Weeks 10 & 11- Data Entry and Final Rehearsals

Hi everyone!

My apologies for the extremely late update. As my project begins to wrap up, I seem to have forgotten to write in this blog due to all of the excitement. These last couple weeks have been a blur of data entry and preparations for my final product and presentation. Over the last couple weeks, I have been entering data from my coding sheets (the sheets I collected data on during each study session) onto an Excel spreadsheet. The result is a huge spreadsheet that is filled with seemingly arbitrary numbers. Now that all the data has been entered, the next step in the process is to analyze the data and come up with some results. Basically, this will involve making sense of the numbers on the spreadsheet, and hopefully presenting it in a more clear format using graphs and tables.

My final product is coming along as well, as I prepare for both my final presentation on May 9 and my final paper. Last week, I rehearsed my presentation at school, and I think the hardest part with that for me has been timing. I have had a hard time keeping my presentation within the time limit, and narrowing down the content that I want to present. Hopefully, once I have some results, I will be able to edit my presentation as necessary. Similarly, I am hoping that I will be able to narrow the focus of my final paper once I have the results prepared.

As always, thanks for reading!

Swati :)

Week 9- The last week!

Hi everyone!

Believe it or not, the eight weeks of the study are officially over. Aside from a few more make-up sessions, most of the kids are done with their sessions. It was definitely a little bittersweet, as I really did enjoy seeing these kids every weeks and watching them interact with their dogs and proxies. However, I am really excited to take part in the next phase of the experiment, which is data analysis. Now that I am (mostly) done coding data for every kid, I will help analyze the data to see if there are any potential trends. I am really excited to see what all of this data shows!

My final product, the research paper, is slowly coming together. I have been doing a lot of brainstorming, as it is a bit tricky to decide which important points I need to make in my paper. There is no way to talk about each child specifically, so I will have to find a way to report my results efficiently. I am hoping that, once my data analysis is more complete, I will be able to narrow the focus of my paper more effectively. In addition, I am finding that I do need to look back on articles that I read weeks ago so that I can cite some information from these readings. Although it is slow going, my paper is slowly coming together!

Next week I will hopefully be able to tell you a bit more about data analysis. Thanks for reading!

Swati :)

Week 8- What is my Final Product?

Hi everyone!

I have found that, although each week of the study is scheduled the same way, I continue to learn more about ASD and each individual child every week. At this point, it is difficult for me to remark on an apparent trend throughout the course of the study, because each child is so unique. For instance, some children instantly warmed up to the presence of a dog or proxy in the room, while others needed a couple weeks to adjust to the change. Some children were obviously excited to play with the dog, while other seemed like they couldn't care less. Every child is so different that I have found it difficult to point to one common trend amongst the children. Even so, every week gives me the opportunity to learn more about each child and their place on the autism spectrum.

As it is the eighth week of my project, I suppose it would be beneficial to talk a little about what my final product will be. Every student who is doing an SRP at my school is required to present something as their final product, whether it is a paper, an artistic work, or something entirely different. In addition, we will all be presenting our finding in a presentation next month. My final product will be a scientific paper that outlines the study that was conducted. This paper, similar to any other paper about a scientific study, will describe the methodology and results of the study, as well as any future implications for the study. This week, I began working on my paper and presentation, and it is definitely more difficult than I thought it would be. Previously, when I read articles about scientific studies in my science classes, the studies seemed relatively straight forward and easy to conduct. However, as I am quickly learning, these studies are anything but straight forward, and it is difficult to capture that in a scientific paper or presentation. However, it is all definitely a learning experience, and I am excited to see how my final paper and presentation will turn out.

As always, thanks for reading!

Swati :)