Research and evaluation are fundamental in advancing knowledge and practice. They provide mechanisms by which enhancement can be made to provide the most effective informal interventions and resources. Additionally, research and evaluation guides intervention/projects, improves them, and ascertains whether the intervention/projects can achieve their intended outcomes. Working as a Program Data & Evaluation Specialist at Riis Academy and as a research assistant to Dr. Clarke, I have witnessed the importance of research and evaluation.
My work has given me the opportunity to utilize data and evaluation for purposes of guiding the organization on how best to set benchmarks, challenge the existing organizational culture, determine new areas for growth, and indicate the impact that existing programs have on the youth. I witness how the results obtained from research and evaluations are used to positively affect literacy as well as improve program performance. My current position has made me realize the important role that data has in the planning and implementation of educational programs.
Knowing the importance of data and having worked in the field of research, I have experienced many challenges in my career; challenges in conceptualizing and measuring the interventions, determining the proper research design to implement, and dealing with the unpredictable interaction of particular development settings. The foregoing challenges arise from my lack of knowledge in the field, hence the reason for my application to join your program. I am convinced that by attending the Research Methodology Doctoral Program at UCLA, I will get the theoretical knowledge and practical skills needed to become a better researcher and evaluator.
Having stated my reasons for wanting to attend the research methodology doctoral program in your university, I will dedicate this section to briefing you on some of my personal knowledge and accomplishments that will contribute to the university’s diversity mission. I believe I fit in the diversity criteria because I come from a foreign background, having been born in Haiti. Notably, the Haitian culture is very different from the larger American culture.
Despite the differences in my home and host cultures, I have successfully attained educational success while studying in the United States of America. I have also learnt to co-exist, communicate and create good working relationships with fellow students, faculty members, colleagues and my superiors wherever I have studied or worked. Additionally, I have had the opportunity to live and work in different social set ups, and this has made me more appreciative of other people’s worldviews and cultures. Over the years, I have developed an ability to navigate through cultural differences successfully as I pursue different endeavors. I therefore believe that my foreign background and my education and work experiences in different cultures makes me ideal for admission in the university in line with its diversity mission.
Among some of my educational-related achievements include research in social aggression among 7th graders which my university facilitated through a summer grant. The research findings were included in Dr. Hongling Xie’s research and Bing Shi’s article titled “socialization of physical and social aggression in early adolescents’ peer groups: high status peers, individual status and gender.” The article was published in 2011 in the Social Development Journal. I also served as an ambassador for the graduate student association during the American Psychological Association (APA) convention this summer.
Moreover, I carried out research for my Master’s thesis, and the research study was accepted for presentation at the APA and the International Psychology of Religion Conference. Currently, I am writing my thesis and preparing to submit a manuscript on the same. I believe the foregoing research undertakings are an indication of my interest in conducting reliable and accurate research. Although I got a chance to present the research findings for my Master’s thesis in different forums, I still feel a need to improve and perfect several aspects of how I conduct and handle data as indicated below. I believe that combined, my education and real life experience working in research will make me a suitable candidate for the social research methodology program at UCLA.
I look forward to studying the following: the implementation of research methodology in a global context; self-efficacy among second generation immigrants; effective methods of evaluating evidence-based programs; the development of cross-cutting measures for use with different cohorts with specific attention to cross-cutting technologies and analytics; and exploring issues in evidence-based programming and evaluations. Specifically, I am interested in progressive research in youth literacy and development and ways in which such findings can be linked to programs outcomes in order to generate long-term impacts.
There are specific faculty members I would like to work with. They include:
- Dr. L in psychometrics, latent variable models, item response theory, nonlinear models and statistical computations. My interest in Dr. L is informed by a need to improve my research and methodology skills.
- I would also like to work with Dr. Ch (PhD) based on her interest in applied evaluation research and theoretical analysis. Her dedication to train people in evaluation and research methods also appeals to me.
- Dr. N is also another faculty member I would like to work with specifically because my teaching interest includes qualitative methodology and statistics, measurements and human abilities.
- Dr. M is yet another faculty member I am interested in working with especially in evaluation theory and evaluation utilization.
- Lastly, I am interested in working with Dr. Mi in learning about the different methods used in studying, fostering and documenting research.
My plans for the future are divisible into short-term and long-term plans. Shortly after completing my degree, I plan to work as an evaluator for a non-profit organization hence getting a chance to apply the knowledge and skills that I will have attained during the program in real life situations. I also plan to adjunct at a university where I will be teaching research methodology courses including statistics.
I will use my time as a teacher in the university not only to impart knowledge in my students, but to acquire knowledge and skills relevant to teaching. This is a strategic decision on my part since I am interested in having positive impact on Haiti’s education sector, which pales in comparison with education systems in developed countries. In the long-term, I plan to play a proactive role in Division 15 educational psychology. Additionally, I plan to build an international school in Haiti. It is my dream that the school will use of cutting-edge research for purposes of enhancing literacy levels and youth development in the country. I however realize the need to acquire more knowledge and expertise before embarking on my plans, hence my interest in joining UCLA.