WOW - I need to get on the ball

Hello - here we are - another month and I did not write anything. Does that tell ya that I am super busy? Let's see here - Well, I am getting ready to start up classes in two days. My first class is a Finance course - I know I will hate this one - I don't even balance my check book. The second class is Writing for Publication - should teach us how to publish books and papers. I have published one article about two years ago. My big project when I graduate is to publish a book - this class should be able to help me with that.

As for my dissertation, I am just about finished with all three chapters. I am reviewing Chapter 2, which is the meat of my first three chapters. So far, 62 pages. Not bad. I think I went a little neurotic with my resources because I have about 8 pages worth, and I still have 2 more chapters to go.

I received approval from my company to conduct the study using international associates working at GSK. I had to go through a lot of red tape - I thought just HR would get involved, but I had to go through our Legal department to get approval as well.

If everything turns out OK - I should be submitting my IRB information at the end of this week - wow - the process is much more rigorous than it was a year ago when I requested approval for conducting research for my practicum. I have to turn in just about any conversation I have with my participants, and get all kinds of signatures. What happened to simplicity?

I am a little nervous about this fall semester. I am working full time, taking two courses, and interviewing approximately 115 people. Hmmmm....all in 4 months. Seems about impossible, but once I collect all of my data through the interviews/focus groups, I will need to transcribe the conversations (I will probably pay someone to do that - any takers?), analyze the data and state my conclusions. This will be tough, but I think it will be extremely interesting.

Until next time!