Since the beginning of the IS-301 Techniques in Computer Analysis course in August, I have noticed that I have learned quite a bit about methodology in political science. I don’t say this with the intent to get more points, but I do actually feel that the majority of this course was very interesting to me.

Reflecting on my time in the course chronologically, the beginning of the course did feel a bit slow. At that point in the class it felt like any other IS course in which a lot of the work is just the standard reading assignments of quite a bit of reading between each class, often with a short quiz associated with each or every few. For me, moving into the worksheets portion of the course was what made the course interesting and was much more, in my opinion, conducive to learning. A large part of it was the ability to work at your own pace. Although some of the in-class lectures helped clarify small questions here or there, the clarity of the SPSS workbook and straightforward content definitely helped me to learn the course content, the methodologies behind analyzing quantitative data, as opposed to just simply learning the data sets themselves. The ability to set my own pace, therefore, gave me time to move straight through the questions that I understood well, and take my time on parts which I didn’t understand without feeling pressured on getting it done with the timespan of just one class period. The worksheets portion of this course, for lack of better naming, was the point in the course in which I not only learned the most but was able to do so comfortably.

Second best to the worksheets portion of the course to me is at the end of the course in which we design and execute a study on a topic of our own choosing. Although it was good to have a premade dataset for the worksheets portion of the course, it was also very helpful to be able to understand the entire process and methodology behind analysis, just as the course intends. Being able to compile our own datasets was pretty rewarding, especially to see some of the real information and how it could be practically used to, for example, improve the room selection process in barracks. On top of that, creating our own surveys, hypothesis, and preparations for the study without a doubt helped me understand the practical side of conducting an analysis and the forethought that must go into conducting such a study. However, one disappointing part of this was the survey portion, or more accurately interacting with the subjects. Even with my group’s survey taking less than a minute to complete, there were several volunteers within my area of surveying who failed to complete it within 24 hours, stating they did not have enough time, among other reasons. Although it’s understandable that other cadets in barracks are quite weary about the mass influx of surveys at this point in the year, having only 22 complete respondents from the bottom two stoops of third barracks is, again, disappointing.  Needless to say, having less data-points will make it a bit harder to learn more thoroughly what it’s like to have a decent set of data which can affect analyses in different ways. Beyond this obstacle, I think being able to present our data in the poster-presentation style will be better than just simply writing a paper. Of course, creating and completing our studies in groups distributed the pressure better and, at least for me, allowed me to focus on understanding and learning how to put together the study.

In order of what helped me learn in this course, I would rank the three “phases” into worksheets, the group project, and the readings. A key aspect of these parts that helped me learn was the freedom, relatively, to do work at a pace that was more appropriate to myself. There were parts of the classes where I noticed I was ahead of the majority on the content, whereas there were of course parts of the course in which I was behind the majority. In either of these cases, I had the time to work through the problem, as well as given the clear resources and help wherever I needed them. The more relaxed atmosphere of the class helped as well, as opposed to being forced to remain in the classroom even if we didn’t have any work remaining. Overall, the environment and methods of teaching in the class helped me learn well, and I feel more successful and confident about the material than I have in previous IS classes. Honestly, the course and the way it was run to facilitate learning has changed my opinion on quantitative studies and even given me an interest in such as a field of study. If other IS courses were taught like this, where possible of course, I would definitely look forward to taking them.