First Impressions

I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but hearing words like “coding”, “programming”, and “conduct your own research study” did not give me a warm fuzzy feeling about this class. As I worked through the readings, however, of these first two weeks, I discovered it to be a manageable and critical class. Although a lot of our first initial readings have been reviews of concepts and definition to standardize our language and understanding, I have learned new terms and ways of thinking. I have really enjoyed the KKV readings that give a very clear layout of key terms. While we have gotten into the details and small functions of data collection and analysis, we have also been exposed to tests that we can use and reflect on as case studies of what works, or what could be better in conducting tests. This is important for me because I am a learner that values seeing and understanding the bigger picture and product. Two readings inparticular that I really enjoyed were Turner and Lewis-Beck. I appreciated these because of the social implications of the results: that messenger is greater than the message because individuals take heuristic shortcuts in processing information, and that government regulation and enforcement can affect safety and habits/conditions of workers. These are important understandings, and the data collection pertaining to them is important as well. I am enjoying learning how to collect and handle this important information. After studying so many large theories and global implications/effects, it is interesting to see the data behind it and how it is collected.