Spring brings a new beginning

Well, the spring semester has begun! The current Fresno Pacific University kinesiology graduate students are half-way through their program. What a great accomplishment. This semester they will work on and complete their research study and/or research project.

What is a research study/research project? It is like a thesis...that does not help at all, does it. A research study is designed to make a student an expert in a particular area. Each student develops a question that they want to answer and then goes about answering the question. Research methods are developed to answer the question and then a study is conducted. An example of a previous student's research question was "Did male and female physical education teachers opinions toward co-ed physical education programs differ as measured by Perception of Coeducational Classes Physical Education (PCCPE) survey?". A survey was sent PE teachers to assess their perception of co-ed PE classes. Then the data was analyzed and conclusions were made. More about this later.

A research project is a little different than a study. In a research project, students develop a "product." An example of a "product" is developing a sports clinic that is based on curriculum development theory. Students are expected to run the clinic or to develop the "product."

So, this semester, students are conducting their study (administering the survey) or running the clinic. Then they are writing their final chapters of their paper. These chapters describe the results of the study and what they mean to other kinesiology professionals. With a project they reflect on how things went with their project and how they can improve it.