data collection update (take 2)

after my last post, i reached out to folks i'd previous corresponded with re: the possibility of their contributing anecdotes toward my dissertation research.  luckily, one of the three wrote back write away and said yes to contributing something the following week (yay).  i had asked if the person might be feeling challenged by the request to contribute a piece of writing and it turned out this was exactly the issue, so we decided on having a five-minute recorded conversation.  since the other two people didn't respond, i reached out to two new people, one of whom had said yes to contributing when we ran into each other in person once and the other who i thought might be interested but hadn't thought to ask earlier.  the latter responded right away and agreed to work on a little piece of writing to send to me in earlier january.  the former i haven't heard from yet, but i know i will sometime over break.  so, despite feeling like the anecdotes wouldn't come together, it turns out that i will likely have three -- i actually think this will be just the right number for this particular medium and i'm really looking forward to seeing how this pans out.

also, since my last post, i have gotten almost all of my interviews conducted and recorded.  initially, i'd proposed to collect 10-12 interviews, but i'd also expected to have a handful of workshops recorded, which i no longer have.  i've since decided to do 20 interviews and have currently conducted 16 (with 3 more scheduled for this week and 1 kind of hanging in limbo).  if i end up with 19, i think that will be a more than reasonable amount to work with.  that said, i am still kind of hoping for 20.  i'm thinking if the last one doesn't happen until january, that will be totally appropriate.  for starters, as much as i'd like to have all of my interviews transcribed over winter break, it's kind of a super ambitious goal.  i've got 12 days off and 4 already transcribed, so i'd have to do 1.25 per day, which seems kinda tough.  i guess what i'm saying is (a) i'll do the best i can and (b) i will likely have spillover into the spring semester, so i may as well not push for getting that 20th interview done before then.  hopefully, i'll have good things to report by the time i write my next post.

all that said, it's been an incredible semester.  i've learned so much from conducting all my interviews and i really feel deeply emotionally connected to this work.  i can't wait to share more as i wade deep into the data in the spring.  this has been such an exciting process and i know it only gets better and more complicated from here on out.