There are 2 points in the session of Dr. Veletsianos that impressed me most. First is the importance of setting a clear goal of research. It serves as the essential of how we design our approach of collecting data. There is no so-called the best or universal approach that can be recognized as a panacea for all research – the methods we choose depends on needs and interests for the study. For example, when the need is to explore how people think about one problem, the best approach could be the qualitative research methods such as interviews with open questions, as it provides deeper information than numbers in illustrating how individual students think or feel.
Another key issue emphasized by Dr. Veletsianos is the responsibility of researchers themselves. Oftentimes, we focus on the design of questions and participants’ feedback, while taking our own engagement for granted; however, researchers’ passion and devotion to the work is the very issue that concerns funders of any study – they don’t want to see their money wasted. In this respect, it is also imperative for researchers to justify why their studies are important, whether and how their research can fill in the gap in the field of study, and why they are the best professionals to do the task. It is this sense of responsibility that sustain the quality of researches. These two factors are the every thing that impresses me most from the session.
