Judgement Day! Final week And Reflections

Saturday morning, I delivered my senior project presentation to peers, friends, faculty, and family. In the morning, I was quite nervous since I only practiced it a few times but I remained confident despite the anxiety.  All in all, I felt that my presentation was an absolute success!!! The audience enjoyed my optimism, keen insight, and well-structured display of my content.

I am so grateful for the experience and opportunity to

• Obtain a strong foundation in statistics and statistical analysis  
• Be able to effectively use SPSS statistical analysis software 
• Learn how to use many Microsoft tools ranging from powerpoint, word, excel, illustrator, photoshop, and paint,  
• Conduct extensive research by looking at over 30+ psychological studies  
• Develop time management skills 
• Improve my interpersonal skills and networking opportunities
• Intellectually engage myself  
• Create a 47-page university-style research paper  

The list could go on but I wouldn't want to estrange anyone with a makeshift pseudo-resume. 

To reflect upon it all, this academic endeavor was a definitive end of my comfort zone and a beginning into what most would define as life. Overall, the entire senior project experience was a fun yet equally grueling process that turned into a testament of personal grit. Compared to typical schooling, I would truthfully define this 13 week period as a much more significant undertaking. The shift in demand from passive classroom learning to vaulting into the real world required massive self-discipline. And it's not just intellectually either, it's an entirely different perspective that an individual cultivates that becomes their new frame of mind.

 As Charles Darwin once stated, "It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change".

Though this may be a final bidding for this website's blogging endeavors, It certainly is not the last of what I have yet to bring into this world. Stay motivated and Thank you!

If anyone interested, I uploaded the powerpoint presentation and final paper online so that people can check them out!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0r3TUAWydQlc0NYMEJJQjlOYWM/view?usp=sharing

https://www.dropbox.com/s/szbs5d3msv0wpc6/Tirsoreanu%20Daniel%20SRP%20Final%20Paper.docx?dl=0

Final Question- Suggestions for Improvement

What have you, the viewers of my blog, found most particularly interesting, memorable, or insightful about my overall display of my senior project experience? Had I done this again once more, what would you of recommended I add or change?

(Feel free to comment your ideas below or simply reflect)

Twelfth Week of Motivated Success!

Greetings! This week has been a phenomenal one for the record books! As you all well know, I am nearing the final stretch of my senior project and overall school year.

Numerologically, the number 12 signifies completion or a finished cycle of experience. Well, statistics and numbers don't lie, but I still got one more home run to hit, if I am going to completely ace this senior project, and that's the final spectacle! I am going to have to present all of this in under fifteen minutes! Next week, I will have the honorable opportunity to present my twelve weeks of diligent effort, astute discoveries, and sheer pertinacity with a little left over for some fine question and answer.

I have gotten my 35-page long final product paper completed and can now easily finish up my exuberant Powerpoint presentation. I plan on steadfastly rehearsing this with advisors and on my own pronto.

In the future, I do anticipate uploading my powerpoint presentation and final paper sometime next week for anyone that is interested.

Here is a snapshot of the first page in case anyone is curious.

Oh, and as a side note, I have less than a month until I graduate with high honors from BASIS Peoria! Alright! I hope to see as many as you there!

I will create a final post next week to inform you about my presentation experience and likely add general reflections.

See you later and stay motivated!

TWO MORE WEEKS TO GO! (11)

Hello once again! I have been rather busy with my final project lately, however it is beginning to unfold quite nicely. It is 16 pages so far and I still have a third of it left to go. This, also, explains why I was occupied yesterday since I decided that today would the optimal day to reveal my astounding progress to all of you fine folks.

Here, take a look!



















This picture is from my method and measures section of my final paper. Essentially, I explained in full detail how I began with all the items of conformity - there were eight initially- and conducted a series of statistical tests to obtain the highest reliability and validity.

I started with an initial factor analysis to analyze the dimensionality of the eight items of conformity but then proceeded to conduct item analyses tests to gradually increase the internal consistency of the conformity scale. This meant I removed one item from the conformity scale each time I had the opportunity the increase the Cronbach's Alpha score and therefore my overall accuracy of measurements.

Eventually, once my strongest items of conformity remained, I ran a last factor analysis rotation and obtained two factors that accounted for the variance among the measures.

Afterwards, I continued in the paper by conducting item analysis tests on all the other variable scales (and there's lots of them) and then computed multivariate correlations between the factors of conformity and all the other variable composites.

There's still much more to mention but I promise I will upload a finalized version of my final paper on my blog once I am completely finished with my senior project.

Here is just one more image to give you a reference frame for the amount of writing that the paper will encapsulate.

This image encompasses my literature review that is used as a precursor to the study briefly explaining all the psychological research already done in the field of achievement motivation, achievement goal theory, and conformity.   

And if you have been paying attention to any of my blog posts, then you would have realized that I have scores of psychological studies that I have read and analyzed.   

Pretty mind-numbing if you ask me. Anyways, the entire experience is culminating in an exciting final project and the psychometrics used here is comparable to undergraduate and even graduate level statistical work. And after I finish the paper, I will have to create a 12-minute powerpoint presentation for my final exposition of my overall findings.  

Until next time!

Double Digit Week! (10)

Greetings!

This week is the last full week of my internship. Hooray! But that doesn't mean I still don't a few more weeks to inform you guys about my continual progress on achievement motivation and my senior project.

To my surprise, the ASU Language and Literature department was so grateful for my contribution that they threw me a mini-donut party as a going-away celebration! Alright!!!

They even made me a little plaque (on the right of the donuts) as a token of appreciation for all my efforts.

And here is one with me, my on-site advisor, Julie Pauelsc (right of me in photo), and very friendly ASU office staff.

Meanwhile, let's take a look at the Senior Project work!

This week, I conducted further analysis on my data. I used the final results of the item analyses, which I told you about last week, to create a final conformity scale of four items with two factors. Then, I tested each factor against my other variable composite means.

Shall I give you a hint of what I found? *whispers* Don't tell anyone.

Kids at BASIS don't conform as much as college kids. Yep. You read that right. We here at BASIS are non-conformers! Yeah! And I can prove it.



Taking a look at the tables above, I created variable '1' to represent high schoolers at BASIS and variable '2' to represent college kids at ASU. I bolded the mean rank values in Table 1. to indicate that, on average, college kids are shown to conform more in academic contexts than BASIS students. This is because the values of  '2' were fairly higher than that of '1'. Meanwhile, Table 2. indicated that this correlation was statistically significant (not caused by chance) because the p-value was very low (bolded).

Concurrently, I have officially completed all my results and statistical tests. However, I still need to interpret all the data in a meaningful way and then create my methodology section of my final project. This includes creating appropriate data tables and descriptives alongside the quantitative data.

Overall, I am continuing on strong through my senior project and am eager to discover the latest hidden secrets of motivation and conformity! Until next time!

Septem Octo

Hello, Everyone! 

The exhilaration is continuing as we break the barriers into week number eight! We are two-thirds of the way to the finish line! This week I had to purchase the exclusive and elusive statistics computing software package SPSS 16. 

Here is an image that pretty much summarizes my week and progress on the senior project. 

I had to spend approximately seven hours to input the 50 questions/variables from 175 surveys, but the fun does not stop there. Now that all the numbers are inputted, I have to spend time figuring out which statistical analysis tests to use. Next, I will have to create descriptive statistics and then figures to represent the numerical data through graphs, tables, or charts. Finally, and most importantly, I will have to interpret the data and find some practical meaning to all this relating to my original research questions. 

Stay tuned, as I am ever so slightly inching my way towards unlocking the secrets behind motivation and beyond! 

Until next time!    

The Seventh Seal Has Broken

Back from the mayhem of the external world, with my extraordinary progress in the senior project unfolding in front of me, I am glad to announce that I remain unscathed.

This week, I successfully distributed my psychological study to both college and high school students. Huzzah! It was probably the first time I ever felt overly-enthusiastic about random people filling out a document. The survey itself had 47 questions and each question reflected the variables of either achievement motivation, achievement goals (the what and why behind the goals), or conformity. All of which I have extensively covered in previous blog posts if you are curious to learn more about them.    

In total, I obtained 100 surveys from BASIS Peoria high schoolers and 75 surveys from ASU students. Surprisingly, all the 9th through 11th graders that I surveyed were in the middle of their lunch period, yet I received higher survey completion and participation from them compared to the university students.

Now, I have to the honorary privilege of putting in many hours' worth of data entry and analysis to make sense of the numerical nonsense. Stay vigilant and motivated!

The Sixth Week of Success

Greetings! This week has been one of significant progress towards the culmination of my senior project. I am eager to report that my survey had just been finalized and will be distributed for accurate data collection very shortly (Hooray!). However, this process required me to phrase each item precisely to match a particular variable as well as reflect the scope and purpose of my study. Simply put, it was no meager undertaking.

Having had the time to look at more research, I restructured my literature review from my original Senior Project proposal to figure out what I now desired to measure. I then formulated the variables: achievement motivation, achievement goals, and conformity. Next, I specified each factor that I would need to measure: academic expectancy, need for achievement, etc. To create the items, I worded each statement to correspond with the survey variables. I implemented a Likert scale for respondents to answer, meaning that the participant would read a statement and then rate it on a scale of 1-7 on how well they believe it is true.

Finally, I organized the survey questions using a psychometric technique called "split-half reliability." This means that each variable I'm looking to measure is assessed equally in the first half and the second half of the survey. It is as if it were two mini-surveys taken at the same time, which means that the results can be compared for reliability. In addition, items for the second mini-survey were placed in reverse order, which contributes to the consistency of the survey in case the participants lose interest halfway through and begin just randomly marking items. And as a final addendum to the production of a single piece of paper, I adhered to the ethical standards of the university by attaching a consent form by which the survey takers were informed of their anonymous and voluntary participation.

All of this may sound like a great deal of laborious toil, but I will hopefully find solace in the results that are reaped from my survey.

As always, the internship is doing splendidly and I am steadfastly anticipating the next step in unlocking the hidden secrets of personal motivation. However, some may see this as hours upon hours of number crunching, computation, and frantic analysis for meaning in numbers. But who can tell the difference?      

Spring Break 2017: Work as Usual

 Hello again! Fortunately, my internship is on hiatus this week. Since the lucky devils at ASU are experiencing a scheduled week of spring reprieve from their studies, I had to coordinate my time for the internship with them. Therefore, I technically am on better terms with my alarm clock. This doesn't mean that I have overturned my tacit contract to provide convoluted yet academically lauded entertainment and accurate reporting to all you fine readers out there. I do have another project that I am keeping under wraps at the moment. But, I will inform you once the time has come.      

However, this does not mean I will avoid ASU completely. A personal goal I have for this week is to take the MAT at the university testing center.  

Taking a cue from DJ Morel, my equation for this week is as follows:

Spring Break + Volunteering +  Blogging + MAT + Senior Project = Work As Usual

End of the Second Fortnight!

Progressing on forward, I heightened my weekly awareness of incorporating my topics into my current internship. For example, through my observations of others, I have become keenly aware of conformity and motivation.

In analyzing student behaviors, some students came to me for help only when first redirected by their teacher. To them, I served as a potential source of guidance, but others immediately scheduled me for assistance in their course work. This type of seizing opportunities for academic enhancement is exactly the kind of indication that highly goal-orientated individuals actively display. Typically, a reflection of a student high in internal motivation or desiring of high academic achievement.  

Additionally, I dedicated extra measures of my time in assisting for ASU's Night of the Open Door, but I will save that for a later post. However, I will say that it was an exciting way to communicate with and converse with hordes of individuals interested in everything the campus had to present and offer.        

Third Week of Voluntary Educational Servitude

 
   Hello once again! This week I had the opportunity to assist in ASU's Language and Literature fair which meant I could represent my national heritage. The event consisted of countless individuals arriving to visit the facility, primarily high school students touring the ASU campus. Interestingly, the students each had their own faux passport as part of a personal assignment that they had to complete for their field trip. I had tons of people asking me questions, eager faces, and restless ones trying to complete their scavenger hunt.  The ones trying to complete the scavenger hunt were most interesting because they were obviously motivated by external rewards - they just wanted the stamp in their passport. Though there was certainly a higher level of effort, it was more fun than being an office caddie - and I was able to get my name written in four different languages by people in the other language departments (namely Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic).

But don't be forlorn about my progress on the psychological study for my senior project, it will be soon underway!



    

Week Two of the Internship!

   My internship continued this week with the same adrenaline-filled zeal for getting to work on time. Luckily, I got a transportation upgrade to the intercampus shuttle since ASU West campus is nearby, which means more time to sleep in the morning. Additionally, I have extended my services by beginning to tutor students in Romanian, finding that they needed the greatest amount of support in pronunciation.

In other news, I discovered that my tentative survey would not need to be under stringent supervision by an ethics board unless I intend to publish my findings in a journal. However, I may undertake the authorization process anyway, simply to learn what the ethics approval procedure entails.

All in all, I have found that there is a positive correlation between time spent on shuttles and the amount of remaining gas in my car, which makes me content.            

First Week of My Internship. Fortis Ad Finem!

My internship for my senior project is at Arizona State University's Romanian cultural department, in the School of International Letters and Cultures. Being that my predominant motive for conducting this internship is to facilitate a psychological study, I am taking advantage of the ample opportunities for me to observe others.      

Besides withstanding rush hour traffic with the utmost discernment of people's intentions, there has also been time for more incisive analysis of the past week. I attended several of my on-site mentor's lectures and got a feel for my subjects. Concurrent to attending classes, I was introduced to a multitude of advisers in the Language and Literature building. From there, I obtained the honor of fulfilling many trivial but necessary administrative tasks for the department (notably scanning Arab manuscripts for hours on end). 

After an hour and fifteen minutes driving there, only to arrive with eight minutes left to park my car and run upstairs to the class; and forty-five minutes coming back each night, I realized that my university experience is probably going to be one that centers around time. I also realized that an on-campus housing situation is highly preferable.

Well Begun Is Half Done ~ Greek Proverb

Introduction

Greetings from Beyond the System!

Have you ever wondered why there seem to be two types of successful people? There is the first type, ones with hidden connections, and the second, mavericks with ingenious creative minds.

Do you see the difference between these two paths for success, and how they fit into our social system? If you don't my hope is that you will as you delve deeper into this blog.

 This blog site will capture, with the most unfolding exhilaration that a psychological study could ever contain, my thoughts, experiences, and analyses. My intentions for this expedition going forward is to detail my progress in my Senior Project, on Achievement Motivation and Conformity and my delightful internship, all while amusing and illuminating the minds of those who read this blog.

Through this paradigm-defying journey, we will bring the notion of the system and its truths to light. Here you will find a compelling compilation of convincing facts, deeply illuminated with critical analysis, which will challenge you to rethink how you view the system.

~May you realize the limits so that you may transcend them! 

I.D.T.