Oct. 30 Project Ideas

 Where do I want my influence to be in my life? When I think of YDEV and its meaning I think about who our youth are and what is important to them. How could we help them better their lives and guide them in finding their way. For as long as I can remember education has always been a part of who I am. From a young age I was reminded about the importance of education, but most importantly how to take advantage of different opportunities in life. This is exactly what I did, and it is what led me to achieve the education I have today. Experiencing the education I did allowed me to open my eyes, and see below what I was used too. For this reason, I was able to quickly learn that education is the key to a better life, but that who you are surrounded by and who can guide you is also what makes the difference. 

Helping students understand the importance of education is what I have been doing for over 10 years. Providing resources, opportunities, and helping youth see beyond their high school walls. At the same time, in my work I have also been able to see the lack of information that our families have, despite having attended school in the US there seems to be little information about the different processes and how to help them navigate many things including college. Many schools automatically blaming parents for little parent involvement to better education in cities and towns. For this reason, I have always understood the importance of parent involvement, and when I became a parent I knew that this was something important for me. 

I think I am clear about my project and wanting to focus on parent involvement within our schools, and how it impacts the performance of students. I'd like to do some research to see what is out there first, but also some qualitative research. I want to hear from parents in regards to how they picture parent involvement at schools, and how they find time to get involved. I think a group research would do, but also do individual interviews. So many ideas on my mind about parent and education, but not exactly sure what I want to get out of this. 

Oct. 23 - Eve Tuck, Suspending Damage (Ethics of Who and How You Research)

BLOG  POST #8:  What does this TUCK article raise for you? How does it help you think about yourself and others?

This article reinforced my views on our communities. We can sit here and talk about others and why people don't do X vs Z. However, it is not until we are able to get to know one another and our lived experiences that we can truly recognize and understand the goals one may have for themselves. I really connected with the desire-based approach, I recognize that damaged-center research is at times necessary to fully understand someone, but it is when we get stuck there that it is not helpful. We need to be able to take that and carry it with us, to help us get to the other side of hope. 

Tuck defines desire as being "an assemblage of experiences, ideas, and ideologies, both subversive and dominant, necessarily complicates our understanding of human agency, complicity, and resistance (pg. 420)." I could not have agreed more. If we are not able to understand where we come from and how it has gotten us to where we are today, then we struggle with moving from the past. At the same time, when we do work in our communities we can't just see them as broken, because they are not like that by choice, many times it is the damaged-centered research approach that has given this idea of the need to feel sorry for these communities, when in reality they are full of joy regardless of the situations they have encounter. 

Eve Tuck's article also made me think about the program I work for and how in order to get students we tend to use language that is damaged-centered, but once the student is in the program then we begin to look at them from the desired-based research perspective in order to help them see who they can be. This is why I feel like desire-based approach has been something I have experienced for years now, but also because of my personality and who I try to be every day in the work that I do. 

Oct. 16th - What do you do that can't be measured? Other Forms of Qualitative Data Collection

BLOG POST #7:  What does this RESTLER chapter raise for you? How does it help you think about yourself and others? Then, spend a little time writing about what YOU do that can’t be measured.

Restler's chapter certainly left me not knowing where it was going. While I tried to capture what was being said, in some ways I felt lost with words while at the same time trying to picture where things were going and what where the end results going to be. At the same time it raised curiosity and made me want to read more chapters in her book to see if I could get answers. 

I think that it made me realize the different approaches one can take when conducting research, and how perhaps sometimes gathering data doesn't always need to have a final result. However,  I don't know how that sits with me, as I particularly am someone that wants answers. I think in this particular research it was important to get to know the teachers to understand the things they were doing in their respective classrooms that were not being measured in the way the standardized test was. I was surprised by the table on page 11 and the results of how teachers were being measure and the language that was being used to describe them. Rather than taking an individual approach, the table categorize all teachers within the same categories, not looking beyond the testing. 

When I think of research I realize that it is important to get to know your audience and appreciate what they can offer to your research regardless of results. It also makes me think about the program that I work for and how the day to day work we do cannot be measure regardless of how many forms, evaluations and surveys are completed. I believe that it is not always about the numbers, but the quality of what you do are those things that cannot be measured. You can tell me how many students to serve, and provide resources for them, but that does not mean that every resource will function for every student, and that the approach I take with each individual is the same. One thing that I feel cannot be measure is the relationships I have built with my students that have lead to good and sometimes not so good results. 

Oct. 8 - Interviewing and Coding Qualitative Data

Bogdan and Biklen's article on Qualitative Research for Education was in some ways a refresher, but in others new information to digest. I felt connected because in my undergraduate and current graduate experience I have felt comfortable with qualitative research, while reading I recalled moments when I had to do interviews and my approach was very much qualitative "building relationship, getting to know each other, and putting the subject at ease" (95). Naturally, I have believed that when you do this the outcomes are greater. In addition, I connected with my style of doing good interviews in which they "communicate personal interest and attention to subjects by being attentive, nodding their heads, and using appropriate facial expressions to communicate" (96). The picture above depict how I see that happening overall.  

One section that I don't know how I have handled or have unintentionally done in the past is "learn people's perspectives, not to instruct your subjects...You are not there to change views, but to learn what the subjects' views are and why they are that way" (101). I'm curious how my brain has processed certain information during interviews, have I said anything out-loud or do I just think it and push through? I honestly can't recall. While finishing up the reading a new approach that crossed my mind was focus or group interviews. This is not something I have encountered in the past, but wondering if it would be a better fit for my capstone project?

What is coding qualitative data? According to AI it is when you assign conceptual labels or tags to segments of non-numerical data to categorize and organize for analysis. I think this might have been my approach in my student teaching experience, but can't say I was very good at it. Coding provides room for clarity but also allows you to see patterns that might connect to your research, but also leads to deeper understanding of the experiences you have encountered as part of your research. 

Oct. 2 - Qualitative and Quantitative

Blog post #5: Do some research about the differences between QUALITATIVE and QUANTITATIVE research.  You can google to find websites, use Google Scholar to find academic articles, or even use ChatGPT or another AI to help you create a chart, visual, or other means to compare and contrast.  What can you learn in an hour or two?

When thinking my approach for this blog, my first initial answer was google, and automatically AI popped up. I read it, and said great! However, as I began to write my blog I realized that was not enough. I quickly went back to my search and found myself with the following website: https://www.nu.edu/blog/qualitative-vs-quantitative-study/ 

Through this website I was able to create the chart below. The website gave me a nice breakdown of qualitative vs quantitative. I liked that it also provided pros and cons for each type of research. In thinking about my capstone project I automatically lean towards qualitative research, but as I read more about quantitative research I find meaning in both. I recognize the beauty of qualitative because it gives room and no definite answer. Each person's experience has meaning and value, but quantitative also has meaning in that numbers matter and speak. So, after all I am unsure, and might incorporate both types of research. Only time will tell. 

Name	Qualitative	Quantitative
Focus	Concepts and experiences	Measures variables and tests theories
Data	Non numerical and subjective phenomena	Numerical & objective
Types of Data	Observation and interviews	Surveys and experiments
Approach	Exploratory	Statistical
Answers/Questions	moments/experiences	When and where
Primary Aim	Knowledge acquisition	same

Sept. 25th Capstone Project, Capstone Project - What could you be?

 BLOG POST #4:   How does it make you feel when you see this wide range of capstone projects? Check in with your stress, excitement, motivation, and emotions as you begin to imagine your own work. Write down any ideas that start to swim in your head!

A capstone project is a difficult term to process when you don't even know where you want to start. From the beginning of the project being introduced, my brain has felt like it is constantly going not knowing where it is going to lead me too or which part of the brain is going to get pulled next.

It is like the pieces of a puzzle trying to connect, but not finding their way. Despite the many capstone project examples provided I still feel like I don't know where I am going with this. What do I want to spend weeks working on that is meaningful to me, but also that does not feel like a burden? It feels good to think about something that is important to you, but when I think about finding articles that deal with my project topic of choice or the idea of finding people to interview who may connect to what my project could be, it makes me feel more overwhelmed than anything, because it is like finding earth in space. While I enjoy viewing the many different approaches I can take with this project, my biggest concern at the moment is not knowing what I want to write about or spend time researching.

I ask myself, will I have the time and will I spend the necessary amount of time it mandates? At the same time, I question myself because I have had an idea for a minute, but I don't know if it can turn into my capstone project or what exactly it is I want to focus on. Currently, my idea has to do with parent involvement in their children's education. I don't know what I can do with this or where it can take me, but it something that I have been curious about. I also like the idea of understanding where one can find information about so many different resources in the city of Providence. I find it that it is hard to navigate support and resources in this city because there are too many and you don't know exactly where to start. I think for my project I would definitely do a PowerPoint presentation, but love the idea of doing a video or even using prezi something I've never used before. Oh, I don't know if this is helping, but I hope to soon find answers.

Sept. 18 What does formal research sound like?

 A reverse outline of article: Journey to Praxis: Supporting Youth Activism by Rachael L F Clemons. 

Conclusion: The importance of understanding young people in relation to their contexts. 

Discussion: (1) It is important to understand how young people navigate and respond to oppressive forces that affect their lives. (2) Youth are agents of change. 

Focus: Social Justice Youth Development (SJYD) is different in that it does not set apart from understanding the relationship of people and their contexts. It is an ongoing process of growth and reflection. Engaging with youth is important, but without forgetting who you are and your communities. Each approach can be different depending on the organization, but each is just as important. 

Results: a breakdown of each organization, its participants and demographics. 

Methodology: Qualitative Sampling, Data Collection, and Analysis. 

Sampling focusing on community, site and participant selection. Data collection is based on youth interviews, observations of youth in their organizations, and organizational artifacts. Analysis saving all information gathered using computer programming that support it. Interpreting data, coding, analyzing and writing about data. 

Review of Literature: Defining the varies terms that support youth development practices. In specific, risk, resilience, and prevention, positive youth development, civic youth development and SJYD. 

Introduction: What leads me to this in particular focusing on a question. How do youth development workers engage adolescent youth in social justice activism? 

Abstract: Systems and structures can be adjusted, and young people can challenge the conditions and policies which inform their lives. 

In this article, Clemons does a fantastic job in breaking down the research that was done from its purpose and reasoning to where it was trying to go and its results. Clemons break apart each piece in her writing, given the reader a clear understanding of the outcomes and how it doesn't end there. It also provides readers with the idea that not everything is set in stone and things can continue to change for the better. There is no perfect organization or better way of doing it. This can continue and can lead to better results with little change rather than a drastic one.