Soooo….INF447 Research Methods in Practice…that was nearly a disaster! Here are 4 reflective reasons why I nearly failed the class:
- I was well out of my comfort zone from the very beginning. Other students enrolled in the course were asking questions that either 1. did not occur to me or 2. were questions that were worded in such a way that I did not understand what they were even asking, or 3. were so over my head that I had no idea what was happening. It was like trying to speak English in France…you can get by but it isn’t easy and you spend a lot of time simply trying to understand, a far cry from being able to be a productive member of the community. I was so overwhelmed and in the growth mindset learning pit, that I only managed to write one blog entry (and I wrote 3 for a different class that I dropped before the census date, so that is saying something!)
- I was also filled with anxiety about the math test. If I’m honest, I will admit that I only passed because it was multiple choice and I looked at my notes on the formulas needed and used scratch paper algorithms in order to answer the questions. But as to whether it was a true representation of my maths knowledge, well…I’d say I got lucky.
- I worked very hard on both assessments. The first was comparing two research papers. I picked two very different papers to compare and, to my surprise, received a credit. I was naively harsh towards one particular researcher, but to be fair, if a novice such as myself could see the errors then surely harshness was warranted? (Regardless, I was about to have a rude awakening for the final assessment).
- The final assessment required me to write a research proposal and for the first time in my life I found myself seriously under the word count. I genuinely could not see the point in writing a research proposal for researching whether a makerspace would be beneficial to my (fictional) school. Without actually researching what makerspaces entail, it was impossible to determine the research questions and the terms of the research…Basically, it was a situation of researching makerspaces in order to write the research proposal in order to then research their effectiveness? Confusing. Not practical in the real world? Having taken a week off work to complete the assessment, sending my family away to my mother in law’s and limiting our home restoration to tradesmen who did not require my input, I was shocked to see my results and feedback as a ‘fail.’ Perhaps the premise of the assessment was flawed and perhaps my lack of experience in writing research proposals were to blame? No idea. It was not ideal. I am left relieved it is behind me and curious what makerspaces are and whether they are effective.
Where to from here?
Well, suffice to say, I can promise that I won’t be writing any actual research proposals any time soon! I have never been so glad to have passed a class in all my days. If the point of the class was to encourage and enable teacher librarians to be researchers, in my case, the class has failed to reach its objective. I believe I am wiser about research methods for having taken the course, but would like to be part of a team or an assistant on a team of researchers first, so as to improve my skills in the future.
