5 years into my PhD, and already ABD and drafting my dissertation, you'd think I would have already started a digital record of exactly what I'm doing. It' s taken over 5 years to reach the point where it's finally time to digitize.
Today starts a record of where I am in the writing, thinking, and coding process. Up until today, I've worked in all manner of digital mediums, but not in a blog format for purposes of the diss. In fact, almost all of my dissertation and meeting notes are handwritten in a journal I collaged from a 1970's book on color theory (below).
Today starts a record of where I am in the writing, thinking, and coding process. Up until today, I've worked in all manner of digital mediums, but not in a blog format for purposes of the diss. In fact, almost all of my dissertation and meeting notes are handwritten in a journal I collaged from a 1970's book on color theory (below).
I'm starting the digital record primarily to be able to point my advisor toward a convenient place to see what I've been working on and questions I've been thinking about. Also, my colleague Matt and I have decided to check in with each other once per week as we are both aiming to finish our dissertations by the end of the summer. This accountability method will also be more effective if I can write my reflections on the diss process in one spot. (Then even mine it later for use in the dissertation text). In addition, this is also just for myself to keep a visible record of my progress from here to the finish line.
Digitizing my reflections and process will be useful as a way to subvert the archaic and "printed black and white" constraints of the dissertation genre. Because the graduate school "discourages the use of color in graphs and charts," I plan to offer my professional page and blog as "additional and supporting material" when I hand the draft off to my committee. While I've managed to conform my writing and research to the very traditional nature of the dissertation format, it is equally as important to me to show media-laden, artful, informative images that further engage an audience.
I'm currently coding my first set of student data--there are 2 sets. The set of "A" essays students composed at the very beginning of the English 211 course I ran as part of my dissertation study. The set of "B" essays the students wrote after being a part of the course (English 211: Circulation, Innovation, and Audience Interaction, which was a themed course with the alternative title, "Writing in the Social Sciences and Humanities"). The essays both as students to talk about themselves on the spectrum of the terms "problem-solver, composer, writer, designer, artist." What I'm looking at is how students' perceptions of composing, and of themselves as composers, changes after taking a course which encourages the use of all available means of communication.
Coding has been a big hurdle--I had to really research various approaches (Creswell and Saldaña, etc...) to understand coding processes and figure out which would best fit my research. My advisor and I settled on using Grounded Theory, which means I read the texts and identify recurring themes and words/phrases that arise from the text. Then I compare those themes/words/phrases across the set(s) of data.
First, I'm moving through the "A" set for each student, then looking at them as a group, then I will code all of the "B" essays as one group. Then I'll code the A and B together for each individual student.
Today is a big day for another reason though--my new 15" Macbook Pro is out for delivery! No more waiting for Photoshop to render! No more laptop hot enough to burn my quads! No more gray screen and spinny rainbow wheel! I have high expectations and I spent awhile saving up for what I really needed for my graphic design work. I'm thrilled to have a new machine after my old one gave it a good 5+ year run.
Back to coding...aiming to have it finished by next Tuesday.
Digitizing my reflections and process will be useful as a way to subvert the archaic and "printed black and white" constraints of the dissertation genre. Because the graduate school "discourages the use of color in graphs and charts," I plan to offer my professional page and blog as "additional and supporting material" when I hand the draft off to my committee. While I've managed to conform my writing and research to the very traditional nature of the dissertation format, it is equally as important to me to show media-laden, artful, informative images that further engage an audience.
I'm currently coding my first set of student data--there are 2 sets. The set of "A" essays students composed at the very beginning of the English 211 course I ran as part of my dissertation study. The set of "B" essays the students wrote after being a part of the course (English 211: Circulation, Innovation, and Audience Interaction, which was a themed course with the alternative title, "Writing in the Social Sciences and Humanities"). The essays both as students to talk about themselves on the spectrum of the terms "problem-solver, composer, writer, designer, artist." What I'm looking at is how students' perceptions of composing, and of themselves as composers, changes after taking a course which encourages the use of all available means of communication.
Coding has been a big hurdle--I had to really research various approaches (Creswell and Saldaña, etc...) to understand coding processes and figure out which would best fit my research. My advisor and I settled on using Grounded Theory, which means I read the texts and identify recurring themes and words/phrases that arise from the text. Then I compare those themes/words/phrases across the set(s) of data.
First, I'm moving through the "A" set for each student, then looking at them as a group, then I will code all of the "B" essays as one group. Then I'll code the A and B together for each individual student.
Today is a big day for another reason though--my new 15" Macbook Pro is out for delivery! No more waiting for Photoshop to render! No more laptop hot enough to burn my quads! No more gray screen and spinny rainbow wheel! I have high expectations and I spent awhile saving up for what I really needed for my graphic design work. I'm thrilled to have a new machine after my old one gave it a good 5+ year run.
Back to coding...aiming to have it finished by next Tuesday.
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