This week, I did some very intensive data analysis. Using card sorting, I divided data, named them, justified my categorisation, made a very quick sketch of it and sent it to my supervisors. A funny thing is that when I do an intensive data analysis, I stay home in pyjamas all day… A non-teaching day is an especially good opportunity to shut myself into the room, turn Wi-Fi off, have no distractions and go into ‘researcher mode’.
Card sorting
I like classic card-sorting analysis using white card paper, colour pens, labels and clips. Card sorting is a traditional, simple, very powerful way to assess any subject matter – and lots of fun! I use it for any academic/creative activity, such as literature reviews, mapping data, categorisation, chapter structure making, etc.
In my analysis, it can be more information-heavy, because I write down extra descriptions in the spaces or on the reverse of each card to eventually make a hierarchy. This ‘physical’ activity is a great exercise for the imagination (and also exciting, as I am so addicted to stationery)!
Teaching
Another achievement this week was that, after a little struggle in Monday’s class, my teaching went really well on Thursday.
On Monday, it was noticeable that a few students were struggling to keep up with the lesson, though most of them seemed fine. I wondered what I could do better for them. The students did three pairwork activities in the classroom on Monday. On Thursday, in a different class of the same course, I reduced the number of activities from three to two and decided to take more time for pair/group work activities. It worked so much better than it had the previous week.
My achievements in Week 109
- sent my quick sketch about categorisation for data analysis to my supervisors
- enjoyed teaching my Week 3 classes
Goals for Week 110
- revise some sections in the methodology chapter
- make a full transcript of one case
- write a manuscript of my speech
Katie, I’ve been following your blog for a couple of months now and I just had to comment and say that I LOVE it. The simple format, listing you goals and achievements with a peppering of ‘personal stuff’ like baking… It’s just fantastic! You motivate me you a) simplify my weekly PhD goals b) blog more about my own PhD experience and c) BAKE MORE haha! I look forward to reading these posts every week so I just thought I’d let you know 🙂 Keep it up!
Thank you so much, Katie!! Your comment really brightened my day today! Yes please, I’ll wait for your blog posts and look forward to reading it. 🙂
For me, doing PhD and blogging about it (and baking) is a great pleasure, and I’ll miss it in the near future when I’ve finished… (just started my third year but already feeling like I’m going to miss my PhD diary, haha!) Happy writing! 🙂