Introduction
There is a good chance that the students in RES 7700, a research methodology course for doctoral candidates, view education and the educational process from a different angle than the rest of us. This is because they are deeply engaged in studying, analyzing, and synthesis of data to advance academic knowledge. They are learning a lot about how schools’ function and how they may be made better due to this. These students conducted several interviews with participants to learn about these students’ perspectives on the educational processes through which they have participated. This strategy would include examining their stories to look for commonalities in how they see and describe educational processes.
Mentorship and group work in the classroom are two factors that might emerge as a central theme. In RES 7700, students may expect access to faculty mentors who will assist them in navigating the research process, get constructive criticism on their work, and hone their research abilities. Students’ ability to work with their classmates in the classroom and share knowledge and perspectives with others with similar interests is likely to play a significant role in their overall learning experience. Another potential issue is the need for introspection and critical learning process analysis. It is probable that doctoral students in RES 7700 are doing in-depth analyses of research techniques and data and are gaining a nuanced grasp of how to critically assess studies in the field of education. One way to do this is to constantly question and discuss the merits and drawbacks of one’s assumptions and prejudices and those of the research methodologies one employs.
The significance of setting in education is a third potential subject. Students enrolled in RES 7700 are likely researching various forms of formal and informal education at the doctoral level. Therefore, they may try to get a more nuanced grasp of how cultural, social, and political issues influence schooling. At the end of RES 7700 and beyond, Ph.D. students will have gained a deep and nuanced knowledge of education and the educational processes via their participation in the course and continuous involvement in academic research. Researchers may learn more about how people perceive and comprehend these processes by narrative coding analysis of their stories. This information can then be used to highlight relevant themes and patterns for use in future studies and clinical practice.
It is common for Ph.D. students to have a negative outlook on the educational procedures they have been a part of. Students frequently comment on their intense pressure to perform well in their studies and create high-quality research. Nevertheless, they may feel detached from their classmates and professors because their work is often highly customized and focused on their study interests. Ph.D. students often approach education and learning with tremendous intellectual curiosity and enthusiasm. Their jobs allow them to pursue knowledge and understanding for the rest of their lives and value the chance to contribute to their chosen disciplines.
Individuals gain information and skills via education, both of which can contribute to an increased feeling of competence and confidence in themselves. People have the potential to feel more capable and accomplished when they acquire new knowledge, which can be beneficial to their sense of self-worth. Goal-setting and goal attainment are standard components of educational experiences. When people can attain these goals, they may experience feelings of pride and satisfaction, increasing their self-esteem.
Participant 3 elaborates that she did not pursue his bachelor’s degree after high school because she was afraid that many things were expected of her as a small-town girl with the traditional pompom girl experience. She said she worked a series of mindless jobs and married young. She slammed into barriers that reduced her life to a bare existence and retreated into my little bubble. Finding even a minimum-wage job in the healthcare sector was a game-changer. Fortunately, a passing executive noted my optimistic, can-do demeanor and introduced me to critical analysis and strategic planning. This was the proper world that encouraged initiative rather than passivity, where dreams could be realized rather than stifled, and expansive views prevailed over insular conformity.
My ambition to explore new worlds led me to pursue several credentials, including two master’s degrees, ultimately leading me here. For me, education has always been more about the people, cultures, and viewpoints I have been exposed to than it has to do with the number of degrees I have earned. Throughout my academic pursuits, I have gained the knowledge and perspective to effectively communicate with and work with people from many walks of life. A worldview like this has shaped my identity and how I evaluate my worth. A well-rounded education fosters a global perspective and a capacity for empathy. Non-students are not educated; they only exist in my eyes. Through learning, we get insight into our surroundings, inspiration to envision a better future, and the ability to implement our ideas.
The Coding Scheme
Summary of Findings
The study “How do doctoral students in RES 7700 perceive and understand their experiences with education and educative processes?” provides some valuable lessons for both doctoral students and researchers. Some of the critical lessons learned from this study include the following ways. The research emphasizes the significance of reflexivity in the research process, as it aids researchers in critically examining their perceptions and biases and recognizing how they may impact their research findings. This is an especially salient takeaway for researchers investigating questions that are personally meaningful to them. As a researcher, it helps me know how to ensure that data collected from different participants are reflected and examined in the right direction.
Need for Supportive Learning Environments
According to the data collected, supportive learning settings that stimulate debate, reflection, and collaborative effort are essential. Students pursuing a doctoral degree placed high importance on learning settings that offered an opportunity for involvement with various viewpoints, feedback, and support from peers. In addition, the study shows the significance of feelings in the learning process. Students working on their doctorates knew that their emotional reactions to learning events were significant and that such responses may help or impede their educational progress. This indicates that teachers should pay attention to the emotional experiences of their pupils and provide learning environments that are helpful and encourage good emotional reactions.
The research highlights how essential mentorship is to the Ph.D. education process. Doctoral candidates prioritized having mentors who could give them direction, support, and critical commentary. An effective mentoring program may assist doctorate students in navigating the hurdles inherent to the Ph.D. education process and provide them with the information and abilities they will need to succeed in their future jobs. In conclusion, the study demonstrates how important it is for doctorate education to consider various opinions. Doctoral students prioritized gaining knowledge from classmates from different walks of life and had varied experiences. Participants had multiple points of view since this allowed them to widen their thinking and generate new ideas.
Memo A
My research topic is “How do doctoral students in RES 7700 perceive and understand their experiences with education and educational processes?” To respond to this issue, I gathered data from the tales of the 12 participants. I investigated the perspectives of doctorate students towards the educational process from two different angles. The aspects of education that they felt were successful in the classroom, and the issues that they felt needed to be addressed in everyday life became familiar with the data, and then I gave preliminary codes to my data to characterize the substance of the data. I looked for recurring topics and trends in the principles I had collected from various individuals. To create my findings, I looked over the themes and the codes.
Memo B
Narrative coding is a helpful approach for analyzing qualitative data that can give beneficial insights into the experiences and perspectives of individuals. However, it is essential to utilize this strategy with other research methodologies to achieve a more in-depth comprehension of the phenomenon that is the subject of the inquiry. When qualitative data is coded, customer feedback is much simpler to comprehend (Low et al., 2017). Assigning codes to phrases and terms in each response aids me in recording what the response is about, helping me to summarize and evaluate the survey findings.
Narrative coding is a time-consuming method because reading and processing massive volumes of data is a time-consuming activity that constitutes the bulk of narrative coding. Researchers with few tools may find this problematic as it requires much time to generate an organized narrative of an incident witnessed and documented. Coding requires the facts to be summarized and presented differently (Low et al., 2017). I utilize coding and other qualitative data analysis techniques to produce data-driven judgments based on client input. These procedures make it simpler to measure and analyze customer satisfaction with greater accuracy, which enables me to make more accurate assessments. The time and effort spent identifying fundamental story components have established a solid basis for creating confirmatory study hypotheses. At the same time, there are big holes in my knowledge that call for exploratory research to be carried out.
The process of story coding can foster critical thinking by prompting participants to question existing beliefs, consider other points of view, generate and test ideas, and critically assess supporting data. Researchers depend heavily on these abilities to control the environment and provide the vital information obtained from the data. Someone may apply them in various settings. While using narrative coding has improved my skills in reflecting and evaluating my own and others’ experiences and viewpoints.
Reference
Low, A., Dixon, S., Higgs, A., Joines, J., & Hippman, C. (2019). Training to provide psychiatric genetic counseling: How does it impact recent graduates’ and current students’ readiness to provide genetic counseling for individuals with psychiatric illness and attitudes towards this population?Journal of Genetic Counseling, 27(1), 301–311. Web.