A Quote to Say Good-Bye to Part 1 with

" Our best schools are places where children learn about the world and begin to imagine life beyond their neighborhoods.  They are places where the arts are valued and pursued—where children learn to draw and dance and play the piano, as well as to understand a poem or a painting or a piece of music.  They are places where ideas are sought and explored—for the purpose of expanding young people’s notions of justice, broadening their visions of the possible, and welcoming them into ongoing cultural conversations.  Our best schools are places where children gain confidence in themselves, build healthy relationships, and develop values congruent with their own self-interest.  They are places of play and laughter and discovery."

From the Washington Post's October 18th post on The Answer Sheet, By Valerie Strauss, "What poor children need in school" .

As I close one chapter of my journey towards doctoral-hood I immediately open another, the nontenured chair, my journey towards tenure as a dept. chair.  Please, stay with me as I share the trials and turbulations of my first years in the academy.

 

Writing your Dissertation Part 4: Revisions

A note of warning here, the revision process does not grant immediate rewards.  In my case, it delivers the exact opposition- pain and suffering.  OK, that is a wee bit dramatic, but it is important to prepare yourself mentally and physically for the amount of time and intellectual strain the revision process demands.

Here are some suggestions to make the process go smoother:
1- Know the formal and informal revision "rules" at your own institution.  At my institution it is an unofficial rule that your co-majors sign off that your dissertation is complete prior to sharing any versions to other committee members. I've heard of other programs that do it very differently, sharing each iteration of the draft as it's being compiled with all members.  The point is this, know how "things go" at your institution.  This won't be written anywhere so I suggest you find the most transparent, ho nest and trusted faculty you know and ask them directly for the low down on the revision process.

2- Chunk out a few weeks for this process and build in "down time".  After reading, re-reading and re-reading you will need to walk away for a day or more in order to get a fresh look at things.

3- Set it free..... seriously, it will never be perfect.  The writing process is never complete, so at some point you have to call it quits and just let it be what it will be or you're never graduate.  Give yourself a deadline and set the manuscript free.

I am in wait mode right now after setting mine free to the full committee for final revision recommendations.  Wish me luck for fast and meaningful feedback.

Writing the dissertation- Part 4: Respect your limits

This is a very important lesson I am about to share with you.

Respect your limits. This goes for the amount of time you can actually be effective, as well as the level of analysis your brain can possibly handle. What I mean is this: if you can only produce two hours worth of meaningful and quality work, then stop working after two hours.

Do not try to pull an all nighter. We aren't in high school anymore folks.

Also, be ok with hat you produce. It's good. Could it better, sure, but isn't that always the way with life.

Celebrate what you do have and respect your analytical limits. This is just your dissertation folks, not your life's work. You have the rest of your career to grow. T

On that note. I'm taking a coffee break! I think you should too.

Writing the dissertation- Part 3: Be OK with Change

It is inevitable that all great plans change, so allow it here too.

Can I just tell you how many times I've completely re-worked my Ch. 4- no, I can't bc I stopped counting at 5.  That is right, folks.


Also, don't forget to keep ch. 5 open while you write ch.4.  You will be inspired for points of discussion as you summarize results.  Having a place to put your "thoughts" about the data is exactly what ch. 5 is all about.  By putting it there right away, you accomplish 2 things: (1) you get to start the draft of ch. 5 early, and (2) you can do a better "objective" job at presenting the data and not your opinions about it.

So my lesson for you today is don't wait "until you're ready" to start writing your results and discussion section- just go for it.  Allow the organization to evolve as you type.  It will come together.  I promise.

That's what I keep telling myself anyway.

54 pages down folks!!!!!

Writing the Dissertation- Part 2: TRANSCRIBING and ATTACKING WRITER'S BLOCK

OK folks, here are my lessons for the week:

1- TRANSCRIBE YOURSELF-As painful as transcribing 30 hours worth of interview recordings may seem, DO IT YOURSELF. Plan accordingly, because it takes a looooooooooonnnnnnnnnggggg time!!!! However, doing it yourself allows you to begin raw analysis and "thinking through the data".  To me, transcribing served the purpose as the first read recommended by many qualitative researchers (Mchatton, class lecture, spring 2011), which leads me to my next lesson and time saving trick- write as you go.

2- WRITE AS YOU GO- If your brain works anything like mine it is on super power idea flow at all times, especially when I am reading.  This is a beautiful, bittersweet, thing. For, if I do not capture my ideas as they zoom past, I loose them, or worse yet, when I try to re-create them on paper later, they are a garbled mess with no organization (almost like a flow of consciousness that only I can follow) bc I've lost the higher order connection that sparked the idea in the first place- and that, my faithful readers, leads to HORRIBLE writing.  SO..... ALWAYS have your ms.doc chapter 4 (and even Ch. 5 if you're that good) notes open and ready for action. Then, type away- put in place holders with all caps, "WRITE SOMETHING HERE" if you can't remember exact quotes or data points.  Also, try to keep it organized based upon your pre-decided structure (see dissertation part 1 post) and even allow for sub-headers to sneak their way in as they emerge/fit. You can always change them later.  This will save you from the feared "writer's block" when you attempt to write the final chapter.  Heck, I already had more than 15 pages, organized by research question, theme, and participant sub-group before analysis was  complete. I, of course, need to fill it in to make it smooth, but that's a pretty good start if you ask me!

So that's it for now- remember: TRANSCRIBE YOURSELF and WRITE AS YOU GO!

Writing the Dissertation- Step 1: ORGANIZE

I'm back...
After a nice long break for the holiday, I'm back and ready to get this thing done.

I will do my best to share the process of how I go from piles and piles of narrative data to a well organized, thought provoking and relevant manuscript that makes sense to someone other than myself!

YIKES!

First things first- ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE

(1) Organize your data- if you're anything like me your data is all over the place with crazy file names and chaotic structures that don't align to much of anything, let alone systematic analysis.  So find a tricky process of how you like to name the files, and put them all in one place on your computer.  A lesson learned here: DO NOT have separate folders that categorize the data for you. When you go to upload them to your qualitative software, it is easier if they are all in one folder together.  Thus, the importance of strategic and systematic file naming comes into play.
I did this- DATATYPE.PARTICIPANTID#.STUDYNAME.doc
For example:
GE.AD1.CW.doc

KEY-
GE- general ed. interview
AD- participant ID
1-first interview
CW-name  I have my dissertation on my computer

I did this for each of my files and put them all in one file.

(2) Organize your Chapter 4- Before I could even wrap my head around how the heck I was going to convey this mound of qualitative data to my audience via a dissertation manuscript I needed a plan.  Therefore, I read four similar dissertations and noted how they organized their presentation of data/findings.  I then came up with my own plan, which ended up being a mixture of all. I tweaked this plan a lot over the course of a few weeks and multiple dreams of how it will or won't work (literally, I dream this stuff now) with my final "aha" coming to me at 5:00 AM one day.  I put the organization into my manuscript with as chapter titles, section titles and filed in research questions and other topic headers as appropriate.  I decided upon this framework

RQ1
   Sub Group1 of Participants Summary of Themes
   Sub Group2 of Participants Summary of Themes
   Sub Group3 of Participants Summary of Themes
   Cross-Case of all groups Summary of Superordiante Themes

RQ2
   Sub Group1 of Participants Summary of Themes
   Sub Group2 of Participants Summary of Themes
   Sub Group3 of Participants Summary of Themes
   Cross-Case of all groups Summary of Superordiante Themes

RQ3
   Sub Group1 of Participants Summary of Research Propositions
   Sub Group2 of Participants Summary of Research Propositions
   Sub Group3 of Participants Summary of Research Propositions
   Cross-Case of all groups Summary of Superordiante Themes related to each Research Proposition

Given the in-depth and personal nature of my case study design, I decided to do sub group versus individual participant summaries to increase the level of confidentiality promised to my participants.

Once this was in place I felt I was ready "enough" to get dig in and get busy (just know that you never really feel "ready"- a lot of this dissertation/Ph. D. stuff is learn as you go).

(3) Organize your life- This might sound weird, but really, to be able to devote the amount of focused time necessary in order to get this thing (your dissertation) done you need a good amount of devoted writing/analysis time each day.  And, if you're like me anything and everything that "needs" (need also becomes a much broader defined term) to be done around the house, for the kids, the laundry, cleaning the litter box, organizing the pantry and making sure all my socks are color coded and put away according to texture will pull me away from working on it.  My kids closets have never been so organized! SO, I say to you, embrace your need for order and ORGANIZE your life.  Hire or enlist help if need be, but embrace this need for control and order in your life during a time when choas seems to take control of your mind, and organize it.  Then you can really focus!  This is a bounded period of time in your life so celebrate your anal self and get do whatever it takes to get this thing done.

That's it for now folks.

I'm off to organize... maybe there are some cereal boxes that need to be categorized!

Dissertation Draft Take 5- The Proposal Defense

Well folks, it's done.  That's right.  I proposed and I passed.  Like my good friend/ colleague/ mentor/ major professor told me, "you have another marriage to prepare for now- your dissertation!"

I must add, in my uncensored fashion, "it was really no big deal".  The actual defense that is, not the getting ready for it- now THAT was a big deal.  However, once it was time to defend the proposal, the one I spent what felt like half of my life writing and planning, man was I ready.  I nailed it and you will to!

Data collection already began.  I have two more rounds to go, both of which are scheduled.  I'm on track for my May 2013 graduate, just as planned.  Man it feels good when things flow.  But no celebration yet, I still have to do what I said I'd do in that "no big deal" proposal.

The real work has just begun and I LOVE real work. Really, I do.  It beats out what I deemed meaningless/unauthentic coursework (which, unfortunately for me and those around me, is what my PhD program of study was often filled with) ANYDAY!!!!

Happy Monday y'all.  I'm off to concurrent data analysis session 1- woohoo!!! (There's nothing like "real" data)!

Stayed tuned for updates on the trials and tribulations of my final days as PhD student- yikes!