I Need Help Finding it: Understanding the Benefits of Research Skill Acquisition in Competitive Forensics

Research skill acquisition is an invaluable but under explored benefit of forensics participation. Although coaches, students, and administrators acknowledge that participants gain research skills via forensics, little is known about what these skills are and how they specifically benefit students. This paper isolates three specific research dimensions students learn while participating in competitive speech and debate: locating, examining, and applying source mate-rial. Connections are then drawn between these dimensions and the attainment of high level learning resulting in the creation of educational outcomes related to research skill acquisition via forensics. Understanding the process and importance of research skill acquisition is critical to address the need for forensics educators to articulate ways in which forensics pedagogy and larger educational goals are connected

Inter-annual variability of acoustic ray travel times in the northeast Pacific

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution September 1990An acoustic tomography experiment consisting of a source near Hawaii and seven receivers along the west coast of North America was conducted from November 1987 to May 1988 and from February 1989 to July 1989. In this thesis, the acoustic ray travel times are analyzed in order to investigate inter-annual basin-scale thermal variability. These thermal fluctuations may help detect any greenhouse warming and greater understanding of them will increase knowledge of ocean-atmosphere interactions which affect weather and climate. A discussion of the program for finding the travel times is included along with a comparison of two methods of measuring travel times

Writing Interview Protocols and Conducting Interviews: Tips for Students New to the Field of Qualitative Research

Students new to doing qualitative research in the ethnographic and oral traditions, often have difficulty creating successful interview protocols. This article offers practical suggestions for students new to qualitative research for both writing interview protocol that elicit useful data and for conducting the interview. This piece was originally developed as a classroom tool and can be used by professors teaching qualitative research in conjunction with academic readings about qualitative interviewing

Wellness of Select Immigrant Chinese and Taiwanese Wives in the United States

A qualitative phenomenological research study was conducted to investigate the acculturation experience and wellness of 10 Chinese and Taiwanese immigrant women who married United States citizens. A social constructivist theoretical framework was taken to explore the participants’ acculturation experience and wellness issues from the lens of their worldviews. We attempted to understand these immigrant women’s acculturation, wellness, cultural identity development, marital concerns, and contentment. Ten participants who married United States citizens were interviewed. Six of them participated in a group interview, and four of them completed individual interviews. Six themes were revealed: (a) language and cultural challenges, (b) relationship aspects of emotional suppression, (c) parenting conflicts, (d) determination for growth, (e) spousal support and gratitude, and (f) religious support. Cultural dissimilarities, diverse communication styles, and language differences appeared to result in challenges affecting these wives’ wellness and acculturation to cultural aspects of their marriages and societal norms in the United States. Most participants gained a sense of competence related to their own personal wellness in relation to their acculturation process such as expressing their conflicting emotions. We encourage counselors and researchers to understand immigrant women’s wellness as it relates to the cultural complexities regarding their acculturative transitions so as to better help these women address their wellness and counseling issues