First you wrote out your research philosophy: the assumptions/beliefs about what good research is and how you would do it, what it does and why it is important.
Next we talked about which essays from the assigned readings you might enlist as examples which support or contest your position.
And we also talked about how (to make the last point) you will want to place your researchwithin the context of writing studies (what kind(s) of research the discipline needs.
We made lists of examples and talked about the fact that you are NOT required to identify yourself with a paradigm => rather, you are to identify your particular belief system (which may not align perfectly with one of the paradigms used by Mertens). It is OK to refer to the paradigms, but it is most important for your to present YOUR philosophy.
Grades:
We tweaked the points allocated for the grade as follows:
1. Class participation 150
points
2. Reaction papers + class discussion
100
points
3. Data analysis group work; in-class work +
presentations 100
points
4. NIH training + IRB application for proposed
thesis project 125 points
5. Research concept paper + proposal 225 points
6. Exams: 2 @ 150 points each 300
points
I will send grades as an attachment to an email + post them to Keanwise as soon as I read through all your writing. For the final assignment you will be sending the following documents to the course email:
1. Project proposal
2. IRB materials (past them into a single document in this order: application, consent form, a/v form, debriefing; you do not need to send the certificate again)
Thanks for a great term!
