Action taken with students/teacher after Questionnaire 1

In retrospect I should have explained the requirements of this research and the purpose behind my research in far more depth with the teacher before embarking on this project. Boundaries should have been discussed and all parties should have been made aware of exactly where those boundaries were.

After looking at the results from Questionnaire 1,  I made a note of the difficulties that students mentioned regarding their research and sent an email to the librarian and the teacher. I also had a quick chat to the students at the start of the next lesson to let them know what had come up as a result of the questionnaire. Apart from this I looked up some sites to get website ideas for the best places for the girls to find information and passed this information on to the librarian. Here is a copy of the email I sent.

Hi A & B

After examining the comments from the first questionnaire that I gave the Yr 9 students on 9 October the following "difficulties with research" themes came up. 

1. Finding pertinent information within lengthy paragraphs

2. Presenting information.

3. Choosing websites, books, newspapers and encyclopedias with relevant, accurate, current information.

4. Understanding some words.

5. Writing bibliographies.

6. Source and research sheets.

7. Note taking.

8. Trying to understand what I'm searching for.

9. Knowing the key words to put into Google search.

10. Putting information into my own words (summarising & rephrasing)

11. Trying to understand the basics of the task and what to do.

12. Avoiding unnecessary or irrelevant information.

13. Staying on task/ avoiding being distracted by the computer (internet?)

I thought you may find them interesting. I tried reassuring the girls that everyone has most of these problems when they first start researching a topic.

Thanks

J.

My main purpose in chatting to the students was to reassure the them that many of the things that they had written down as difficulties are experienced by most researchers initially (as mentioned in Kuhlthau’s ISP). Their experiences and frustrations were normal and to be expected.  In retrospect I should have discussed this in more detail with the teacher first.  I should have collated and graphed the student’s responses to the questionnaires immediately. Finally, I should have discussed my findings with the teacher and given my recommendations with explanations and backup explaining my reasons for thinking and suggesting various courses of action.