As we near the end of the cleaning process, I’m getting more and more excited about what we’re finding. While, yes, I have come to the point that I can’t say I like the tedious process of cleaning, I will say I do still enjoy getting up close and personal with the data, as the interviews are the glue of this study and are where we’re seeing the real discoveries. This week I cleaned the last part of the most recent interview, where the leadership team from the school was looking at the journey to committing themselves to school wide implementation of Universal Design for Learning, and what milestones they hit along the way, allowing me to hear new ideas and fill in gaps.
The biggest difference I noticed in this week’s meeting and work was the casualty of conversation between Professor and I. At the beginning of this endeavor I know I was still a bit nervous as I only knew her in a classroom setting up until that point, and was still very new to the research world and therefore wasn’t as competent in the information or vernacular. In contrast, now I feel as though in the setting of our research meetings, our relationship is much more cooperative and equal in the sense that we’re both researchers working on the same study.
In addition, I’m entering a new phase of the study where I understand enough of what’s going on to feel confident making suggestions as to possible codes and themes within the data, and giving feedback on ideas Professor brings up. One defining moment for me was when I noticed Professor started referring to the research as “our research,” which meant something to me; I was in the club.