Semester 3, Week 2, Day 1

I'm up this morning before BOTH kids. I don't know what to do!  LOL Well, I survived the first week of the semester.  I was able to get into the lecture yesterday for homeopathy. The instructor is a busy guy with his own business so he can't set a static day/time for the lectures for the 2 classes but I should be able to get in there since I don't have a set schedule. We have not had a chemistry lecture yet. I did ask him for any advice in choosing a research topic and he had some great advice. He said if we have someone who is sick who is willing to have us write on the, the case study is a great way to go because you learn a lot. It's also more work.  He suggests picking a topic and researching that. Since there are several herbs in my kit I want to know about, yesterday I built a spreadsheet of the herbs in my kit and the constituents/actions/indications of them. I'd like to see if I can find 3 herbs that would go together and research those as a topic of what they do.  Dandelion and echinacea are 2 I would love to research. I have learned through these classes that we use echinacea WRONG. Dandelion does all kinds of things depending on which part of the plant you use. There are others that are also amazing in here.  Reishi mushrooms. AMAZING. In my reading, you make a tincture of the mushrooms THEN you use the mushrooms to make a tea. See!  So many amazing things so It's no wonder I'm having trouble!  LOL  I hope to choose a topic this week since I think we are supposed to start talking about our topic in week 3.  I bought some cayenne and echinacea seeds yesterday and plan to put some in when I get a bit of time. What I would LIKE to do is grow the herbs I choose to write about and take pictures of the various stages of their growth as I learn about them scientifically.  I prefer to use my own pictures of the plants this way I don't have to cite a different source. My children are now up. They got good sleep and are happy little ones so far today. I do have things to do, however, so I shall quit talking with my fingers and leave you with an interesting post. I found this assignment interesting because so many failed to understand the purpose of the assignment. This discussion topic was about taking a bad survey and making it better. I didn't do too bad on this one and yes, I was proud of me when the teacher was asking further questions of the others but not me because I got it right first try. WOOT!  LOL Enjoy and have a great day!

I didn't even read Option 2, so this is on Option 1!
 

• Do you do research? Yes____ No_____
• How often to you read research journals?
  • Seldom
  • Often
  • Frequently
  • Every day
• How often do you read research articles or talk to colleagues about research?
  • Seldom
  • Often
  • Frequently
  • Every day

 
 
I read these questions and immediately was struck by their vagueness. The first question had me asking “research what”? Medical breakthroughs? Underwater basket weaving? How to crochet mittens for my pet rock Fluffy? If I were to rewrite this question, I'd write it like “Do you read medical research of any kind? Yes (continue to the next question) ________ No (Stop here) _______
 
For the other 2 questions, they are again vague on the TYPE of research. Yes, I get this is for nurses so it could be implied but nurses do things outside of work. I'd like to think they have hobbies that take them away from the stress of their job. I'd break the third question into 2 questions one on reading and the other on talking to colleagues.
 
The answers listed are way too subjective. The only one that is clear is “Every Day”. I think there should be something like: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Never. I don't fully like this, though, because they could read more than once a month or more than once a month, even more than once a year.
 
I liked how Chen and Tseng pointed out the importance of the method of conducting the survey. So many are online these days and people fill them out with a cursory glance. A survey should engage the respondent and make them feel like their answers are important. Perhaps include a purpose statement at the top so they will understand how their answers will be used and what type of impact this survey may have. Moore highlights the importance of the specific language used in questions because education level is important. I'd argue that just because they have an education certificate, doesn't necessarily mean they have an understanding at the level they should. While I was active duty I got a blank stare quite frequently of my subordinates. They graduated school but still didn't understand. While I think the language is within reason for the above questions, I do think the specificity needs to be added.
 
Mindy
 
Chen, H & Tseng, C. H. (2017) Effects of Applying Multimedia and Dialogue Boxes to Web Survey Design.  International Journal of Business and Information.
 
Moore, S. R. (1995) Focus on research questions for research on reading-writing relationships and text structure knowledge. Language Arts.