Adjusting to Glacial Speed

I must admit that the revelation of "Glacial Speed" in the proposal process threw me for a loop yesterday.  A classmate who is ahead of me in the process told me yesterday that proposal versionS have a three to six week turn-around time.  Yes, that's "versions" with an "s"--plural.  

Therefore, I have to anticipate that the May 14th call will result in submitting version 2 of the proposal.  Say that I turn that around by Memorial Day, we are probably looking at mid-July for feedback on it.  When I expected to be turning in the final draft of entire dissertation, I'll probably be turning in version 3 of the proposal.

Add to that revelation the pollen count, and it proved to be a rather sucky Monday.  But after a good night's rest last night, I'm realizing that balance in life facets cannot be accomplished (without stress) if I work three hours a day (Monday through Friday, that is) on the dissertation...particularly in light of the latest developments.  Accepting that reality, I will continue with the literature review - it clearly is the most work out of everything.  And even if Dr. S poo-poohs some of the sections I've outlined in the proposal, I can always use that research and write-up for future academic papers.  So really, nothing lost here. 

20%

As you know from a previous blog post, Dr. S told me that he'd get back to me the first week of May, so when I saw an email from him this morning, I was thrilled that he contacted me a week early.  His email, however, said that he read through my proposal and that "we should talk"...on May 14th!

At his suggestion and endorsement, I requested another extension.  I just realized that once this is done, I'll have spent 20% of my life on this degree.

Don't Stop: Keeping on Track

I lost three days this week to business travel (again!), but I'm trying to keep on track.  

I took a lot of notes over the holidays--which feels like a hundred years ago--from Dissertation and Research Success (Buckley and Delicath).  I forgot about a completion plan timeline they suggested, so I've begun to create one with daily and weekly goals.

I think I know why I tucked it away in my mind.  The task is rather overwhelming and a completion plan only makes that nasty fact real.

I awoke this morning with the tune "Don't Stop" by Jeffrey Osborne playing in my head "ear worm" style.  Oddly enough, that song was released in 1984 when I was in my final year of my MBA program.  Even though Dr. S won't return my proposal for another two weeks, I'm just plowing through as if we were good-to-go with Jeffrey Osborne's song cheering me on.

Literature Reviews and Elephants

When looking at this stack of articles/works found in my literature search (to date: 297, down from 302 yesterday), I wonder how on earth I can get through it all.  This morning, I am reminded of the old joke/riddle:

Q:  How do you eat an elephant?

A:  One bite at a time.

Proposal Part 10: References

Before now, I didn't write anything on Part 10 (References) of the proposal I submitted last week.  The reason?  It's rather a no-brainer once you have citation software.  

I've been using a program called "Endnote" for many years, ever since a classmate (Laura E.) told me about it in the summer of 2006.  Once you get your references loaded, you can "cite while you write" - putting in end notes, footnotes, or in-text references all according to the style required (e.g., Chicago 16B, APA 6th, etc.) as you write the thought.  Then, the program automatically inserts your bibliography at the end...and alphabetizes it for you.

It works with literature search software which is typically found in a library.  My school gives me access to it as well as to the full-text articles (if the library has them, of course).  Once you select the articles you want to use, you import the citations from the search software to the Endnote program.  And viola! you have your citations already loaded to use while you're writing.

My school also gives me access to Endnote-like software, but didn't start doing that until I was well into the PhD program.  By then, I got used to Endnote, and really like it (Thompson-Reuters gives a student rate, too).  Last night, I upgraded to the latest version - X7 - that is quite the improvement over previous versions.  And with my three-monitor set-up (and 24" monitors), the new reference pane is clearly visible.  I like it.

My proposal cited 57 references.  I've actually got 293 references in my Endnote library so far.  I'm sure about 20-30% of those will be 86'd before I'm done, but being old enough to remember the manual literature searches and stack of index cards, I'm quite thankful to be writing this paper in 2014, not 1985.

Back to it

After putting the process down for a week, I'm going to get back to it soon.

I haven't been home in a week, having left last Monday to work at the home office, then Hubby joined me Friday so we could run the Raleigh (USA) Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon Sunday, April 13.  Just trying to keep some balance...all work (job) and more work (dissertation) tend to keep one's life out of balance.  I didn't break any speed records or have any PRs in yesterday's race, but my Fitbit says I ran/walked 36,000 steps and climbed 69 floors (very hilly course).  I'm rather proud of that.

So this week, I need to get my literature in order and continue with the literature review.  I picked up a couple of books on Predictive Analytics from my company's library to get a little more insight into the mechanics of the analysis I'm performing.  That (believe it or not) excites me a bit - particularly as I need to rest my legs from yesterday's half marathon.  Ow.

And we wait...

Got a note from Dr. S this morning.  His feedback will come the first week of MAY!!!

So as to not lose too much time, I think I'm going to continue with the literature review.  That takes so much time and it may shift some of the research problems and hypotheses in the proposal.

Proposal Complete - Sent to Dr. S

PEI's Tartan

I just hit "send" on the email to Dr. S with my proposal attached.  Thanks to my sweet hubby for proofing it for me.  

He tells me that it's National Tartan Day - so I may celebrate this milestone with him and a small shot of Oban.

Cheers!

Mini-Lit Review

I've put in about six hours today and only halfway through the mini (5-page) literature review.  I'm finding it quite difficult to keep my own personal biases out of it.

The purpose of the review is to simply get up-to-date with all related literature and to compare one scholar's ideas and research with another.  Where I need to write, "Jayara concurs with Mann...," I need to resist writing "both Jayara and Mann are idiots."

Are you smiling yet?

Three Month Thesis - writing it in record time without going insane

I found this lecture by James Hayton on YouTube this morning.  Hayton calls the process a "three-month thesis" - the lecture is entitled, "How to write a PhD thesis in record time and keep your sanity while you do it."  Interesting that the title fits well with the title I gave to this blog.  I see clearly Hayton's guidelines and am encouraged about my own self-inflicted timeline.

I just need to get this mini-lit review done!  Traveling with work all next week, so I really need to get the proposal finished this weekend and sent on to Dr. S.  

A fellow PhD (also just "ABD") student (Dorothy M.) just told me this week that she is "on draft 1 million of the research."  Groan...

Proposal Part 5 (REDUX): Mini-Literature Review

I found a few items on the literature review previously (see blog post from March 31st).  This is the only part of the Proposal I haven't completed yet.  I've struggled with this one for several reasons:

1. I have nearly 300 scholarly works in the literature search I did over the holidays, including those that I have picked up while writing the proposal.  So much material!  Where to find the time to read then synthesize it all?!  
2. The real literature review for the dissertation will be 40 to 50 pages long; the one for the proposal is to be only 5 pages long.  I find myself venturing on the all-or-nothing precipice. Where to begin a mini-review?
3. As you can probably tell from my blog entries, I suffer a bit from "scope creep."  I like to write, so I find myself going down various rabbit trails with particular works - whether they have any merit on the topic at hand or not.

I spoke with a colleague of mine the other day (Susan K.) who earned her PhD some time ago.  She suggested that I organize my review around the research questions.

Well...duh.  That's so obvious!  I didn't see that at all until she mentioned it.  Thank you, Susan!

Proposal Part 9: Operational Definitions of Key Terms

The Proposal assignment is looking for clear and full definitions of each key research variables, not just general definitions of key terms.

I've compiled definitions from previous works--many that now seem a bit out-of-date.  I worked on those this morning, culling out a few and put in a bit more this morning on research variables.  

Now, all of the sections of the proposal are complete except for the mini-literature review in Step 5.  I'm getting a bit excited about moving forward now. ...like this doctorate degree might actually become a reality this year.

Proposal Part 8: Limitations of the Study

Dr. Cheryl Lynch gives a quick (and I mean, quick) lecture on scope and limitations on YouTube.

I also found good descriptions of limitations vs. delimitations at the Baltimore County Public Schools website:

Limitations are shortcomings, conditions or influences that cannot be controlled by the researcher; they place restrictions on methodology and conclusions. They might influence the results found in the study.  Limitations can be found in the analysis, the nature of self-reporting, the instruments utilized, the sample, and time constraints.

Delimitations are choices made by the researcher. They describe the boundaries that the research set for the study. Delimitations define the parameters of the investigation. In educational research the delimitations will frequently deal with such items as population/sample, treatment(s), setting, and instrumentation. 

I also like How to structure the Research Limitations section of your dissertation by Laerd Dissertation.  This might be better for the actual dissertation rather than the proposal, however.