Researcher Reflective Journal
According to Janesick (2004) “the act of journal writing may be incorporated into the research process to provide a data set of the researcher’s reflections on the research act” (p.143). The blog is a heuristic tool that fosters critical reflection of research processes and interview transcripts (Janesick, 1998). The first researcher reflective blog, www.21ms.weebly.com launched after the concept paper was submitted and approved. The researcher maintained a researcher reflective blog that outlined the research process, articulated researcher reflections and engaged members of the SLMS community. Before the proposed study, the blog was open to the public and did minimum harm, no more than experienced in everyday Internet usage.
A separate researcher reflective blog was created at www.21ms2.weebly.com after the doctoral committee and USF IRB approved the proposal. The second blog is open only to the researcher, committee members, and a doctoral student assistant in order to ensure the trustworthiness of the researcher reflective data. The selected graduate assistant has required training in human research protections and advanced research methods and will give feedback on the analysis of the blog. The graduate assistant will not have contact with subjects or subjects’ private, identifiable information for research purposes.
A separate researcher reflective blog was created at www.21ms2.weebly.com after the doctoral committee and USF IRB approved the proposal. The second blog is open only to the researcher, committee members, and a doctoral student assistant in order to ensure the trustworthiness of the researcher reflective data. The selected graduate assistant has required training in human research protections and advanced research methods and will give feedback on the analysis of the blog. The graduate assistant will not have contact with subjects or subjects’ private, identifiable information for research purposes.
Data Analysis-The Interviews and Blog
Interviews and a researcher reflective blog will be analyzed to answer research question 3, “What are some recommendations for professional development for SLMS?” The transcriptions of the interviews and field notes will be read, reread and coded around the themes of collaboration, leadership, and technology. The transcriptions will also be coded around unexpected or emergent themes. The data will be interpreted by adding meaning to the prescribed and emergent themes. Writing the results will be another opportunity to synthesize data. The researcher reflective blog will be used as a triangulating measure to identify bias, inconsistencies or parallels throughout the interview process. The researcher reflective blog will also be coded around the themes of collaboration, leadership and technology. Patterns, inconsistencies and emergent themes will be highlighted and used to discuss analysis of the interviews. Since this study employs a mixed methodology, both quantitative and qualitative methods, there is a different approach to internal validity for the qualitative component of the study. In the qualitative component, threats to internal validity are reduced through transparency, triangulation, and member checks.