Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums GT Research Former Gifted Urban High School Dropouts

Thank you for your reply. Consistent with Board Rules on not identifying individuals, I contacted you through the forum rather than via e-mail. Hopefully the further information which you have provided will assist in recruiting prospective participants.

HowlerKarma,

AEH has a very good point and I just replied to her a few minutes ago. This situation came up with another potential participant and after discussing it my chair and method persons, they agreed that I could use potential participants with this sort of background. If you want you can pass my information to your BFF and have her contact or you can contact me with any questions or concerns you may have.

Thanks

Brad

Different people see little benefit to different TV shows or styles of painting or certain software apps. Personally, I think it's not a good idea to judge something so harshly based on a one-paragraph description. Not to mention that analysis of case studies is the basis of many areas of research. For example, an analysis of case histories is essential to understanding diseases (and even to identifying a disease as being distinct when it's never been seen before).

As for risks, a major part of IRB approval is to judge risks. In fact, the entire process is structured to assess different levels of risk (e.g. experimental surgery or a drug candidate = high risk; a blood draw = low risk). The risk level for a survey depends on what's being surveyed. Walden's website says that their IRB complies with 45 CFR 46 (look it up).


Not sure what you mean here. Suggest you do a bit of serious reading on survey studies. Example: this file. Also, this page on qualitative vs. quantitative studies is more basic. Not to mention that, knowing very little about Brad's methods, you're not in a position to call his work biased (that job goes to his supervisor, his thesis committee, and peer reviewers). I suspect that you're not a scientist or a professional with experience in this area, meaning that you probably don't have the experience to judge his methods. Sometimes, when we lack knowledge about an area, it's easy to think that something is one way, when in fact, it isn't --- but you need experience in the field to understand it.

I don't know much about Brad's research, and therefore I can't judge it. Again, that's his supervisor, et al.'s job.



People who haven't done a Ph.D. often don't know that the degree requires original research (to be worth the paper it's written on, anyway). A literature review is simply one part of what's required to get the degree. It's usually the opening chapter in a thesis (depends on the style of the thesis).

Brad, have you tried contacting Mensa (local or national groups)? They might be willing to forward your message to their members.

My post began with "A few thoughts..." and ended with "Just my 2 cents."

I also noticed that Walden University is unranked, and the OP did not inspire my confidence. Mentioning my concerns allows the OP to incorporate and/or ignore portions of my input. If other posters, such as yourself, would like to endorse the approach in the OP, it seems that may be done without taking exception to my post?

Thank you for the links. However the OP did not present a survey.

Any person reading what is posted on a public forum is entitled to form and express an opinion. Doing so does usurp "that job" from "his supervisor, his thesis committee, and peer reviewers."

As an example, when one poster assumes the background of another poster...?!

The supervisor (and other information commonly shared when recruiting subjects for a research project) was not shared in the OP.

Yes, some may wonder whether the sparse info shared in the OP may indicate that some preliminary research may be needed.

Hopefully more information would be included in such a message... possibly combining pertinent information from the OP and the subsequent post.

I think going to a rural high school in NZ rules me out. Also since gifted wasn't catered for it wasn't tested for either. So maybe I am not ant my kid's father contributed all the IQ.

The early entrance program at University of Washington would include students who drop out to pursue higher education. I think there's a discussion on some part of their website that discusses how not getting a high school diploma has not held back any of their students.

Realistically, the OP (probably) has done more work on his project than he is sharing here, and at any rate, he likely won't change his approach based on our comments -- imagine telling your advisors you went to the internet for advice! :-)
However, I do agree that case studies can be valuable in some respects, though I'm certainly not a professional.

Secondly, I find it interesting to note that Walden University (unless I am mistaken; I just googled it) is a for-profit, accredited, online university. While this may not necessarily affect the quality of the OP's work, I thought it may interest some posters. It may also lead to some logistical issues for the OP, although on the other hand it does mean he can remotely interview anyone.