Challenges During This Study
- Gaining Access: Gaining access to the districts was easy. The school districts were interested in my research; however, gaining access to schools and principals was extremely challenging. I ended up having to use many connections to gain access. Without those connections, this research wouldn’t have been possible. Relationships and connections are important when conducting research.
- Establishing Rapport: It was a challenge to get some of the teachers to buy into my research and trust me in the beginning. It helped that I was a former kindergarten teacher and understood some of the challenges they face. I had to assure them that my research wouldn’t take up very much of their precious time. I also had to assure them of confidentiality and my duty to conduct ethical research.
- Complexity of Collecting Data: Coordinating the schedules of 12 teachers in six different schools in two districts was a challenge. I had to contend with sick teachers, field trips, school holidays, open house, class parties, and even ice days.
- Complexity of Data: Kindergarteners are, by nature, unpredictable. This is especially true when it comes to the literacy skills of kindergarteners. The data doesn't form a nice, neat bell curve. (Example: letter sound knowledge) The complexity of my data led to a multivariate nonnormal sample, which meant that I had to transform my data so that it was less skewed.
What Did I Learn About Conducting Research?
- Flexibility: Be flexible. Having to address all of the challenges that came up during the research process required flexibility. Uncooperative principals. Updated timelines. Propensity score matching. Multivariate nonnormality. Transforming data. It’s impossible to anticipate or learn about every little issue that can come up during your research. You have to learn to deal with the issues one by one and use what you know to figure out what you don’t know—and use your resources.
- Subjectivity: Despite what some say, quantitative research is still subjective. Even if you’re doing a quantitative study, there are still many subjective decisions as a researcher. Quantitative research does not fit into a nice, neat, little box—it’s messy too. At every step of the process, there were decisions that I had to make as a researcher that had implications for my research. For every decision, I tried to make a rational, research-supported decision. Many times, I wasn’t sure what the “right” answer was—so I looked to the literature and tried to support my decision with theory and prior research.
- Integrity: As a researcher, you have to maintain your integrity. Many times, it would’ve been easier to just ignore a problem or an issue and move on. But integrity, validity, reliability and trustworthiness are all important components of quality research. I realized that as a researcher, you can make your numbers say almost anything you want them to say. This realization has made me even more committed to maintaining my integrity. It has also made me a little more skeptical of research, in general, and it requires me to have a more critical eye when reading others’ research.
- Tenacity: Conducting research requires tenacity. It means working through any challenges and not giving up.