Slainte!
My news is that I'm finally going to have my dissertation proposal defense meeting next week, on Tuesday 3/23. It took me forever and a zillion back-and-forth e-mails to my 5-member committee to find a date and time that worked for everyone, along with a room for us to meet in. Today, I went in to look at the conference room at school where I'll be presenting, and it suddenly made it all very real and I felt my anxiety levels rise a notch, in the same way you suddenly start feeling warmer as the temperature rises.
(The proposal is where you, well..."propose" your research study. In my case, this means I am defending the first three chapters of my dissertation (the Intro, Lit Review, and the Methods sections). It's an oral defense of both the theoretical rationale for my study, and also the methodology. I have to talk about my project for 20 minutes. Then my committee members have to grill me with hard questions about the theoretical rational behind why I'm investigating my particular topic of interest, because I'm the supposed "expert" on it. They'll also grill me to make sure my methodology is sound (the research design and statistical analysis plan).
I will be asked to leave the room while they deliberate, and then my advisor/dissertation chair will bring me back in with a verdict of whether I passed or failed my proposal defense. And this is when they give you recommendations for how to proceed and often, what to adjust/change before moving forward.
Once I get over this hurdle, I'll dive into data collection/ analysis, interpretation of my statistical findings, and written discussion of those results and their implications. This translates into the last two chapters of the dissertation--Chapters 4 and 5. This translates into a busy April, May & June. It's surreal to me that the finish line actually is in sight. I just need to know that the light at the end of the tunnel really is a light and not a train coming at me!
OK. There's cabbage to be cut, and potatoes to be peeled, and Irish Soda Bread to be baked tonight. Despite not being Irish, I have enjoyed St. Patrick's Day ever since I was little--with my mom's annual corned beef, and then being old enough to have my first green beer in college, and then later, me learning how to make colcannon and soda bread. The answer to my "Erin-ness" actually may be in my ethnic heritage, which is Korean. You seek, there's a saying that Korean people are the "Irish of the East", for their expressiveness and love of song and dance and poetry and celebration. I didn't know that until 2006, when one of my parents' Irish friends said this. If that's the case, then yeah, I can get behind being kind of Irish by a stretch, if only once a year.
Bring on the brisk tea and limericks. I'll certainly sing and dance after I pass my proposal defense (and again when I finish my dissertation).
