31. May 2008

I kinda saw this coming: I only managed to write my PhD Diary for 4 weeks. And then...I went to the beach and decided to become a professional shell-collector? Well, not really, I simply got too busy. With a temporary part-time job and another rather unexpected job I need all my energy to keep going and focused.
Today is the 31 of May (I know...being at Uni on Saturday night is really sad...but at least it's warm:)s. I did quite a chunk of work between Feb and now...submitted an article, started another one, almost finished another one, I analysed the data of the International Music Survey 2 collected in New Zealand. Data collections for the same study started in Mexico and Germany. We are testing a revised short version right now in Anglophone, German and Spanish speaking countries (I'm sure you took part already, right? No? Well please take part! It's just 10 minutes!!). A Chinese version will be ready soon with the help of my wonderful friend Vivian.
Why all this stress? I am leaving New Zealand pretty soon - actually in 13 days on Friday the 13th - to attend three conferences and to give a workshop in Germany. Yes, tropical Germany it is this year. No exotic expeditions anymore...maybe I'll get a Thai massage at the airport in Bangkok, but thats's about it. I will come back to New Zealand in September to enter the torturous final spurt of PhD writing. db

20. February 2008

8:00am
This is my last PhD day of the week. First, I go through Pip's comments on the content of my results on the homepage so I can finally officially go online with it. She had heaps of very helpful and quality improving comments: thanks Pip. I would consider this as my first lesson in proper English writing;). I hope editing will not take all day as I want to start revising chapter 2.2.2. today.

8:00pm
Who would have thought...I didn't manage to do more then the homepage today. Results section of study 2 was looooots of work. I like it as it is now...unfortunately, it won't be read by many people, but anyway...

19. February 2008

10:00am
What a wonderful day: sun is shining, spirits are up. Additionally, I got up really early to call my niece on her birthday. Hence I work for 2 hours already. Try finish up 2.2.3.2 before noon. Cultural differences are a bit intense. Then, I need to do only a few analyses for music taste - that’s it. After this can do some Multi Dimensional Scaling for chapter 2.2.3.3 - how exciting:D

5:30pm
Chapter 2.2.3.2 is finished. It took - again - much longer then expected. However, after a few MDS on the structure of functions of music I began to doubt that this is actually worth to go into the thesis. Binary variables are pretty much limited regarding analysis methods and interpretation of the results. I will discuss this issue with supi first before I invest more energy in writing vague results.

18. February 2008

8:45am
Ok, new week, new goals, new motivation. I worked in our garden all weekend which makes me feel pretty great - lets see how long this motivation holds;).
This week will be divided into two parts: in the first half of this week I will work on my PhD stuff. Then, the second half will go towards another project as my boss/supi is coming back from overseas. Have to catch up with his meta-analysis stuff.
Hence, this PhD week has only three days. My goals for those three days are therefore rather humble:
1) Finish 2.2.3.
2) Revise 2.2.2.
3) Go back to article draft: get a grip of what to do, what to read, how to restructure, why does circumplex correlation not work out? I want to finish this bloody annoying piece of article before I start with chapter 2.2.1. (this will include heaps of literature search, and reading, reading, reading:)
Ok, now more long-term planning is necessary: this week goes towards finishing up 2.2.2 and 2.2.3, preparation of draft article and meta-analysis. Next week will go entirely towards finishing up the article draft.

9.00pm
Working from uni was nice - it somehow felt like coming home although I haven't been away. Trimester starts in a couple of days so campus slowly becomes lively again.
In the afternoon I played tennis with Pip. I badly overestimated my tennis skills after not playing for 5 or 7 years. I'm hopeless but it was fun anyway.

15. February 2008

9.00am
New working strategy: work relaxed, yet focussed.
Yesterday, I prepared around half of the tables that will be included in chapter 2.2.3. In keywords I summarized main findings, which will help writing this section up quickly. I aim to finish all tables by noon.

1.00pm
All but one table are done. I will leave the most fun part to the end - as a kind of reward once I appraoch the end of chapter 2.2.3.
I'm also really happy that the music symposium for IACCP seems to get sorted - pretty much last minute, but who'd thought it would be different??
After lunch break I will fix the last bugs and missing content in this webpage. My lovely friend Pip has offerend to proofread the content tonight - I'm so thankful for that! Hopefully, the homepage will "officially" go online this weekend.

14. February 2008

8.35am
Before chapter 2.2.3 bursts into an extensivly long section I will focus on analysing main themes only to beginn with. If these analyses are not detailed enough I can still go further doing the sub-themes. But I believe quantifying those seven themes will fill more then 5 pages already anyway.

1.25pm
I was working focussed and hard - and yet, it feels like I haven't moved a single step foreward. No wonder so many students never finish their thesis - you can loose yourself in detail, the whole project is overwhelming and even every single little chapter becomes overwhelmingly complex once you get into it. This PhD feels like a neverending story - and I'm just at the beginning. Weird enough is that it's still kind of fun...every single bit I'm doing is really interesting and I love my results and I love my tables and the study I conducted. If I could only switch of my inner urge of working faster, finish sooner, and the pressure of writing articles instead...then I can almost call it enjoyable work. Ha, I need Yoga, ey? Anyway, my niece is more important now and I will send her a nice birthday card, some tattoos and stickers.

13. February 2008

10.35am
Sun is shining. Life is good! Goal for today: starting chapter2.2.3. Figure how much I will have to recalculate since my six-dimensional model changed into seven dimensions. Another goal: move my butt outside to do sport! After 7pm I will continue programming results section.

12.41am
I made an overview of what to consider for the discussion part of this chapter (2.2.4) and what rather should go in the overall discussion of entire chapter two.
Chapter 2.2.3 certainly is a fun chapter but simultaneously I have too many great ideas for this chapter. I don't move foreward and the chapter seems to increase intensively. HA, I was planning 5 pages for this one - no way! Switch of brain and work, what a paradox! ANd How about interaction effects between categorical variables - is it possible to examine in frequency analyses?? Anyway, some variables still need to be coded. I was planning to code them from the very beginning in 2006 - but apparently never did. Bugger.
Ok, first I will focus on the necessary sections - then move to the fun parts. Prior to this: I need food!

12. February 2008

10pm
I had several computer problems today - one was shutting down the computer in the middle of diary writing. It's a shame, but I lost the funny stories I was telling this morning. However, back to work: I finished symposiums abstract for IACCP and reminder emails to the two missing contributions. Further, I aimed to finish the online results section for study 2. Didn't manage but it still looks great. Tomorrow evening I will continue with programming. Then I need someone to proofread. (Question: why isn't there a spelling checker in programming software). Anyway, after proofreading I can post the link in the whole wide world (and become famous and rich and pirat...btw, I'm now member of the studiVZ group: "I shit on my PhD and become a pirat" -direct translation).

11. February 2008

1pm
Yesterday, we spent the whole day recovering from our trip to Australia. We told our stories to our friends, caught up for a barbeque. Well, actually it's reallyreally nice being back home. I started work late this morning - but instead of having a bad consciousness I feel great, motivated and confident. One reason being that I talked to a very good friend of mine this morning for about 2 hours - we talk seldom but deep, which I enjoy a lot. I'm looking forward to seeing him and all my other close friends this Winter (Southern hemisphere) / Summer (Northern hemisphere).
Another reason for my motivation may be that I was ask to collaborate with some students in Mexico - how cool is that? Further, this homepage is finally online - I am not solely talking to myself anymore.

Ok, bring focus back to work: I will finish my abstract for the IACCP symposium this afternoon. Hopefully, I will receive two other abstracts by tonight, so I can finish the overall symposium abstract.

I shall make a weekly plan each week from now: This week's goals are
1) submitting the abstracts for IACCP conference;
2) writing 2.2.3 - this is going to be FUN!!;
3) revising chapter 2.2.2;
4) first structure for 2.2.4;
5) finish content of results on homepage in order to send the link out to potential participants for next study;
6) start thinking about ethics application for experiment.

4pm
Abstracts for symposium are written. Now I'm waiting for the two remaining abstracts and some feedback from supi.

8:30pm
Nor abstracts yet and neither feedback - well, time for Desperate Housewives (jaaa, I confess...kinda like it).

SASP SUMMER SCHOOL 2008, KIOLOA, AUSTRALIA

1 - 6 February 2008
Katja, Sammyh and I attended the 3rd Australasian Summer School of Social Psychology. This was a great experience - Kangaroos hopping around, the ocean just 2 minutes away, we could hear the waves...and yet we were working 8 hours each day discussing current issues in social psychology. However, Australien lifestyle didn't give us much time to recover at night - card games, breakdancing (can anyone remember this??) and thematic singing (thanks to Lisa and Jeremy) entertained us at night time. Jim facilitated one of the courses. SO the four of us from Wellington had some good time re-bonding. We learned a lot - some more theory wise other rather socially. Experiencing this summer school gave us confidence and reflection on where we stand academically and socially/culturally. In both terms our research centre CACR is special.

before and after
Before we went to Canberra (in a bus that broke down twice) we met my good old friends Bine and Rainer from my hometown. Isn't that crazy - first time in Sydney meeting Quedlinburger mates. Life's weird sometimes - in a funny way. Anyway, of course we celebrated this awkward moment with some decent (legally) imported Kiwi beer.
On our way back from Kioloa where the Summer School took place to Canberra our bus broke down again. However, this was after we had to take a detour due to a major car accident. Well, shit happens I'd say - but others neglect situational attribution and were more into personal attribution strategy - meaning they blamed me and Katja for being bus-jinxed. Maybe we shouldn't have mentioned our brake downs in Australia and the Philippines. Anyway, our busdriver was hero of the day and fixed the bus within half an hour. Finally, arriving in Canberra it was to late for our bus to Sydney. With a bunch of Summer Schoolers we checked into a family room at YHA. Well, let's summarize: noone got much sleep this night. We still managed to get up at 7:30am to catch the bus to Sydney at 9am which - surprisingly - did not break down. In Sydney we made our way to Manly while the rain became worse. We met Rainer and Bine again at Manly beach and had a great time: went swimming, body boarding, hiding from rain, had a BBQ at our backpacker which ended in having to cope with rubbishbinpuking-roommates. Anyway, our conclusion: Australia is cold and rainy, but ALDI rocks!

27. January 2008

11:36 am
Chapter 2.2.2.7 is sorted and I'm soo glad that it's done. Basically chapter 2.2.2 looks pretty great. Quickly need to go over 2.2.2.8, then start 2.2.3 - which I think will be fun.
Problem is, I'm leaving on Wednesday to attend the SASP Summer School (Society for Australasian Social Psychology) for almost 2 weeks. There are lots of reading, organising and administrative things to do beforehand. That's why I don't set any goals regarding my write-up before I leave.

25. January 2008

10:41 am
In the morning I spend some time to get the symposium sorted. I need to think about Australia - we are leaving in 5 day, hostels need to be booked, transportation organized, and ups, I actually need a visa. We are also catching up with some friedns from my hometown - so we need some kind of plan where and how to meet them. Anyway, back to chpter 2.2. I start writing up 2.2.2.6 now. Hopefully, I can finish 2.2.2 today.

2:12 pm
I'm soooo annoyed by my slowness - I would NOT call it making progress today...harrrrrr...
Anyway, at least I just send off two very important emails...now I'm curious about the replys, which kind of motivates me again.

2:29 pm
FIIIIINALLY, chapter 2.2.2.6 is done. Oh my god, it's 2500 words - arriving on page 30. Well, I guess I have to cut down quotes at some stage - however, I still believe it's good to have them in there, so I can select later.

9:32 pm
This was a ridiculously unproductive day. I wasn't even motivated enough to bike my way round around the bays. My highlight of the day was to lay in the hammock having coffee when Henry, our cat, sneaked in and fell asleep right in my arms. He even dreamt - running through forests and fields, refreshing himself at a river, then, his attention was caught by a butterfly, which he hunted and tried to eat - as far as his muscle reactions told me. Anyway, chapter 2.2.2.7 appears to be the biggest of all seven sub-chapters. At least I selected all quotes and edited them, but write up and translation will have to wait until tomorrow morning. 2.2.2.8 will be quick - me hoping again.

24. January 2008

7:15 am
Starting ealy today. I'm aiming to finish 2.2.2.4 and 2.2.2.5 today. At least. Would be good to finish reliability analysis as well. Further, I need to write the symposiums abstract for IACCP. First, I need to check with supi which study I shall present.

8:47 am
Chapter 2.2.2.4 is done:D Need another coffee.

noon
I just finished chapter 2.2.2.5. Yeehaaa. Chapter 2.2 comprises of 22 pages, now. It is so nice what some of my participnats say about the impact of music in their lives. Some stories are so touching that I still have goosebump reading them, although I read them about a hundred times by now - it's amazing. Anyway, I need a break now.

6:00 pm
Reliability analysis and write up is done. Further, I chose all quotes for 2.2.2.6, edited and translated them - this is what consumes most time. I'll do the write up tomorrow. I also spend some time organising abstracts for the symposium.
But now, we are invited for dinner again - lucky us. We have no money but are rich in friends:D

23. January 2008

noon
After entering Katja's coding into SPSS, I calculated interrater reliability this morning. This stuff takes much more time then I thought. Additionally, I need to decide which statistic to use: Person's r, Cohen's kappa, or ICC (intraclass correlation). I think I just go for the classical one: Cohen's kappa. I found a great guide for reliability assessment: http://www.statisticssolutions.com/reliability-analysis.

It's 12:30 already and I haven't even started with chapter 2.2.3, yet. I'm getting nervous about totally skrewing up my time-schedule. Ok this is going to be a long day. First, I back-up my files again given my computer runs really unstable. Hmm...this will take some time - good time to bike around the bays.

6:00 pm
I'm halfway through 2.2.2.4. It's still fun, but selecting quotes and translating the German ones takes so much time. Recognised a general rule: EVERYTHING TAKES LONGER THAN ANTICIPATED! Maybe this rule applies to almost every kind iof work..maybe it only applies to every kind of too optimistic person trying to make a time schedule.
Anyway, we are invited for dinner tonight at Carla and Antje's place. Hmm, looking forward to zucchini-free food.

22. January 2008

11:11 am
I finally finished chapter 2.2.1.3. Only interrater agreement is missing - I'm doing this with Katja tonight.
I'll quickly fix our tomatoe fence as strong gust is coming in. Then, chapters 2.2.2.1 through 2.2.2.3 are awaiting my contribution today.

5:00 pm
I've done chapter 2.2.2.1 and 2.2.2.2 - yeehaaa. It's wonderful to go through all the responses again, with auditory support by Miles Davis, McCoy Tyner and Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto (the original!).


10:00 pm
I worked for another project in the late afternon. In the evening, I familarised myself with the new online survey software "SurveyMonkey". That's a user friendly software - finally. It took me only 2 hours to learn the whole software and to get my survey online - wow. Then, I convinced Katja to code 20 percent of my qualitative data, so I can assess interrater reliability. Poor thing!! We will reward ourselfs with a nice movie and a beer afterwards:D

21. January 2008

1:47 pm
The morning was quite productive. I wrote a comprehensive 700-word justification on my decisions concerned about the method I used. I like it although I'm unsatisfied with my English - in chapter 2.2.1.3 I use solely technical language, too much passive sentence - but hey - it's boring methodology...I'm working on it! Description of how I actually conducted the analysis is still missing. This is aim for the afternoon.

late night
I got badly distracted this afternoon throughout the night. However, this homepage has a really nice picture slide show now - I am sooo proud as I've never done something like that before, and I'm surprised at the same time, as I imagined a perfect slide show to look exactly as it looks now - wow.

20. January 2008

noon
Our fishing Saturday ended without any catch but being reallyreally nice anyway. Laying in the sun, having barbeque at a river, predenting to be professional fisher-girls with our 7 Dollar warehouse-toy fishing robe:D
I got up pretty late given I was chatting to a couple of friends in Europe yesterday night/this morning. After a nice breaky in our garden I am now ready to face chapter 2.2.1.3. First I will read an interesting ethnomusicological thesis. Then, dive into writing.

2:40 pm
Chapter 2.2.1.3 "Analytical strategy: Thematic analysis" is born. However, I need some more articles given I cannot base my whole analysis on only one paper. I will organized those additional papers tomorrow. Ups, tomorrow is another holiday of unknown origin and meaning for me, so I will not be able to enter university as my IDcard expired a while ago...well, seems I have to start with 2.2.2 before finishing 2.2.1.3.

3:15 pm
I should include some music in this diary. The music I am listening describes best how I feel and what kind of auditory reinforcement I need at current chapters and writing stages.
Listening: Ludovico Einaudi - Una Mattina, while doing: incorporating content about results from a previous presentation at IACCP. Nice copy and paste job - enough cognitive involvement for a Sunday afternoon. I also collect initial ideas for chapters 2.2.2.1 through 2.2.2.8 - Ludovico is extremly helpful in this regard.

3:55 pm
Chapters 2.2.2.1 though 2.2.2.8 have nice little summative intros. I started collecting ideas for the discussion chapter. All chapters need further refinements, meaning: detailed desriptions of sub-functions of music, which will be fun as I can delve into the actual data again, reading all these nice things people said about music and selecting appropriate quotes. This will be my task from Tuesday to Friday. Tomorrow, however, I try to finish chapter 2.2.1.3, hopefully, I will find someone with a valid IDcard to let me enter my office building.
Well, it's Sunday afternoon, the sun is shining, we have around 25°C and Lyall Bay waves are calling my name. I'm out of here!

18. January 2008

9:00 am
Wanted to start writing being well motivated but had a request from another project in my mailbox. After considering what to do first I set priorities: every morning belongs to my thesis now! Re-read what I have written yesterday: it’s actually not too bad. Main goal for today: finishing 2.2.1.2, main structure of 2.2.1.3

12:24 pm
Chapter 2.2.1.2 is done. 4 pages mostly filled with dry descriptions, but some highlights of speculation and criticism referring to full discussion of these issues. Adding 2 pages with tables and 6 pages of appendix the document is slowly growing like a carrot. I planned 5 pages for Chapter 2.2.1, its 6 now with tables, but first table could go into appendix and participants description could be shortened…but this is a task for the second draft :D

12:55 pm
I have a clear structure and reading assignment for chapter 2.2.1.3 – time for lunch!

after lunch
Visited my uni office - mainly for watering Mel and my plants and chatting with Larissa, Antje and Ruth. But more importantly, I am looking for a little piece of paper with important information. It's not at home. S***, it's also not in my office - bugger.

4:46 pm
Then, I worked for my other project doing some multiple regressions with dummy coded categorical variables - great results! Afterwards I felt pretty tense - in a positive way - but unable to continue writing thesis, so I cycled the bays - strong wind from sea side, nice waves at Lyall Bay.

6:00 pm
Further reading for 2.2.1.3
This is the second day of thesis writing and not much is happening in the afternoons. I need to work more in the afternoons! At least my homepage is making progress. I try to put it online tonight.

planning weekend
Tomorrow is Saturday - first week of thesis writing was pretty short. I will try to catch up with chapter 2.2.1.3 on Sunday. Tomorrow morning, however, is fishing time. Larissa's partner Olli had this brilliant idea, so the typical bunch of girls, Antje, Carla, Larissa, Olli, Ara, Katja and I am going to Lake Wairarapa. Hmmm, I can smell barbeque fish with olive oil and garlic...

17. January 2008

I just got back from a holiday with my friends from Göttingen, Germany. We climbed Mt. Ngauruhoe, and circled the North Island of New Zealand. Now, my friends left and I am back in my home office – facing garden, sun is shining. A day almost too beautiful to start a PhD thesis, but timing has never been my strength. Anyway, today is the day. I have a content list and a rough time schedule claiming first drafts of chapter 2.1 and chapter 2.2 to be written this month.

9:46 am
I start with 2.2 as I produced an outline with keywords some time ago – a good thing to start with.

11:49 am
Little intros for chapter 2 and chapter 2.2 are written – references still missing. Scanned through keywords, made more precise outline. I realize that I need little distractions in between, such as writing emails or sending music files and pictures to people, or starting a PhD diary. Well, this is better and more productive then playing Zoo Keeper – actually this is a great idea…no just kiddin’…I’ll save this option for more desperate moments.

12:35 pm
I haven’t had problems with my laptop for over a year. And – OF COURSE – now that I started writing - sit happens. Failure notice to write on disk – “Achtung: DATENVERLUST. Fehler beim Beschreiben das Laufwerks. Bitte speichern Sie auf einem anderen Laufwerk“. Actually, there is no better time for sharpening my awareness of saving files as on page 2 of my thesis. So, while I backing up my flash drive I think it’s a good time for a break:D
The back-up and cleaning up of my computer took almost all day. Luckily, this gave me the time to cycle around the bays, which is my new life balancing activity expanding every lunch break. Good for thinking. Good for clearing mind. Good for revising structure of the chapter written beforehand.

later
At the end of the day I spend some time re-reading relevant articles in preparation for 2.2.1.3.