Stressors and processes for novice educational researchers

¶ … non-numerical qualitative data that include pictures, words, and actions to achieve the research objectives. The qualitative research is typically exploratory in nature to develop a hypothesis, and provide an insight into the qualitative research problem. Moreover, the qualitative research generates data from the grounded theory, classical ethnography, narratology, case studies, focus group and participant observation. Despite the strategies employed in completing the qualitative research, many novice researchers face challenges in completing a reliable and effective research based on stressors they encounter. The objective of this paper is to discuss the stressors and processes that influence a novice researcher in the educational studies.

Identification of Processes and Stressors in the Research Approach

Effective qualitative research requires different processes, which the novice researchers should follow to complete a quality research, answering the research questions and achieve the research goals and objectives. The following steps provide the processes that can assist a novice researcher to provide a quality qualitative research.

First, a novice researcher should discuss the background of the research topic that focuses on the general ideas related to the study. In this section, a researcher should identify the gap that the previous literature is unable to cover. The researcher should also discuss the research problems that the study intends to solve, and the identification of the research problems will assist in formulating the research questions. The research question is the center of a good and actionable qualitative research. The importance of developing the research questions is to make the researcher collecting data that will be tailored toward answering the research questions, which will assist in providing the research findings. Examples of the research questions related to this study are as follows:

What are the processes that novice researchers can employ to complete a quality qualitative research for the educational studies?

What are the stresses that novice researchers face when completing the qualitative research?

How can the researchers overcome the obstacles in the qualitative research?

The next step is the data collection to answer the research questions. The in-depth interview is an effective method to collect data for the qualitative research that involves collecting data from the natural phenomenon. The data analysis is the next step for an effective qualitative research process, and the coding is the strategy for carrying out the qualitative research analysis that assists in reducing the mass volume of data into a manageable form, speeding the actionable research process, and assisting in presenting the effective research findings.

The next step in achieving the actionable qualitative research is to generate the research findings that involves synthesizing the large amount of report, image, videos and artifacts. Moreover, the researcher should validate the research findings using the triangulation method to reduce the bias in the research findings. Denzin & Lincoln (2005) argue that a trustworthiness is paramount to the qualitative research since it enhances a research validity. The strategy to enhance a trustworthiness includes member check, peer briefing, and audibility. The next process is the presentation of the research report providing an elaborate report of the research findings. The last step is the presentation of the conclusion and leeway towards a future research.

Despite the elaborate processes in completing the qualitative research, a novice researcher can face a daunting task in completing the data analysis that will present the non-bias research findings. Typically, the data analysis is time-consuming and may contribute to many stresses for the novice researchers. Carrie, Lisa, & Francis, (2013) point out that a novice researcher faces challenges in having access to the adequate resources to complete a research. For example, collecting data for a research involves a huge amount of financial resources and time. In the United States, the costs of education are higher than what it costs a decade ago. The costs of tuitions have increased by 37% within the past decade, and the students' debt burden to finance to their education has increased by 400% within the same period. In addition to the academic traditional stressors that students face in colleges, they are also required to work for additional hours to supplement their incomes. (Carrie, Lisa, & Francis, 2013).

Moreover, many international students do not possess the language skills to complete a research without a grammatical error. For example, researchers from non-English speaking countries studying in the United States may face challenges in completing a quality qualitative research that might be acceptable to the academic community. Many novice researchers do not possess the necessary skills to search for data from the library. When researchers do not have the required skills and resources to complete a qualitative research, they can develop a stressor that can lead to negative research outcomes. Carrie, Lisa, & Francis (2013) point out that a stressor theory assists in identifying psychological; behavioral and physical strains that novice researcher encounter when completing the qualitative research. Thus, an exposure to an extreme stressor can have negative effects on an individual health.

Conclusion

The study identifies different processes that a novice researcher should follow when completing the qualitative research. The paper identifies the formulation of a research problem as one of the important aspects of the research processes that leads to the formulation of the research questions. The data collection is the process used to answer the research questions and present the research findings. However, the novice researchers still encounter stressors when completing their research. The study suggests that a researcher should use a qualitative data analysis software to alleviate the challenges in the research processes.

Reference

Carrie, S.H. Lisa, B.E. & Francis, D. (2013). College Student Stressors: A Review of the Qualitative Research. Stress and Health: Journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress. 29(4): 275-285.

Denzin, N. K. & Lincoln, Y. S. (2005). The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research (3rd

ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ISBN 0-7619-2757-3.