The first half of this week was a little bit depressing. One of the research participants introduced a medical scholar to me. The scholar is a professor belonging to authoritative institutions. I wrote an email about myself, my research and the sort of advice I would like to get from the scholar, and I sent it to him. His response was prompt but seemed very cold and made me feel unwelcome. I tried to say myself, “this is another lesson to learn in my fieldwork. I should know that not all professionals are nice.”
The first day of data collection
The biggest achievement of this week was that I finally conducted the first day of my data collection. On 1st February, I made observations of eight consultations and took audio recordings of three consultations. All the patients were very nice and supportive to me.
In my impression, in most situations, patients show their understanding of the research. The process of explaining the research, getting consent from the patient participants, taking notes and doing the audio recordings, was smooth. I think that the stronger the relationship is between the professionals and patients, the easier the processes are for the researcher.
Apart from the observations, my to-do lists include chapter writing and paper editing, which I have not worked on yet this week. I might need solid blocks of time to write up them.
My achievements in Week 57
- conducted eight observations and collected three audio recordings
- eight physicians agreed to participate in my research
Goals for Week 58
- have a meeting with a scholar and gain advice for my systematic literature review
- have a discussion with a research participant and arrange details for further data collection
- submit my research proposal to a conference