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Beliefs about Becoming Researchers

This questionnaire explores the beliefs of graduate students in the transition from dependent to independent researchers. It investigates their understanding of research, similarities and differences between doing research and writing up research, and factors that have helped them in their research journey. The results provide insights into the experiences and needs of graduate students in becoming independent researchers.

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Beliefs about Becoming Researchers

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  1. Beliefs about Becoming Researchers Peter Liljedahl

  2. DEPENDENT  INDEPENDENT (Lovitts, 2005) • self-efficacy (Albold, 2011) • socialization process (Gardner, 2008) • research community (Schoenfeld, 1999) How are beliefs of graduate students implicated in the transition from dependent to independent researchers?

  3. QUESTIONNAIRE • What is research? • What does it mean to do research? • How is doing research similar and different to writing up your research? • What do you know now about doing research that you didn't know when you started the program? • What has helped you the most in doing research? • What has helped you the most in writing up your research?

  4. What is research? • all believed research is a verb • most believed research is a formal process • all doctoral students believed it was centred on something of interest to them • all master’s students believed that research was quantitative and that research questions were assigned Research is a formalized and systematic way of pursuing curiosity. (Richard, PhD)

  5. What does it mean to do research? • identifying a research question • reading literature • the selection and use of theory • the selection and use of methods • the collection of data • analysis of data • the arrival at some sort of conclusion

  6. What does it mean to do research? • identifying a research question • analysis of data • the arrival at some sort of conclusion • the selection and use of methods • the collection of data • reading literature • the selection and use of theory

  7. How is doing research similar and different to writing up your research?

  8. How is doing research similar and different to writing up your research? Doing the research is exciting, like a game by my own rules. Writing the research: as fun as a visit to the dentist, followed by bad news and a car accident on the way home. (Nicole, MSc) In doing research, the findings are usually unknown (although they could be anticipated), whereas in writing up research, the findings may not be clear, but they are usually known. (Donna, PhD) [Writing up research] could be lonely … (Mandy, PhD)

  9. What do you know now about doing research that you didn't know when you started the program? I am more cognizant of the role of theory as an analytical tool to the process of doing a research than I was previously. (Stephanie, PhD) How to put together a framework that could work to analyze the data that was collected. (Marnie, PhD)

  10. What has helped you the most in doing research? … talking to people who had done research. (Nicole, MSc) Talking to some people about what I was doing, and listening to what they thought it was interesting about my research was supportive (kept me going) and helpful (helped me develop ideas and to reflect on what I was doing). (Marnie, PhD) The community we built. (Mandy, PhD)

  11. What has helped you the most in doing research? … talking to people who had done research. (Nicole, MSc) Talking to some people about what I was doing, and listening to what they thought it was interesting about my research was supportive (kept me going) and helpful (helped me develop ideas and to reflect on what I was doing). (Marnie, PhD) The community we built. (Mandy, PhD)

  12. What has helped you the most in doing research?  supervisors  • community of graduate students • graduate students who were further along in their research • graduate students they met at conferences • friends

  13. What has helped you the most in writing up your research? Reading other people's research and trying to reverse engineer how it was written. (Nicole, MSc) Having feedback and suggestions for organization and another perspective on my results. (Donna, PhD)

  14. What would have helped you the most in writing up your research? A short YouTube tutorial about formatting and citations would have saved some time. (Mathew, MSc) Choice of methodologies suitable for education research (pros/cons etc.). Ratio of theory/methodology/practice chapters in thesis. (Veronica, PhD) A general expectation of length and/or structure of a thesis would also be helpful. (Barb, MSc) It would have helped me to read a book on the exact steps of conducting/writing research earlier on. (Nicole, MSc)

  15. CONCLUSIONS DEPENDENT  INDEPENDENT

  16. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSIONS • How do we make sense of the divide between doing and writing research? [early researchers] • How do we make sense of the role of community of peers vs. mentorship and supervision? [early researchers] • How do we facilitate this? [supervisors/mentors] • How do we make sense of the positioning of theory in this process? [supervisors/mentors] • How do we intervene? Should we intervene? Or is this just part of the process? [supervisors/mentors]

  17. THANK YOU! liljedahl@sfu.ca www.peterliljedahl.com/presentations

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