rivka: (her majesty)
[personal profile] rivka
So. I'm in Iowa City.

I'm here for the exact same fucking reason I was here ten months ago: my dissertation isn't done. I'm bogged down in data collection. The undergraduate research assistant I recruited to collect my last subjects flaked on me after running a grand total of four subjects - which is an improvement over the previous undergraduate research assistant, who flaked on me without running any subjects at all. This time, I at least kept in good contact and sent her frequent prompts and reminders - but much good it did me, because she stonewalled me at first and then just stopped answering my e-mail.

So I'm out here again. This time, I plan to run the remaining 25 subjects myself. In the next two weeks. While I continue to work on the grant application from a distance.

Does it show that I hate this?

I'm furious at the research non-assistant, obviously, but I can't put all the blame on her. My own fecklessness and poor choices and procrastination have more to do with why I'm not finished than anything else does. I should've been finished before I hired her ten months ago. I should've been finished before I went on internship twenty-seven months ago. Everyone who started when I did finished long ago. Intellectually, I know that it's not a race. Emotionally... I'm so ashamed of not being done that I can barely tolerate working on the damned thing, which is not the most helpful way to be.

I'm getting more done now that I'm here. I still have a low-grade panicky feeling in my gut, but I do feel better now that I'm actually moving forward. I can run 25 subjects in two weeks. I can recruit the missing 11-12 subjects in two weeks. I can get the data entered as I collect it and be ready to start data analysis by the end of the two-week period. My planned analyses are pretty simple - they won't take long. So two weeks from now I should be on the downward slope. That's the plan, anyway.

I just have to get through the next two weeks. That shouldn't be as hard as all that.

Right?

Date: 2002-09-22 09:20 pm (UTC)
ext_6418: (Default)
From: [identity profile] elusis.livejournal.com
I feel your pain. It's now been a year and 3 months since I passed my qualifying exam with flying colors. It's been 6 months since I had a sit-down meeting with my advisor and came away burning up with passion for a clear dissertation topic. And I haven't even finished the revision to the IRB application.

I just can't even think about dissertation work right now, with my job being so scary and trying to get licensure and etc. etc. etc. But I know I have to get moving because this is where so many well-meaning ABDs get lost.

I just can't fathom actualy dealing with research right now. I can't even seem to write up the research conference I attended, and all that is is summarizingy my notes so the other MFTs in my state know what went on. Ugh.

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