It’s been a somewhat slow week or two in the data collection department. I’ve had a few surveys completed, but not nearly at the rate they were coming in a couple of weeks ago. One to two a week now instead of one to two a day. I also haven’t been able to get many interviews. One, to be exact. This winter has been cramping my dissertation. The youth group from which I’m doing the majority of my interview recruitment takes place on Monday nights. Most of the really cold/snowy/icy days we’ve had this year have fallen on Monday nights which means group gets cancelled.
I’m mostly worrying about the time factor because I have a small grant for this research study that ends on June 30th. I have money for transcription and incentives that has to be spent by then. I also owe the funder a report about where the study is at and preliminary findings. This is over four months away…but it feels like it’s creeping up on me. It’s nearly March, which is music to my ears and also terrifying.
It’ll get done. I keep telling myself that. Things always get done.
The next few weeks are filled with research recruitment travel. I’m going to Chicago today and tomorrow to post flyers, meet with service providers, and try and get the word out about the study. Other trips include southern Illinois, central Illinois, and the St. Louis area. It occurs to me that I haven’t written much (here) about what my actual research study entails. I’ll do that sometime soon. But, right now, I gotta go try and get some participants!
Dissertating Under the Influence 