PLO 5
PLO 5
For the first artifact of PLO5, I decided to showcase my research proposal for Communications 110: Quantitative Research Methods. As a core requirement, this course allows students to learn about communication as a social science. In this class, I learned about what goes behind communication research such as concept measurement, research design, and data analysis, as well as ethics, measurement, sampling, and statistics in research. This proposal’s purpose was to have students analyze interpersonal communication practices, generate scientific research based on existing research, and hypothesize their findings.
As a final project, I prepared an individual research proposal on the interpersonal and cultural dynamics that students of color experience in Greek Life at Predominately White Institutions. This artifact includes an abstract, literature review, rationale, method, references, and an appendix with a reflection.
This topic directly ties in with my identity as a woman of color in Greek Life at Santa Clara University. Throughout my years as an active participant in Greek Life, I have experienced the realities of being a POC in a sorority at a Predominately White Institution. I wanted to see if there was a correlation between PWIs, Greek Life, and students of color’s experience within them. While researching this proposal and reading alternate academic writings, I had a lot of my questions and concerns validated. I learned that the origins of Greek life heavily impact the modern-day realities of fraternities and sororities. While Greek life is heavily influenced by its social aspects, it is deeply rooted in systemic biases that impact students of color’s relationships and sense of belonging. At the end of my project, I was able to hypothesize that BIPOC sorority members perceive if they have to culturally assimilate at higher levels into the lifestyle of sorority life due to their racial/ethnic identity in order to avoid ostracization.
This research proposal demonstrates my grasp of the fundamentals of generating scientific predictions based on research, analysis, and discussion. I was able to implement a solid research question that allowed for an in-depth and holistic communication study. Before, conducting a research proposal seemed daunting, yet this artifact allowed me to explore PLO 5 where I was able to expand on and interpret the findings of my research.
For the second artifact, I am choosing to showcase my group’s final presentation in Communications 111: Qualitative Research Methods. As a core requirement, this course provides students the opportunity to explore audience ethnography, participant observation, focus groups, interviewing, and institutional analysis. This project’s purpose was to have students apply qualitative methods and analyze the data they gathered in order to create a presentation based on their findings.
As a final project, I contributed to a presentation based on the findings, methodology, data analysis, and implications derived from our research question, “How do neurodivergent students, specifically those with ADHD, feel emotionally/mentally supported with their academic career jumping between online Zoom classes to fully in-personal classes due to COVID-19?” This presentation includes a rationale, goals of research, participation selection, methodology, overall theme, key takeaways, and a brief Q&A for the audience.
As someone who has ADHD and felt deeply impacted by post-pandemic schooling, this project was extremely engaging and rewarding for me to complete. Our original goal was to see in what ways neurodivergent students felt negatively impacted by the switch between in-person and online classes, but throughout our preparation, we found that this research question was too broad and was more descriptive as opposed to analytical. In this presentation, we offer existing research that highlights the importance of our topic, how we chose our participants, how our interviews were conducted, how our group went through the process of coding transcripts, and our final key takeaways.
At the end of this project, we concluded that it is imperative to keep students in the loop about OAE and other mental health services provided by SCU. It is no surprise that students with ADHD suffered through academic, mental, and emotional obstacles due to the pandemic.
This presentation conveys my grasp of the fundamentals of generating a valuable, holistic research question in the context of students’ identities and educational systems of communication. Before this project, I did not fully understand what went behind a research study, such as data analysis and precautions behind participant selection and evaluation. Coding was a surprisingly difficult yet engaging aspect of qualitative methods, as it offered a more objective way to analyze the data gathered. This artifact allowed me to explore PLO 5 where I was able to formulate a research question, interpret the results, and reflect on the quality of our interviews and the information gathered.
