This is going to be a very short post. Today was fairly scattered. I was not able to get a significant block of time at the library because of tutoring and tennis commitments. That said, I made the best of the time I had.
The session with the tutor was productive, the focus was on clarifying some terms. My biggest take-away was what she said about quantitative research. She drew a pie and indicated that the majority of the time is spent on data cleansing and data preparation and only a very small sliver, about 10%, is actually spent on analysis. As I read it now, this makes sense given that tools such as SPSS will do all of “the math” quickly and efficiently. The issue is getting your data ready for the analysis. We spent a good amount of time discussing different ways that I need to consider recoding my variables. This session was a good follow-up to the SPSS Part II workshop that I took on Thursday. I plan to take two additional workshops in July. My understanding is coming along slowly but surely and I have to remember to be patient the pay-off will be there if I create the proper foundation.
I did a small bit of writing this week and have given myself a very firm deadline to submit a portion of my dissertation to my supervisors. I am quite motivated because my partner and I are heading to the US for a short vacation and I want to be able to be able to fully enjoy the mini-break without any guilt. Fun and frolic here we come!