Research Update

I had my second Committee Meeting on Tuesday, January 27...and its taken me this long to process it all.

I prepared for the meeting by presenting an estimated timeline of my research.  To create this, I worked backwards, starting with my ideal thesis defense date: October 26 (9 months from now).  I then included all other official due dates and dates for all committee meetings.  Each of these were about 2 months apart.  It was then a matter of filling in the gaps.  

I also prepared a more detailed outline of my thesis.  To do this, I reviewed previously published theses and analyzed the similarities.  I created chapters for my outline which include: Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Results and Findings, Discussion, and Future Research.  There were, of course, sub-categories to each of these chapters detailing my plan.  

When I entered my committee meeting, I was so proud of these 2 major accomplishments and felt like I was really ready to move forward with the research phase.  When I left, I was more confused then ever- and the next week was one of the most stressful and frustrating I'd had!  My advisors began sending me articles to reference and asking me questions in terms I thought I understood, but clearly did not.  Conceptual Framework, Secondary and Primary Research, and Push or Pull Influences...these were all terms I'd used before and felt comfortable with, until after this meeting.  I realized that everyone within the committee was using these in different ways, and by the end of it all, I didn't know how to make heads or tails out of any of this information and was incapable of answering even the simplest question.  I am not one who gets discouraged this easily and knew I had to find the source of this disconnect.  

I realize that this is another issue that all student researchers face.  I have seen my classmates breakdown any given week because of misunderstandings.  I have now, 2 weeks later, decided how I will deal with this and know that it is first necessary to establish a common vocabulary within the committee.  Also, I feel fortunate that my timeline is different than most graduate students.  Because I entered the program in January, I have 2 summers within the length of my program.  I did keep this in mind when creating my timeline document for my committee, focusing the majority of my research during the summer months.  My advantage is that I can spend this semester working to fully understand the research process and developing a strong and comfortable backbone for my thesis.  My goal is to dedicate 10hrs/week to my research- no more, no less.  This way I can continually make progress towards my thesis while focusing on my course-work and the 20 hrs/week for my RA, without overwhelming myself.  Before I felt too pressured for time, but now realize that I was the only one putting pressure on myself.

Key Tip #4: When overwhelmed, take a step back and re-evaluate your situation.

Taking the time to re-evaluate the situation grants one of the biggest pay offs.  I now plan to dedicate more time and effort to my Market Research class, which will answer all these questions about terms and processes.  I also plan to read "The Elements of Academic Research" my Edward McCuen.  These sources will both help me to develop a common vocabulary with my advisors and be able to answer the questions that confused me just a week ago.  Basically, I was trying to do too much at once.  Now, I am preparing myself for a summer dedicated solely to my research and writing.  Joy...haha...but this does relieve so much pressure.

Key Tip #5:  When in doubt, refer to the professionals.

The final documents I prepared for my second Committee Meeting are specific to my research and process.  I began creating a DETAILED timeline of the past 120 years.  I included anything and everything that I felt had an impact on the automotive industry.  This list is still going and I plan to add to it every time I research.  My goal in creating this timeline is to identify all the factors that could have played a role in the development automotive fabrics.  There is no final plan for this information, but it is more fuel for my fire.

I also began researching the best-selling automobile in history: the Ford F-series trucks.  I am looking at these trucks on a yearly basis, analyzing everything from the annually-changing grille to the bed size and of course the interior.  This is going to serve as my pilot study.  I hope that this study will enable me to make connections between stylistic eras and what was happening with the interior (based on my DeLeo swatches) and to develop an organizational system in order to evaluate all fabric that I plan to analyze.  So far, this analysis is off to a strong start (from 1948-1960) and I hope to finish this analysis by my next committee meeting on March 24th.  Of course I plan to report my most fascinating findings on the F-series to my blog audience!