Wednesday, May 10, 2017
Come and participate!
This quantitative research will examine demographics, health behaviors, self-efficacy, autonomy, relatedness and competency to determine if one is a better predictor of engaging in healthy behaviors.
A summary of the results of this study will be posted on all websites where this invitation was posted and will be available in late 2017.
Thank you for your help!
Creativity and the dissertation
Is working on a
dissertation a creative process? I believe that it is, yet not in the way of
the creativity of writing fiction. In fictional writing, you are creating a new
world, one that may or may not reflect reality. A fiction writer has rules that
must be followed in form and must, in a sense, build and support the world that
the story is set in. However, the end point is created by the author; when
starting the book or story, the reader does not know exactly where the story
will go.
In writing the
technical material of a dissertation, you are constrained by the specific rules
and formatting. However, you must develop an idea and project that has never
been considered before, something new and therefore creative. You must support
your creative idea with literature and it should build on previous work, but it
is your own creativity that moves the project forward. The reader of your
dissertation also does not know where your "story" will go, that is
an outcome that is determined by your data.
Next time, I will consider
catching creativity. 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
Monday, May 8, 2017
Fear
Where does fear fit
into your dissertation journey? Is it in the front seat, screaming at you at
every turn? Is it driving? I have been reading Elizabeth Gilbert's (author of Eat, Pray, Love) new book, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear.
She has a wonderful letter she writes to fear that I would like to share with
you.
Dearest Fear: Creativity and I
are about to go on a road trip together. I acknowledge that you believe you
have an important job to do in my life, and that you take your job seriously.
Apparently your job is to induce complete panic whenever I am about to do
anything interesting and, may I say, you are superb at your job. So by all means, keep doing your job, if you
feel you must. But I will also be doing my job on this road trip, which is to
work hard and stay focused. And Creativity will be doing its job, which is to
remain stimulating and inspiring. There's plenty of room in this vehicle for
all of us, so make yourself at home, but understand this: Creativity and I are
the only ones who will be making any decisions along the way. I recognize and
respect that you are part of this family, and so I will never exclude you from
our activities, but still - your suggestions will never be followed. You're
allowed to have a seat, and you're allowed to have a voice, but you are not
allowed to have a vote. You're not allowed to touch the road maps; you're not
allowed to suggest the tours; you're not allowed to fiddle with the
temperature. Dude, you're not even allowed to touch the radio. But above all else, my dear old familiar friend, you are
absolutely forbidden to drive.
I love this
imagery! While you need fear to keep you motivated on your dissertation
journey, you do not have to let it be in charge! Over the next few posts, I
will be sharing more insights from Gilbert's book.
Next time, I will
consider more about creativity. 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
Gilbert, E. (2015).
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear.
Friday, May 5, 2017
Too Similar?
There is nothing like the panic a
researcher feels when they find a study that appears similar to theirs! What do
you do?? First, take a deep breath, rarely is a study going to be identical, so
relax. I suggest your next step is to analyze the differences and similarities
between yours and theirs (a spreadsheet works great for this).
Compare
the population/ sample. How are they similar and different? Look
at their methodology. How are they different? What measures are used?
If
you find they are virtually the same, consider tweaking yours to add to the literature
(this should always be your goal!). Perhaps adding a different variable or two
would tell us more about the issue. If the previous study was quantitative, a
qualitative or mixed methods study may provide interesting insights which are
not evident in a quantitative study. Keep in mind that a major limitation of
surveys is people are limited in their response to the choices given; they may
have more to say.
Perhaps
you can slightly modify your population to look at the issue in a new way. A
hypothetical example might be originally, you wanted to look at diabetes in
children and its effect on their schoolwork; your plan was to talk to the
students and parents. Let us say you found a very similar study. You could
tweak yours and look at the teachers' views of diabetic children in school. How
knowledgeable are they about the illness and how do they see it affecting the
children's work?
I
often suggest students use the similar study as a contrast in their paper.
Example: "Smith and Jones (2014) examined children and parents' views of the
effect of the child's diabetes on schoolwork. The present study will extend
this work by examining the perspective of the teachers of diabetic
children."
Next time, I will consider fear. 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
From Stadtlander,
L. (2015). Finding Your Way to a Ph.D.:
Advice from the Dissertation Mentor, p. 10
Wednesday, May 3, 2017
Online surveys
What do you need to know about
using online surveys sites (such as Survey Monkey) for your dissertation
research? The advantages of such surveys are that they can be set to be
anonymous, your participants can do the survey at their leisure and can be from
anywhere around the world, and you can set it up exactly as you want. However,
there are a number of negatives to consider. Participants may not finish the
survey, leaving you with incomplete data that you typically cannot use. The
surveys can be tricky to set up for the first time user, and to go beyond the
basics (about 10 questions), you may have to pay a large annual fee.
Some things I have
learned over the years of doing online surveys. Keep them as short as possible
(no more than 15 minutes), longer than that you will have a lot of missing
data. Have several friends be pilot subjects and take the survey looking for
anything that is not clear or misspelled. Interview these individuals after
they have completed it and get their impressions of the experience. Did they
ever feel offended with any questions? Was it interesting or boring? How long
did it take them to complete it?
Begin your study
with a consent form, end it stating that by pressing the "NEXT"
button they agree to be in your study. Make sure you specifically ask if people
fit your inclusion criteria (e.g., over 18, married at least 10 years, native
English speaker, etc.). Set up the question so people who do not fit the
criteria are exited from the survey (this may be called a logic function, e.g.,
if less than 17 yrs old they are sent to a "thank you, but you do not meet the
necessary qualifications" page). Finally, make sure you thank your
participant for being in your study!
Next time, I will
consider how to handle finding a study that is too similar to yours. 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
Monday, May 1, 2017
Committee as Collaborators
Students often are
confused about the role of their dissertation committee. In a sense, committee
members are collaborators in your project. They help you to think through your
design, suggest resources, offer writing suggestions, and may help with your
statistics. Most faculty are quite willing to help you think through issues
that arise and problem solve.
On the other hand,
committee members will not write your paper for you, test subjects, some may be
willing to offer editorial and statistical help but it is not required. Your
committee is there to offer guidance as you complete your study, but they are
constrained by many rules. If you feel that you may be going a little too far
in a request, ask if it is appropriate.
Think of your committee as members of your dissertation team; you are
all pulling together to get you done!
Next time, we will look
at online surveys. 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
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