"In the process of shifting from a path she did not feel aligned with, Taylor Maniglia had discovered that her real interest was research. Still, she wanted to be sure. Searching for a Master’s program focused on research methods, Taylor discovered the 100% Online Master’s Degree in Research Methods, Measurement & Evaluation (RMME) at the University of Connecticut (UConn). Through her experiences in the RMME program, Taylor not only confirmed her passion for research, but she discovered areas of primary interest that she now plans to dive into deeper – in the context of her forthcoming doctoral studies, as well as in her career. " – Taylor Maniglia, Online Master’s Degree in Research Methods, Measurement & Evaluation (RMME), Graduate Summer 2024

Zeroing in on Her Career Path

In the process of shifting from a path she did not feel aligned with, Taylor Maniglia had discovered that her real interest was research. Still, she wanted to be sure. Searching for a Master’s program focused on research methods, Taylor discovered the 100% Online Master’s Degree in Research Methods, Measurement & Evaluation (RMME) at the University of Connecticut (UConn). Through her experiences in the RMME program, Taylor not only confirmed her passion for research, but she discovered areas of primary interest that she now plans to dive into deeper – in the context of her forthcoming doctoral studies, as well as in her career.

Shifting her focus

After beginning her graduate studies in clinical psychology, Taylor realized the path she’d chosen was not fully aligned with her interests. In the process of realizing what she did not like, Taylor also discovered what did spark her interest: “I realized that I really just liked the research part, so I was looking at Master’s programs that just focus on research methods. I wanted to improve my knowledge in research methods, and I knew there was so much more that I needed to learn and get comfortable with. I figured that getting a Master’s in it, after already having some basic experience in research, would help magnify my skills and open me up to the different positions I could potentially go for in the future. I needed that advanced learning in order for me to get more familiar with the field and be able to essentially do what I want to do.”

Searching online, Taylor discovered UConn’s Online Master’s Degree in Research Methods, Measurement & Evaluation (RMME). Interest piqued, she reached out to Dr. Sarah D. Newton, Associate Director of the program, to learn more: “I came across the UConn RMME program, and I know that UConn is a very good school, so I looked into it more. I had a meeting with Dr. Newton before actually enrolling. I just wanted to explain to her my future goals and to make sure that the program fit well with what I want to do, and it did.” Starting the RMME program in fall 2022, Taylor graduated in summer 2024.

Connecting the dots

Just a month before beginning the RMME program, Taylor also started her new job: “I work for Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. I’m in a research group, called the Behavioral Health Research Group, and we do psychiatric research studies that relate to certain physical health issues. I work as a Research Coordinator on two studies. One of them is related to mood disorders and hypertension, and the other one is a group behavioral intervention study for Black women who are at risk for hypertension. I do a lot of data collection, administering psychological tests, and then also a lot of behind-the-scenes work in terms of structure with the studies, helping problem solve, and working on papers for publication.”

Launching into the RMME program and her new job simultaneously further deepened Taylor’s learning process: “I had just started my job right before I started taking classes at UConn. So, I would just connect a lot of the dots on some of the stuff I was learning. I’d be like, ‘Oh wow, this makes a lot of sense. I’m learning about this in school.’ Or vice versa. It was cool timing to be able to do both at the same time.”

Faculty accomplished and available

Learning from the highly accomplished RMME faculty was a highlight for Taylor: “Every instructor was fantastic. Dr. Betsy McCoach was great. I had Dr. Christopher Rhoads for a few classes: He was great. They were all fantastic. I loved learning from such well-established faculty. I would join a few office hours or schedule a few individual meetings to get some more clarification on certain assignments or lessons, and you could just tell how qualified and established they all are. Knowing that I’m learning from people who have already done so much in their careers makes me feel very good about the people I’m learning from.”

As an online student, Taylor was especially surprised at the level of interaction she had with faculty, including their extraordinary flexibility and willingness to accommodate her schedule. “The faculty were all very available. My hours are limited for when I can meet with people. Sometimes, I would meet with professors at 8:00 at night because they knew I worked full time. Their flexibility and willingness to give up their time to help students out was so beneficial. As a fully online student, I honestly wasn’t expecting that much flexibility and that much communication with the professors. So, I thought that was really great.”

Opportunities to connect with classmates

While all RMME’s coursework is offered asynchronously, Taylor was delighted that one course offered her the option to choose to participate in live, in-person classes via Zoom: “I personally loved it because it was a Zoom of the professor teaching at the front of the room with students in the classroom, and then there were also several of us online. Just being able to be involved in live discussions was really cool. It definitely helped make me feel more connected and like I was truly part of the program. So, I felt that that was a huge strength.”

However, even outside this exception to the norm, Taylor says she found the opportunities to connect with other students extremely valuable. “Having other students to communicate with made me feel more like I was part of the program, and that expands my network, too. I still talk to some of them to this day, even though I’ve never met them in person. There were two girls I met my first semester. We worked on a group project together, and we enjoyed working with each other, so we would make sure that we scheduled the same classes for almost every semester. We would talk to each other about some of the lessons sometimes, or whenever there was a partner or group assignment, we would always work together. Then, also, there were questions that would come up, so it was helpful having other students to be able to text rather than always emailing the professor, particularly if it was something that I felt like I should have known already. So, I felt like that was very beneficial.”

Courses immensely valuable – and enjoyable

Not only did Taylor’s experiences in the program confirm her passion for research, but they inspired her to pursue the next step in her academic journey: “I wanted to make sure that the research part is what I liked. I really enjoyed every single class that I took in this program. It was so much fun learning everything, and I loved doing all the homework. This experience inspired me to apply for a PhD in the exact same thing, and I’ve been accepted. I’ll be going to Ohio State in August (2025) for a PhD in Quantitative Research, Evaluation and Measurement. I’m very excited.”

Taylor continues, “Personally, I feel like this Master’s program was more valuable than my current job. It was also just more enjoyable for me. All the courses I took taught me so much, and the homework assignments were very helpful. It was all stuff that I wanted to learn and get better at. And getting to work with some of the statistical software that I wanted to become more familiar with was a huge plus.”

Discovering her primary interests

One course (EPSY 5621: Construction of Evaluation Instruments), was pivotal in helping Taylor identify the specific area of interest she now wants to pursue further: “The instrument design course helped me to realize what my primary interest is. Now I know that I want to work with instrument design in my career. I’m going to be involved with it in my PhD at Ohio State. I made it very clear to them that I really enjoy creating measures and working with instrument design. So, that was definitely my favorite course.”

Students in the RMME program are required to choose between Thesis (Plan A) or non-Thesis (Plan B) options for completion of the Master’s degree. Choosing Plan A, Taylor describes her thesis – and how that work led to her discovering another primary research interest: “My thesis was about demographic differences in how participants view and interpret vague quantifiers. Vague quantifiers are the different response options on a survey, such as ‘sometimes, always, almost always.’ Dr. McCoach already had a dataset started. She had a survey asking people how  they understood each quantifier, such as ‘Is sometimes more than often?’ My thesis looked at demographic differences in how participants viewed those quantifiers. The only thing that was tough was that the sample was about 90% female and 90% white, so it was kind of hard to show any significant differences. But another thing that I was able to learn is that looking at vague quantifiers is a primary interest of mine. I think it’s very, very fascinating, because it significantly impacts the way research is done. If people think completely differently about how much a certain vague quantifier is, it’s not a fully accurate representation of certain questions. For instance, what I view as ‘sometimes’ could be what someone else is viewing as ‘mostly.’ I thought it was very interesting, and I definitely want to look into it more.”

Extraordinary support and encouragement

Learning from and working with her advisor, Dr. Betsy McCoach, was an especially valuable experience for Taylor: “Dr. McCoach was amazing. She was my advisor and worked very closely with me. She helped me when I was writing my thesis and taught me so much. She was always available: The amount of Zoom calls we would get on brainstorming together was incredible. I would also talk to her about all my classes: things that I thought maybe could have been better, or just telling her how much I appreciated certain classes. Having that person to always talk to and work through things with was so helpful. Also, the way that she would teach things, such as working in the R program, helped me learn a lot.”

Taylor goes on to explain that it was Dr. McCoach’s extraordinary support and encouragement that inspired her to apply for the PhD program at Ohio State: “I wouldn’t have been able to get into Ohio State if it wasn’t for Dr. McCoach. She helped me with so much. I never thought that getting into Ohio State would be possible for me just because it’s another really great school. And she was like, ‘You know what, you’re downplaying yourself. I think that you have what it takes to get in there.’ She inspired me to apply. She helped me with my applications, proofreading my personal statements and everything. In every aspect, she was just there as a huge support system. I appreciate everything that she’s done.”

Confidence to contribute

Empowered with the knowledge and skills she acquired in the RMME program, Taylor now feels more confident in voicing her assessment of inconsistencies she notices in the research studies at work. “All the skills that I have learned have definitely helped me in my job. There have been certain things that I’ve caught in some of the study measures that I felt weren’t capturing what we needed to capture and measure. There was one that I brought up and we ended up actually changing it, because the principal investigators of the study realized the mismatch. That is a specific example of where my learning at UConn allowed me to notice something that needed to be fixed, and it completely changed a big part of the study. Before I might not have said anything, because I would have been like, ‘Eh, maybe I am thinking about it wrong.’ But now that I have that learning and experience, I felt comfortable enough to actually speak up about it.”

Set her up for next steps and beyond

Looking to the future, Taylor has a vision for where she wants to go: “I will probably start off in academia, but my long-term goal is to open my own research consulting firm and help with educational research in terms of state testing, reading intervention, and a whole array of things. I’ve always been passionate about K-12 education, even though I’ve never worked in it. There are a lot of improvements that could be made, so to be able to help work on those would be very cool.”

Inspired by her experience in the RMME program, Taylor feels prepared with the foundations to pursue her next step on her journey toward fulfilling her career aspirations: “Earning this Master’s degree will definitely help me in my career because 1) it set me up to get me to the next step in my career path; and 2) it gave me the advanced knowledge base of everything that I need to know. And now, because I have that advanced knowledge, I’ll be able to apply that to getting my PhD. This program set me up for getting me to the next step and beyond.”

“Part of what I wanted to implement from this program into my current day-to-day job was to learn how to really do some data-driven decision making. The program helped me to analyze and interpret data more effectively. I use this to assess student outcomes, track career progression, and more importantly, identify trends in job placements, internship successes, and where students need some skill development. When joining our business school programs, a lot of students that I work with don’t necessarily know what kind of job they want coming out. This program has helped me learn how to better assess their skills and help them to plot a path.” – Jason Gorack, Online Master’s Degree in Research Methods, Measurement & Evaluation (RMME), Graduate Fall 2023

Using Data to Become a More Effective Career Coach

As a Graduate Career Coach, Jason Gorack is passionate about guiding his students as they navigate their future career path. Searching for a Master’s program that would enhance his capacity for data-driven decision-making, Jason discovered the 100% Online Master’s Degree in Research Methods, Measurement & Evaluation (RMME) at the University of Connecticut (UConn). Since graduating from the program, Jason now feels empowered with the knowledge and skills to better analyze and interpret data, identify key trends, and evaluate career services programs. True to his aim, Jason now believes he has the capacity to add even greater value for his clients: students and alumni of UConn School of Business.

Jason loves his work as a Graduate Career Coach for UConn School of Business graduate programs, where he is responsible for corporate outreach and career development. His work coaching graduate students begins with the recruiting process and continues through graduation and beyond. As Jason explains, “When you are deciding what sort of program you’re going to enroll in, a big aspect of that decision is: What is that program actually going to do for me? What’s my return on investment? So, part of what I do in the recruiting process is to teach incoming students what our current students are doing. What kind of investment banks are they working at? What sort of roles in corporate finance? I need to crunch statistics to determine: What is our placement rate? How many students are getting internships? How many of our international students are getting hired here in the United States? So, I’m involved in the recruiting process, but that continues all the way through graduation. Then actually, beyond graduation: I stay in touch with our alumni at that point, and many of them end up hiring some of our students as they graduate. So, I stay in touch with them the whole time. It’s pretty neat.”

Looking for program to benefit current role

Return on investment was very much a part of Jason’s decision process when searching for a Master’s degree program. He was specifically searching for a program that would be directly applicable to his current role. That’s when he discovered UConn’s Online Master’s Degree in Research Methods, Measurement, and Evaluation (RMME). “I wanted to get a Master’s degree for a long time, but it just never really fit in my life. I had young children, and I worked a lot of hours for a while. Once I was employed at UConn, which started about seven years ago, I was eligible for a tuition waiver, so then I really wanted to get my Master’s degree. Looking online at different types of programs, I wanted something that would benefit me in my current role, which I plan to stay at basically until I retire in about ten years. This program seemed to be the best match. I had looked at the MBA program. Would it be a good idea for me to have an understanding of what the students that I work with go through? Yes, but that’s all it would it do. It wouldn’t give me that insight of how to analyze data and, more importantly, evaluate programs. I use that on a regular basis.” Taking the leap, Jason began the RMME online Master’s program in fall 2021, graduating in fall 2023.

Flexibility to pace himself 

Juggling a full-time career and an active family, the flexibility of the online, asynchronous format was essential for Jason. “The convenience of the online classes really worked for me. Working full-time and having a full house of kids and pets and everything else, that convenience of doing the work at the time I chose was great. Most assignments were due on Sundays. Some of these projects were hard for me, because there was a lot of technology that I’d never worked with before, so it took me time to ramp-up. Being able to work on these projects late at night when my family was not around was really beneficial. That flexibility was one of the key factors that appealed to me.”

According to Jason, the online format also offered another distinct advantage: “I actually liked the video-recorded lectures better than in-person, because I was able to hit pause when I needed to, go back, relisten to it, try to figure out that segment a little bit, and then move on, rather than sitting through a 2-hour or a 3-hour lecture and not completely following everything because they move quickly. So, for me, a 3-hour online lecture was probably more like, honestly, a 5- to 6-hour lecture because I would pause it, understand it, pause it, understand it. That worked out great for me.”

Professors take the time to help you succeed

One of the steepest learning curves for Jason was becoming familiar with technology that was quite foreign to his experience, but he says the professors were extraordinarily supportive in helping him succeed. “The faculty were amazing: Dr. Sarah D. Newton, Dr. Christopher Rhoads, each and every professor – they were all outstanding. This was, as far as I’m concerned, a pretty tech-driven program. Prior to coming to UConn, I’ve always had assistants or others who would do my PowerPoint presentations and my spreadsheets. I had never done a formula on a computer in Excel, never mind RStudio and other statistical software. Never had I done that. So, my learning curve on how to do these large formulas through Excel and other statistical software was very steep. But the professors were amazing in how they would take the extra time to help you succeed, especially my advisor, Dr. Rhoads. He was outstanding. I had him for I think two classes. He’s very well versed in all the statistical software. A lot of the students I worked with in group projects were as well, so they picked it up pretty quickly. That was probably my biggest learning curve, but the faculty were incredible.”

Further elaborating on the support he received, Jason continues, “You know, I thought I would be a bit of a nuisance by asking questions so frequently. I would try to figure things out on my own first. Just to find a dataset and load it into RStudio for the first time probably took me about 45 hours. No joke, I’m not even kidding you. It took me a long time just to figure that out. Then I figured it out and did it one time. I was like, ‘Oh, it’s in, great, it’s there.’ But then the second time, I couldn’t figure out how to do it again. So, I reached out to Dr. Rhoads, and he was like, ‘Boom bam boom! Here’s how you do it.’ Using the method he taught me, the third time was easy. The fourth time, even easier. I couldn’t speak any more highly of each faculty member that I encountered. Any time I had a question, either Dr. Rhoads or Dr. Newton responded very quickly. So, I would just say, the faculty are phenomenal, and they are there to help you succeed.”

Beyond navigating his technology learning curve, Jason is deeply appreciative of the support he received when he encountered a major health challenge: “I have a birth defect on my heart, so I had open heart surgery right around the last two months of the program. The professors and the staff were extremely accommodating. They gave me whatever time I needed, but I only needed a couple weeks to catch up. They were so understanding.”

Never felt alone in the work

Not only did Jason feel supported by the professors, but he also felt supported by his classmates. “The students were also wonderful with quick questions. Each class had an online space where you could post certain questions if you had them. I always had questions, but I would try to figure it out first, and if I couldn’t, I would do the simple post, and then students would get back to me. They would say, ‘Here’s what I have learned; here’s how I did it.’ So having those relationships and asking those questions to both the professors and the students was fantastic.”

Jason says the level of interaction with his peers over the HuskyCT/Blackboard platform made the online experience feel like being together in a classroom. “The discussion boards, which are mandatory, gave you a connection to other students, because we had to read each other’s responses and reply, so it was like having full conversations with them. It also went beyond that because we also did a lot of group work. Every week, we had to work with certain groups. You weren’t left alone feeling like ‘Oh wow, I’m the only one in this program.’ You were very much involved together. Sometimes, there were peer reviews of the work that you did, where a peer would look at your work and provide feedback on it. That was outstanding also. To me, it was very similar to actually being in an in-person class.”

Learning to craft and analyze data

Despite his initial learning curve challenges, a major highlight for Jason was learning how to use RStudio in the context of two of his favorite courses: Quantitative Methods in Research I & II (EPSY 5605 & EPSY 5607). As Jason explains, “I had a lot of favorite courses. Within the core courses, it was really learning RStudio. It was interesting learning how to craft and analyze all this data. My dataset was simple. It was 15 different kinds of fish, and I’m not a fisherman or anything. I had to analyze the difference between their size, how they would grow, their length and their width. Like, who cares about fish really? But it’s about the data itself, and you could predict how this particular fish is going to grow. It was pretty interesting, because being able to apply that to something more relevant was exciting. Specifically, I saw the potential to apply it to career placement data.”

Among his elective courses, Jason had an unexpected favorite: PP 5377 – Qualitative Methods in Public Policy. “I was a little leery because I didn’t know exactly what electives I should take. Dr. Newton and Dr. Rhoads stepped in and came up with a complete course schedule for me. So, starting right from there was amazing. For one of my electives, they suggested I take a public policy course. I can’t remember the professor’s name who taught that course, but he was really into it and really made that class interesting. I would never have thought I’d be interested in a public policy course, but it was all about when the country could use this kind of leader versus that kind of leader, looking at the history of different leaders in different countries, and how and why people vote the way they vote. I thought it was fascinating, and I learned a lot. That course was pretty phenomenal.”

Helping students plot a path

The real value for Jason has been the opportunity to directly apply what he’s learned in ways that better inform his work helping students navigate their professional development goals. “Part of what I wanted to implement from this program into my current day-to-day job was to learn how to really do some data-driven decision making. The program helped me to analyze and interpret data more effectively. I use this to assess student outcomes, track career progression, and more importantly, identify trends in job placements, internship successes, and areas where students need some skill development. When joining our business school programs, a lot of students that I work with don’t necessarily know what kind of job they want coming out. This program has helped me learn how to better assess their skills and help them to plot a path, such as what additional classes or other workshops they may need to take. I was able to use surveys from past graduates to determine which industries were hiring most of our business students and use that data to guide current students toward some of the most promising career paths that they would like. All of that has been really beneficial.”

Jason continues, “I have also learned how to better analyze the data in terms of what students really want out of this degree, so I’m able to personalize some career counseling for each of these students. I keep an inventory of each student and what their interests are, and then we look back after two years at ‘here’s what you’ve done so far to achieve your ultimate goal at the end of your graduation date.’ That really helps to identify some career paths going forward based on their skills and their interests.”

Evaluating career services programs

Jason goes on to enumerate the many other ways he is implementing what he has learned in the RMME online Master’s program: “I’m also applying what I learned in the evaluation of career services programs, whether it’s a simple resume workshop or a networking workshop. I often have high level corporations, such as Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, or smaller investment banks, that come here to talk to our students. So, I’ve learned how to implement pre- and post-assessment surveys to gauge the success of these programs. Prior to the RMME program, I did do surveys, but they were pitiful in comparison. The rate of completion of surveys now, compared to prior to the program, is night and day. And beyond that, the back end didn’t collect the data as well as it should before. So, the return of the data is a lot better than what it was prior to taking the program. This helps us identifiy how to make our alumni-based and career-related programs better.”

Recounting one more area that has benefited, Jason adds, “One other area would be the reporting and presentation of data. I’ve been able to prepare and provide more presentations for the business school leadership, showing the success rates of students who participated in career counseling, internship programs, and other services. So, I think learning how to do that properly, getting the proper samples sizes and all of that, has been beneficial. It’s primarily the ability to accumulate data, analyze that data, and use that to track the success of our students. I feel that’s been very important.”

Utilizing data to be more effective

To those considering enrolling in the RMME program, Jason advises, “The title of the program could lead people to think that this program would only be for those interested in research. I’m not in a research industry, but this program sincerely helped me when it comes to analyzing data, making sense of data, and how to collect and clean useful data so you can analyze it. I think this program benefits anybody who wants to work with either program evaluation or anything that’s data-centered.”

Ultimately, Jason has accomplished exactly what he was aiming for: the enhanced capacity to benefit the students and alumni he serves at UConn. Jason reflects, “I feel like what I’ve learned is helping my clients, which are the students and the alumni, probably more than it’s going to specifically help me in my career. I think I could expand and advance my career in the research space or program evaluation if I so chose. The problem with that is that I love my job. I love working with the students and it’s very rewarding and fulfilling to me at this stage of my life. So, I’m just trying to make the career services program and what I do on a day-to-day basis better by utilizing data to make me a more effective career coach.”