Merry "Diss."-mas
Well, Christmas shopping is done. All of the presents are wrapped, except Jen's. And I still have a few days to spare.
That means, of course, that I have plenty of time to work on my dissertation. Ugh! I do enjoy it, when I get into it. And I have some good plans in place for the next steps I'll be taking. But I'm really tired of all this stuff looming over me. Time to get it done.
This week, it'll be Chapter 3 (Methodology). I'm on the third draft of that wonderful chapter. I just hope that I have fewer drafts than Marcy did. I shudder when I think about all of the revisions she made to her methodology and pray that I'm not in for the same, but I probably am.
For me, I think, the problem is that I kind of need to recode my research, and so that's holding up production on this chapter. Because how can I say what I did, if I haven't technically done it yet? So right now I'm working on the "ology" (the theory behind why I'm doing what I'm doing) and the actual "method" (what I'm doing) is temporarily on hold. Eventually, producing a draft of this chapter will mean that I'll be writing in hypotheticals, which I'll eventually have to carry out. Not impossible but complicated.
The next time I work on a project this big, I'm working from the inside out. Data, Methods, Implications, Introduction. That is, what did I find? How did I find it? What does it mean? And how should I present it? I kinda did that to begin with but got side-tracked when I started submitting chapters. I feel like my director has guided me into a process where you begin at the beginning and work to the end, just in asking to read Chapters 1 & 2 before reading 3. I've obliged, but it's been difficult and frankly, from my point of view, inefficient because I have to rethink, reshape, and represent so much as I work through the data, what it means, and how I plan to present it. I know that's all part of writing, but it feels like a much grander scale than it could/should be. So I'm learning a lot about how to handle these huge projects. That's always good. But I'm also plugging away much more slowly than I really want.
"Hi Ho. Hi Ho..." Well, you know the rest. August (at the very latest) is my goal. Wish me luck. :)
That means, of course, that I have plenty of time to work on my dissertation. Ugh! I do enjoy it, when I get into it. And I have some good plans in place for the next steps I'll be taking. But I'm really tired of all this stuff looming over me. Time to get it done.
This week, it'll be Chapter 3 (Methodology). I'm on the third draft of that wonderful chapter. I just hope that I have fewer drafts than Marcy did. I shudder when I think about all of the revisions she made to her methodology and pray that I'm not in for the same, but I probably am.
For me, I think, the problem is that I kind of need to recode my research, and so that's holding up production on this chapter. Because how can I say what I did, if I haven't technically done it yet? So right now I'm working on the "ology" (the theory behind why I'm doing what I'm doing) and the actual "method" (what I'm doing) is temporarily on hold. Eventually, producing a draft of this chapter will mean that I'll be writing in hypotheticals, which I'll eventually have to carry out. Not impossible but complicated.
The next time I work on a project this big, I'm working from the inside out. Data, Methods, Implications, Introduction. That is, what did I find? How did I find it? What does it mean? And how should I present it? I kinda did that to begin with but got side-tracked when I started submitting chapters. I feel like my director has guided me into a process where you begin at the beginning and work to the end, just in asking to read Chapters 1 & 2 before reading 3. I've obliged, but it's been difficult and frankly, from my point of view, inefficient because I have to rethink, reshape, and represent so much as I work through the data, what it means, and how I plan to present it. I know that's all part of writing, but it feels like a much grander scale than it could/should be. So I'm learning a lot about how to handle these huge projects. That's always good. But I'm also plugging away much more slowly than I really want.
"Hi Ho. Hi Ho..." Well, you know the rest. August (at the very latest) is my goal. Wish me luck. :)
posted by Brad Smith at 9:45 AM
3 Comments:
Hey Brad! Good luck on getting the methodology done. My case was not typical and so I have a good feeling that yours will go better. If you want to look at mine as a sample to see how I worked the theory with the "what happened", I'd be happy to email that to you. Just let me know!
Happy Holidays!
Marcy
I'd love to take a look at it. The more info I have the better. But isn't it available online through ISU's library?
I'm moving into re-coding in the new year. I'm going to try to be a little more systematic this time around. I liked my last system, but it wasn't very replicable or testable. So I'll be working on that in the next month or so.
Just an FYI - I ditched the whole "methodology" thing after I ended up in the psych ward for an unpleasant stay....just so you know - that is an option :)
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