Learning Journal 16

I attended a conference meeting on Tuesday and was able to listen to three different speakers discuss their findings regarding physical activity. First off, this observation gave me a good idea of how presenting a field study project goes. Secondly, I learned a great amount just from hearing the type of projects that these three individuals did in their respective areas. The thing that I noticed across the board was how projects did not go the way that people intended them to. I think all of them referenced the word 'change' and how their projects required adjusting. I thought it was interesting because no matter how much we prepare and get ready in our prep class, there are still going to be changes that need to be made when we arrive. The idea is to accomplish as much as we can before we fly over there, but there will be some things that are done in person. One of the speakers mentioned how she has been on two field studies, the first time everything failed but the second time everything seemed to work. It seems that some times things just don't work out, but other times things seem to play out. I guess as a student preparing to go on a field study, I need to be prepared for both.
It was interesting to listen to some of the conclusions that each researcher came to. I guess I am used to hearing yes, true, valid, correct or no, false, invalid, incorrect conclusions from a research paper. The thing about these research topics is that there is no yes or no answer all the time. Oftentimes connections can be drawn that give you a better idea about a topic, but rarely is something observed where a final deduction can be made. Sometimes the presenters said, I don't know what conclusions I can draw but I enjoyed the learning experience.
I hope to be able to accomplish both. I know that my type of research will give results that will be quantifiable, so there will be some conclusions made. Other parts of my data will involve connecting the two topics and determining what ties them together.
I look forward to actually listening to more presents this Friday and hearing what sort of results they got while doing their research.