In my last post, I discussed my background in working with children with special needs and how it has led me to research how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted their ability to get a supportive and effective education. Now, two months into the summer, I have made plenty of progress on the project, moving forward with my research questions and goals.
My major goal for this summer was to put together all of the materials needed for an IRB application. For this, I needed to have a firm grip of what my study was going to look like, including a detailed draft of my survey. To prepare for all of these application requirements, my first major step needed to be collecting background information.
To start, I spent a lot of time reading. I would sit for hours searching through databases for relevant studies and prior research regarding special-needs education, pandemic education, or any other relevant thing I could find. All of this reading was extremely independent and self-motivated, which often made it difficult to get through. Ultimately, all of the background reading that I have has given me a strong basis for writing, both in terms of my survey and, ultimately, my final paper.
I have also been collecting background information in the form of consultations. With the help of Dr. Sharon Carver, I have been connected with a handful of volunteer consultants, including a Pittsburgh private school administrator, a Pittsburgh public school administrator, an administrator at a laboratory school in Toronto, and a parent of a child with special needs. In these Zoom conversations, I was able to ask about each person’s experience with special-needs education throughout the pandemic, gaining more insight into their personal experiences than a study or article may be able to provide. While I will not be able to use these conversations directly in my data, being able to have these discussions with each consultant, I was able to add more personal and anecdotal background to my survey, allowing the survey to be more tailored to what each group of people may have experienced.
Looking forward, I am hopeful that I will soon gain IRB approval so that I can hit the ground running in the fall with conducting my survey. In the meantime, I plan on really utilizing the background knowledge I have to begin putting together the introduction to my paper and forming my main argument. I also plan on testing my survey with family and friends, making revisions where necessary, in order to understand what my data may look like.
Dietrich Honors Research Fellowship Blog 