Week 7

Case Studies and Ethnography.

I must confess that case studies is what I have had in mind for a long time
when I think about conducting research in a classroom. I believe tht particular
cases must be approached in separate ways. Each situation is unique and a separate case.
We as educators can learn from particular cases, and eventhough they might not be replicable,
they present us with information that can be useful in our practice, or that can help us understand
our students better.
Case studies can also motivate us to research other particular cases.

Ethnography is so taughting to me. I have always had questions about education in Puerto Rico.
And had always thought about conducting cased studies with Puetorican students. Last semester I
had to do a small project on some ethnographic aspect and I chose an online group we have
of "Boricuas in Minnesota" This was the first time ever that I learned what thenography was and that
it could mean not only people from a particular ethnicity, but a culture created by similar aspects and likes
and not just ethnicity.

I now believe that ethnography could be one of my future projects related to Puerto Rican Literacy.
I still do not know how I'll manage to do it, but I know it is in my future plans.

Today we talked about Interpretivist and Critical Theory.
From what I understood, Interpretivists what to find the answers
to questions such as how? They want explanations and interpretations
of situations or cases.
Critical theory researchers have in mind other questions such as How can we make change?
I feel attracted to critical theory, yet I believe that my previous exposure to research had
more of an interpretivist side to it.

Week 6

Ethics

Ethics can be very complicated in terms of research.
If a researcher is not careful he/she might get in trouble.

In order to maintain credibility a researcher must gain the trust of his her peer,
audiende and participants if that is the case. As we me mentioned in class, there are some
difficult decisions to be made when gathering data and publishing it.

All of this is so new to me, since in my previous research experience I had only needed
to be faithful to the sources I had used and faithful to my beliefs.
Now, as I delve deeper into educational research I see that working with participants is a more
complicated situation.

Obtaining consent forms and explaining to your participants what your goals are is not always the
only thing you must contemplate. Sometimes your data can be affected and not genuine if the participants
know exactly what you are looking for or observing.

Sometimes it is hard to find willingparticipants.
And what's even more complicated is that once you gain their trust in having
them consent...once you have the data...the question of whether it can harm the
participants complicates things more.
Once you'vegained their trust you do not want to shatter it by publishing things that might
make them feel uncomfortable or like you have betrayed their trust.
I guess this can become an even harde problem if you work with people who are close to you and
whom you already know.

Anonimity is also something that must be preserved at all times. It is hard to keep track of pseudomyns.
As we mentioned in class, once a researcher slipped the real name of a participant as a mistake.
It is crucial to have several reviwers to keep track of these things, since they are easy to forego.

Ethics means being true and honest with yourself, yoru research and your participants.
It also means getting the job done correctly in a strict and correct manner without hurting anyone
and acknowledging everyone.

week 5

Why do we do Lit Reviews?

I believe Lit Reviews bring us closer to our topic and helps us to be more creative about our research topics.
They also help support our points of view and research ideas. This can help bring forth further inquiry about a topic
in question.

By reading about what has been written on a specific topic, we can get a broader idea of the topic and move further on. Lit reviews hel support our position in research and can give more credibility to the researcher by citing previous acknowledged research on a particular topic or a similar one.

Lit reviews also help us establish a research pattern nd help us understand which type of research methodology would work best for our intended research. It serves as proof of what's been efficient and has worked in the past and what has not.

I bellieve validity and credibility are the most important points of making a lit review. It's like having an alibi. Like saying, "These people have done this before or have researched this topic before and have found that...." It helps you build yoru case.

Week 4

Open topic.

I would like to begin by saying thatI have learned a lot in such a few days. I am not an expert,nor can I say that I fully understand the different research methods, yet I have a much clearer idea of teh different approaches to research.
There is hope for me then, in understanding that research is not all about scientific methods.
Yet, cerdibility is important and I also understand the importance of replicability.
It would be "more" useful to make research with results that could be replicated for further studies.
Yet, some cases are unique. And replicability is not of much use as education changes from decade to decade.

As we said in class, what was useful data in the 70's might not usable in the 80's, and so on through the other decades. Schools are always changing. Students change, populations change and teaching methods change. Researchin education, in order to be valuable, must change with the times.

Unlike Scientific research where once you know what an atom is, that will neverchange and will always be useful to future generations of researchers.

I would trulyenjoy conducting a case study or several case studies related to specific problems of education in Puerto Rico.
All I've read so far regarding educational research has to do with schools in the United States. Sometimes I cannot quite place myself in a position where I truly understand, for I can not identify with the position of the researcher nor the position of the researched. Studies about cultural diversity and equality in US schools are not very similar to the situations in Puerto Rico. We are not immigrants so those kind of studies are not that reliable either.

It would feel good to contribute to educational research that would be significant in Puerto Rico. After all, that is the environment and setting where I will be going back to.