My six months of research with S&T – Elokuu 2021
Currently I give an overview of my research work within the six months period from January to June 2021. The beginning of the year started with challenges. I had received a rejection response from the journal where the third article was submitted and at the end of January I decided to change journal also for my second article due to the prolonged review process. I decided to continue the process to find new journals for both of my articles.
Evaluating the situation and the received feedback to the articles with my supervisor, the following steps were considered: to submit second article to the subject specific journal as the article focused mostly on handicraft and home economics student teachers’ experiences of becoming teacher and describing emerged typologies among these student teachers; to change the analysis method in the third article to have broader outcome and to submit it to the journal that relates to teacher education.
Within this process the new analysis of the data took most of the time, as the third article changed the theoretical framework, focusing now on student teachers’ professional development during their school practice. The centre of the analysis was Herbart’s extended didactical triangle and its relationships. This opened new possibilities to describe handicraft and home economics student teachers’ experiences. I sincerely enjoyed this analysis process; however, it was also challenging to define certain relationships as they are not so clearly visible in students’ writings and therefore needed a deeper thinking process and discussion with others. The analysis was done in March and after that the process of compiling other parts of the article continued. Meanwhile also the 2nd article was submitted and the green light from the editor was received, which meant that the review process was started. This raised positive feelings to continue with the third article.
In April and May, the different parts of the 3rd article were written. Some parts of the previous version needed rewriting, like the methods part, where some of the things remained the same, e.g., participants’ description and ethical aspects. The newly written parts were the analysis section, results, discussion, and introduction. Abstract had to be overlooked and changed according to the latest version of the article. I am sincerely thankful to my both co-authors for their contribution to the article’s writing process. Without their support I wouldn’t have survived during this challenging period.
The motivation to finalize and submit the article before July gave strength to proceed with language editing and proofreading. Finally, the 3rd article was submitted.
Hereby I express my gratitude for receiving S&T scholarship to continue with my doctoral studies within these 6 months period in 2021. These months gave me valuable time to rethink and rewrite my articles, especially the 3rd one. I will continue my doctoral studies with writing thesis summary, which unfortunately was left aside this spring due to articles’ writing.
Kristi Koppel is a doctoral student at University of Helsinki, where she studies how home economics teacher students’ professional identity develops during their studies.
