Summary Week 10

This week students have been exploring their choice of interview questions in the transcripts and looking for themes. They have discovered a number of themes, such as participants’ desire for their doctor to like them, and doctors do not appear to discuss typical age related changes with their patients. This is particularly interesting when you consider that many doctors blamed the person’s symptoms on age.

We had a lab conference call this week; one thing that became clear is that the online environment does not appear to be conducive to students’ asking vague questions. The students stated that they feel that they must have a specific question in mind in the classroom, and when they are not sure exactly what to ask they hesitate to post it. The faculty have been very open to questions in the lab, so this is an interesting revelation. Students in the meeting asked about basic issues such as what is the difference between a code and a theme. Yet, they had hesitated to address the issue in class. I have to wonder, what is it about writing out the question in class that feels more threatening? Perhaps in person they are more aware of others also not knowing the answer?

Again, I have come to realize the importance of having regular lab conference calls, where we all have the opportunity to share information and questions. We only have two more weeks of the quarter remaining, next quarter we begin writing up all our data for a possible journal article. I think the conference calls will be even more important next quarter, to make sure that we are all on the same page during the writing process.

 Lee Stadtlander