be useful to talk a little about time management when you are doing research. I know as a student the inclination is wait until the last minute to do things... this is not a good strategy when doing research. When people start to feel rushed and stressed, there is a tendency to start cutting corners... which can easily slip over to unethical behavior with research. I go by the "a little bit everyday gets it done" idea. Everyday I try to work at least an hour on research, and do more when I can.
There are so many details involved in a project, particularly when you are doing it online! Before you start a project you must think through all of the details. A few examples - we are having students do our interviewing - how can we monitor what they are doing/saying? We are having them use digital recordings of the entire time they are with a participant which allows for quality control and also gives us the basis of the transcript. The digital recording can be directly downloaded into the computer and sent to me. So another detail we have had to consider is that the Walden email system will only handle a certain amount of info and locks up with large recording files (we learned this the hard way!). I discovered that there is a website yousendit.com that lets you download large files to their site (for a fee of course) they then tell the receipent it is there and they can upload it to their computer.
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