What do I mean by a "dedicated office"? It is a
room that is used primarily as an office; it may occasionally be used for other
functions, such as a guest room, but it returns to its office use. Often a
guest room is used for this purpose. I want to make it clear that none of the
workspaces I have discussed are "bad" they each have challenges, it
just a part of working from home that must be dealt with.
The advantages of an office are that you have a door that
you can shut, reducing the noise and intrusions. Of course, if you have
children, that may not make much difference! In general, it makes it easier to
maintain privacy and confidentiality of your data. I still, however, recommend
a locked cabinet, to reduce any chance of a confidentiality issue (the IRB will
insist upon it). The disadvantages are that you may feel cut off from your
family and you may need to enter transient mode when guests take over the room.
Make sure you remove or lock up any papers or data you are working on.
Otherwise, you may discover the guest has accidently packed them and taken them
home.
Next time I will post an announcement. Do you have an issue
or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Would you
like to be a guest writer? Send me your ideas! leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu
Good morning,
ReplyDeleteI know that we are never to mentions names and to always keep data safe and secure. But what do we do when family members ask about our study and how we collected the data? What if they want an example of what was collected, is this ok to share with them? Sometimes a sensitive family member (hubby) wants to show interest and support and if confronted with a "sorry, I cannot tell you that information at this time" may become offended or even hurt. How do I avoid uncomfortable family situations like this?
Hi Sam,
ReplyDeleteThat is an interesting question! I would say you can talk about anything related to your study EXCEPT people's real names and perhaps names of any companies/ organizations you work with.