5.+A+critical+reflection+on+how+understanding+research+practice+may+influence+your+own+circumstances+and+practice

So, the question is how can understanding research practice affect my practice as a college lecturer? or in which way may I, my students or the college benefit from this education? We could begin to answer this question by examining which research paradigm and methodology was I aware of, and the repercussion this had on my professional practice. My understanding on what research is or what I believed good reliable research should be was pretty much limited to the traditional quantitative approach, a type of research for ever out my league due to my perceived limited education. I was aware of the existence of feminism for example but this understanding was at best limited and formed only with what we could hear or see a typical western media! Today, still, most of our preconceived ideas have the medias for sources and I find this is very worrying, especially for professional teachers in further education. In my previous assessment I discovered critical thinking which open my eyes to a word of new questioning, understanding research practice is now giving me the tools to seek answers and believe I can and should attempt to make at least some small contribution to our system of education. This new understanding of quantitative, qualitative or mixed type of data, the varied views held by the community on the approaches we can takes: positivist, interpretative, critical, feminist, post-modern or phenomenological to name this few as opened my mind to the existence of argumentative opinionated well meaning people. This new awareness of what my responsibilities or obligations are as a lecturer comes with a price, the knowledge that I am responsible, as a teaching citizen, for what is happening in my class and my college and that I can no longer totally depend on the SQA or managerial staff for the necessary guidance, moral or other wise direction it should have. I, can make a difference.