Keep it Simple

For the past 5 or so weeks, my partner and I have been developing a research project about health care literacy. We've submitted documents for our problem statement, literature search review, and even theoretical framework. But now, after all that work, we have determined that in order to correlate this class research project with the big research project about Web 2.0 tools, we pretty much need to revamp everything. So, the new (hopefully final) topic for this project is going to be factors influencing use of Web 2.0 tools for health care purposes. We will still look at different variables such as age, income, race, and educational status.

This is the first research class I've ever taken. And now that I actually understand what is required of me, things seem to be falling in place a little better now. I've already redone our problem statement and the search strategy. Lesson learned for this week....just when you think you have it all figured out, maybe you really don't!

Now, as far as the big research study I will be involved in....that's supposed to be launched pretty soon. I thought it was going to start today, but I never heard anything else out of the research team. So, we will start getting people to complete the survey as soon as they let me know everything is good to go. It will be interesting to determine what factors really do influence not only use of Web 2.0 for health care, but for educational and personal reasons as well.

All Over the Place

There are so many different ways we could go with this research project we're doing for school. So, for right now, the idea is to compare/correlate the factors influencing healthcare literacy and the factors influencing the use of digital technology. Since the research question is due tomorrow, hopefully all of this will fall into place really soon.

As far as the Web 2.0 research study is going...we weren't able to meet last week, which was just as well for me. I believe we should be just about ready to get this show on the road. I think they've got everything in order with grant applications and all...all of that stuff you have to do when you're doing a research project. Which reminds me, if we're going to present our research project at the GC&SU Student Research Conference, we've gotta get all of our paperwork and all ready as well. I've really got to get busy with all of my school work. I always feel like I'm so behind, but I guess that's pretty normal from what I hear.

There's also been a lot going on in my personal life lately as well. I just had to have surgery to have my gallbladder removed this past Thursday, so I'm also having to deal with the pain and lifestyle/diet changes required. Wow...life sure does throw some curve balls at us sometimes. I'll try to keep my head on my shoulders and my head out of the clouds...for now at least. My faith in the Lord will help me make it through all of this!

Research Project for Class

As previously mentioned, I'm also taking a graduate nursing research class this semester. We have to do a research project/proposal for this class. I will be doing this research project with help from one other student in my class. I knew that I wanted to work on something that would correlate with the Healthcare 2.0 Research Study. At first, I was attempting to come up with a whole new research study, but that didn't seem to be working. After turning in our first and second drafts of the problem statement, we still received a reply of "what's your problem?" With a little help from Dr. Bondal, I now have a better idea of my project idea and problem statement for our project. I chose variables from the survey for the research study, including age, gender, location, and income. I would like to study whether any of these factors (independent variables) would have any influence on use of electronic devices (dependent variable). Lesson learned: components of a problem statement and the real difference between independent and dependent variables. This week I finally figured out which direction to go with this research project!

Getting Started

I will be collecting data by getting people to take a survey asking questions about their use of the internet. Since I am also taking a nursing research class this semester, I think that I will be able to gain a better understanding of the research process by both class work and actually helping in the study. So far, the only thing I've really had to do is take the survey myself (I got my husband to take it too!) and give feedback on the questions, such as ones that may need to be reworded because they sound confusing. This week in class, one of the students suggested she may do a survey for her research project and Dr. Bondal told her she needed to do a pilot study first because you need to run it by some other people to make sure it will make sense to the population that will be participating in the research study. I know that I have personally reviewed the survey more than once or twice, and I catch something different every time. Lesson learned: When doing a survey for a research project, it always helps to have a 2nd, 3rd, 4th....set of eyes on your survey prior to putting the final survey out there for review.