Hijrah
I have decided to upgrade. So this Hijrah is in order. So here is where I will be from now on. Hopefully this move will bring self improvement, self gratification and self salvation for myself and who knows others too :-)
A little something about interview trancriptions
A new year has arrived, although between yesterday, today & tomorrow means no more than time is closing in on me!!
Anyway here are some interview tips (For making transcription easier) for friends out there considering interviews in their studies:
1) Get a decent digital audio recorder, and set them up properly. Use the Noise Cut function but Avoid using the Voice Over Recognition (VOR) – it paused when there’s a pause in the conversation, which sometimes cut off some of the beginning of a conversation. You’d be left guessing what it was
2) Ask the most relevant question in one recording based on your Interview Schedules (make one - highly recommended!!)
3) During the interview you may find interesting issues that you’d wanted more info, note them down, so you’d remember, but avoid asking about it then. Ask them later, after all the main question have been asked and answered, preferably use a separate recording
4) Most of the time, Wait until the respondent answer/ or ask a question – don’t cut in to avoid unclear / mumbled up words because of cross conversations, you are not in a debate! Although some respondents tend to do that…
5) When in doubt - Use your instincts!
Some Mechanics of Transcription to consider:
1) Get a software that allows you to -
a. Use short keys while transcribing – the usage of mouse really slows you down, and cause ergonomic problem to your palm!!
b. Slow the pace of the conversation, really important for some people who talk rather fast and for people like me who are slow typist (or slightly pekak badak) ;-)
c. Divide the audio recording into several files, to save time from locating where you last stop especially for breaks in transcribing process
2) The above (which I found in the Sony Voice Editor version 3) helps boost your morale in the process. And believe me, when I tell you, your morale can be very, very, very low after some times. For instance the function to divide the files, allows you to divide the files where you last stop, and you may keep the original recordings. You can divide them for instance into 3 files at different intervals of the audio conversations, and listen to each one of them separately. Once you’ve divided them, you may delete the ones that you have listened to, hence it would leave you with the balance of the recordings, giving you the impressions that now there’s lesser time to listened to on the original recorded audio. The help of the software avoided me from feeling nauseous he..he..he..but I do feel rather sleepy at times, especially if you listen to someone who can drive you to dreamland :-D
3) If some of the interviews needed translation (where the parties spoke in English & Malay intermittently), do it in one go. Although if the interviewee spoke fully in Malay, it’s advisable to keep one in that version for reference first. I believe translation process is easier than transcription, once you have everything on paper. You really want to avoid going back to the tapes again!
4) Backup is not enough, print a copy every time you finished one interviews. (I lost one of them from over backing up actually!!)
5) Ask for help! If you can get some… Although I can tell you, no amount of love would make anybody do it for free :-P
6) Keep your sanity intact, cry when you need to, and go for breaks when there are some major achievements, and completing one or two transcription doesn’t cut it, do 10 then go on holiday ;-)
With all the above technique, minus all the cooking, eating, sleeping, play no so desperate housewife time, I manage to finish 31 interviews roughly in less than 3 months. It could take even less time than that if not due to my laptop ram problem and my exhaustion. AND EXHAUSTED I AM!
That said I have to be back at work...Happy New Year everybody :-D
Phd Experience - Malaysian Version
Now at least the experiences of my Malaysian Phd counterparts were researched and documented! Interesting findings indeed from the eyes (and mind of 18 PhD candidates in UPM). The study focused on the qualities and strategies of the supervisory relationship in particular.
One quote basically summarised (partly) what those experiences were:
"From this last year, I now know what I don’t want to be when I become a supervisor later on. I know I don’t want to be like her…. (Allison, PhD student)"
You can read it in full here.
Sydney Law School Postgraduate Conference
My recent trip to Sydney was actually planned around my intention of attending this programme - Sydney Law School Postgraduate Conference on the 29 of October. It was a whole day programme held at the Sydney Law School, University of Sydney with 'Law and Social Reality' as the theme of the conference.
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| The New Law School Building |
The Keynote Speaker was Prof Jane Goodman-Delahunty. Her talk was focused on the need for more empirical legal studies to foster 'evidence-based decisions to promote social, procedural and distributive justice within organisations and the community'. She strongly promotes legal researchers to embark on inter-disciplinary research and create a cooperative ventures with researchers from other disciplines.
One of the papers presented really interest me - the one by Sonya Willis, on 'Civil Procedure Meets Social Reality: Can Case Management Really Help with the Unending Quest for Justice?'. She presented on what is considered as case management especially in NSW and whether the right to a fair hearing came into apparent conflict with principles of case management.
I specifically asked on whether ADR played any role in the Case Management... Although the overall answer to that - would be it depends...but based on Ms Wilis experiences in litigating civil cases, especially, some cases are worst of with the presence of compulsory ADR. Hmmmm....more points to ponder....
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| One of the presenters...on Singapore Environmental Reforms ;-) |
Anyway, it was great to have the chance to see the university and experienced the running and 'connection' from within, since it is the oldest university in Australia :-) I hope to be back some day!
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| University of Sydney's Oxbridge-inspired grounds... |
Fighting for better education experience...
I am turning October into a training month (it seems). I was only initially thinking of attending the ‘NVivo 8’ courses for navigating my data. But ‘news’ that LTU is ‘closing down’ its training unit to students by the end of the year, had me also registering for the ‘Word 2007 – Long Document & Thesis Formatting’ courses for navigating and formatting my theses. I don’t understand why such course of action is taken, considering that we (students) had to pay for most of the trainings.
The training unit and the LTU Postgraduate Association are still fighting the decision, but still it’s rather risky to wait & ponder whether it will be around next year, so that means I had to cramp 4 days of training in the midst of my transcription process! It’s sickening to see how unis such as LTU is run nowadays – more so like a corporation rather than a uni. It’s beginning to be more about money instead of quality education and experience. They are happy to take all your money, but they’re reluctant to grant you the services you paid for.
Recently, all the postgraduate students in my room, including me, had to be relocated to another room in 2-3 weeks time so that our current room can be converted into an office to accommodate administrative staff. We actually wrote a memorandum expressing our concerns of the recent request to relocate us. This request was actually one of many proposals which had disrupted our working environment in the past twelve months.
These amongst others include informing us in November 2009 that the carpet would be re-laid in the current room by Christmas 2009 and were asked to pack and clear our workstations in expectation of such work. But after several communications with the administrators in between December 2009 to June 2010, the scheduled work did not proceed. We were left in anticipation of such work for months, wondering whether it’s a good idea to pack or unpack. Then in April 2010, the builders removed a wall and workstation in the room without any notice. This sudden renovation left one of my colleagues without a work space and caused major disruption to her work environment.
We felt that we are losing our rights as postgraduate student by the days… Hence, in the memo we highlighted that “we are concerned that the Faculty has failed to accommodate the needs of postgraduate students, especially in terms of the lack of consultation on our part. In addition, the Faculty does not appear to have long term plan for the provision of suitable working space for doctoral/postgraduate students. We belief the message that the Faculty is sending us by such actions is not encouraging of research and learning.”
I personally think the memo would not make much different with our recent situation, but at the very least, we have expressed our thoughts over the matter and hopefully in the future, we don’t get trampled all over that easily! Seriously, it’s about having the best of education experiences, not managing the politics of it. Thinking back, it doesn’t seem that Malaysian unis are doing that bad; seriously!
Saving Safely
In the midst of my interviewing activities, I have forgotten to update on my previous post. Anyway, my respondents have now reached 20 plus people. I am actually cringing over the thought that the numbers might reach 30 or even more. Transcription as have been expected is a different story altogether. I am ashamed to admit the numbers of transcription that I have completed (or not completed). What made it more complicated, when some of the interviews were bilingual. This means I have to do a double transcription for each and every one of those interviews. I would rather play with the children than DOING THAT!
To add to those complications, I have issues in arranging and save-keeping orderly and privately the audio files and transcription documents. I recently got the scare of my PhD ‘data collection’ life, when I lost track of one the transcriptions. I finally decided to upload all the files in Google Doc and put a lock & password on it…pheeewww….I now can keep track of the files safely and ensuring all the data privacy, even if - Allah forbids - I lost my physical storage in whatever forms that I have now.
I guess I should have done that a long time ago, even with the chapters I’m writing. It’s fairly very easy and up to a limit of 1 GB, everything (well most of everything) can be uploaded for free. I am using Google, since I have an account with them. There are basically a whole lot more place/space you can do it in the web, some with a small amount of premium per-annum/month. Happy saving!
To add to those complications, I have issues in arranging and save-keeping orderly and privately the audio files and transcription documents. I recently got the scare of my PhD ‘data collection’ life, when I lost track of one the transcriptions. I finally decided to upload all the files in Google Doc and put a lock & password on it…pheeewww….I now can keep track of the files safely and ensuring all the data privacy, even if - Allah forbids - I lost my physical storage in whatever forms that I have now.
I guess I should have done that a long time ago, even with the chapters I’m writing. It’s fairly very easy and up to a limit of 1 GB, everything (well most of everything) can be uploaded for free. I am using Google, since I have an account with them. There are basically a whole lot more place/space you can do it in the web, some with a small amount of premium per-annum/month. Happy saving!
Intricacies of Interviews in Malaysia
Interviews requires a certain amount of skills & techniques. Lots of references out there will discuss most of those skills & techniques. However, when conducting interviews in Malaysia, there are some other matters that needs 'extra' consideration.
I personally think, in Malaysia most of the time when you are given the interview appointment, you are halfway there in your data collection. Once the appointment is given, most informants will not be holding back. They would usually share with you all the information you required from them.
But to get the consent to be interviewed is another story altogether. A lot depends on who the informants are or more specifically who they worked with.
TBC...
I personally think, in Malaysia most of the time when you are given the interview appointment, you are halfway there in your data collection. Once the appointment is given, most informants will not be holding back. They would usually share with you all the information you required from them.
But to get the consent to be interviewed is another story altogether. A lot depends on who the informants are or more specifically who they worked with.
TBC...
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