So it took me a solid thirty minutes of staring at my computer screen with a completely blank expression on my face before I finally understood how to complete the first Worksheet. I am seriously awful with computers, so I am looking forward to bettering myself with this class. The Pollock book that we’ve just started using is very helpful, as it lays out each step we need to take to be successful in SPSS. This Worksheet focused on finding numeric codes for individuals and determining how to relate the codes to what they actually mean. I am really excited (even if it took me a long time to figure it out) to learn more about how to implement data into my research. I think that this class is seriously going to help me test my hypotheses in National Security and IS Capstone.

A lot of the class so far has been devoted to learning how to build off of a research question and make that into a concrete theory and hypothesis. I believe that the hardest part of this research for me will be putting together a solid literature review. I had to make one for COL Foster’s Research Design Methods class last semester and I did not do as well as I would have liked. A big portion of that was because my thesis was lame, but I also seriously struggle with making the literature review not sound like a book report. I feel that there is a very thin line between making it an article-by-article summary and reading each article and spitting out the theme of said article. This year I like my national security thesis a lot more and will be focused on using this class to help me write it, however I am a bit apprehensive about my ability to find holes to fill in in previous literature.

I was a bit apprehensive to take this course originally because I am AWFUL with computers. Don’t know a thing about them and I never quite learned how to use excel so its safe to say that I was nervous for this course. However, so far this course has proven to be really helpful. I seriously enjoy the homework readings, especially Thyne. This past week we read about how to form a research question, work it into the introduction, went over how to conduct a literature review, and come up with a theory and a hypothesis. I am hoping to use this to help create my National Security thesis and my Capstone for International Studies. For my national Security thesis I am interested in finding out more about why it doesn’t seem like the United States follows international law and why it can get away with breaking international rules without many repercussions.

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