Week 1 Reflection

    I always shudder to think that a week has passed and the work done seems far from the complexity and perfection I envisioned at the time. Of course, I had to remind myself that I am only a high school student, and that I need not be overly ambitious. Some of the content--such as the methods and theories of statistics--was far beyond the depth and basic level required in high school, while others needed extensive literature reading and search skills. I eventually decided to cut out some of the reliability and validity tests, because even if I could do the "analysis" in a step-by-step manner as described in the book or guide, I would have learned no knowledge or understanding of the principles behind it, and a complete set of such analyses would not be necessary in light of the time constraints.

    It is nice to see what I have attained: a better knowledge of SPSS and other software, as well as an understanding of some of the algorithms behind them, as opposed to having a totally misguided view of surveys. It was surprising to learn that the seemingly casual and commonplace tool entailed so much science behind the scenes, especially when it came to developing rigorous psychological scales. I am always amazed by the incredible results of human creativity and rigor when I see all the complex and diverse new theories and studies that are developed almost every month.

    In spite of this, science and theories are not the only thing that matters, but rather the information they provide and the questions they can answer. The question is where do we get confused and why do we need questionnaires to provide us with those answers? Well, we have little insight into the overall mental health of our students. And what are the demographic distributions of sexual minorities and their relationships to campus climate and mental well-being? Designing and analyzing this aspect of the questionnaire data was an opportunity to get a glimpse, as CT does, of some multidimensional, contemporaneous information that can be compared to subsequent changes. There is no other objective way for students to actively express their feelings and for an entire community to hear them - not individually, but as a whole. One of the means by which we can identify problems, recognize them, and begin to improve them is by giving everyone the opportunity to actively communicate such feelings, which are usually on the private side and are sometimes reluctant to reveal and respond.

    Let each person's voice be heard.