Reflection on what I have learned

I entered a qualitative research class with no idea what this entailed. I did not know how much qualitative descriptive data could add value to knowledge construction. Descriptive data can be viewed as not offering scientific results, and not be taken as seriously. When in fact it adds more meaning to data since it adds context. Conducting research with rigor will result in more trustworthy findings, and get my study taken more seriously. Initially thinking about the research that I want to conduct for my dissertation, I really did not know where to begin.  It is kind of exciting to go from curious to seeing a plan begin to formulate.  I know I have just skimmed the surface and am excited to learn more.

What I need to understand further

In my area of research constructivism appears to be more prevalent, which varies from my cognitivist views.  I will continue to look for research that associates my technical content and gamification interests with the cognitive paradigm. In working on my research framework, I realized I needed to learn more about data analysis methods. Although I have worked with some analysis methods; I am still learning how to determine the right process for analyzing my data.  In addition, I need to learn more about quantitative methodologies.  I have come so far this semester, and I believe by the end of summer school a lot of this will be clearer to me. Then enlightenment will bring more questions.

What next?

I have rewritten my framework five times now, even with that I view the current version as a draft that will require more work.  As I learn more, I will add to it and update it.  I have read a lot of literature this semester, or so I thought.  In the past I found more quantitative examples and didn’t give any thought to finding qualitative examples.  I found some this semester but need to dig deeper. Also, I have not purposefully searched for examples that use both qualitative and quantitative. More literature searches!

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