Tomorrow is the “big day”. I start my 6 day workshop on Quantitative Methods which will culminate in an assignment due in mid-December. Generally I adhered to this week’s plan and have focused on text book reading and reviewing papers in my field of study to see practical application. The real win for me occurred when I revisited an additional text book, Management Research, by Easterby-Smith, Thorpe and Jackson. The book has three chapters on quantitative methods that I had read in June. At that point it was a really tough slog, but now I understood many of the concepts.
So I think for me the key success factor was a matter of triangulation and time. The Statistics Without Tears was a great foundation and generated some confidence to tackle the Multivariate and Management Research text books. I am not as prepared as I would like to be, but feel that I am in a much better “headspace”, both emotionally and technically, to embrace the learning ahead. Also my partner has reminded me that I don’t have to “fully” understand everything all at once. I will need to do additional coursework, reading, and practice over the next few months to prepare for my Pilot Study and then a great deal more enroute to my thesis. I have already created a development plan that highlights this, but I had forgotten about the longer term plan in my anxiety over the immediate tasks ahead.
I did a few additional things to prepare this week. I downloaded SPSS and spent a short while walking through the tutorial. It does appear to be very user friendly which is comforting. Also, I reviewed the workshop agenda which is very practically focused, this created an additional sense of ease. I plan to optimize the opportunities to practice and ask questions – technical, theoretical, and practical (based on my field of study). My other priority is to ensure that I get my workouts in, and stick to healthy snacks throughout. Sounds trivial, but for me sitting in class all day tends to be highly correlated to increase caffeine and sugar intake. I will resist!