Notes from a Democracy



Snapshot of Research

Take about five minutes to provide a brief “snapshot” (in words) of where your study is right now. Include questions and concerns.

After you’ve posted your snapshot, select another classmate’s snapshot to respond to.


Comments

  1. ycooper says:

    Right now I am kind of at a stand still with my study. For some unknown reason the results from my IRB proposal were sent to me late, and they needed revising. Therefore, I’m still waiting to have it approved before I can continue with my field research. However, I have annotated all the other sources I plan on using in my research. All I need now is to wait for my IRB!

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  2. shari141986 says:

    As of right now I am in the process of distributing my surveys. I received my IRB approval last week so I can now start that process. The only issue I am having is that I do not know any freshmen. Does anyone know two freshmen who would be willing to take my survey?

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  3. jaustin1 says:

    Right now in my study I have received approval from the IRB. I have designed the questions for my survey and I am gathering participants for my study. My research question is “How will Black Christian women vote in this year’s presidential election.

    I have no questions or concerns.
    Any questions for me.

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  4. deespencer says:

    Hey guys here’s where I am at…

    I’ve handed out my questionnaire’s…

    Now for the problems:
    1. I’m having a hard time getting my classmates to fill out the questionnaire’s
    2. The class that I am using for my research only meets once a week making it even harder for me to get the questionnaire’s
    3. I don’t want students to pull away from class to fill out my questionnaire & since class only meets once a week and if they have to take it home it’s been kind of hard getting them back
    4. I think that’s it

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  5. shari141986 says:

    Dee have you tried emailing them the surveys?

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  6. deespencer says:

    Sorry the “where I’m at” was so brief but I received an approval and did not need a revision so I would have been able to get started early but I had to go out of town so I wasn’t able to get started until this week….

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  7. ycooper says:

    deespencer…is there a particular reason you chose that class to do your study on? perhaps you could choose another class?

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  8. aanthony says:

    I have sumbitted IRB revisions and am waiting for approval. I really don’t have any questions are comments. I hope that everyone’s research is going as well

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  9. deespencer says:

    Shari I could but the way the questionnaire is laid out it needs written feedback… but I’ve gotten back 14 so far… that’s not bad I guess. I was predicting 30 but I’ll take 14 :)

    This QUALITATIVE research is hard man

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  10. mssamuels says:

    Well to summarize my research memo:
    I’ve been continuously revising my research question: “what roles do african american women who have experienced upward mobility from the Civil rights and Women’s movements play in establishing social value of african american men in the black community? In relation to the 2008 election are african american women choosing not to be their brother’s keeper?”

    I’m still fine tuning this question, I’m just finding it difficult to ask a question that I cannot answer without being too opinionated.

    I’m really eager to start gathering my data but have yet to receive my IRB approval. I didn’t want to by-pass the IRB committe to survey the class because I can easily get a sense for what the responses will be because we have discuss topics relating to Black women and the election extensively.

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  11. deespencer says:

    Ms. Cooper I chose that class because it’s my feminist theory class and my research question is focused around a feminist view

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  12. jaustin1 says:

    To annica I hope the IRB will approve your study soon. Good Luck!

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  13. deespencer says:

    Ms. Samuels… there was alot to that question…. I’m finding a hard time though figuring out what directly that has to do with the election?

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  14. destineemoore says:

    Right now I am doing my data collection, and preparing for my presentation on research day. Im having trouble getting enough people to take time to do my survey/interview. I am also confused about how to organize my presentation.

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  15. mssamuels says:

    dee,
    why is it you only want surveys from this one class?

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  16. Note–Depending on how much you’re asking people to do, a fairly low response rate is to be expected. When I distributed online surveys for a study I did last year, I had over 100 participants but only 39 people who filled out the actual survey.

    Response rates vary depending on lots of variables, including how extensive the task is, how the participant is approached, etc.

    Remember: There is no (or almost no) “wrong” in qualitative research. But in your “Methods” and “Results” sections, you must clearly lay out what you planned to do, and how the outcomes differed from your expectations. Explaining these changes / unexpected events is extremely valuable to your fellow researchers.

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  17. destineemoore says:

    To Shari I suggest you go to the dorms to recruit freshman for your survey.

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  18. ctaylor18 says:

    I have gathered names, contact information, and hours of availablity for at least 15 people. What I have recognized is that I might be short on the amount of people that actually participate. Another limitation to the current way in which I am conducting the study is time constraints and availability…I think I might have to host two focus groups…which I really don’t want to have to do. I feel a little more encouraged about the way my study is going. I hope everything keeps progressing from here on out.

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  19. scaldwe3 says:

    Right now in my study I have gotten approval from the IRB. My research question deals with how the election is being discussed at Spelman’s campus and because I did not want to have any bias interpretations in my paper I decided to not interview any of my close friends. However being that time is narrowing down does anyone has any suggestions to how I could avoid interpreting information in a bias manner if I do have to interview my friends? And also how could I get my friends to answer the interview questions without considering our friendships

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  20. deespencer says:

    Shari I agree with destineemoore… but not even the dorms… have to tried the cafe, lower manley, the grill, freshman are all over the place. It’s upperclassmen that I think would be harder to find because we don’t all stay on campus anymore

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  21. mssamuels says:

    deespencer,
    my question is compound but I’m prefer the second one because its short, and to the point but people tend to want a great explanation cause i get a lot of “what do you mean”

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  22. deespencer says:

    I hope so to ctaylor

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  23. deespencer says:

    *too

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  24. jaustin1 says:

    To Shari, going to the dorms is a good idea for recruiting freshman but also I think going to the caf because mostly freshman eat in there, maybe you can try that I may be wrong.

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  25. aanthony says:

    Wow it is great to hear that everyone’s has come so far on their research. Deespencer I hope that things work out better for you but like you said atleast you do have 14 its a good start. jaustin thanks for the luck same to you I Know you can’t wait to hear feedback from your participants.

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  26. jaustin1 says:

    Oh I wrote the same thing as deespencer sorry

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  27. bogarro says:

    As of now I am still waiting approval from the IRB board. They kept finding something wrong with my proposal and so I sent out hopefully the final copy this morning. I’ve started my reasearch already without the approval of the IRB and is wondering is this a good idea. Also, due to time restraints and accesibility do you think it would be a wise decision to narrow my study to this investigation class only? As much as I may like to include other students from the Spelman community, the IRB has made that seem almsot impossible.

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  28. deespencer says:

    lol

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  29. shari141986 says:

    Ms. Samuels, I was just going over your question and as far as your last question, “In relation to the 2008 election are african american women choosing not to be their brother’s keeper?” That seems more like a yes and no question and not so an open-ended question. Maybe you could ask how the relationship between african american men and women has changed as a result of the election? Just an idea. Also, how are you defining upward mobility?

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  30. jasmine2000 says:

    right now I have gotten approval from the IRB and i am in the midst of distributing my surveys to students…i’m currently experiencing problems trying to get participants to really fill it out instead of just completing it in five minutes. On the top of the questionnaire are instructions to please at least spend 3-4 minutes on each question but i find that thats really only how long that people are spending on the whole thing. Like shari, I have been emailing students the survey in hopes that because they may not feel like sitting down right then and there and spending twenty minutes on it they can do it at hope and maybe the ease of typing it out instead of writing it out would encourage more detailed answers. I just have yet to get a lot of them back and i’m hoping to at least obtain 20 surveys.

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago
  31. deespencer says:

    garro I think that while yes it would be nice to have some opinions from others in the Spelman community what matters the most is your grade & what you learn etc. so i would go ahead and use the class… which at least we understand what you’re doing and you’d get great feedback!

    | Posted 1 year, 7 months ago


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