After completing my research project, I have learned much about what areas of research I am interested in. For my topic, I was surprised to learn that more rural districts in the plains region of Colorado actually had lower average premiums than those in more urban areas. The existence of outliers was concerning to me, as certain educators may be vastly overcharged for similar insurance, when I expected costs among districts in the same region to be more level. This data could serve as a useful tool for educators, however, as it can show them which districts provide them with better benefits, and in turn which areas would have lower total costs of living. I hope that similar methods will be used across the country on other districts, as it would give educators the same knowledge that they can now have here. I also hope that districts without easily accessible data can be researched more deeply, as having all districts covered will be crucial in gaining a full understanding of health in this state.
I found it challenging in part to create my presentation and paper, as I had to decide what was important to include, and what would be a waste of time to add. My presentation was relatively short, as I prefer to keep my data brief and easy for listeners to understand. The audience did not seem to appreciate this, however, and regardless of whether or not I agree with their assessment, I have learned that there can be value in going into great depth on the facts of research. I did find, however, that having a good knowledge of the material of your research is crucial in responding to questions. I made sure to have an understanding of each small detail of my process and results, and it allowed me to surprise even myself by not even needing my previously written note cards to answer any questions given to me. When writing my paper, I took some of this experience to expand my explanations further, going into great detail about each choice and piece of data that I collected. This did not impact flow as much as I thought it would, keeping the entire paper understandable while giving the reader a much better understanding of how my research was conducted and what my data actually meant for educators. In the future, I think I will make sure to go into as much depth as possible when giving official presentations and writing formal papers, as it gives the best overview of my research to whoever is engaged with it.
What I have found from this project is that I am not as interested in humanities research as I thought I was, as I found the collection of data quite tedious. In the future, I would be more interested in scientific research where I can conduct experiments and create my own data rather than collecting it from already existing places. I also learned to better pace out my work, doing a little research each week so that I did not have to cram in a lot of data collection near the end. This helped me get through the semester without much stress, making the experience better. I plan to do more research in college, but rather than data collection I hope to start working with machines and technology to create something I am passionate about.
I would like to thank both Mrs. Dobos and Mr. McBride for helping me get through this year. They both provided crucial feedback guiding me to my final research question, which helped me narrow my scope to something manageable. They also helped give me feedback on how my data collection was heading, encouraging me to make certain decisions that I may not have made otherwise. I could not thank them enough, and hope they can give this kind of support to future researchers.
This will be my final blog. As I go off to college, I hope to continue my research journey in the STEM field. For those who are interested in doing research, make sure you find something you are passionate about, and make sure you find a good way to collect your data. Other than that, this has been a great experience, and I could not have been more thankful. Signing off.