The students, from Texas A&M University, who decided to embark on this 8-week experience in the Dominican Republic this summer, jumped right into classes less than a week after landing in Santo Domingo. In that time, we provided a comprehensive cultural orientation (and of course all of the program, health and safety policies) and introduced them to each of their host families, with who they would be living with for the next 23 days. The goal: to provide a culturally-immersive experience while facilitating the comprehensive learning of the Spanish language and conducting a research project, from question to data collection to sharing the results.
An individual research project sounds intimidating to some ... to help alleviate any nerves they had about a potential project topic, Dr. Tisone and I presented on a wide range of health, environmental and social indicators in the Dominican Republic. The hope was that it, and some of the stories we had about each topic, would spark ideas for their future projects. And, we found out later during our individual meetings with the students, it would do just that.
Dr. Tisone lectured the next day on research methods and ethics. This is where we also gathered each students' initial thoughts on research questions they were interested in pursuing further. Their homework was to then explore existing literature around those topics before their meetings with us to leave that meeting with their research question ... and begin collecting the research they'd need to begin their literature reviews.
Next week brings workshops to produce their survey questions and begin data collection - a combination of community and expert interviews and observation.
An individual research project sounds intimidating to some ... to help alleviate any nerves they had about a potential project topic, Dr. Tisone and I presented on a wide range of health, environmental and social indicators in the Dominican Republic. The hope was that it, and some of the stories we had about each topic, would spark ideas for their future projects. And, we found out later during our individual meetings with the students, it would do just that.
Dr. Tisone lectured the next day on research methods and ethics. This is where we also gathered each students' initial thoughts on research questions they were interested in pursuing further. Their homework was to then explore existing literature around those topics before their meetings with us to leave that meeting with their research question ... and begin collecting the research they'd need to begin their literature reviews.
Next week brings workshops to produce their survey questions and begin data collection - a combination of community and expert interviews and observation.