Hello Readers,
I know, looooooooong time since my last post. Once again it is an assignment for a class and I just hope I do better than I did last semester. Also hoping it becomes a habit because one way or another I know that I am going to be involved in child development for the rest of my life so I should always have something to write about.
Having completed all my generals, every one of my classes are related to child development this semester. So don't be too surprised if I talk about things from multiple classes and I will not always specify which class. Partially because there is so much information swirling around in my brain I sometimes forget where I got it once it is in there. :) Hey, a girl can only remember so much, some information has to go.
The class that this blog has now become an assignment for this semester is called Family Relations. This week was mostly just introduction. Learning what we can expect from the class and so on. I have a good feeling about the class so far. It is not going to be easy. Looks like there is going to be some work involved but the teacher is knowledgeable and fun.
This week our discussion centered around discerning truth. This time in our history is filled with information so readily available to millions around the world. However I remember my Dad once saying that it was also the period of misinformation. Untruths mingled and sometimes blended right in with truth. So it is important to learn how to sort them out.
Over the years, as my teachers have repeatedly tried to teach me how to write good research papers I have learned a few things about making sure a source is credible. Check who the writer is. Check when it was published. Check the website, etc. etc. etc. This week we took it a step further in actually taking apart a credible research document and I learned a few more tricks.
One, always watch out for bias. When I was in high school I learned the best way to ensure you are not getting all your information from a biased source is to look up multiple and opposite views on a particular topic. We all have our biases, whether we are aware of them or not. Researchers are no exception. Just something to be aware of. During class I found myself wondering how to avoid bias and I suppose the best way would be to have researchers from both sides of an idea come together to work on the project.......not sure how well that would go though or if they would be able to work well together.
Two, make sure to look at the statistics. Surveys are a common theme in research. However, surveys are not always very effective. Those taking them can be led to answer by the wording of the question. Sometimes the number of people surveyed are not a large enough in order to get an idea of what the rest of the population in the group is like.
Three, the importance of a control group. A control group is basically taking a normal group of people in order to see how it compares to the group that is being surveyed. For example. If you wanted to test whether or not a new teaching method is going to be effective. You have several schools that agree to start implementing this new teaching methods and then you survey throughout the year to see if it is having an affect on the children's learning. At the same time there should be other schools that should be put under the same survey that have not applied the method so you can compare the two.
Makes me realize how much trust I have put in my teachers over the years who supply me with research articles to read in order to teach me a certain theory or idea. I rarely looked at who it had been written by, the statistics or other matters of the case. I simply took it at face value and that was that.
I think my writing of research papers just became a whole lot harder. Not only is there finding good sources, not I am going to be wondering how accurate they are.
Alright, I think that is it for now, catch you all later.
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