Research Interview
I interviewed Dr. Jean Chamberlain, the chair of the English and modern foreign languages department. I asked a JSU professor from the English department for people who were tenure-track. I’m sure that if I had to do more than one interview, finding professors to interview would not have been a problem. The list had about six names on it and they were all from the English department. I know that there are probably more professors in that department that were researchers and even more in other departments. Dr. Chamberlain seemed like the best person to interview about research because she is the chair of the department. It took a while for our schedules to match up to a time that was good for the both of us but the struggle was well worth it.
Dr. Chamberlain’s research for her dissertation was on English education in high school. I noticed that she had to have been very passionate about her research because her work was done during a time period when things were not as easy as they are now. A lot of things that she did during her research took a lot of time and she had to use some of her own resources to get them done sometimes. She also even mentioned that she chose her research topic based off of her passion, which is writing. That let me know that many people do research based on their own interests.
I understood her research very well. I was also interested in it myself. Her research was basically trying to find the disconnect between education systems, which is a question I ask all the time. That is what research is all about anyway, finding solutions to problems by studying them. Doing this assignment really helped me to look at research in a more positive light. When I interviewed Dr. Chamberlain I realized that research is a tool for us to improve the world with. Dr. Chamberlain was worried about something she saw happening in her environment, specifically her area of study, that worried her so she decided to research it. She saw a number of college students that were not prepared to perform on a college level in English classes. Dr. Chamberlain then reached out to the high schools to find out if they were the reason why the students were un-prepared.
The current research that she is about to perform is on technology and its effects on students English habits. This research topic came from personal beliefs that she and her other colleagues have about the way social media lessens the spelling, grammar, and other writing skills of students. This research is only in the beginning phases and I told her that I was very interested in finding out the results of this project. As we discussed her pursuing this research endeavor I learned that this research is something that seemed like it was complimentary to her job as a professor at JSU and not something that was mandatory. She said that her responsibilities as chair limited her time for research so that was interesting to me. To see that professors are doing research outside of their normal duties was an epiphany for me about how vital it is to do it.
This assignment was an eye-opener in more ways than one. In addition to realizing how important research is and how many people actually do it, I also was advised to continue to incorporate research throughout my life. Another thing that I learned is to apply research to my passion and to use it to my own advantage for my personal goals.
Dr. Chamberlain’s research for her dissertation was on English education in high school. I noticed that she had to have been very passionate about her research because her work was done during a time period when things were not as easy as they are now. A lot of things that she did during her research took a lot of time and she had to use some of her own resources to get them done sometimes. She also even mentioned that she chose her research topic based off of her passion, which is writing. That let me know that many people do research based on their own interests.
I understood her research very well. I was also interested in it myself. Her research was basically trying to find the disconnect between education systems, which is a question I ask all the time. That is what research is all about anyway, finding solutions to problems by studying them. Doing this assignment really helped me to look at research in a more positive light. When I interviewed Dr. Chamberlain I realized that research is a tool for us to improve the world with. Dr. Chamberlain was worried about something she saw happening in her environment, specifically her area of study, that worried her so she decided to research it. She saw a number of college students that were not prepared to perform on a college level in English classes. Dr. Chamberlain then reached out to the high schools to find out if they were the reason why the students were un-prepared.
The current research that she is about to perform is on technology and its effects on students English habits. This research topic came from personal beliefs that she and her other colleagues have about the way social media lessens the spelling, grammar, and other writing skills of students. This research is only in the beginning phases and I told her that I was very interested in finding out the results of this project. As we discussed her pursuing this research endeavor I learned that this research is something that seemed like it was complimentary to her job as a professor at JSU and not something that was mandatory. She said that her responsibilities as chair limited her time for research so that was interesting to me. To see that professors are doing research outside of their normal duties was an epiphany for me about how vital it is to do it.
This assignment was an eye-opener in more ways than one. In addition to realizing how important research is and how many people actually do it, I also was advised to continue to incorporate research throughout my life. Another thing that I learned is to apply research to my passion and to use it to my own advantage for my personal goals.