So here is yet another self entry into this little "academic baby book" of mine.
I've written a couple of posts about this project but just to refresh your memory, I've been working on a study all about reading comprehension at NIU. Back in the winter semester when I was freezing my toes off writing crouched over a heating vent, I submitted a proposal for a poster to the Society for Text and Discourse. What's that you ask? It's a society of researchers who all investigate questions related to discourse processes (what are those? -- just think anything related to reading comprehension, understanding arguments, etc.).
This research has a lot of implications for education (mostly improving education), which makes it both exciting and pretty important! After all, understanding how people learn, and studying the memories they form while reading text informs all kinds of important decisions that have to be made about approaches to teaching certain kinds of material, what kinds of test questions to ask, and what kinds of texts to give students so they can maximize retention of the material.
Anyway, as you know, the experiment was successful!! The poster proposal was accepted, and I was off to Spain in July for my first international conference. And let me tell you, the hours spent collecting and coding data as well as the agony of writing and rewriting the poster was WORTH IT. (I'm only a perfectionist because I know that whatever I think is perfect is just going to get ripped apart anyway, so why not have the best thing I've got ripped to shreds of critical agony? Thats what real learning is.)
I flew out in the late afternoon and quickly discovered that I could have complementary beverages to my heart's content (very classy, Lufthansa...yes, I will have a red wine, and that'll put me to sleep in about five minutes, don't wake me up.) The seat next to mine was empty. SCORE. So as soon as I was finished with dinner, a movie, and some ice-cream, I settled into my very large and luxurious 2-seat space and slept the rest of the way there. In the morning, I was 23, in Germany, and Lufthansa congratulated me with cookies and fruit for breakfast.
After a layover and a brief connecting flight, I was in SPAIN!! I quickly found my hotel, but not before running into a few lab friends in this pretty Valencia square.
I was down for the count after a few short hours however, and was ready to rest up for the following day. On the first day of the conference, I had a few things to get ready for. My poster would be presented that evening, so I practiced answering questions I anticipated and explaining figures and diagrams. I also got a little sight seeing done as the sun came up over the city.
Pretty Spanish sunrise :)
ST&D was similar to being at Psychonomics, and once again, little me was given a rare and coveted opportunity to talk with some of the brilliant minds in the field.
One of the traditions of the conference is a dinner held with all who attend, organized by the host University...a dinner that more than lived up to the hype instilled by a friend and fellow student, who had attended the conference previously.
Easily one of the best meals I have ever had.
And enjoyed with fellow research peers (yeah huskies!)
Easily the best part of the week were the lecture series and following discussions.
I really enjoy learning about some of the research happening in the field of text and discourse. And I have to say that own project went over fairly well! I got some very insightful comments we are in the midst of addressing currently.
While I won't go into TOO much detail here, our experiment asked participants to answer questions as they read a text. This gives us (the researchers) an idea of what people are thinking about as they read. However, this is what we like to call an "explicit" measure. That is, we aren't necessarily finding out what's going on in their minds when they read, but when they are ASKED something related to the reading (which captures an entirely different state of mind!). And while this is an interesting and informative strategy in its own right, it is usually best to find a way to follow the findings up with a measure that reveals what is going on "behind the scenes" so to speak. What is happening during this same reading task that the person isn't even consciously aware of?
And if they aren't aware, how do we measure it? In the past one way "implicit" measures (measures of processing from moment to moment) have been examined is by looking at response times. The faster a person responds to a stimulus, the more likely it is that the presented stimulus they responded to was already represented in their mind, so the theory goes. Finding a way to measure what is going on behind the scenes takes a LOT of thought and some serious design work. But I think with some help I'll be up for the strategic challenge. Wish me luck...
In the meantime, my mind still finds ways to wander to beautiful Valencia, and I am reminded of all the awesome perks of research, not the least of which is seeing the world outside the lab from time to time.
However, as the summer draws to a quick close and fall classes begin it is time to think about lectures, readings, and of course, my ever elusive thesis. Back to the grind!
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