Once more...

I honestly hate to say I haven't made too much progress with my ARP, other than completing the abstract. The methodology won't be so hard but what scares me is the introduction, despite knowing exactly what it is I'd like to write and how I am going to write it. I guess it's a matter of just starting.

My first interview went great, and I managed to record the entire thing on my camera. Working on transcribing it, and coding it afterward.. which will be the hardest thing to do in regards to the interviews. I've tried contacting the one next on my list, but despite having emailed him nearly a week ago, I haven't gotten an answer. I'm debating moving on to the one next in line, or sending another email and waiting. I'm honestly leaning toward the later, since there is very little I need to ask the other after my first interview and I don't have time to wait another week! It just really irritates me that it takes so long just to get a reply... I understand being busy, but after waiting a full week already without a reply at all is unacceptable to me.

What ever happened to courtesy?

I've also sent my survey to the public but am having very little luck having people take it. Only six last time I checked, and I accidently deleted half of my respondent's answers. I'm going to email it to the class again in hopes I'll get more, and start asking my professors next week to see if I can send it out to my other classes as well.

Interviews, yay! 8D

I finally finished setting up the first interview I'll be using for this project, and actually have it tomorrow morning. I'm really excited but also nervous I'm not asking the right questions or won't get enough information. My second concerns revolve around actually collecting the data, because I don't have a tape recorder (at least I won't be getting one in time) and I'll have to type down everything she says. I don't want to forget something or not be able to jot it down (or just screw it up) and miss info that could be regarded as important but I am going to try doing it also on my laptop using the sound recording system... although, the quality isn't exactly all that great even while speaking as loudly as you can without screaming.

I've started writing the abstract for the research paper and although I haven't started the introduction (That's going to have to be huuuge... 1000 words? Oh boy.) I'm starting to feel slightly relieved that the worst part will be over once it's finished, and we are sort of taking it step by step. Multimodule writings won't be hard unless (collection of works that need citations, a poem I plan to try and write, a piece of artwork all of which will be displayed on posterboard) I decide to also make a video and otherwise my survey was approved, so I'll start sending it out ot the public shortly.

Working on...

Surveys and interviews. My survey thus far is just "all right" in my opinion. A total of eight questions has been reduced to six, due ot the other questions being considered unnecessary to my project- not that the questions I left have an exact purpose I completely understand. Otherwise I've decided to include gender, age range, ethnicity and religion into my survey as they are -I realized- an important part of the results although finding what ethnicities to list as options are hard as not to insult anyone. As for interviews, I've taken a step forward and sent out my first proposal to one of the psychology professors. It's already been two days though and I haven't heard a word back- I'm assuming she hasn't gotten to the email yet, but I hope she replies soon. I don't think I can ask the others I plan to interview until after I've established a time with her first due to what limited time I actually have to conduct it.

Although current progress isn't amazing, it's definately starting to move more than before and I'm glad I've started real progress.

Midterms week.

To be honest, I've made very little progress since my last post. Bombarded with work, a wide number of essays and midterms all at once, I've had little to no time to work on setting up an interview. Due to work schedule (amongst other things) and left with only one day I can interview anyone, I'll have to wait until Tuesday when I get my schedule for next week to send out the emails. I'll likely have much more openings then- after all I can't just leave my respondent with nothing but a couple hours in one day to choose from! I have developed a few of my questions though, and have drafted several survey questions for Monday. It's still pretty hard thinking of  the right way to put questions.

I'm trying not to fall behind but know I should have at least set up interview times by now. I'm nervous about that and the interview themselves, hoping I get enough information and what I need--especially since I would really rather not rely on scholarly journals for anymore than a little over than half my research. Mostly because its pretty hard to find any that are recent.

Cordona Breezeway between the times 11:20 and 12:00 am. Observe, observe, observe.

Last class, we were divided into groups and instructed to go out to different parts of the school and observe the level of student activity in those areas, as well as what they were actually doing. My group was sent toward the Law school, namely the Cordona Breezeway. During the brief time I spent studying and observing the large number of students occupying the vicinity (nearly every table was taken or full), the first thing I noticed was all students appeared to sit with their own group of friends, judging by the large amount of chatter at practically every table. At first, the only students that actually appeared to be studying were those by themselves that were left to their own devices. It wasn't until later that the white noise dulled down slightly, and more students at the tables being occupied looked like they were reading or preparing for tests with many tables being covered by texts and papers. The second thing was, despite being right next to a small cafe, almost no one student looked like they were eating or even had food, yet it appeared as though every table had some kind of bottled fluid (mostly water). I also saw very few students actually walk into the cafe, as most remained in their seats--except men. Many men, I saw, would often get up or those that arrived would walk to a table to converse, but although there would be a seat available to sit in, many of those same men would remain standing. Not just for one or two minutes, but for a prolonged period of time before either sitting finally, or leaving the area.

Lastly, another couple of observations I noticed -this time with the help of my group- was that amongst the crowd of students in the Breezeway, only two of the males occupying the space through out the entire time had been black. Also, nearly every student carrying a backpack had it filled completely and most were very large. Compared to undergraduate students, the law students occupying the vicinity were also very rarely on their cell phones either calling or texting.

Prepping for interviews and other stuff, goodie.

I'm still fixing up the last of my interview questions I'm getting prepared for the four I hope to ask questions. The fourth person's questions are actually coming up slower than the rest since I'm really hoping I don't offend them with anything I ask. I feel like I'm over examining everything and I still have to keep finding more sources for my research since I really don't have anything but discrimination this and discrimination that, I still want to find things, a lot of things to shed light on my topic. Although so far it looks like I can only find nothing but the "bad stuff" about it which is extremely disappointing but at the same time helps fuel my motivation, making all the more reason as to why I need to do this and give others another way to look at sexual orientation. Also, due to literally having very little to absolutely no time on my schedule between work and school and attending tutoring and midterms and other projects and essays (Oh my!), I haven't sent any emails asking for interviews yet but depending on my next schedule, I certainly hope to... despite all this I really hope I'm not falling too much behind schedule. Ugh!