One of the things I try to keep thinking about is how I can apply what I’m learning not just in the classroom for assignments, but in my future professional work, with my friends and family, in my geographic and online communities. How can I take what I’m learning and make a difference?
In my research methodology course, I learned about research ethics, inclusive methodology, and critical reflection on the institution of research. I learned how to accurately analyze qualitative and quantitative data. These will obviously help me as I transition from school into the workforce, hopefully doing research support. Over the summer, I’m working as a research assistant, for example. These skills also help me evaluate the research conducted by others, a set of skills in my information literacy toolbox that can help me in advocacy work.
In my research data management course, I learned to consider research data across its entire lifecycle. I learned more about the ethics of research data, and how to approach its management critically and ethically, especially when it pertains to Indigenous data. While most of the activities of research data management happen behind the scenes, the impact on research and participants is important.
For the bibliometrics course, I gained some additional skills in literature searching, how to get a sense of the state and direction of a field of study based on its discourse, and how to evaluate the impact of a researcher or institution. I also learned about different publishing models, including open access types and predatory publishers. This knowledge will be useful for picking good journals to submit papers to and finding collaboration partners for research. It can also be used to put researchers in context, using reputational data to bring extra skepticism to authors who have previously had their work retracted for example.
Human-information interaction was an interesting course. The primary thing I learned was about how to ethically conduct research with human participants from proposal through ethics and data collection and analysis through to writing the paper at the end. There was also some good information about the psychology of misinformation and disinformation, as well as information poverty and information overload. Those will help me tailor information resources and suggestions to better fit the needs of constituents.
Usually when write a reflection post of this kind, I talk about how I can utilize the skills and knowledge I’ve gained within my community. This semester was very research-focused, and not much of what I’ve learned will be applicable outside of that context. Nevertheless, I’ve identified some areas here, and I’m sure that more opportunities to utilize what I’ve learned will present themselves in unexpected ways going forward.