Wikis for Scholarly Communication

In Lisa Sporo’s book review of Scholarship in the Digital Age: Information, Infrastructure, and the Internet by Christine L. Borgman, she brings attention to scholarly communication among professionals and researchers through wikis. OpenWetWare is the example that is provided, and although the content isn’t from my field, its purpose really makes sense to me. “OpenWetWare is an effort to promote the sharing of information, know-how, and wisdom among researchers and groups who are working in biology and biology engineering” (OpenWetWare, n.d., para. 1). The wiki has categories such as reference materials, organisms, courses, protocols, and contributing authors that individuals or groups can access. I think this is an excellent way for scholars to easily share their research and for those in the field to utilize as a resource and to stay abreast of the abundance of research.

Resources:

Main Page. (2014, June 20). OpenWetWare, . Retrieved 05:02, July 27, 2015 from http://openwetware.org/index.php?title=Main_Page&oldid=798279.

Spiro, L. (2009). Review of the book:  Scholarship in the Digital Age: Information, infrastructure, and the Internet, by C. Borgman (2009).  Literary and Linguistic Computing, 24 (2): 243-245. doi:10.1093/llc/fqn041

Critical Thinking

Over the ten years that I’ve been teaching in nursing programs, I’ve observed variations in the ability of students to think critically. Some seem to come by it naturally and others struggle to demonstrate progress in this area. Critical thinking is a core competency in the analytic rubric for the program, yet I don’t think there is enough direct instruction paid to this important area. The requirements are vague and not always consistent across different areas of the program. In LRNT 502, a resource was provided for us that I feel is an excellent guideline for understanding and promoting critical thinking skills. Linda Elder and Richard Paul define critical thinking as “the ability and disposition to improve one’s thinking by systematically subjecting it to intellectual self-assessment” (para. 5). They believe that in order for a person to think critically, they need to be able to demonstrate this ability and disposition in most areas of their life, not just one dimension. I think this is a missing piece within my program; stepping back from the profession and looking at other areas of life to demonstrate critical thinking. The authors present a stage theory for the development of critical thinking consisting of six stages ranging from “The Unreflective Thinker” to “The Accomplished Thinker” with defining features and implications for teaching in the various stages. A key message that I took away from this resource is “that significant gains in the intellectual quality of student work will not be achieved except to the degree that teachers recognize that skilled critical thinking develops, only when properly cultivated, and only through predictable stages” (para. 1).

Resource:

Elder, L. & Paul, R. (1996) Critical thinking development: A stage theory. Retrieved from The Critical Thinking Web site: http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/critical-thinking-development-a-stage-theory/483

Formulating a Research Question

The terms and concepts that I’m most familiar with regarding research seem to stem from the quantitative approach—statistics, cause and effect, control groups, etc. I’m not exactly sure why this is because healthcare and education (the two fields that apply to me) both utilize qualitative as well as quantitative research.

In preparing for the next assignment in LRNT 502, I came across a resource that I found helpful in differentiating between research questions from the two different approaches. In quantitative research, the researcher poses a research question, a hypotheses or an objective to provide a focus for the research (Creswell, 2008). This is the method that I would describe if I had to explain the research process. I didn’t realize that the qualitative approach to research was different. In qualitative research, there are only research questions, no hypotheses or objectives. The research stems from one or two broad questions, referred to as central questions, and then five to seven subquestions for each central question provide the focus for qualitative research. In quantitative research, the research question or hypotheses is fixed, whereas in qualitative research, the questions are not static; they are guidelines and expected to change as the research evolves. Qualitative research questions often begin with how or what and uses exploratory verbs such as discover, explore, and describe the experience in order to present “an open and emerging design” (Creswell, 2008, p. 130).

Resources:

Creswell, J. W. (2008). Research question and hypotheses. In Research design: Qualitative, quantitative and mixed method approaches. (3^rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. Retrieved from http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/22782_Chapter_7.pdf