Reflective Material

Monica Wells MSM 5100 August 28, 2011 Why did Jim feel it necessary to analyze reflective material produced by students rather than just interview final-year students in his research? ANSWER: I feel that Jim choose to use both means of collecting data to ensure he was able to see the whole picture. Additionally, I feel it was good for him to lay down a base line for the interviews by reviewing the reflective data. I also believe this allowed him to get a better understanding of the students and the data prior to conducting interviews. Why was it important to plan and manage the interview the way described. ANSWER: I believe that it was good to explain to the students what he was attempting to do during the interview process. I also believe that as an interviewer you want as few distractions as possible thus not disrupting the flow of the information. Iti s also important to put the students at ease and not have them concerned about what they say and how it will be used. Furthermore, I believe as an interviewer one wants as few distractions as possible during the process. With Jim allowing for cross flow of communication and having them in a group, I believe that it enabled the process to get to the route of the problem. More often that not, people feed off of others comments thus adding to the discussion. As Jim only interjected when they got off topic this allowed for him to gather more data during the timeframe they were allotted. How did Jim deal with the ethical issues in his research? ANSWER: I feel that by Jim explaining up front to the students that he was recording and offering up the possibility of erasing something the students did not like, this made the ethical questions disappear. He took the time at the beginning to tell them what was going on and what he intended to do with the data gathered. I feel he covered any ethical dilemmas that could be raised. Why was it valid for Jim to decide to interview tutors when originally he had not intended to? ANSWER: I believe it was valid to interview the tutors because his initial dat collection led to him to believe there was more than what met the eye. I don’t believe the initial information was able to answer the why, how and when questions would like an interview did. It was able to get to the route of the problem allowing for him to make the WBL a better plan. The more he was able to learn about the flaws the better for him. Additionally i feel the answers in the primarily data led to more questions. He found out that many students had not been placed and now he knew why they had not.