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)

Final Quote- Whitehead

 The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order.

-Alfred North Whitehead 

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!

Question #12- Self-actualization or Socialization?

Is it fair to say that happiness and fulfillment are found within, while society leads us to believe that happiness is outside of us? 

Quote #12- Liverpool

Endings and beginnings are merely paired facets of an imagined stone curtain, behind which a plethora of opportunities await.

-Ged Thompson Liverpool 

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!