Many people have misconceptions about what it means to “do research” and employ the scientific method. Some view researching a topic as simply gathering facts that support their existing beliefs. They don’t want to be proven wrong, so they only look for evidence that confirms what they already think is true. The true essence of…
In many posts on this site I have reflected on my attempts to work as an open scholar. In a recent post, I discussion how this is often a balancing act as I try to find a space for my blogging and open scholarship, while also navigating the requirements of tenure and promotion. A recent…
In most of my work, I strive for openness and transparency as an open researcher and educator. My purpose in this is to explore and play with possible new opportunities for scholarship in digital contexts. I’ve written in the past about how (and why) to become a digitally agile researcher. I’ve also written about how to…
I’ve experimented open scholarship or research in online and hybrid spaces over the last decade. Most of this has been motivated by initial questions about new and digital tools/spaces, and wondering why we cannot use them for research and scholarship. Across this work, I’ve tried to document my thinking and reflect on these experiences in…
An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150 words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph, the annotation. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited. A good annotated bibliography strives…
A literature review discusses the published information on a particular topic, and is usually focused in a specific field or subject area, and may also be limited to a certain time period. In plain english, a literature review is a summary and explanation of the complete state of knowledge on a topic as determined by…
In the development of grant proposals, it can sometimes be a challenge to mix what you’d like to do, what you need to do, and what you’ll actually be funded to do. At some point in the grant writing process, I find it is a helpful task to create a logic model to use as…
Recently I’ve written about the three steps to become a digitally agile educator. I also guest hosted a Twitter chat on the topic. As I’ve written and shared this work, I’m often asked about the steps necessary for researchers in these spaces. I previously wrote about three reasons why you should become a digitally agile…
This post shares our submitted materials for an Improving Teacher Quality Higher Education Grant available from the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education (CHE). The funding opportunity announcement (FOA) for this is available here. The full proposal was submitted on September 29th, 2016, and was defended in person at the SC CHE offices on Friday, October…
A good research question guides and focuses your inquiry. Your question should be clear and centered as well as synthesize your thinking and sources. Your research question should also present your argument or hypothesis. Your research question should be something of interest to you. I will typically write 1 to 3 research questions for a given…