Research Blogs
All Graduate Junction researchers get a mini blog to share their day to day experiences. Log in to see who is posting and make contact.
1) Doing Research: I DON’T agree with the dichotomous views of Quantitative/Qualitative or Physical Science/Social Science research. For me all research is grounded in the empirical and has to be interpreted by a researcher. 2) Presenting Research: There are very valid and interesting ways of presenting research that need to gain wider acceptance in the academy. Numbers and text while useful are incapable of representing all meaning. 3) Purpose of Research: While we need to acknowledge the biases, subjectivity and power relations in research, for me research can still be about the pursuit of truth (and beauty). Please comment :)
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Hi, I’m Sophie and I am helping to run the poster competition that has just been launched by Graduate Junction. If you haven’t heard about it already then basically the competition gives you the chance to present your research ideas and findings in a poster format aimed at a non-subject specific audience. It provides a chance for you to show that you can communicate your research beyond the confines of your department and allows you to develop and prove essential skills such as presentation and communication. The posters will be judged not only by a host of academic and non-academic judges from around the world but by the members of Graduate Junction as well. The competition gives you the opportunity to share your research with a rapidly expanding international community of like- minded researchers as well as the chance to win an iPod and a variety of cash prizes ranging from £50 to £100! You have to be a member of Graduate Junction to enter but it’s really easy to create an account, all you need is an academic email address and away you go. It’s free and it’s a really great way to meet people from all over the world with the same research interests as you. If anyone has any questions or suggestions for the competition then don’t hesitate to contact me at sophie@graduatejunction.com and good luck!
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Started examining the body of research (however small it may be) relating or comparing FD/FI and MBTI and, in another area relationship between Cognitive dissonance and FD/FI. Tune in to see how the Lit review/search goes...
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Field dependent and field independent cognitive styles are contrasting ways of perceiving and processing information. Cognitive style refers to the manner in which an individual perceives and processes information. This study investigated how the cognitive styles of field dependence (FD) and field independence (FI) affect the achievement levels of distance learners. Cognitive style refers to the manner in which an individual perceives and processes information The term style has a special meaning in this case, first expressed by Allport in 1937: "The most complex form of expression is called style - the particular individualized manner of execution which permeates any highly integrated volitional activity. Though most conspicuous and celebrated in the fields of aesthetic creation, style is also apparent in economic, domestic, and social conduct, wherever, in fact, the fundamental traits of personality are operative. The roots of style are no doubt to be traced to native temperament, the interaction of mature traits with one another, and their confluent effect upon creative and adaptive acts are the immediate sources of the stylistic idiom" (Allport, 1937, pp. 494-495). In distance education, spontaneous learner-instructor interaction is frequently neither as flexible nor as timely as it would be in conventional instruction. This research examined the effects of matching or mismatching the design of asynchronous distance education to the field dependent and the field independent learner. Horn’s construction of Information Mapping© (Horn, R.E., 1989) was employed to add structure compatible with the Field Dependent learner. Subjects were administered the GEFT, a measure of field dependence-independence. Only those in the first and fourth quartiles of the resulting distribution participated the study. The first quartile was comprised of Field Dependent (FD) subjects and the fourth quartile was comprised of Field Independent (FI) subjects. Half or each group was randomly selected to receive asynchronous online instruction designed to match their cognitive style, and half received asynchronous online instruction designed to mismatch their cognitive style. Analysis of the results showed that matching the cognitive style of the FD asynchronous distance learner resulted in significant differences between the pre and post test scores. However, an analysis of the test results for the FI learners whose instruction was designed to match their cognitive style showed no significant differences from pre to post test. The FI learners whose instruction was designed to mismatch their cognitive style did show a significant difference from pre to post test. A two-by-two factor analysis showed a significant effect for the design of the modules, but no effect for cognitive style or the interaction of cognitive style and module design. Matching the FD cognitive style, in asynchronous distance education had a positive impact on achievement for both Field Dependent and Field Independent learners as measured from pre to post test.
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For the past two months, I have devoted all my time to organizing a workshop on behalf of Dr. Castronova - the Virtual Worlds Workshop! The Workshop is going to be amazing! Twenty four people building a plan for virtual world technology in their business, academic institution or non-profit organization. Dr. Castronova and Professor Lee Sheldon (whose background in Game Design and Writing will be a huge asset) will be sharing best practices for building virtual world applications - whether it be a 2D team-building interface, or a built-from-scratch 3D immersive environment. I am a big believer in the universal application of virtual world technology. Like the telephone in its emerging stages, the innumerable possible applications of virtual worlds for communication and collaboration are just being discovered! Who would have believed 100 years ago that the telephone would become second nature? Soon, virtual worlds will occupy a similar space in our collective technological evolution. Just watch a 9 year old kick butt around Free Realms or Nicktropolis! I've posted a note about the Workshop on the Conferences page...check there (or here: http://vw2.indiana.edu) for more info!
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Not only have I just moved house to be near my new job, but the crates arrived today for a lab relocation. What a lot of effort for 2 miles of motion. I must say, the new lab is very fancy and actually closer to my house so there are a lot of positives as well. But in this UK heatwave, there do seem to be a lot of crates that need filling!
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Now that I have completed my PhD, I am not sure if I feel differently about my day to day research now. It is nice to know that I don't have an official deadline, but I still need results. Is a PhD or a postdoc more pressured? I guess it varies depending on the group or the supervisor or the time remaining etc. etc. Interesting times ahead.
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Well that wasn't so bad. My viva went really well and rather than being a horrible examination, it became a discussion amongst equals. I actually enjoyed it.
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'無中生有-->小題大作-->化簡為繁-->自圓其說。 蔡小心："這應該已經變成了台灣體育運動研究生之間的順口溜了， 以前覺得這樣的說法很有趣，然而，在做了這麼多年的研究後，深深體會到要把這四個步驟做好，實在是不容易，每個階段都有每個階段的困難以及挑戰之處。話雖如此，如果能夠從這些過程中仔細的體會其成功或失敗的經驗，也是會有所成長，讓自身的功力增加的~~"
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I have a deep realisation in this question currently. As a PhD student who is at the final stage, I feel so strongly that I am in an imbalanced status. And I have found eventually that is difficult to be as a good sociological researcher if I don't have enough social experience or lack a sensitive observation for social communications. Briefly speaking, only focus on studying the vary social theories is not enough, and it should paralelly develope her own social experience in practical! And this is what I am trying to amend to now.
