Tuesday, April 28, 2015

FWS Research Assistant Highlights: Salimatou C Ouedraogo


Working as a research assistant has given me the opportunity to greatly increase the capacity in which I am able to conduct research.I am working with Dr. JP Singh, Professor of Global Affairs and Cultural Studies. I am also working with two other Global Affairs undergraduate students: Naila Rafique (Class of 2015) and Corina Solarzo (Class of 2016).  The project that I am working on uses content analysis to first, determine if there is participation and second, extract types of participation in telecommunication projects for developing countries. Part of the project was also using a coding scheme and revising it as we became more familiar with the content analysis that was conducted every week. As a Global Affairs major, I have been exposed to the interdisciplinary nature of the field. On a weekly basis each research assistant reviews World Bank Documents that specify the details of telecommunication projects in various projects. After conducting content analysis on each document, a coding scheme is used to code qualitative and quantitative data in an organized excel sheet. Each person’s data is then compiled into another research sheet that is discussed during a calibration session. A calibration session is meetings in which we partake in a dialogue where we can help each other understand the results that were found when collecting data.
This week, I discovered the benefits of conducting calibration sessions with my research team. Together, we agreed that this method was the most beneficial for our research. This has allowed me to expound upon my knowledge of international affairs through my concentration of media, communications, and culture. This research will help with my future goals by giving me a better foundation for conducting original research as an Honors student and in Graduate school.