Nelson Mandela
I really struggled with this module. The last time I was in college we went to the library and worked with books - does any one remember books. Choice is not always a good thing in my mind!
I am currently working on my research proposal for my research methodologies module. A research proposal is apparently intended to convince others that you have a worthwhile research project. It should contain all the key elements in the research process allowing others to evaluate what you plan to do and assess it potential and viability.
“The foundation of every state is
the education of its youth.”
I chose to do my research proposal on what is the main influence for students decision to go to third level. I have children and I am always telling my 11 year old he must go to college. My research took me through most of the literature available on Millennials or Digital Natives, an abbreviation for Millennial Generation, which
describes a segment of the population born between 1980 and 2000
(approximately). Sometimes referred to in the media as "Generation
Y," Millennials are the children of the post-WWII baby boomer generation,
individuals born between 1946 and 1964. This generation will continue to enter
college for approximately the next five years. There are many elements associated with the decision to go to college. Below a graph which highlights many of them.
The process looks at the student's ability, parental encouragement and involvement, the parents' experience of college, socioeconomic class, ability, finances andthe student's own aspirations and motivation.
Finally Cite, cite, cite!!!!
Running
a university successfully requires business considerations when it comes to
administration, finance and recruitment. Attracting and keeping the most talented
students can be attained with the help of marketing practices, that aim at the
students themselves as well as their parents as their post important references
(Molesworth, Nixon, & Scullion, 2009; Potts, 2005; Eagle & Brennan,
2007). It has been widely researched in the US that parental involvement in
student’s education can be beneficial. The Millennial student in international
research defers to his/her parent when it comes to third level education
choices. There is no data from an Irish perspective on whether this hypothesis
holds true. By undertaking this study the researcher can provide valuable data
to third level institutions, which they can use to market to students over the
next 5 years. In marketing, a core requirement for any business is to understand
the customer – third level institutions can benefit greatly from embracing this
principle. By finding out the “why” students colleges, lecturers and policy
makers can provide a better offering at third level. It may also help or reduce
the number of students saying “I’ll give it a year and if I don’t like it I
might see what I can do!”.
I am waiting now for my Research Lecturer to tell me whether she feels my research proposal is suitable for my masters dissertation. If she does give it the green light it will be undertaken this coming autumn using quantitative methods.
I am waiting now for my Research Lecturer to tell me whether she feels my research proposal is suitable for my masters dissertation. If she does give it the green light it will be undertaken this coming autumn using quantitative methods.
Finally Cite, cite, cite!!!!
The bibliometric tool I used for my research was Zotero.
Zotero is a research tool that helps users collect and organise sources. It is
a free, open-source program that can be downloaded as a browser. When you find the article you wish to cite, you click on the blue icon on the right hand corner of the address bar and the full citation is saved into Zotero. You can create multiple libraries for different research and the citations can be downloaded into various formats as required.
Reflection
I have to admit I did not find this tool intuitive, Zotero does not like pdf files and I am convinced there is a better way! I can see the benefits are a storage facility should your research take place over a period of time. When the blue icon appears it works perfectly but with so many papers in pdf format on search engines such as google scholar it makes the process cumbersome. Going forward, I am going to spend a bit more time on Zotero. Our librarian swears by it so it has to be good!
References:
Reflection
I have to admit I did not find this tool intuitive, Zotero does not like pdf files and I am convinced there is a better way! I can see the benefits are a storage facility should your research take place over a period of time. When the blue icon appears it works perfectly but with so many papers in pdf format on search engines such as google scholar it makes the process cumbersome. Going forward, I am going to spend a bit more time on Zotero. Our librarian swears by it so it has to be good!
References:
Hossler,
D & Stage F, K (1992) Family and high school experience influences on the
postsecondary educational plans of ninth-grade students, American Educational
Research Journal, Volume 29, No. 2, Pages 425--451, 1992, Published Sage
Publication
Strauss,
W. & Howe, N. (2000). “Millennials Rising: the Next Great Generation. New
York: Vintage Books. Print. Wilson, M., & Gerber, L. E. (2008). “How
Generational Theory Can Improve Teaching: Strategies for Working with the
"Millennials". Currents in Teaching and Learning”, 1(1), 29-44.
Retrieved May, 2014, from http://www.worcester.edu/currents/arc
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