Who am I?

Where is my research "home?"
I feel like a little, lost orphan, wandering outside in the cold, peeking in peoples' windows and wondering if I could see myself fitting in to their world. And I realize that "not all who wander are lost," so maybe I needent feel lost. I could quite enjoy just wandering. But I do - I feel lost.
Where do I fit?

Finally!

We (Dr. Mark Smith in SES and I) finally found a home for our paper "Teachers are making a Difference: Understanding the Influence of Favorite Teachers" - based on research we're doing with preservice teachers and using "Favorite Teacher Stories" as both a research method and a teaching tool with preservice teachers. The Qualitative Report has accepted our manuscript and will be working with us to publish it!

Back to work for now, but super exciting! :D

So I'm a Snob

I don't like to think of myself as a snob. And for the most part, I don't think I am. I mean, there's things that I might notice, like spelling and grammar errors, but it's not like I attack or look down on people for it or constantly correct them and rub their writing in their faces. Nope, not a lot gets a rise out of me.

Except data. I think I might have a problem when it comes to data.

In fact, it is progressing to the point that I might be a research/data SNOB. *gasp*

For example, I'm going through a stack of problematic data that our office worker passed on to me - she and another student entered the rest of this ginormous stack, but these ones had been causing some problems for various reasons. So now, as I'm taking care of these problem-children, I'm also running in to problems with some of the other records that were created - data under certain record ID numbers in the database don't match the data for the corresponding record ID numbers written on the hard, paper documents. Some originals have record ID numbers written on them, but these same ID numbers don't seem to exist at all in the database. And then there's the really picky things like incorrect names and hours/minutes being recorded, which, in turn, screws up the reports when you pull them...

And I am sure that is not all human error - the database is great, but has its glitches. But I find myself thinking, "oh no, oh no, oh no, no, no. This is not right. What is going on here?!? " followed by the thought that makes me feel like a data snob:
"I should have just entered this myself, because now I can't trust the numbers are accurate, and I've got to double-check it. ALL of it."

I've already gone through about 1400 individual entries for the tutoring data. Just to make sure.

I get so concerned about how the data was collected, how accurate it is, how accurately it is entered - I'm even the one who goes through and revises the instruments because how can you report on frequency or rank an item with two parts to it? For example, say I'm supposed to assign Never, Almost Never, Sometimes, Frequently or Always to a statement like "My tutor was friendly and professional." Well, what if the tutor was friendly, but not professional (or vice-versa)?
Who else even cares about these things?
[okay, so fortunately I can think of a few other people, like Kiki, so I know I'm not alone :) ]

But seriously, I think I'm developing a problem...

Oh well. I'm just very detail-oriented and aware of the importance of accuracy. That sounds much better than "data snob" ... right? :)

And in other news, I've got some good, some bad, and some ugly...
Well, more like some awesome, some good, and then some ugly.

First, the ugly: I have to spend winter break revising my lit review. It wasn't up to my prof's expectations. It's promising - it's on the right track - I've got "good intuition" with regards to the topic - but it's not where he thinks it needs to/could be. However, while the lit review may be pretty ugly, the situation really isn't. First off, how many profs read lit reviews from an entire class, give thoughtful feedback and some great suggestions (I feel like I've actually got some direction, now, whereas I was definitely lost and wandering earlier) to every single student? Second, how many profs give you an incomplete and the chance to improve your work (as opposed to just failing you?). Finally, how many profs encourage you (and mean it!) to continue bringing your work to them for feedback whether the course is officially over or not?
I seriously think I'd like him on my dissertation committee...
But, in the meantime, lots of work and fixing to do so I can get a grade in place of that dreadful "I" on my transcript.

Second, the good: passed EF with flying colors, and really, really got a lot out of the class. "Executive functions" is a phrase I have started incorporating in to conversations daily...or at least every-other day ;) Definitely given me plenty to digest.

Finally, the awesome: I actually got an "A" in statistics! What!?! I've given up on getting A's in stats classes - qualitative research courses I do well with, but the harder stats, not so much. I'd settled for working my tail off for "B's." but I pulled an A??? Yay! I still don't believe it, but I've checked about 5 times and it still says the same thing.

Aaaah. Now, just need to clean up that "I"...
But first, back to work!!

Hope everyone else is hangin' in there and is ready for the Holidays.
And CONGRATULATIONS to Kiki for PASSING HER DISSERTATION and landing a sweet VISITING PROFESSOR position!! It's "Dr. Kiki" to you! :)

A Partridge for Your Pear Tree

Haven't posted in almost a month - crazy, crazy school (and I'm not done yet! shhhhh!) - but I needed a bit of a break (seriously, it took me about 5 tries just to type "partridge" - I've been at it for a bit...)
Anyways, for a bit of a break and a chuckle, check out Straight no Chaser's rendition of "The 12 days of Christmas"

More later, but enjoy for now!

Straight No Chaser - 12 Days of Christmas

There seems to be a recurring theme in my life...

Today's Aquarius Horoscope: Nov 18, 2008
If you often help people in need, dear Aquarius, or if helping people is part of your profession, this day will bring certain ideas into the light. You need to take the time on a regular basis to take care of yourself! If you don't, you won't be able to continue to help others. Think about this, and stop making excuses! Think of yourself for once!

blech

So last week I started to panic when I realized how close we are to the end of the semester, and exactly how much work I have left to do. A large majority of that work needs to be done this week, so I figured on being super productive all weekend.

Saturday was okay - I was semi-productive - definitely took care of quite a few things that needed taking care of. But didn't get a good run on any of the BIG projects. But that's okay, I figured, I still had Saturday night and all of Sunday.

But then I started to feel like I was going to die. And while I'm exaggerating somewhat, I'm really not exaggerating that much. Coughing up mucus and crap from my lungs and coughing so hard you feel like you're gonna' puke, and couldn't talk all of yesterday (haven't tried yet, today), and the pounding headache.

Needless to say, I didn't get much done aside from sleeping. The best part is that I feel like a slacker for it. Which is just silly!

It is also definitely reinforcing the thoughts I've had of moving back into town, but that's a whole additional story...

Okie dokie - out to do chores and then off to work and school. Everyone have a great day! :)