The Intent

I finished my first draft of my intent. It feels like things are much clearer. I have felt unsettled about going with the hope theme because that was my word, not theirs. Now I am much more comfortable with the decisions I made to really just look at resilence and how my participants define it. It is usually the dominant society (middle to upper class) which defines what success is and it is quite possible that an adolescent growing up in rural poverty could in fact have a different definition of what it means to be successful and resilient within this context. The implications for gaining a better understanding of how this population defines success and resilience are numerous for practicioners. I think I will also be able to try to get at why many of them are not successful (by the dominant culture's standards). I have also worked out the details of my methods. I have decided to conduct my interpretive focus groups at 7 schools with approximately 50 kids. I am then going to do 5 nested case studies where I interview the parents and a teacher that is connected to five of my participants. The nested case studies will help me to triangulate my data and add rigor to my study.

My next issue is funding. I have applied for a research assistant through UMF, so if I am able to get one to help with the transcribing, then that will be a huge asset. I am also looking for other funding options so that I can compensate my participants and their families.