Research Coordinator Blog

All of my new posts can be found on www.drlynnekennette.ca These will remain her for historical purpose, but no new posts will be added.

  *Can college professors publish document analyses or book reviews similar to how university professors do? Absolutely! There is no degree requirement for any publications (scholarly articles or book reviews). It’s all about the content! So if you’ve read the book and would like to write up a review, you can absolutely send it to a journal. *What does student-generated research look like? How might faculty encourage student-generated research? Are faculty allowed to cowrite articles with students and publish them? What does a faculty/student collaboration look like where both parties receive credit for the work?  It can take many forms- one of the challenges is we only have our students for 1 semester (GAS/PHS), but if you have a keen student interested in research in the first year of a 3-yar program, it’s totally possible. How do you encourage it? You could offer bonus points for students who write a really good research question or include course-based research as part of ...

  I hope you’ve enjoyed the information I have been sharing related to research during my last 2 years as research coordinator, even if they are not relevant to you at this point in your journey. All of my posts are available on my IS Coordinator blog site ( https://drlynnekennette.blogspot.com/ or http://www.drlynnekennette.ca/ ) for you to reference when you need to know the information. As you prepare for summer, I thought I would suggest some scholarly and/or research-related podcasts and blogs. Blogs The Research Whisperer : https://researchwhisperer.org/ “ The Research Whisperer is dedicated to the topic of   doing research in academia . We’re here to help and encourage.” The Learning Scientists (also has a podcast; see below) : https://www.learningscientists.org/blog/ “Our main research focus is on the science of learning. Our vision is to make scientific research on learning more accessible to students, teachers, and other educators.” The Scholarly Kitchen : ...

  With things returning to pre-pandemic normalcy more and more, you may have taken some time to think about PD again. Although you may find an amazing conference in a location you’d love to visit, location should not be something you look for when making your initial list (though you may need to eliminate some amazing conferences if they’re too far away and will be too expensive to attend). So, what should you be looking for? I have some suggestions!   First, find some conferences that might be relevant to your professional development goals or teaching practice. Search for terms like “conference” and whatever your interests are (e.g., “teaching and learning”) and location (e.g., “Ontario” or “Canada”).   That should bring up at least a few conferences for you to consider. Or, search for specific conferences you have previously attended (and found valuable).   Then, determine if you’re planning to present something at the conference (e.g., sharing a teaching te...

  Is it important to disseminate SoTL findings? Absolutely! Like any other area of research, we need to share the outcome of our research for a number of reasons. Here are 5 of them: 1) The first reason is so that others can learn what is happening in the classroom. Research can have one of many goals which include describing a phenomenon (though we typically think of research as manipulating something or conducting a true experiment). As such, it’s important to document what is occurring in the classroom and with our students. Other researchers can then use that information to inform their own studies and build on what we’ve published. 2) Publishing our work is also important because we can gain a more interdisciplinary understanding of phenomenon rather than remaining siloed in our research and knowledge. This can can help us to can get a better idea of underlying mechanisms which might cause whatever is being studied (why did a particular result happen in this classroom but not ...

          How do you write up your findings after a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) project? Where do you disseminate your findings? Regardless of whether you’re writing more of an opinion/demonstration/essay-style of article or a more traditional paper grounded in data, you’ll need to be sure to frame what you’re presenting within the SoTL literature- what do we know/currently think, what is the gap/what are you adding to our knowledge, and how it will help us understand or improve our teaching. In this way, writing a SoTL article is not really any different from writing about any other research. But, if you’re new to this area of research (or research in general), it’s an excellent idea to read multiple SoTL journal articles, especially those published by the journal(s) that you think you might like to publish in, to get a sense of the writing style and scope.             So, where do you fin...

  The next couple of topics will relate to publishing Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) articles (though it will also apply to most other forms of research publishing). So, I thought I would give some brief info about publishing research articles in general. Here are some things to consider for disseminating research. The publishing process actually begins well before the project itself, especially if you have any co-authors (if you’re doing everything yourself and have nobody else in your research team, then you can skip this paragraph). Determining authorship order and who will contribute in which way (and how much each will contribute) to the writing is an important step. Why does the order of the authors matter? In most fields, the author in the first position is the one who made the most substantial contribution to the project (though not necessarily to the writing, but often that is also the case). Additionally, the first author won’t get truncated when being cite...

  Last time, I began to go through the Secondary Use of Data Research Ethics Board form (which is on ICE: Teams – Academic – Research Services, Innovation and Entrepreneurship – Research Ethics Board, then click on “Related Forms” on the left hand side; or click here ). Remember that the secondary use of data form is only to be used when the data are already available either publicly (Statistics Canada) or privately (your previous semester students’ performance). This week, I’ll be reviewing the rest of the sections of the form, beginning with Section 4.0. In the first sub-section (4.1), you’ll explain your research question, why it’s important and what you think the outcome will be (if you have a hypothesis). Then, you’ll explain where the data came from (who the participants were) and the purpose for the original (primary) data collection. For example, if you’d like to examine a previous semester’s student outcomes, the data were originally collected to provide feedback/grades to...

First thing’s first! Where is the form? It is available on ICE: Teams – Academic – Research Services, Innovation and Entrepreneurship – Research Ethics Board (REB), then click on “Related Forms” on the left hand side (or just click here ). All of the REB forms are listed alphabetically, so scroll down to find the “Secondary Use of Data” form. Please note: the REB forms were updated a few months ago (November, 2021), so please be sure to use these new forms when submitting your application. As a reminder, this form is used when your research project involves secondary data (not primary data). That is, data which exist somewhere for some other purpose, but that you’d like to use to answer a research question (e.g., archives, Statistics Canada or other public database, a previous semester’s student performance that you realize now could answer a research question you have, or a previous research project (or projects) that you’d like to combine and/or re-analyse in a different way). Ther...

  Research projects that would fall under secondary use are those which utilize previously-collected data to answer a new research question. Before the research can begin, the Research Ethics Board (REB) will need to review your proposed research. Using old data to answer new questions has a number of advantages, such as not wasting resources (e.g., time) re-collecting information. Additionally, for some new researchers, this approach can seem less daunting than undertaking a standard research project involving collecting new data. What types of research questions lend themselves to this type of data? Here are some examples: Many scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) questions can be answered using secondary data (i.e., using student performance data form the previous semesters you have taught). For example, you may be wondering if your students prefer your class taught hybrid, face-to-face or online. If you have taught the same course in all three delivery modes, you may...

  In previous issues, I have addressed the forms required for secondary use of data as well as how, in some cases, participants’ consent may not be required for secondary use projects. This week, I will define what a secondary use research project really is (to be continued in the next issue). In future articles, I will detail how to complete the secondary use REB form, section by section. So, what differentiates a secondary use research project from a traditional research project? The short answer is: when the data were collected. If you are proposing to collect data from participants during your study, then you’re not engaged in a research project that would fall under secondary use. If the data have already been collected, and you simply plan to use those previously-collected data in order to answer your research question, then you’d fall in the secondary use category. Essentially, a project that falls under secondary use involves harnessing past data for new research. Where do ...

In December, I asked for your feedback in a quick two-question survey. Thank you for providing it. This was one of the suggested topics :) The goal of your research project is to answer one or more research questions (typically 1-2 questions, which may have related sub-questions, also termed secondary research questions). So, your question needs to be narrow enough to focus your research project. You can always explore additional questions that come up (using the same data) at a later time using the secondary use of research process with the REB. Your specific research question will depend somewhat on the type of research you are conducting (qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods), but in general, you’ll want it to specify the specific issue you are investigating and ensure it is answerable. A quantitative project might have a research question that begins with How frequently…, How many…, What percentage…, To what extent…, or What are… A qualitative research question might ...

  The short answer is “no”. No, informed consent is not always required, but it usually is. As a general rule, researchers are not required to obtain consent form participants if obtaining their consent will do more harm (broadly defined) than using the data without participants’ consent. For example, in the case of secondary data. Suppose you’ve decided to use your students’ grades in a previous semester to examine a research question you’ve just thought of. The students have since left Durham College because they graduated. In this situation, trying to track down each student to obtain their consent would be more harmful than using the data that the students already know you have access to since you’re the one who provided them with the grade in the first place. The reason it will cause more harm to obtain consent is because the researcher would have to try to locate and contact each student by finding them on social media, for example, which the student may feel uneasy about (...

Before I describe the use of each REB form, it’s important to explain where to find them. Each form (and template) that I will refer to is available on ICE: Teams – Academic – Research Services, Innovation and Entrepreneurship – Research Ethics Board, then click on “Related Forms” on the left hand side (or just click here ). The forms are listed alphabetically, which isn’t always intuitive. For the “standard” REB process, the form is titled “Research Involving Humans Application” and that’s the one you will most likely be using for your research project, whether you expect to be undergoing a delegated review or a full board review. The other forms that I will describe below are used for unique situations and are designed to save you time by either shortening the form or requiring you to fill out fewer forms (keep reading for details). As part of your “normal” REB application, there is also the “Internal Researcher Institutional Permission” form which Stephanie (and sometimes also Ela...

  As a reminder, the college’s current Academic Plan (available here ), includes 4 goals, the fourth of which is to “intensify and strengthen the college’s applied research agenda” and includes four objectives (4.1-4.4) 1)…implement strategies to further develop and strengthen faculty members’ research capabilities. 2)…increase research training opportunities for students to engage in applied research projects both within and outside curricula. 3)…establish research collaborations with relevant external stakeholders. 4)…increase the profile and awareness of applied research activities across the breadth of our research areas both within and outside of the college. The Strategic Research Plan (SRP, which is available here ) elaborates on these directives and how applied research will be strengthened and supported at the college. For example, it recognizes that community and student engagement are important and that research and teaching are complimentary. It specifies that r...

  Last time, I described in detail what is course-based research. In this post, I will outline the REB process and provide some example of projects. As a reminder course-based research is a focus of Goal 4 of the Academic Plan (Objective 4.2) and refers to research endeavours that are undertaken by students within a particular course. It must be no greater than minimal risk and the course must include at least one CLO related to research and research ethics. All course-based research must be approved by the college’s Research Ethics Board (REB) prior to commencing, but the form is different and the process deviates from the standard REB application process. The faculty teaching the course and assigning course-based research will fill out the course-based research form ( Course-Based Research- Form A ) well before the semester begins. Typically, this occurs in April or May for the following year. Once the course-based research activity is approved by the REB, each student in t...