saturday, march 3, 2001
mad scientist

one lesson learned from my attempted research already: thank god i am not even considering going into research psychology. going through all these questionnaires has got to be the most tedious thing i have EVER done. and one of the most frustrating. and far too time consuming. and while i got a very high number back (with only 3 or 4 throw aways in the 35-40 that did show up in my mail box), i think i am exceedingly grateful that i didn't receive the 90 i thought might land in my box. sure, the lower numbers make the study less reliable, but this wasn't being looked at as truly reliable study anyway. i haven't the background for putting controls and things in place. i also learned i have no clue how to ask a truly well written study question. at least one has to be thrown out because it was incomprehensible. and that one, of course will probably throw out its matching question as well.

like any other paper i write, study questionnaires need to be proofread by someone else to make sure they are written in an understandable, clear way. i may know what i mean, but others look at it and go "huh?". finally i learned that i need to clarify terms. it seems, particularly with the net, "relationship" = "romance" even though by definition a relationship can also refer to a friendship, acquaintance, or family relationship. i got the distinct feeling that people didn't read a lot of what was asked, and when they did they either didn't understand, felt it had no relevance (although everything i put in it had relevance), or interpreted it differently than what it was written (which you'd risk anywhere. i admit). so once this quarter is done, i am tucking away my little mad scientist and locking him up forever. all things considered at the moment, we don't need one in this house.

well...waiting for me now: 2 chapters, 2 research type papers - 1 of which i still have to card notes out of 9 articles for, a think piece, and 1/3 of a book. forgive me if this entry kinda ends

right

about

here.