Thursday, April 19, 2018

Case Study Research Topic 3

Response 3-1

There are five desired attributes necessary to be a case study researcher (Yin, 1014). First is to ask good questions and to interpret the answers fairly. This can be tricky to determine what questions to ask and in what way to ask them without soliciting bias. I have practiced developing questions in previous classes and with the help of my peers who have piloted them, I feel that I have gotten better at this. I do think that this is something that I will continue to work on. I to feel that I do a better job at interpretation. This practice I received in a class last semester where I was surprised by the findings. I piloted a focus group with some students and their responses and subsequent themes were borderline shocking to me. I did not anticipate the resulting themes, which shows that I did not block things that did not fit into my preconceived narrative. This relates to be a good listener, the next attribute. The third one is to stay adaptive. I have struggled with this throughout the program since my approach to my PoP changed so much. It was difficult to keep changing things so frequently. As I have delved further into my proposal, I find that I am adapting more easily and quickly. I am less married to strict ideas or theories. The fourth attribute is to have a firm grasp of the issues being studied. This I have developed as I developed by research questions and my literature review. That is, I was able to determine what the gaps in the literature were and where my project fits in. The last attribute is to conduct the research ethically. I feel that this is not an issue for me. I have developed skills as an ethical researcher throughout the years, including as the HIPAA trainer for Gila County, instructor for a clinical research course, and carrying out various research projects.

Yin, R. K. (2017). Case study research and applications: Design and methods (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Response 3-2

My proposed case study focuses on at-risk students. There are several characteristics that make it more difficult for Public Health students from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds to complete undergraduate programs, let alone continue to additional schooling. This study will be focusing on potential improvements at the micro-level, and more specifically, ways that ASU can positively impact self-efficacy and success among our at-risk students. Thus, the purpose of this study is to understand how a mentoring program affects the self-efficacy of at-risk students and how mentoring and self-efficacy relate to perceptions of college-going success of at-risk students in Public Health and closely-related fields. The study will provide insight from the perspective of both students and a faculty mentor on how to improve at-risk students’ abilities and likelihood of degree completion.

For the audience, the results of this study will be beneficial to researchers and instructors in diversity education and health-related fields, educational policy-makers in general, and help guide professional practice that will support the learning of high risk students. The findings from this study will help those decision-makers consider and implement innovative tools for serving these students to promote the achievement at the university.

Response 3-3

Within my case study, I plan on collecting fieldnotes from the students after each mentoring meeting, which should number eight. This will not confine the students to a survey. I anticipate working around the students' schedules and availability to meet for each session.

Additionally, since I will be their mentor, they may feel the need to censor their notes as they will be submitting them to me for analysis. To alleviate this concern, I aim to anonymize the notes by having them sending it to Dr. Molly Ott, the Principle Investigator. Dr. Ott will assign a randomized number to the files and remove any identifying information before sending the file to me. I will then store this information in a locked desk in a locked office, thus satisfying any ethical requirement.

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