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Walden Magazine // Jan 01, 2010

7 Research Challenges (And how to overcome them)

 Make a bigger impact by learning how Walden kinesthesia and alumni got past the about difficult research roadblocks.

Whether y'all are a electric current student or a doctoral graduate, conducting research is an integral function of being a scholar-practitioner with the skills and credibility to event social change. Fortunately, many of the research challenges y'all will face up—from choosing a topic, to finding study participants, to staying sane throughout the process, and every pace in between—have already been addressed by members of the Walden customs. Hither, they share their insights on how to overcome seven acme research challenges.

Challenge: Choosing the Right Topic

Your research topic is the foundation on which everything else rests, so information technology's crucial to cull advisedly. "Yous can't practice anything else until you lot figure out the bones focus of your topic," says Dr. Susann Five. Getsch '08, who earned her PhD in Psychology from Walden. The topic of her dissertation, Educating Students With Pervasive Developmental Disorders: An Exploration of Government Mandates and Teachers' Perspectives, was close to her heart—Getsch has a child on the autism spectrum. After get-go attempting to "have on the entire world" with her inquiry, Getsch chose to focus on how special education teachers select the protocols for classrooms with students with autism in the context of No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Teaching Deed. She shares her recommendations for choosing an effective research topic.

• Develop a achievable topic.Determine what resource you take available—time, money, people—and choose a topic that yous can do justice. Getsch scrapped an initial study idea of replicating some other researcher's written report because it would be besides resource-intensive.
• Read everything you can on the topic. Getsch "stumbled across" systems theory, an interdisciplinary framework for agreement systems in science and society. The topic was outside her required form reading, but ultimately provided Getsch'south theoretical framework.
• Find a theoretical basis to back up your topic. The key is having an overarching theoretical context for your results. "I was really thrilled when I found these theories that fit my report like a glove," Getsch says.
• Brand certain the topic will concord your interest. You'll be spending at least a twelvemonth on a dissertation or any large enquiry project, so information technology has to be compelling plenty that you'll go the distance.
• Expect for a niche in which you tin make a divergence … My view is that you really should be offer something new to the field," says Getsch.
• … but remember you tin can't change the world with ane dissertation. Getsch'southward dissertation commission chair, Dr. Stephanie Cawthon, helped her focus on the crux of what she wanted to explore. "She gently pointed out that I couldn't change the whole globe with my dissertation, but I could add to the body of cognition," says Getsch.
• Let yourself shift gears. Getsch admits that the topic she started out with was "in no way" what she concluded upwards with.
• Fine-melody your topic based on input from others. "Take every opportunity you lot tin can to pick the brains" of experts, Getsch recommends. "I went across disciplines. I drove people crazy. And each time, I would revise slightly based on what the last person taught me."

Claiming: Choosing the Right Methodology

In one case you lot've called a topic, yous'll need a methodology—a procedure for conducting your research—in guild to move frontward.

Dr. Linda Crawford, a kinesthesia member in Walden's PhD plan, has received the Bernard L. Turner award 2 times for chairing outstanding dissertation recipients. She offers several techniques for getting on the right path when it comes to choosing the appropriate methodology for your study.

"The best mode to choose it is non to choose."In other words, Crawford says, "the methodology that'south used comes from the research question, not from your personal preferences for one design or another." She recommends refraining from choosing between a qualitative or quantitative methodology until you:

• Complete the sentence: "The problem is …"
  Complete the sentence: "The purpose of this report is …"
  Formulate your inquiry questions.
• Let your answers guide y'all.
• Determine what kind of design and methodology tin best answer your research questions. If your questions include words such as "explore," "sympathize," and "generate," it's an indication that your study is qualitative. Whereas words such every bit "compare," "relate," or "correlate" signal a quantitative study. The pattern comes out of the study, rather than being imposed on the study.
• Hone your study design. Once you become clear whether you're going in a quantitative or qualitative management, you can brainstorm to look in more particular at the methodology. This will exist determined by figuring out "from whom you're going to collect information, how y'all're going to collect the data, and how y'all're going to analyze it once yous collect it," says Crawford.
• Be crystal clear. For a qualitative written report, you might use focus groups and interviews, for example, to collect data, whereas a quantitative study may use test scores or survey results. Either style, the methodology should be so articulate that any other trained researcher should exist able to pick information technology upwardly and practice it exactly the aforementioned mode.
• Be honest near your abilities. Inquire yourself, "This is what the report demands—do I have the skills to practise information technology?" says Crawford. If not, determine if you can develop the skills or bring together a enquiry team.
• Take your fourth dimension with the planning process. "It's worth consulting other researchers, doing a pilot study to test it, earlier you get out spending the time, coin, and free energy to do the big study," Crawford says. "Because once y'all begin the report, you lot can't stop."

Claiming: Assembling a Research Team
Research is never done in a vacuum. In one case your topic and methodology are in place, you lot will need a research team to support yous, every bit well equally study participants.

Dr. Lynette Savage '09, PhD in Applied Management and Decision Sciences, recommends assembling a network of advisors before starting your research:

• Solicit useful feedback.Savage suggests that y'all "cultivate friendships with people who are going to aid you think critically" about your topic. These people are invaluable for helping you consider your idea from a different angle or perspective.

• Vet your commission. If you need a formal committee, cull your chairperson advisedly, Savage says, "because you're going to piece of work closely with him or her for a while." She recommends interviewing your potential chair and committee members to make sure at that place'due south a match and discussing upfront what each political party needs in order to get through the procedure. This includes asking whom your chairperson is comfortable working with—"The chair helps negotiate things if the committee tin can't come to agreement, and then he or she needs to get along with everyone else," Savage explains.

• Be clear about your needs.Similarly, when information technology comes to finding mentors, or getting aid for tasks such as creating a survey tool or writing your research question, Savage suggests being very clear about what yous need from them. "People are very willing to help when you lot come structured and prepared," she says.

Claiming: Finding Study Participants

Once you have your team together, it'due south fourth dimension to comport your report, and that means finding participants.

Dr. Rodney Lemery '08, PhD in Public Wellness, managed to overcome a big claiming to recruiting participants for his written report: "Similar a lot of epidemiology researchers, I was trying to target a 'hidden population'—men who have sex with men," he explains. Lemery shares how, through trial and mistake, he recruited 125 participants for his study.

• Don't waste your money.Lemery first tried hiring a third-party electronic mail marketing group to ship his survey to fifty,000 self-identified men who fit his criteria. While email marketing might work in some cases, it's a costly risk—Lemery spent $ii,500 and got just iv subjects.
• Leverage the ability of a network. Lemery'southward side by side attempt to attain his target group was more successful. He used what are called "snowball" sampling techniques—"targeting a particular group, locating advocates within that social network," so request them to recommend others who might exist willing to participate in the study. "You almost get a domino effect, if it works," Lemery explains.
• Don't be afraid to reach out. Lemery also approached established researchers in his field for guidance and networking. "I was very nervous, but I went alee anyhow and contacted two very well-known researchers, and one of them turned out to be a very primal advocate in my research and recruitment," he explains. "If I had listened to my fear, I never would have gotten 45 of my participants." His communication to others looking for mentors: "But go for information technology—the worst thing that tin can happen is that people tin say no."

Claiming: Getting Institutions to Participate

Sometimes recruiting study participants requires going through institutions, which may put up barriers, peculiarly if your enquiry is controversial or sensitive, and this presents an additional challenge.

Dr. Eileen Berg '09, Dr. of Education (EdD), conducted her doctoral study on the relationship between teachers' unions and educators throughout schools and districts in Ontario, Canada, and came up confronting strong resistance due to the political nature of her topic. And Dr. Christopher Plum '09, PhD in Education, needed to discover Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meetings—in which a program is developed to assistance students with disabilities—in gild to conduct his research. These meetings are often very hard for parents and students, and getting access required permission from school districts, too every bit the parents, student, and school psychologists attending each meeting. Berg and Plum offer suggestions for getting institutional buy-in:

• Don't stop at the first rejection."I went to ane of the superintendents, and she said, 'That's interesting, but you're not going to go any support from this school commune,'" says Berg. "And then I started to apply to different districts and got all these rejections—the influence of the unions in Ontario was then stiff that nobody wanted to participate.
• Pursue alternating avenues. Later on extensive enquiry online and networking, Berg somewhen found an organization that would promote the report to principals and another organization that agreed to publish a notice about the study in its bulletin for teachers.
• Persevere. "If information technology's an extremely hot topic, you're going to have the doors blocked," Berg says. "You need to persevere, you need to brand contacts, you lot need to network with people and make phone calls and inquire, 'How tin you help me?' ... Simply sending emails won't piece of work."
• Build relationships. Plum agrees that when going through institutions to observe study participants, the central "is trying to grade relationships with the people who will help you gain access."

• Learn to sell yourself. "Y'all've got to do a lot of selling of yourself and what yous're trying to do," Plum says. Only, he warns, at that place'south a fine line betwixt being persistent and not turning people off. "That'south the art," he says. "You lot take to finesse information technology and understand the importance of building that comfort level. The people who are the gatekeepers have to believe that you're coming in considerately and that what your research yields will potentially positively bear on the institution in some way. How does this add value?"
• Exist prepared. Plum also stresses the importance of having all of your forms and information—such every bit a re-create of your abstract and a pollex drive with supporting documents—on hand at all times, in case someone wants more than information.
• The importance of epitome. Finally, Plum says, "presentation is important—it all paints a picture in terms of how yous're going to come across."

Challenge: Staying Motivated and Working Your Plan
Sometimes, in the course of a large research projection, the biggest claiming can be internal—maintaining the motivation to keep going despite obstacles in your inquiry and the pressures of work and personal commitments.

Dr. Latrice Y. Walker '08 completed her PhD in Education in just eight quarters (while also working "non-finish" on her business). She shares her strategies for maintaining an upbeat, confident attitude and staying the course with any large-scale research project.

• Follow your passion and your purpose. "The offset component of motivation is working on something you're passionate about, that you believe in," Walker explains. "Information technology'south cyclical—if you're passionate about what you lot're researching, the research will increase your passion to consummate your research." Passion, she says, comes from the belief that your piece of work will have some kind of social bear on, that an injustice in the world could exist improved "even just x pct."
• Monitor your attitude. "When there's so much to practise, attitude does make a difference," Walker says. "There can exist no dubiousness in your listen that you tin do this. You lot must believe that you tin make it through this process." To stay positive, she suggests thinking of the mind similar a garden: "We have to pluck out the negative thoughts like weeds and constantly found positive thoughts."
• Reward yourself. "Make rewards part of your work plan, and so requite yourself those rewards," Walker says. "It could be going to the movies, going out to tiffin, spending time with your family—any it is, make information technology something meaningful to you."
• Ask for assist. Walker credits her family unit—especially her hubby—with helping her handle all her commitments. "If you lot share your goals with those individuals you intendance about, they volition become to purchase in and aid you reach those goals," she says. "Simply only share your greatest dreams and goals with people who are going to be positive and supportive."

Challenge: Dealing With Your Information

When you've completed your study, the final challenge is knowing how to brand sense of the data you've collected.

Dr. Ronald Paige '07, PhD in Didactics, was faced with 900-plus pages of transcribed stories from the interviews he conducted. And Dr. Paula Dawidowicz, a faculty member in The Richard West. Riley Higher of Education and Leadership, is the writer of Literature Reviews Made Like shooting fish in a barrel: A Quick Guide to Success. Paige and Dawidowicz offering tips for working with your information.

• Footing yourself in the research. Paige realized that, to address his large volume of research, he had to connect his own research to the existing research. Grounded in a "huge survey of the literature," he had the parameters to organize his research. Dawidowicz adds that your data should be presented in a way that demonstrates how your research adds to the torso of cognition.
• Get back to your methodology. Paige credits a course in inquiry methodologies taught by his mentor and committee chair, Dr. Linda Crawford, with preparing him to deal with his data. "The books we had to read were excellent," he says, "and we compared methodologies in class—that was very helpful."
• Listen to the data. "When you have that kind of qualitative information, and yous're looking at it cold, the biggest challenge is not to look at it with any preconceived ideas—you lot literally have to pace dorsum and look for the data to come alive and start speaking," Paige says.
• Accept advantage of technology. "The fundamental thing in qualitative research is looking for patterns, and that'due south where having a software program—I used ane called HyperRESEARCH—was invaluable," Paige says. "I couldn't have washed information technology without that."
• Stay focused. Dawidowicz cautions against existence distracted past irrelevant data as you lot practice your assay. She suggests "keeping a really shut eye" on your enquiry questions and your hypothesis, "considering sometimes the data you collect volition take y'all away from that."
• Account for biases. Dawidowicz explains that, in a quantitative study, the researcher needs to address the biases of the individuals completing the survey before the results tin exist generalized to a larger population. Whereas qualitative work requires researchers to discuss "how their bias or estimation may have played into their conclusions."
• Allow the data drive your presentation. Dawidowicz says, "The data should drive how you nowadays what yous're doing. It's your job to organize it effectually the research questions."
• Draw on the details. "A good quote or a good betoken pulled from a quantitative survey—that information can always give us a greater sense of what actually occurred," Dawidowicz says.

Research Back up:
The Walden Advantage

Because Walden is defended to creating scholar-practitioners who volition make a difference in their fields, students in Walden graduate programs take an exceptional level of support for conducting enquiry that tin can effect social change. In add-on to the back up provided by faculty members, mentors, and dissertation committee members, Walden graduate students accept access to the targeted resources of the Center for Research Support and the Center for Pupil Success.

The Middle for Research Support can aid students with many of the specific research challenges outlined in this article. For instance, when it comes to choosing a topic and a methodology, the centre regularly updates its Web site with new resource about unlike content areas and offers poster sessions at the Jan and July residencies.

"These are good opportunities to encounter the research being washed by Walden students and faculty and to talk to the presenters," explains Dr. George Smeaton, former executive director of the center. Students can too hash out their research projects through the center's Communities of Scholarship in Practice—an online forum for groups of people interested in the same topic to come across electronically.

Smeaton says that other valuable resource for conducting research include admission to a large number of data sets through the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Inquiry and access to a participant puddle of Walden students, alumni, and faculty for Web-based surveys. In addition, the eye offers a statistics course for students who need to improve their skills to conduct inquiry and provides guidelines and rubrics for developing theses and dissertations.

The Center for Research Support also offers graduate students assist in pursuing funding for research projects, help with publishing research, and access to the Institutional Review Board (IRB), which ensures that Walden research complies with the university's ethical standards and federal regulations.

More than back up is available through the Eye for Student Success (CSS), which provides the following student-centered resources:

• Career Planning and Development: Practical online tools for complete career planning, management, and advancement cycle, every bit well as individual consultations.
• Academic Residencies: Opportunities for doctoral and some principal'southward students to run into with faculty, network with other students, and build inquiry skills.
• Walden Library: All-encompassing digital resource, every bit well as dedicated staff who will help students identify, evaluate, and obtain the materials they need for their research.
• Writing Middle: Comprehensive support for academic writing, including tutoring, writing courses, one-on-one consultations, and samples and templates.
• Student Success Courses: Supplemental courses for students who would like to enhance or refresh their skills in a particular surface area.

Dr. Lorraine Williams, executive managing director of the CSS, explains that the individual units of the CSS "work in a synergistic mode to support students in their research." For case, the Writing Heart volition work with students one-on-one—as well every bit in grouping skill sessions at residencies—and will also directly students to appropriate graduate writing courses, if necessary, and work collaboratively with the library to help students create a literature review. "Nosotros all work closely together equally a squad and strategize as to how nosotros tin best support our students," Williams says.

Larn more nigh academic support at Walden.

• Read Dr. Paula Dawidowicz'due south article on building a literature review.
• Read more PhD survival tips from Dr. Susann V. Getsch.
• Read more Ph.D. survival tips from Dr. Lynette Cruel

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Source: https://www.waldenu.edu/news-and-events/publications/articles/2010/01-research-challenges

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