September 30, 2005
I have finished transcribing eight interviews. I feel like the data are amazing. I did two boys today. I have only done girls so far. They were different. The boys take a little more prompting. They are sometimes satisfied to leave it at “this is my house” and I have to ask them to talk more about why they took the picture and why it is important. Jim was interesting because he really talked about class differences in his town and how his mother was treated at school open house because she doesn’t have as much money. He is very reflective. He also loves his mother and what she does for the family. I think the mother/child relationship is getting discussed a lot in these interviews. They are very loyal to their parents. I also became interested in Bob’s stuttering. I was looking for patterns in his speech; when he did it and when he didn’t. Sometimes he articulated exactly what he wanted to say and other times he repeated not only consonants, but entire phrases several times when trying to express his thoughts. I am still working on titles and I am wondering if I can do something with the saying “Maine, the way life should be.” Bob mentioned it in his interview and it makes me think about a lot of different aspects of Maine and who came up with this saying and was it a tourist or a native? Where did he or she live? Should Maine be different in any ways?
Friday, September 30, 2005
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Who's driving?
September 25, 2005
I find it so interesting to listen carefully to the tapes and to see where the interviews go. On Friday I transcribed my conversation with June. She was quite emotional in the interview and we even stopped. What it interesting is that I didn‘t lead her to that place. We were on another topic and she brought us back to her mother. She needed to tell me. It is amazing. An image that resonated with me from this interview is that she took a picture of a license plate to represent her identity. It had four numbers on it and she said that she is one of just a few in her state and school. Very interesting.
While I am transcribing I am also constantly wishing I had gone a little further, wishing I had asked just one more question to go a little deeper. Interestingly, the interview will often go back to those deeper questions later on. It is like a spiral—we revisit a similar theme or idea but go in deeper and talk about it more completely, round out the picture a little better.
I find it so interesting to listen carefully to the tapes and to see where the interviews go. On Friday I transcribed my conversation with June. She was quite emotional in the interview and we even stopped. What it interesting is that I didn‘t lead her to that place. We were on another topic and she brought us back to her mother. She needed to tell me. It is amazing. An image that resonated with me from this interview is that she took a picture of a license plate to represent her identity. It had four numbers on it and she said that she is one of just a few in her state and school. Very interesting.
While I am transcribing I am also constantly wishing I had gone a little further, wishing I had asked just one more question to go a little deeper. Interestingly, the interview will often go back to those deeper questions later on. It is like a spiral—we revisit a similar theme or idea but go in deeper and talk about it more completely, round out the picture a little better.
Monday, September 19, 2005
“What do you think it is that makes these kids resilient?”
September 19, 2005
Today I was asked: “What do you think it is that makes these kids resilient?” I know it seems illogical when they grow up in an environment and what they see is all they know. Christina’s mom is doing drugs at her house, she is sending her away to her grandmother’s house so she can party with her friends. Christina wants nothing to do with drugs, she doesn’t want to screw up her life like her mom did. And yet you’d think that she would be more inclined to be doing drugs after the exposure and access to them. What is it that makes her not? I hear anger and frustration in her voice. In her egocentric, adolescent mind, her mother’s choices are impacting her quality of life and in her eyes this is wrong. Is it the anger and bitterness that keeps them from making it part of their lives? Where do their aspirations come from? Maybe this question will get answered.
Today I was asked: “What do you think it is that makes these kids resilient?” I know it seems illogical when they grow up in an environment and what they see is all they know. Christina’s mom is doing drugs at her house, she is sending her away to her grandmother’s house so she can party with her friends. Christina wants nothing to do with drugs, she doesn’t want to screw up her life like her mom did. And yet you’d think that she would be more inclined to be doing drugs after the exposure and access to them. What is it that makes her not? I hear anger and frustration in her voice. In her egocentric, adolescent mind, her mother’s choices are impacting her quality of life and in her eyes this is wrong. Is it the anger and bitterness that keeps them from making it part of their lives? Where do their aspirations come from? Maybe this question will get answered.
Saturday, September 17, 2005
This is my world
September 17, 2005
I am feeling incredibly attached to my data, possessive, territorial. Maybe this is common when it is your first research project, and yet maybe this is just my passionate side coming through. I have the potential to get someone to help with the transcribing. I am hesitant to bring another person on board; to give some one else access to my data. I feel obligated to uphold my promise to the participants to not share their information with anyone else. I am committed to the trust they had in me and the work they did. My data are rich and I want to get into them, to see them from all angles. I know that to get to that place I have a lot of work to do and I know that it won’t take away from my project to allow someone else to help me. I also find that I want to hear their voices again. I want to spend time with them while I am transcribing their interviews. My personal attachment to the participants is standing in my way when it comes to giving up some of the work. But there aren’t enough hours in the day. There isn’t enough time to get everything done and this help would be an asset.
I am feeling incredibly attached to my data, possessive, territorial. Maybe this is common when it is your first research project, and yet maybe this is just my passionate side coming through. I have the potential to get someone to help with the transcribing. I am hesitant to bring another person on board; to give some one else access to my data. I feel obligated to uphold my promise to the participants to not share their information with anyone else. I am committed to the trust they had in me and the work they did. My data are rich and I want to get into them, to see them from all angles. I know that to get to that place I have a lot of work to do and I know that it won’t take away from my project to allow someone else to help me. I also find that I want to hear their voices again. I want to spend time with them while I am transcribing their interviews. My personal attachment to the participants is standing in my way when it comes to giving up some of the work. But there aren’t enough hours in the day. There isn’t enough time to get everything done and this help would be an asset.
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