During my time at MNSU, Mankato, I have learned that research looks very different depending on one’s profession and goals of the data. In some instances, research is performed in a laboratory over the course of years, while in other instances, research is a survey sent out to the entire population or certain demographics of people. It all comes back to what goal the research aims to achieve. In any case, ethical research follows a research process which includes information gathering and dissemination of results, amongst other steps. It is important to start any research project by viewing previous studies. This will reveal similar experiments or gaps in the research that has already been done on a topic. Viewing and building upon existing research is only possible when researchers disseminate their work.

​

My most extensive research project was with a faculty member whose focus is water resource engineering. At the beginning of my Water Resources Research, the team found credible sources to help start our project. We were able to use experiments of similar scope to find a good estimate of starting quantities in our own research. This saved us time and resources, which is one of the reasons why dissemination is so vital in reinforcing the research community. Similarly, in my technical writing course, I used existing research to help form the research question for my Technical Communication Project. In this case, I found a gap in existing research and was able to complete a research project to explore what hadn’t been done in other experiments. In both experiments, I used previous research to get a good starting point for my own research.

​

Both data collection phases of my Water Resources Research and Technical Communication Project were physical experiments. While this is the typical view of research, I also performed a study in which data collection was in survey form and not done experimentally. For my honors research courses, HONR 401 & HONR 499, we spent an entire semester preparing to create and send out a survey. My team and I collected and reviewed many articles which we organized into a literature review. This helped us form our first research question and eventually our second, and final, research question. Previous research studies were a crucial starting point to this project. In the two projects and the survey based study, it was helpful that scholars had shared their research publicly.

​

As a researcher, two of my projects were supported by the Undergraduate Research Center (URC) which resulted in public dissemination. In my URC Independent Research project, my research partner and I were able to share our work at the Undergraduate Research Symposium (URS). Although our results weren’t conclusive, it is still important that we shared our research so that others could learn from it. For this research project, we were able to present our research in person. In my HONR 401 & HONR 499 courses, we presented our research virtually at the URS. In all four of my research experiences, I learned that research is much more than the data collection phase.

​

When I start my career as an engineer, I will revisit some of the concepts that the research process has taught me. When starting a new project, I will look at similar, previously completed projects so that I don’t have to start a design from scratch. I will also need to present projects to the public and submit final reports which will be available for public viewing.