Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Finally a little progress...

We finally made it back to school Monday!  Life feels a little chaotic and I am doing my best to pull it all together.  As far as research is concerned, I am still waiting for a few letters of consent to be returned.  As I was talking to students about this project they were so excited to hear that they get to create their own psuedonyms for the project.  It was really funny to hear their ideas.  So far I have heard, James Bond and Jason Bourne.  I assured them that if I ever use their name it will only be the first, but they can have fun pretending to be those people if they like.   
    I plan to pull students for interviews within focus groups this week.  My biggest struggle is finding time to pull them when I have free time and they aren't needed in the classroom.  The teachers involved are supportive, but they have work to complete too.  I'm sure I'll figure it out.  My goal for the survey is to hear about their feelings toward writing as well as testing.  I love sitting down with a small group and just listening to their thoughts and ideas.  It is amazing what they will open up and share when they are comfortable with each other and you.  My goal is to make the environment relaxed and help them to understand that this is a safe zone so they feel free to be honest (Marshall & Rossman, 2006).  Look for more about my data collection goals in the following post.


Resource:
Rossman, G.B. & Rallis, S.F. (2003). Learning in the field: An introduction to qualitative research.   Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

3 comments:

  1. I think we're all in the same boat Jill, trying to catch up and make up for all of the snow days here lately. Do you plan to take observational notes before, during, or after your interview? I think that would also give some helpful information that you could use later when analyzing all of your data that you collect :) Keep it up!

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  2. Oh Jill...the pain of the snow days! We are all feeling it. Are you planning to record your interview? At least voice recording? I need to do interviews with my kids who will be in my groups and didn't know how you planned to document it.

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  3. I think it is neat that you are letting your students create their own psuedonyms for the project versus you just creating one for them. I never thought of that. Can’t wait to hear about the performance of James Bond! I’m sure that is challenging trying to find the right time to pull students for interviews. I know it is challenging for me to even pull students within my own classroom. Every time I sit down with a student someone always needs me. That is great though that the teachers involved are supportive! I’m sure you will gather a lot of beneficial information by interviewing them.

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