Hi Lucia! 

I totally agree about the importance of finding a pace within your team. I hadn't expected to find community and regularity during this short 6 week period, but finding a rhythm with my team members has been a really wonderful part of this summer. 

So sorry for the late post! I got confused with the weeks and did not catch up in time. 

With regard to my project, I encountered the new idea of marking yourself as a test subject. Prior to this research process, I had assumed that we were ‘not allowed’ as anthropological researchers to collect data on our own feelings and the ways that people approached us in the experiment. I had known that this information was meant to be included in the positionality and methods section of the paper, but being able to actually use it as data felt out of bounds. For me, this realization was part of a greater understanding that research is ruled by ethics and honesty, not rules — rather the rules we adhere to simply reflect the ethics conversations at play in the field of study. 

Of course for me the best resource thus far has been my fellow researchers’ field notes and observations. Having teammates as academic and moral supports during this process has helped me find motivation and meaning in the project. As I continue my research, librarian consultations have been especially helpful for me. Specifically, the Teachers College librarians have been fantastic resources when it comes to searching the mammoth of a database that is Educat+. 

Hi Ariel, I definitely relate to your perspective on research filling the gaps in existing scholarship. Literature review is also a big part of my research, and scanning through these differences can feel tedious and unproductive, but knowing that there will be a tangible result definitely helps to motivate me, 

The format of my research has been a discussion topic for me and the rest of the undergrad scholars on the research team. For me personally, I left the format question until now because I felt that I needed to understand what I wanted to say before I could know who I wanted to hear it and how I could express it. As it stands, much of my research is about the relationships between evaluators and students in PBATs. At this point, I hope that my notes can help Professor Miranda’s larger body of research, and I’m considering writing a smaller report on my specific topic. A few members of the research team have agreed that we are willing to work in the weeks following Laidlaw, and I’m sure that we will sort out our exact plans in the coming weeks! 

My research matters because it will provide the basis for more qualitative and quantitative research into PBATs as alternative forms of exit tests. I know that there is little research done on these tests, as my mentor is one of the main scholars in the field. I think that PBATs are especially interesting because of the responsibility and work they put on the schools that administer them. While there is a great benefit, there is also a great deal of work necessary to run this system because the rules are not standardized and the tracks are individualized for each student. I think that writing more about the allowances and constraints of PBATs will pave the way for policy change. 

Your point about the timeliness of research definitely resonates with me. Considering the temporality of perspectives also comes into play during literature review, and I have found myself questioning how the temporality of research articles influences their reputability and influence in their field. 

With my research, reviewing my mentor’s IRB standards has approached the question of ethics. For example, as researchers we are unable to conduct our own interviews, but we are able to write thick description about our fieldwork. Within our data collection, there are no records beyond our own notes, so there is a pressure to create the most accurate report of events as possible. Simultaneously, we acknowledge that due to our unique positionalities, it is near impossible to create completely unbiased research accounts. The responsibility with which we have to approach our note taking and later accounts of our fieldwork raises many questions of ethics. Moreover, within the school we study, we have also stepped in as classroom helpers, tutors, and test proctors, in order to give back to the community, and this decision is another example of owning our positions as outsiders and dedicating ourselves to the betterment of the community that we are imposing upon. 

As I continue research, I have exchanged notes with other members of the research team. When viewing the same classrooms and interactions, it is interesting to see what each person tracks as a notable event. Considering the overlaps in fieldwork notes is valuable to the interpretations we make, and being able to have conversations with one another about the disparities has revealed the subtle nuances of the community we are researching. The same differences in opinion have arose during qualitative coding, and noting these differences and how they affect our larger body of research has helped me understand the alliances and limitations of ethnography as a mode of research. 

Hi Joe, I definitely have similar reflections to you on the purpose of our research. With my faculty mentor, I have discussed what the culmination of my final project may look like, and at this stage in the research process, It is hard to determine who I want speak to before I know what I want to say. The way that we choose to disseminate research is certainly a question of ethics and equity, so I am really interested to see all of the ways in which we decide to share our findings at the end of the program. 

• Interacting with other members of the cohort has made me feel a greater sense of community as we approach similar questions of ethical research and position ourselves in specific academic niches. In meetings with my mentor group, it has been wonderful to voice concerns and try to answer each others questions as we try to navigate methodologies to conduct research and literature review with.
• As I continue my individual research, the leadership workshops alerted me that I need to work more on my leader from within, and as I conduct independent research and asynchronous work, I have found discipline in time management to be a constant struggle. I have been able to find more balance through routine and speaking to librarians and mentors, but it is definitely an ongoing projects.