My Personal Research Journey

            The topic I chose was teachers’ experience versus teachers’ education and the correlation of each to quality.  The reason I chose this topic is because in my job I see teachers who have education with no experience and I see teachers with experience with only the minimum education.  In both situations there are high quality and low quality teachers.  I hope through researching this topic I can see where the education and experience correlate with quality.  It has also been one of my personal and professional goals to professionalize the field and I feel that this simulation and the results I find will be able to be a step in furthering this goal. 

            It has been ten years since I last conducted any kind of in depth research.  Although some assignments in previous Walden classes have required some research, they have not been to the same magnitude as I am expecting in this class.  I completed my undergraduate degree in 2004 and have not had to focus on the process since.  As such, my research skills are a bit rusty.  I am hoping that the process is like riding a bike and will come back to me as I progress in this class.

            Some of the insights I have gained from the research chart and other assignments so far in this class are the importance of your topic and the importance of quality research.  First, I rediscovered the importance of a narrowly defined topic.  If your topic is overly broad, it is easy to get buried in the amount of research.  Having a narrowly defined topic will help eliminate some of the articles and research that are not beneficial to what you are wanting to find out.  Although virtually worthless in your research, they require the time to read or skim to find this out.  Having the narrow topic allows you to focus on the research that is most meaningful.  Secondly, once the topic is narrowly defined, it is important to assess the quality of the research on the topic.  There is usually a plethora of research and articles on any topic, even if narrowed down.  Not all of this research is worth using.  As the assignment earlier this week demonstrated, a low quality article or web site wastes time in your research and can lead to incorrect conclusions.  Being able to narrowly define your topic and weed out the low quality articles will aid in producing the best research results.

            Throughout the duration of this course, I would be grateful if you could share your insights and/or resources.  Likewise I will do the same for you especially as I learn what others are researching.  My biggest advice is to not be afraid to ask for help.  We are here for each other.