Author: Katie Whitham | Major: Exercise Science
During Spring of 2022 honors grant term, I worked to complete a systematic review under the advisement of my mentor, Dr. Erin Howie-Hickey, who is a part of the Health, Human Performance and Recreation department. When the search for my research mentor began, I immediately got in communication with Dr. Howie-Hickey because she was my first exercise science professor since I was a transfer student in 2020. I loved her research topic and planned to branch off it until I met with my academic advisor.
Initially, I was supposed to graduate a year later than what I am. I found out I was graduating a whole year early my first semester of Junior year—which was actually my senior year. To be able to complete a research project of my own would require conducting and gathering my own data, taking way more than one semester. To get more quality out of my seemingly shortened research period, I chose to do my research project as a supplement Dr. Erin Howie-Hickey’s current research.
More specifically, I completed a systematic review on the effects of recess on educational outcomes in elementary school students. The purpose of the systematic review was to explore the different ways recess could potentially benefit the schools-educational outcomes-and increase the likelihood of schools implementing recess, increasing the physical activity of elementary school students. I concluded that the main educational outcomes evidence supported was academic performance, classroom behavior, cognitive functions, social/emotional effects, and teaching efficiency.
Not only did I learn about my area of research, I also learned about myself. Before beginning my research, the word “research” made me want to run the opposite direction. I actually enjoyed a lot more aspects of the systematic review process than I thought I would; I found things in the process I enjoyed and used that as a source of encouragement. For example, I especially love organization of any kind; using excel spreadsheets to organize all of the articles’ information was something enjoyable for me because it decluttered my brain.
One of the main challenges that surprised me the most was the communication differences. I have never had to collaborate via solely email for months about a detail-oriented, multicomponent project. Dr. Howie-Hickey communicated very clearly, and conversations were very efficient and information packed. The most difficult part was the differences in schedules while we both had very busy agendas; there was a lot of independence in my research because of it. In addition, systematic reviews do not need the same amount of advising as a lab setting would. But this promoted me to act more proactively, planning everything in advance because I had to learn how to accommodate to her delays in response, as I am sure she had to do with me.
Another challenge I faced was learning how to make my own research schedule. It is more difficult than I thought to balance a research block with no time of day of the week when I am supposed to show up in addition to the regular student course load. It made me become more independent and self-sufficient because I had to make myself show up to my own class during my own time period.
As I mentioned earlier, my research was mainly self-reliant but still assessed and guided by Dr. Howie-Hickey. She directed me through the process and gave me feedback and tips for nearly every phase of work. Although most of my research project was completed independently, I felt extremely prepared through Dr. Gallagher’s “Honors Research Methods” course I took Fall 2021; her help during spring semester led me to asking Dr. Gallagher to be my committee member for my research project. I also received feedback from her whenever I needed help.
For the next year, I plan to gain more field experience to prepare for, hopefully, Physician Assistant school. Ultimately, during this research grant period, I learned a lot about myself, my research topic, the research process, and my field of study that all are real-life applications I plan to carry with me through my future aspirations, whatever I end up doing.