Well, my data collecting trip could have gone better. Besides the 2" of snow, and the fact one participant had to bow out (hopefully to be rescheduled soon), I discovered that one of my participants was not actually at the company I was visiting, but at a competitor's company. In another state. Needless to say, I didn't make that interview, and had to embarrassedly confess and reschedule, and then somehow pull myself together to carry through on the remaining meeting and interview. In the end, I learned a lot about how companies work and how I might be able to investigate various things, I made some good contacts and also got to see my family a bit, but all these mistakes might be signs that the original study (intended as a pilot anyway) may not work out. This is a little awkward, because I already submitted an abstract on this work to a conference. Bleah.
Oh well.
So now I'm taking advantage of the holiday to regroup and work out a new plan, hopefully looking farther than the hood of my car (as it were) to figure out where we need to go next.
Hope you have a happy Thanksgiving with you and yours, and come out into December renewed for the final stretch of the semester.
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What the hell was that annoying ad that covered the text of this post?
Sorry that the field trip didn't go as planned. Have a good rest!
Alice - I think it is more common that not to have to contradict your abstract by the time all the results are in, so don't worry too much about it.
Danimal - if you see the annoying ad again (iphone?) please let us know. These complaints are taken seriously by us and by our overlords. I also recommend Ad Block Plus if you browse with firefox. It is an amazing extension.
Well, sometimes you just have to laugh. I knew someone doing a thesis on a particular kind of wildlife, and after a year of study, her subject group got eaten... long story. So it could always be worse ;).