Dissertation update: Ups and downs; ups and downs

I feel like a broken record since I start almost every post saying, "It's been a long time since I've posted."  Yes, that's true, but I've been meaning and wanting to post more often.  I don't want to always publish "venting" type posts, although I have much even besides academia to vent about. 

This semester, like pretty much any semester, has been a series of ups and downs.  A huge "up" is that I am nearing the end of my "data collection" phase.  I am about 98% sure that I will have all of my interviews done by December.  As I write this, I should be transcribing (unfortunately, I have procrastinated waaaaayyyy too much with that), but I have increased confidence that maybe even all of that will be done by December (just, maybe, I hope).  In the midst of this I've experienced many emotional "downs"-- just wishing that it was all done; feeling overwhelmed by all the tasks yet to come and literature yet to be read; having decreased confidence in the broader arena of academia; worrying about finances and employment for the next semester; sometimes wishing I just had a "regular" job; thinking that all of this is pointless since I'm probably just going to end up adjuncting long term; wishing that I had the confidence, time and/or eligibility to apply for fancy fellowships; feeling like an imposter/ "less than" in comparison to other people in my program or other programs.  I guess all of this is normal.  I've just started realizing that I have to set daily goals and take things one day at a time instead of wallowing in all of these thoughts.  I haven't been too successful yet, but I'm getting there.

Academic struggles in the summer...

It's been yet again a long time since I posted.  A few of my in-laws were visiting for all of July; we spent a lot of time in the car going here, there, and everywhere.  Kids didn't go to day care.  We had a lot of fun; of course, it wasn't always easy having a full house, but great memories were made.   Now, here I am, two weeks after everyone has left, and I'm struggling.  I thought that I would be so motivated to get back in the swing of things last week.  Did that happen? Nope.  I've also been somewhat paralyzed by frustrations I've had with my dissertation.  I still need to get a few more interviews done, and no one is responding.  I'm not too surprised, after all, it's summer, and I know many of these people travel quite a bit anyways.  However, I've made embarrassingly little progress with transcribing, and very little progress with other aspects of the work.  I've also been distracted by other projects I took on for the summer--one for pay, although I haven't been able to do many hours for that, either, and one which was intended to help me produce a publishable paper.  But alas, these things have distracted me from my dissertation.  

I'm also struggling on this fine Monday with other things.  I feel a bit down because I miss my kids.  Not the traditional mom guilt, but I would rather be spending time with them. In summers past, they would just go to day care maybe 2 days per week, and I would plan fun activities for them the remaining days.  Although they didn't go to day care all of July, they've been going full time since everyone left.  I guess part of the issue is that we barely have the money to send them this month, and I feel partly guilty that I'm not making as much progress as I had hoped.  Nevertheless, I'm nostalgic about those 2 past summers, and the summer is almost over.  

I reckon that I'm not the only one out there who feels this way.  All this is compounded by the sinking feeling that I need to get all this stuff done so that I can finish this PhD, but I'm not too excited about what might lie ahead.  Ever have thoughts about jumping ship?  I would have to bet that I'm not the only one out there feeling this way.  Family members keep encouraging me to press on and I try to keep a positive outlook, but it's not always easy.

I don't know if anyone reads this, and I don't intend to be discouraging.  I guess this blog is also an outlet for me to be real, because so many people are afraid to be honest with themselves and others in the world of academe.  Someone asked me recently what my plan was to get back on track and finish.  I said that I was just taking things one day at a time, trying to do various tasks here and there, but I'd rather be at the playground or the museum with my kids (I didn't say that last part :)).  I guess I need to take things one day at a time, and also make the most out of the time that is left of the summer.  Because here in the North, as August becomes September, we know that we are in for those 2 nasty four letter words soon-- COLD and SNOW!

Confessions of reality

Forewarning:  this is probably not the most positive post....

In my former professional life, I had a client who used to say that everything was "useless."  I find myself feeling the same way lately.  Working on the dissertation can involve so  many mood swings-- great days when you feel productive; you have a number of interviews lined up in the coming weeks and/or you had great conversations with potential interviewees.  And, then there are times when you are going through a "Valley of Sh*t" (look on The Thesis Whisperer website for this article-- so true).  I have to admit that there have been more valleys than mountains lately for me.  Plus, it is the last week of the semester; the grading is piled high and I haven't even begun to tackle it yet.  Not to mention, I haven't been feeling well all week, so yeah, that puts a damper on things.  Also, if you've watched or read the news at all this week, you know that there have been many new tragedies on top of protracted ones (like the crisis in the Middle East).  These things just make me feel like I should have stuck with my "former" life so that I could have been fully involved in advocacy and service work. 

The other thing I must confess is that I've been grappling with that green eyed monster-- jealousy.  This is something that graduate students don't really talk about too openly.  However, I believe that the first step in trying to break free of an emotion that is paralyzing is to admit it.  I've known a number of people recently who obtained a decent amount of funding, both internal and external to my school, and all of them are around the same point as me in the program.  Truth be told, there isn't enough funding to go around (whether it be internal or external), and not everyone is eligible to apply for every grant.  Nevertheless, the constant stream of this news lately has just made me feel like everything I am doing is useless.

As a person of faith, I know deep down that is not true, and I know things could be worse.  Nevertheless, maybe the fact that I've been sick this week wasn't a coincidence, and I just needed somewhat of a break, despite the pile of work that encircles me.  Or, maybe it's just procrastination out of burn out, imposter syndrome, or something else. 

The qualitative dissertation-issues that people don't talk about too much

I've been wanting to write this post for a while now, and like many things, it had to be put off.  However, I feel that I need to write this now, mostly to make myself feel a little bit better.

Everyone knows that qualitative research has its advantages and disadvantages.  However, in all my moments of discouragement and  fishing around for articles/blogs online, I rarely see frustrations with the data collection phase discussed.

Some points, framed a bit like giving advice [but also in a way to communicate some of my experiences]:

If a substantial amount of your data is going to come from interviews, even if you have strong contacts with your target population, the recruitment process can be slow. People are busy.  If you teach or work another job, your work schedule might conflict with the time(s) that people are available to schedule the interview(s).  Some people will prefer an in-person interview; they might live far enough away to make you have to put off the interview indefinitely until you have a big enough window in your work schedule.  You might have to send several follow up e-mails before a potential interviewee responds; they might be traveling or might have just missed your e-mail because they get so many others (like so many of us these days!).  As previously mentioned, even if you have connections with your target population, you might need to meet a number of people in person and conduct those interviews before people are comfortable enough to help you in the process of "snowball sampling."  This whole initial "start up" process can take months, especially, as mentioned above, if your population is scattered geographically.

You will have ups and downs.  You might have several people express interest in a short amount of time.  You might think, "Yes! I am going to have at least a half dozen interviews within the next few weeks."  Well, half of the people who agreed to be interviewed might not get back to repeated follow up e-mails or even phone messages (again, see above comment about people being busy).  Your project is definitely not high on everyone's list of priorities.  You might even schedule an interview with someone and they will be  a "no show" and not respond to follow up contacts.  It happens, and you need to move on (ok, I am really speaking to myself here, but I am *hoping* others can relate).  On the other hand, you will definitely be inspired by your interviewees as they share their viewpoints and experiences, especially if your project has more of a phenomenological focus.

You might either be encouraged or frustrated if you speak with other dissertating individuals who have done this type of research.  Some might tell you that they reached the magic number of 40 interviews within two semesters.  You might fret because it might just take you two full semesters and a summer or more to get that far.  No two projects are the same; you have to consider some of the issues mentioned above as well as the topic of your dissertation.  Some topics are more sensitive than others and thus require the building of more trust with key members of the community.

To those of you who read this blog (first, thanks so much for reading!)- if you have done qualitative, interview-based research in the past, have you faced similar issues with the recruitment process?  I ask this as I continue to send out letters.  Also, have you tried doing follow-up phone calls if  you had a phone number for the person/organization?  I have tried to avoid this unless the person gave me their number directly or told me to call, but I am thinking that I will have to do this more in the future.

Thank you!

Reflections

Wow.  It's been a while since I've posted.  Holidays and a trip to visit family happened.  Tons of snow days and vacations days passed, oh yeah, and some sick days too (ugh).  I knew that things would be generally slow for my dissertation due to the holidays and the crazy weather, but of course, things have been going a bit slower than I had hoped.  Recruiting for qualitative research is definitely a process, and that process isn't always as streamlined as originally planned.

I have to say that despite trying to keep a positive attitude since the onset of this semester, I've been feeling a bit melancholy.  I guess reading articles and message boards about the bleak academic job market hasn't helped.  Yes, that along with the slow pace of research and constant set backs from sicknesses, the weather, and regularly scheduled school vacations and professional development days.  Of course, I am also teaching this semester, and at times I've had to really psych myself up more than usual.  I think my students are feeling it too-- it's just been a tough winter (of course, this isn't an excuse for some of the seemingly minute yet still obvious disrespect in the classroom-- eyerolling, lack of participation, packing up 10 minutes before the end of class, etc., but that is a rant for another time).  I'm having to remind myself that I really have to take things one day at a time and make my work a priority, although many days lately, I'm dragging.

That being said, I am actually grateful for last week's school vacation, when we were able to do some fun activities as a family and my husband and I were each able to have some fun one-on-one time with my son.  I heard that song "Beautiful Boy" by John Lennon later last week; I've been thinking of all these things and getting emotional.  There are days when I wish I could just focus my attention 100% on my kids without all this other stuff hanging over my head (i.e., all those papers I wish that I had finished grading already).   I often have such a hard time being fully "present" even when I am with them.  As Lent began last week, I really wish I had the strength to say, "I'm not going to check my phone repeatedly in the evenings, especially since I refuse to respond to student emails after a certain time anyways and especially since the lives of my Facebook friends are nowhere near as important as this time I get with my kids".  Maybe despite this addictive habit, I need to just make a conscious decision not to do it.  

I find that lately, as is the case for many of us in this information age, I feel overloaded by often unnecessary information rather than focusing on what matters.  Sometimes I think that getting  iphones was one of the worst things that happened in our household.  Yes, it has been helpful on many occasions, but we have succumbed to this norm of always having to have a device in hand, "checking" things.  I sometimes try to rationalize and say that I will try to look up articles for my dissertation on my phone, but I always meander to Facebook, Twitter, or some mindless game. 

As I write this stream of consciousnesses, maybe instead of flip flopping about a change I would like to make for Lent, I should just DECIDE to take a sabbatical from Facebook, or from using my phone at a certain time of day.  Yes, I have been having an issue with other things lately that I would like to change, such as eating too much chocolate.  However, trying to make a change for the better isn't always about making a change that is easy.