Research papers have not been my strong suit. I wrote a paper for my class during the spring break thinking I had a excellent paper, had the library assistant look it over, and she told me, "You paper is plagiarism." I was so upset because I know the teacher told us we could cut and paste. After a good cry, some chocolate, back home to fix the paper. My teacher told me it would be fine to turn in, but I was up at 5am to correct my mistake.
I have come a small way ahead when it comes to writing a research paper. After reading this article I now know there many ways to find information, Observations, Surveys, and Interviews. In my line of work as a counselor I observe clients all the time, watching their body language, moods changing through out the day from pleasant to depressed, and emotional behaviors (the world is going to end it I don't get in touch with ???). I must collect data constantly without bring in my bias opinion into the mix. If there something I see with the client I always run it by another counselor to make sure I do not document wrong findings. The deductive reasoning and inductive reasoning is a constant checking outside resources with other facilities such as, Mental Health, DSM ( Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), to narrow down a clients behavior to correspond with their treatment.
I do face-to-face interviews with potential clients wanting to enter Casa for our treatment program. Using open ended questions if key to finding more about the person, and to obtain more information for the Program Manager to decided if bring them into our program will be a good fit, or referring them to a better suited program for their needs. Face-to-face is observation, survey with the initial interviewing process all in one.
At this current time, I am taking surveys of all the clients who have completed the program (2015-2012), entering them into a spread sheet, with dates entry/one year out, email address and phone numbers, calling every client to see how their recovery to going, how can we support you now, and with all this data the Executive Director will enter it into a power point for the board of Directors.
So, I guess I am learning more about researching within my own job. Cool!
Hey Georgette! That's great you're already a pro at interviewing and making observations since your career requires that. I have no doubt you'll be able to translate those skills into your writing in our class, and into everything else you do after this class. I found the information Driscoll provided in the reading about conducting interviews and surveys very beneficial, even the parts that seem kind of like a given, such as keeping the survey questions brief and easy to analyze.
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