Light at the End of the Diss Proposal Tunnel

Yes, it's happening. My dissertation proposal is probably 90% finished. I have a couple of short sections of the lit review left, the chapter outline and schedule of deliverables, and I need a snappy title. Hard to believe that this hoop is almost jumped through! Going to the Qualitative Health Research Conference really helped to solidify my thinking and feel much more confident in what I'm doing for my research.

I'm also weirdly excited to start doing the grounded theory methodology. It really appeals to me to a) create a theory and b) become immersed in the data. It will be tons of work with interviews, observations, transcriptions, coding and memo-writing. But it seems like it's structured in a way that requires you to really be consistent and work on it every day rather than letting it pile up, which is a good strategy for me if I can stick to it. The hard part will be being in the field during the day, possible working at DHS as well as keeping up with the transcription and initial coding. Especially at the beginning when it will be so unknown and seem daunting.

I talked to one of my classmates yesterday for an hour about a phone interview she had for an academic position. This helped to light the fire as well because I have to keep my eye on the prize. The reason for all of this is to get an academic job and to have a research agenda moving forward.

Ok, off to a meeting with Tom and his other advisees. I can't believe a month has already passed since the last one!!

I don't like all text posts so here's a picture of me from fall of 1972. My Grandma Costello knitted that poncho. I think this picture just says FALL!!!

Surprisingly this picture is in better shape than it appears here. I scanned it with my iPhone.