The last two weeks have been slow due to graduation ceremonies / conferences at weekends so it was only yesterday the four data and analysis chapters went off to my supervisor. It has proved quite a challenge to keep anywhere near the word limit I set for these so have had to include charts!
I struggled with how to show change across four modules for the longitudinal survey results in the last of these chapters. Luckily I came across stock charts which are a godsend for showing the movement in values over time and work well for three or more sets of data.
I am taking next week as holiday and hope to make good progress with the discussion. I am not expecting to finish it but you never know ... !!
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Monday, 29 June 2009
Data and Analysis Complete (almost!)
Another month goes by with few postings but progress has been made. I took a week off at the end of May which was the first time I had properly returned to the data since January. Have you ever had that overwhelming feeling of being on an ocean without a boat or a buoyancy aide? That was how I felt to start with and feared drowning under the volume of information.
Rather than writing, that week was spent re-reading the data and refreshing my memory - a frustrating but necessary time but which resulted in a clear plot for writing up the findings. Since then I have taken a further week off work and managed to produce a reasonably comprehensive but condensed set of four data and analysis chapters. The first presents the overall descriptive information of time use before, during and after the focus module . The second uses disaggregated analysis of time against the survey answers to establish trends and peaks in the results. The third reports the findings from the time given to the online learning activities and the final chapter considers the changes in time use experienced by the sample tracked over the succeeding three modules.
I still have about 800 words to write for the last of these chapters but it is substantially complete. Overall I have about 33k words written which is almost 75%. The final hurdle is to write the discussion of the findings and conclusions. I reckon I will need at least one more week of concentrated writing to finish the draft and then a further week or maybe less to mould it all together into its final form. With a fair wind I hope to have the draft finished by the end of July and the final document submitted by early September or earlier if possible.
Rather than writing, that week was spent re-reading the data and refreshing my memory - a frustrating but necessary time but which resulted in a clear plot for writing up the findings. Since then I have taken a further week off work and managed to produce a reasonably comprehensive but condensed set of four data and analysis chapters. The first presents the overall descriptive information of time use before, during and after the focus module . The second uses disaggregated analysis of time against the survey answers to establish trends and peaks in the results. The third reports the findings from the time given to the online learning activities and the final chapter considers the changes in time use experienced by the sample tracked over the succeeding three modules.
I still have about 800 words to write for the last of these chapters but it is substantially complete. Overall I have about 33k words written which is almost 75%. The final hurdle is to write the discussion of the findings and conclusions. I reckon I will need at least one more week of concentrated writing to finish the draft and then a further week or maybe less to mould it all together into its final form. With a fair wind I hope to have the draft finished by the end of July and the final document submitted by early September or earlier if possible.
Thursday, 21 May 2009
Methodology done
Last Sunday I finished the first draft of the methodology and sent it off to my supervisor. Having this blog proved really useful as it meant I could check some of the detail for the methodology without having to rack a tired brain to recall things from months ago!! I suspect I have included some justification that is not necessary and possibly not included enough detail on other aspects. No doubt Andrew will advise in due course.
I have a week off next week and aim to get the findings written up. I have a large folder containing all the various print outs so that is my starting point. I have been through it this week and collected the different headings together into an outline structure for the chapter. I have a feeling that there may be a need for more analysis but hopefully not too much.
At present I am about 50% through the first draft of the thesis. If I complete the findings in the next week that will be around 70% done. With a fair wind the whole thesis could be complete in draft by the end of June.
I have a week off next week and aim to get the findings written up. I have a large folder containing all the various print outs so that is my starting point. I have been through it this week and collected the different headings together into an outline structure for the chapter. I have a feeling that there may be a need for more analysis but hopefully not too much.
At present I am about 50% through the first draft of the thesis. If I complete the findings in the next week that will be around 70% done. With a fair wind the whole thesis could be complete in draft by the end of June.
Monday, 4 May 2009
A RED LETTER DAY!!
Finally after 4 months in total, and a huge amount of reading and drafting, the first version of the literature review is complete and has been sent off to my supervisor. Actually the writing has only taken a month although it seems longer as I have put a lot of hours in at weekends and before the day job.
The version as it stands is actually the third draft and each of the three have refined and reduced the 75k words in notes first to around 50k words then to 27k words and lastly to 14.5k words. This is still more than the 12k that I had allowed for the review but there is little point going further until I get feedback from Andrew and the rest of the thesis takes shape. At the moment all the words are pretty precious so it has been hard to cut stuff out. No doubt in a few weeks they will not be so sacred and I can be more objective about losing some.
I have been pretty assiduous in keeping my references. They need tidying up but there are over 200 books, articles and papers listed which I think shows reasonable diligence but really highlights the breadth of 'time' as a research area. Trust me to choose a focus that requires several gallons to be squeezed into a pint pot!!
The bonus of the last month's exercise is that I now have a number of notes to build into the methodology so with luck I will be able to complete this in the next 10 days or so. The end of July is not looking impossible as things stand! Just at the moment though I am enjoying the warm glow of finishing what I consider to be the trickiest part of research.
I feel a large gin and tonic followed by several glasses of wine is needed to celebrate - do join me!
The version as it stands is actually the third draft and each of the three have refined and reduced the 75k words in notes first to around 50k words then to 27k words and lastly to 14.5k words. This is still more than the 12k that I had allowed for the review but there is little point going further until I get feedback from Andrew and the rest of the thesis takes shape. At the moment all the words are pretty precious so it has been hard to cut stuff out. No doubt in a few weeks they will not be so sacred and I can be more objective about losing some.
I have been pretty assiduous in keeping my references. They need tidying up but there are over 200 books, articles and papers listed which I think shows reasonable diligence but really highlights the breadth of 'time' as a research area. Trust me to choose a focus that requires several gallons to be squeezed into a pint pot!!
The bonus of the last month's exercise is that I now have a number of notes to build into the methodology so with luck I will be able to complete this in the next 10 days or so. The end of July is not looking impossible as things stand! Just at the moment though I am enjoying the warm glow of finishing what I consider to be the trickiest part of research.
I feel a large gin and tonic followed by several glasses of wine is needed to celebrate - do join me!
Wednesday, 8 April 2009
Tipping Point Reached
Finally I feel that I have reached the tipping point in this journey through time!! Two weeks ago I started a three week block of time away from work which has allowed me to concentrate on completing the review of the literature. This has taken longer than I anticipated but when I look at the volume of material I have gone through I cannot really be surprised!
Since January I have gone through over 60 textbooks collecting comments relating to time, time use and the teaching and learning process. Similarly I have gone through over 300 articles and papers that I have collected during the last 2 years and made notes of the main points. All the notes have been entered into a Word table (as previously described) and I have around 75,000 words now.
The one thing that has really helped with this is the use of dictation software. I bought Dragon Naturally Speaking a year ago but only recently got round to using it properly. The brilliant thing is that I can dictate as I read so save a lot of time in not having to stop to type. I am amazed at how accurately the software picks up words and I reckon that it gets around 90-95% of words - even complex ones. You do need to glance at the screen to check the words but this is milliseconds.
A caution I would offer to anyone thinking of doing the same thing is to buy a really good headset with a good quality mike. My original set was cheap and cheerful but the software kept rejecting the words. Having invested in a Sennheiser headset all those problems have disappeared.
The great thing now is that I can dictate the drafts rather than typing them. This will allow me to skip around my notes without stopping and starting. I am pretty clear as to what the drafts need to include and I met up with my supervisor yesterday to talk these through. He is between sabbatical trips to Singapore and Hong Kong so it was a valuable meeting. He has agreed my plans so now I can really begin. I am also feeling more confident about the sorts of conclusions that will come out of this research but more on these later.
Last week I sent in the examination entry forms and put end of July as the anticipated submission date. All being well I should have the draft finished by the end of June so with a fair wind I should be on course.
So - Back to the writing!
Since January I have gone through over 60 textbooks collecting comments relating to time, time use and the teaching and learning process. Similarly I have gone through over 300 articles and papers that I have collected during the last 2 years and made notes of the main points. All the notes have been entered into a Word table (as previously described) and I have around 75,000 words now.
The one thing that has really helped with this is the use of dictation software. I bought Dragon Naturally Speaking a year ago but only recently got round to using it properly. The brilliant thing is that I can dictate as I read so save a lot of time in not having to stop to type. I am amazed at how accurately the software picks up words and I reckon that it gets around 90-95% of words - even complex ones. You do need to glance at the screen to check the words but this is milliseconds.
A caution I would offer to anyone thinking of doing the same thing is to buy a really good headset with a good quality mike. My original set was cheap and cheerful but the software kept rejecting the words. Having invested in a Sennheiser headset all those problems have disappeared.
The great thing now is that I can dictate the drafts rather than typing them. This will allow me to skip around my notes without stopping and starting. I am pretty clear as to what the drafts need to include and I met up with my supervisor yesterday to talk these through. He is between sabbatical trips to Singapore and Hong Kong so it was a valuable meeting. He has agreed my plans so now I can really begin. I am also feeling more confident about the sorts of conclusions that will come out of this research but more on these later.
Last week I sent in the examination entry forms and put end of July as the anticipated submission date. All being well I should have the draft finished by the end of June so with a fair wind I should be on course.
So - Back to the writing!
Sunday, 15 March 2009
Tempus Fugit
Where does the time go!!? A month has flown by without posting so what have I been doing?
Well literature is the answer. I may be being far too conscientious in collecting my references, quotes etc together but for my own peace of mind I have to do this comprehensively. I am over half way through going back over the books and articles I have collected. For the last month I have tried to get to work by 6.30-7.00am so as to get a couple of hours in before the day job starts. Weekend time has been less than intended due to various events that have come up but have still managed to get some reading done every week.
The good news is I have now agreed a block of 3 weeks time off work starting 23rd March and running up to and over Easter. This should ensure that the literature research is finished and written up together with the methodology. The findings are all there waiting to be written up so I am still hoping that the back of the thesis will be broken by end of April and the complete first draft finished by the end of May. I suspect that submission will now be towards the end of July. It may be earlier as I am planning to take a further two week block of time off to get the final draft completed.
Today I am writing a paper for a conference which is drawing on the time use data. Although it interrupts the literature research it is giving me another line of thinking to include in the findings as it is considering the differences between UK and Non-UK students.
During the last month I have also heard that a couple of friends have got their viva dates set up. Knowing this certainly spurs me on to get to that position too.
So - Back to it!!
Well literature is the answer. I may be being far too conscientious in collecting my references, quotes etc together but for my own peace of mind I have to do this comprehensively. I am over half way through going back over the books and articles I have collected. For the last month I have tried to get to work by 6.30-7.00am so as to get a couple of hours in before the day job starts. Weekend time has been less than intended due to various events that have come up but have still managed to get some reading done every week.
The good news is I have now agreed a block of 3 weeks time off work starting 23rd March and running up to and over Easter. This should ensure that the literature research is finished and written up together with the methodology. The findings are all there waiting to be written up so I am still hoping that the back of the thesis will be broken by end of April and the complete first draft finished by the end of May. I suspect that submission will now be towards the end of July. It may be earlier as I am planning to take a further two week block of time off to get the final draft completed.
Today I am writing a paper for a conference which is drawing on the time use data. Although it interrupts the literature research it is giving me another line of thinking to include in the findings as it is considering the differences between UK and Non-UK students.
During the last month I have also heard that a couple of friends have got their viva dates set up. Knowing this certainly spurs me on to get to that position too.
So - Back to it!!
Saturday, 7 February 2009
Literature, Literature
Well another month on and progress continues, mainly with the literature. Over the last 18 months I have collected a lot of books and articles which I am now distilling into notes ready to compose the literature section. I had made a start on this last year but annoyingly I have lost the file of typed notes so have had to start over.
It is a slow process as I am probably more methodical than I need be. I type the notes and quotes into a Word table with columns to describe the detail of the note, the note itself, source page number and the full reference. This way I can sort the notes and make sure that I have the correct citation. I'm also anticipating that having the notes will be helpful in advance of the viva as the literature section, at around 12,000 words, will be a very concentrated version of all the work that has been done on time over the last century or so!
I have yet to hear whether I can take a short sabattical around Easter so as to put some concentrated time into completing the draft. Certainly by the end of March I will have got the literature materials together so all being well I feel on course for submitting in June.
A book that I am finding helpful in preparing the thesis is 'How to examine a thesis' by Lynne Pearce (OU Press). It is actually aimed at new thesis examiners but I have found it useful to understand where they will be coming from both in reading the script and in conducting the viva.
Finally - Since my last post I have become a grandad as we welcomed my beautiful granddaughter, Nuala, into the world on 10th January. I now look forward to finishing this degree so that I have more time to spend with her!!
It is a slow process as I am probably more methodical than I need be. I type the notes and quotes into a Word table with columns to describe the detail of the note, the note itself, source page number and the full reference. This way I can sort the notes and make sure that I have the correct citation. I'm also anticipating that having the notes will be helpful in advance of the viva as the literature section, at around 12,000 words, will be a very concentrated version of all the work that has been done on time over the last century or so!
I have yet to hear whether I can take a short sabattical around Easter so as to put some concentrated time into completing the draft. Certainly by the end of March I will have got the literature materials together so all being well I feel on course for submitting in June.
A book that I am finding helpful in preparing the thesis is 'How to examine a thesis' by Lynne Pearce (OU Press). It is actually aimed at new thesis examiners but I have found it useful to understand where they will be coming from both in reading the script and in conducting the viva.
Finally - Since my last post I have become a grandad as we welcomed my beautiful granddaughter, Nuala, into the world on 10th January. I now look forward to finishing this degree so that I have more time to spend with her!!
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