Research Doesn’t Have to be Scary
by Emily Helft, M.Ed., Ed.S.
Boo!
Does the thought of engaging with formal academic journals give you the scaries? Or maybe the process of locating legitimate research (aside from LCIRT's newsletter, of course!) has got you spooked? Many folks feel intimidated or overwhelmed when it comes to reading and interacting with scientific research, but there's no need to be afraid!
Engaging with and staying abreast of research in the world of education and neurodiversity is an incredibly important skill. These fields are always evolving as we further explore our world, learn more about the human brain and behavior, and problem solve as questions arise (hello AI!). Research can help us understand where we've been, where we are now, and where we are headed. It leads to informed decisions that are more likely to result in the outcomes we want. And, when done ethically and intentionally, it improves our classrooms, schools, communities, and world one step at a time.
Sounds pretty great, right?
So where can you start when it comes to diving into the world of research? A quick Google search seems easy and might yield hundreds of thousands of hits on a particular topic. And while there is endless information at your fingertips on the world wide web, there is also no limit to the amount of *mis*information running amok out in the wild, from websites, to YouTube, to TikTok (now *that's* scary!). For this reason, we recommend that folks try to engage with literature found in *peer-reviewed journals* whenever possible, as least as a starting point to better understand concepts that are truly supported by science. This is because these types of publications require careful vetting of the content they publish, including the design of the studies themselves, the background information included within the article, the statistical analyses utilized to yield results, and the interpretation and implications of the data generated by the study. In other words, someone has done a lot of the heavy lifting around the legitimacy of what is being written about so you mostly don't have to! Instead, you can devote your brainpower to reading, understanding, and learning.
But Emily! I'm frozen with terror! These types of journals give me the creeps—they are so formal and intimidating!
My ghoulish friends, I am here to tell you that you have nothing to fear when it comes to engaging with research—you can do it! If you aren't sure where to start, follow my concrete suggestions for starting your regular research consumption journey below (inspired by the wonderful Sally Scott, Director of Research at the Association on Higher Education and Disability). You'll go from Nervous Nelly to Confident Carly in no time. (Not a thing? I tried.)
- Identify one journal that aligns with your field or particular interest. Yep—just one! You may already know of some from colleagues, or there may be one affiliated with your specific profession (for example, School Psychology Review for school psychologists, The Journal of Learning Disabilities for special educators, or The Journal for Postsecondary Education and Disability for disability resource office professionals). If you are a member of your field’s governing organization, such as NASP or AHEAD, your membership likely comes with access to their affiliated journal—win-win!
- Do a little bit of digging to find some information on your journal-of-choice's publication cycle. This may be clearly noted on the journal's website, or it may be something you can determine based on prior publications. The most common publication cycle is quarterly (4 times per year), but journals come in all shapes, sizes, and cycles.
- Based on the frequency of publication, mark a 15-minute regularly recurring meeting on your calendar. Yep—just 15 minutes. (See, I told you you can do it!) When this meeting pops up on your calendar, set aside all other tasks, grab a cup of coffee, tea, or other little treat, and locate the latest issue of your chosen journal.
- During your 15 minutes, read through just the titles of all the articles, and then their abstracts. An abstract is your TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read) for each article. It gives a very brief overview of what the study looked at, as well as a snippet of the results and conclusions drawn from the study. This way, you can quickly consume the latest surface-level information in the issue (a huge bang for your buck when it comes to your ROI), while also deciding if any of the articles are worth putting more time and effort into reading in more detail.
- If there is an article that really piques your interest:
- Catalogue it in some type of database where you can slowly start to amass your expertise. Common options include Zotero, Mendeley, and Endnote, but even an Excel or Google spreadsheet will do. (Check out a brief comparison of some tools from Washington University in St. Louis if it's helpful.)
- Block off 30 minutes on your calendar in the next few weeks to read this article more carefully. Guard this time sincerely—it's a realistic chunk of time to invest and a great change of pace from some of the other activities you do in your daily work. If you're feeling overwhelmed when you sit down to actually read the article itself, we suggest focusing on the introduction/literature review if you're more interested in a one-stop-shop collection of research on the topic; or the discussion section, where the authors will talk about their interpretation of the findings from the study. (Take a peek at this anatomy of a journal article infographic from California State University Dominguez Hills if you'd like to learn a bit more about each section.)
- Note one takeaway from the article and add it to your database. Then, share it (or something else you learned) with a colleague, friend, or even a family member. This helps you commit information to memory in addition to spreading research knowledge. Hooray!
- Repeat each publication cycle.
That's it! As you engage in this process, you will become more fluent in this practice, identify trends in the field, begin to recognize authors and experts, and learn lots of new things to share with your colleagues and put into practice. The more you know, the more you know! And the more you know, the more motivated you'll be to learn more. It’s a pretty awesome cycle.
See—not so scary, right?
Happy researching!