Where did it go? I think that's a record for the fastest a month has ever passed. Well it's not quite over yet, but I can't believe uni goes back next week. I've finished uni but Allie, my flatmate, doesn't seem overly excited about going back. I love going back to uni after holidays, weird I know, but I love starting a new year. And this is my FIRST year I've been out of school since I was 4!! I did SEVENTEEN years of school and now I'm not going back. Oh well, one must move on eventually. As for my oldest sister, Carly, she's just finishing her PhD in Contemporary Arts (painting) and her thesis is due the end of this month. Yikes. She's a professional uni student, and proud of it. Leesa, my other sister, recently moved to north-eastern Victoria to live near our mum, but she hasn't been able to get a teaching job (she has an Education degree), so she's in the process of starting a job at a 000 call centre! Could be pretty stressful, but she's made for those situations!
I think I'm going to go to Focus next week, seeing as that's one of the days I don't work. Just to see what they're up to! I can't let go... ;)
Adrian leaves for his short-term mission trip on 9th April. He'll be gone for 11 months in total. I leave for Europe 8 days after he leaves, on 17th April. I'll be back on 23rd June. Exciting times. We're really kinda desperate to promote his trip, not for financial support, but prayer support and just to have people knowing about it and taking an interest. I know our church in particular is trying to be more and more mission-focused, and it just seems that this is an opportunity we should be embracing, to have one of our church members going on a not-so-short mission trip to somewhere that has so many huge needs. So hopefully Mick Elliott from SIM can come and speak at Wellspring sometime, and hopefully people will go HERE (bookmark it!!!) and read about it and learn about Bolivia and Ecuador, maybe pray about it, and take an interest. The Bible Society is making Bolivia their big project for this year, so you'll probably see their brochures and stuff in churches around the place.
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A FEW WORDS ABOUT DISSERTATIONS AND DISTANCE LEARNING
The most rigorous part of the dissertation includes the
Methods Section
Study Design
Research questions and hypothesis formulation
Development of instrumentation
Describing the independent and dependent variables
Writing the data analysis plan
Performing a Power Analysis to justify the sample size and writing about it
Results Section
Performing the Data Analysis
Understanding the analysis results
Reporting the results.
When you enter this phase of the program, you are nearing the end of the journey. Given the difficulty of this phase, one often wishes they had previewed what was to come.
Many Ph.D candidates seem to hit a brick wall and feel disarmed when called upon to work on the methods and results section of their dissertation.
This is the point where many students diligently search for help calling on their advisor, peers, university assistance and even Google.
This is also the time when the student asks themselves the question" HOW MUCH HELP IS TOO MUCH".
Surely no one will deny that having your dissertation written for you is very wrong.
On the other hand, it is not unusual for doctoral students to get help on specific aspects of their dissertation.(e.g. APA formatting and editing) It also is not unusual for advisors to encourage students to seek outside help.
If you are a distance learning student it is almost essential you seek outside assistance for the methods and results section of your dissertation. The very nature of distance learning suggest the need for not only outside help but help from someone gifted in explaining highly technical concepts in understandable language by telephone and e-mail.
Distance learning, and the availability of programs, has increased exponentially over the last few years with some of the most respected institutions (Columbia University, Engineering; Boston University and others) offering a Ph.D in a variety of fields. If you are enrolled in a distance learning program, or considering one, you will be interested in reviewing the reference sites listed at the bottom of this page.
As stated above, many students hit their dissertation "brick wall" when they encounter the statistics section. Frequently, a student will struggle for months with that section before they seek a consultant to help them. This often leads to additional tuition costs and missed graduation dates.
If I were to name a single reason why a PhD candidate gets off track in their program it is the statistics and their fear of statistics.
So, the question is whether or not it is ethical to get help at all. If so, how much help is too much.
I don't know if there has ever been a survey of dissertation committee members who were asked this question, however, I know many advisors take the following position when they suggest or approve outside help:
To a large extent the process is self controlling. If the student relies too much on a consultant, the product may look good, however, the student will be unable to defend his/her dissertation.
It takes a committed effort on the part of the student and the consultant (resulting in a collaborative/teaching exchange) to have the student responsible for the data and thoroughly understand the statistics. The day the student walks in front of the committee to defend, there should be no question as to his/her understanding of statistics.
When their defense is successful, the question of "was the help too much" is answered.
If you are a Ph.D candidate and would like additional information, you may email me at:
Boyd
boyd67@comcast.net
Reference sites:
http://www.usdla.org/
http://www.cgsnet.org/
http://www.statisticallysignificantconsulting.com/
Why did he feel I needed to know that?
Is he a friend of yours?
Thanks for your ongoing support Renae.. I'm considering a quick quiz at church on Bolivia and Ecuador, perhaps other Latin American countries also. It'll be interesting to see how much the church community knows about these countries when tested. A good way to learn I reckon!
Will pray for your preparations for Europe, and for work...
Adios.
A.
I'll keep that in mind too...
Anyways, lots of exciting times await. All we need is a going away party at Knoppies so I can be rude again... why is it that when I talk to a fictional character on the phone people think they're real and when it's a real person, they don't believe me. Sigh. What a predicament.
Anyway, it's latish and I have to work on the morrow, so au revoir, a bientot (it should be spanish, shouldn't it, oh well, you'll just have to endure my English and French).
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