Edited by Rochelle Jones, Monday, 27 Nov 2017, 16:42
It took sometime but last July, I have moved on towards the initial element of my planned fieldwork after passing my mini-viva. I have not updated this little blog of mine largely because I have consummated my time and effort elsewhere, correcting HREC documents (a long and detailed process) and going further into theoretical and practical framework applicable to my study. That and real life getting in the way for, as a part-time student whose funding is self-generated, I have to work just a tad harder to prepare for the more financially demanding element of my proposed PhD topic. Sometimes it can get too much, still, I do enjoy the thinking through part, mulling over ideas, reading amazing works that give me that 'aha' moment that lead me to think further and further, extending tendrils of thought into something far more meaningful than they first appear. All these balancing of work, study and personal life (my husband is a serving soldier for HM Forces and the nature of his work has its own stresses and demands too) requires a lot of patience and creativity and surprisingly enough, I find the concept of reflectivity useful in that I make sense of my reality and what is going on around me by reframing them in a manner that allow me to move forward and make sense of the most difficult things. I suppose I am approaching all these through a particular scientific perspective, even noting my own biases and emotions at events and situations for the purpose of surviving and thriving.
Without the support and guidance of my supervisors, I do not think I could have moved on in my studies. They have pushed me to think, to be creative, to open up new avenues of thought I have been unfamiliar with and to grapple with what it means to be a PhD student. They are amazing thinkers who have accomplished so much that in their supervision I move forward sometimes slowly, sometimes faster than a freight train, because they inspire and their intellectual standing demands I do my best. Sometimes I stumble, but at the end of the day, I do not want to disappoint them and myself so however hard, I push through. I believe I will get there eventually as long as I keep doing the work, keep up the enthusiasm. The last bit is the easiest as I believe in my topic and I hope that at some point, when my research has concluded, it will find use, and even in some little way, make a positive difference.
Mini-viva and the next stage
It took sometime but last July, I have moved on towards the initial element of my planned fieldwork after passing my mini-viva. I have not updated this little blog of mine largely because I have consummated my time and effort elsewhere, correcting HREC documents (a long and detailed process) and going further into theoretical and practical framework applicable to my study. That and real life getting in the way for, as a part-time student whose funding is self-generated, I have to work just a tad harder to prepare for the more financially demanding element of my proposed PhD topic. Sometimes it can get too much, still, I do enjoy the thinking through part, mulling over ideas, reading amazing works that give me that 'aha' moment that lead me to think further and further, extending tendrils of thought into something far more meaningful than they first appear. All these balancing of work, study and personal life (my husband is a serving soldier for HM Forces and the nature of his work has its own stresses and demands too) requires a lot of patience and creativity and surprisingly enough, I find the concept of reflectivity useful in that I make sense of my reality and what is going on around me by reframing them in a manner that allow me to move forward and make sense of the most difficult things. I suppose I am approaching all these through a particular scientific perspective, even noting my own biases and emotions at events and situations for the purpose of surviving and thriving.
Without the support and guidance of my supervisors, I do not think I could have moved on in my studies. They have pushed me to think, to be creative, to open up new avenues of thought I have been unfamiliar with and to grapple with what it means to be a PhD student. They are amazing thinkers who have accomplished so much that in their supervision I move forward sometimes slowly, sometimes faster than a freight train, because they inspire and their intellectual standing demands I do my best. Sometimes I stumble, but at the end of the day, I do not want to disappoint them and myself so however hard, I push through. I believe I will get there eventually as long as I keep doing the work, keep up the enthusiasm. The last bit is the easiest as I believe in my topic and I hope that at some point, when my research has concluded, it will find use, and even in some little way, make a positive difference.