Saturday, May 2, 2015

Blog #12: Challenges, Issues, Concerns, and Successes

I'm plugging along this week with my Pilot Study Report.  I'm currently writing up the summary of findings from the multiple choice questions about demographics.  I guess what I'm struggling most with is finding the balance between reporting my findings and analyzing them.  In such a small study, it is easy to report the data, but hard to say for sure why the data is what it is.  I am able, based on the responses, to provide a snapshot of a "typical" collaborator, but without comparative data from teachers who have not collaborated, it is difficult to say whether the traits I've identified are really what are making a difference.  Still, it is interesting to see what factors these teachers have in common and which don't seem to matter.  It's a good place to start.

Next up, I'll be coding the short essay responses, looking for patterns in how teachers responded to the questions about how they view the media specialist's roles, benefits and barriers to collaboration, and factors that would encourage more collaboration.  I think I'll do this by hand. NVivo seems a bit complicated, and I just don't know that the effort to use it is worth it in such a small study. Instead, I've printed the responses out and am marking the text for categories and sub-categories.  I'll see how that goes before I make a final decision about NVivo.

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