by Sara Carter
At the lab meeting next Wednesday we will each be giving a presentation of our research project to the lab group, in which I am planning to provide an explanation of what my experiment seeks to investigate, offer the outcomes I expect and why and present the data from the participants that I have already run. Because Emily and I created our materials together and are just running different participant groups on the same experimental files, we will be presenting our projects together and each explaining what we intend to look at with our respective groups of subjects. Aside from the Young Scholar Speaker Series poster session this spring for which we submitted posters and just answered specific questions that people asked about our projects, this will be my first experience actually presenting my project in its entirety. I think that the preparation that I am doing for this presentation will also serve to enable me to assess where I am at in the trajectory of my research, which I think will be beneficial given that I have been more engaged in the more immediate tasks involved in the project and haven’t stepped back to consider it as much since I’ve begun collecting data. As this is my first real presentation of my project I would admittedly be more comfortable doing it in English because I have ample confidence in my ability to articulate myself in such a formal context in English and I regret to say that the same cannot quite yet be said of Spanish. Fortunately, Amelia, Emily and I, and Clair will all be presenting our projects at the same meeting, which makes the idea of speaking in front of the group a bit less nerve-wracking because the focus of our audience will be somewhat diffused. Unfortunately I won’t have as much data as the three of them, as I have run significantly fewer participants up to this point. Although I have been made to feel beyond welcome by the lab group as a whole, I am definitely feeling nervous about getting up in front of this group in particular to discuss my experiment due to insecurities regarding both my own relative inexperience in conducting research and in speaking about research in Spanish. I have talked with a few members of the lab group about my presentation and they have been helpful in resolving some of my concerns, assuring me that everyone understands that we are not well-established in research careers, but rather undergraduates who are here to learn from the experience of conducting our own projects while living in a Spanish immersion environment. Amelia has also assured us that she will be willing to help us put together the presentation and to answer any questions we have in terms of phrasing things properly in Spanish and using the correct vocabulary to describe our experiments. Knowing that I will have this additional resource as I begin to plan has significantly increased my confidence that I will not be a heinous embarrassment. Upon rereading this paragraph, it has occurred to me that this is likely to cause a bit of unease with what I am sure could be taken as a rather dire portrait I have painted of my present state; I feel that I should include probably include a disclaimer that I do tend to veer sharply toward neurotic in matters relating to my own performance, even when there is absolutely no cause for concern.
In preparation for the presentation, Alvaro and Amelia have begun to walk us through the process of looking through our data and preparing it for analysis. They have shown us how to use the program E-merge, a program with which I was entirely unfamiliar, as I had no previous analysis with data analysis with the research that I was involved with at Penn State. Although the programs we used seemed to provide an abundant opportunities to make mistakes, Alvaro was extraordinarily helpful in showing us what we needed to do and was more than willing to patiently provide answers to all of our questions (of which I certainly had quite a few!) and to re-explain certain steps when necessary. The guidance that Amelia and Alvaro have offered to us in various areas of our projects has been fantastic, especially as they are each working on their own respective research during their brief time here and are already quite busy. As the five of us were all seated around our living room at our apartment with our computers out I was struck by how lucky I am to have this group of people to whom I can turn any time I need anything or have any questions, and how much this has added to what I have been able to do with my project here in Granada. I know that I would not have learned anywhere near as much about research if Amelia and Alvaro had not been here to answer all of the questions that I have asked them with regards to my specific project as well as to their experience in conducting research and as graduate students in general.
During the process of working on my own experiment rather than just assisting with a certain part of someone else’s project, I have come to understand that the data collection phase entails so much more than merely explaining an experimental task to a participant and leaving them to complete it. There are additionally a variety of other aspects to keep, such as sending reminder emails the day before to all of the participants scheduled for the following day, determining the correct payment for each participant given the amount of time they have spent completing the experiment and subsequently calculating the dollar amount based on the current exchange rate, making sure that I always have proper change with which to pay participants, keeping a spreadsheet with all of the participant responses to LHQs updated. I have found that one of the most important of these additional aspects of this phase of my project has been the ongoing correspondence that I have maintained with each potential participant by email and phone to ensure that they complete the Language History Questionnaire, to find convenient times to schedule two separate sessions and to answer any questions they may have about participating in the experiment. Not having internet in our apartment has also required that we frequent locations that offer free wireless in order to be able to continue recruiting people through email and to ensure prompt responses to participants. Naturally, this has resulted in a friendship with the owner of a café a few blocks from our apartment whose wireless we make use of for hours at a time on a pretty much daily basis in exchange for a coffee and . Amusingly, we have also discovered that by making an account on a website we can access 30 minutes of free wireless per day in one of a series of plazas throughout the city. So I also tend to regularly find myself seated on a bench in a public plaza with my laptop, frenetically typing or speed-reading in order to ensure that I am absolutely maximizing the utility of the precious internet access, much to the curiosity of onlookers who are seated at other nearby benches, engaged in more ordinary bench activities (reading a newspaper, conversing with a friend, eating an ice cream, ect). Another element that I had not at all anticipated to be something that would factor significantly into my time has maintaining contact with my family members and friends from home by email and, very rarely, Skype. The truth is that I have even been somewhat negligent in this regard, being as I am occupied with such a variety of tasks, and I’m sure that keeping up with such correspondences would be even more time-intensive if I were to dedicate additional effort to it. Having such a variety of engagements to keep up with every day is much more comfortable for me than feeling that my time is not adequately filled, but it also seems to be having the effect of making the time here feel like it is absolutely racing by.
Although I should probably refrain from mentioning this given that it was Giuli’s last caveat in saying goodbye to us before we departed for Spain, I encountered a fairly substantial strike taking place on the main street that passes through the center of the city, as I was walking back to our apartment from the university. I had already been aware of the strike because my last participant was unable to make it up to the campus as the buses through the city had been rerouted to accommodate the crowds that filled the streets throughout the main downtown area. It had also been widely advertised by fairly ubiquitous posters throughout the city as well as general word of mouth for several weeks. The event was in protest of (I believe) recent budget cuts that resulted in decreased funding for various levels of public schools throughout the country. What I thought most interesting was that the crowd in the street did not appear to have gathered as a result of the organizing efforts of a single group but was instead comprised of a multitude of smaller groups, each of whom were wearing their own respective attire, carrying signs with their own messages and shouting or singing their own slogans but all of whom were there to support the same underlying purpose. Amongst the protesters were university students, elderly couples, families with tiny children. The tone of the event was not characterized by aggression but rather seemed to be centered around expression of values, and the actions of those present did not convey hostility but rather what I perceived to be a sense of community in their shared intentions. I thought it was so awesome to see such variety among those participating in the demonstration, as to me it reflected a culture in which the act of collectively articulating one’s convictions is considered to be of substantial value across demographics. Keeping my promise to Giuli, however, I refrained from further diversifying said demographic by grabbing a sign and adding myself to the mix…
This past week I also made travel arrangements to take a weekend trip by myself to Nerja, a small town comprised of a cluster of whitewashed buildings through which narrow streets (and, truth be told, THRONGS of tourists) wander. Situated between a cliff that plunges to the Mediterranean and the Sierra Nevada mountain range to the north, it was certainly a lovely destination for a brief stay, if evidently a bit geared toward accommodating vacationers. I found a single room in a hostal which, though somewhat reminiscent of a prison cell in its lack of window, seemed glorious to me as it marked my first time in arranging for accommodation and staying alone. I also acquainted myself with the excellent bus system that connects a truly impressive variety of locations throughout Southern Spain and enables one to travel at an astonishingly reasonable price. Now that I’ve seen how easy (and liberating!) it is to make such plans entirely on my own, I will definitely be taking advantage of our amazing location and these resources that are so readily available to travel more whenever my schedule permits.
In preparation for the presentation, Alvaro and Amelia have begun to walk us through the process of looking through our data and preparing it for analysis. They have shown us how to use the program E-merge, a program with which I was entirely unfamiliar, as I had no previous analysis with data analysis with the research that I was involved with at Penn State. Although the programs we used seemed to provide an abundant opportunities to make mistakes, Alvaro was extraordinarily helpful in showing us what we needed to do and was more than willing to patiently provide answers to all of our questions (of which I certainly had quite a few!) and to re-explain certain steps when necessary. The guidance that Amelia and Alvaro have offered to us in various areas of our projects has been fantastic, especially as they are each working on their own respective research during their brief time here and are already quite busy. As the five of us were all seated around our living room at our apartment with our computers out I was struck by how lucky I am to have this group of people to whom I can turn any time I need anything or have any questions, and how much this has added to what I have been able to do with my project here in Granada. I know that I would not have learned anywhere near as much about research if Amelia and Alvaro had not been here to answer all of the questions that I have asked them with regards to my specific project as well as to their experience in conducting research and as graduate students in general.
During the process of working on my own experiment rather than just assisting with a certain part of someone else’s project, I have come to understand that the data collection phase entails so much more than merely explaining an experimental task to a participant and leaving them to complete it. There are additionally a variety of other aspects to keep, such as sending reminder emails the day before to all of the participants scheduled for the following day, determining the correct payment for each participant given the amount of time they have spent completing the experiment and subsequently calculating the dollar amount based on the current exchange rate, making sure that I always have proper change with which to pay participants, keeping a spreadsheet with all of the participant responses to LHQs updated. I have found that one of the most important of these additional aspects of this phase of my project has been the ongoing correspondence that I have maintained with each potential participant by email and phone to ensure that they complete the Language History Questionnaire, to find convenient times to schedule two separate sessions and to answer any questions they may have about participating in the experiment. Not having internet in our apartment has also required that we frequent locations that offer free wireless in order to be able to continue recruiting people through email and to ensure prompt responses to participants. Naturally, this has resulted in a friendship with the owner of a café a few blocks from our apartment whose wireless we make use of for hours at a time on a pretty much daily basis in exchange for a coffee and . Amusingly, we have also discovered that by making an account on a website we can access 30 minutes of free wireless per day in one of a series of plazas throughout the city. So I also tend to regularly find myself seated on a bench in a public plaza with my laptop, frenetically typing or speed-reading in order to ensure that I am absolutely maximizing the utility of the precious internet access, much to the curiosity of onlookers who are seated at other nearby benches, engaged in more ordinary bench activities (reading a newspaper, conversing with a friend, eating an ice cream, ect). Another element that I had not at all anticipated to be something that would factor significantly into my time has maintaining contact with my family members and friends from home by email and, very rarely, Skype. The truth is that I have even been somewhat negligent in this regard, being as I am occupied with such a variety of tasks, and I’m sure that keeping up with such correspondences would be even more time-intensive if I were to dedicate additional effort to it. Having such a variety of engagements to keep up with every day is much more comfortable for me than feeling that my time is not adequately filled, but it also seems to be having the effect of making the time here feel like it is absolutely racing by.
Although I should probably refrain from mentioning this given that it was Giuli’s last caveat in saying goodbye to us before we departed for Spain, I encountered a fairly substantial strike taking place on the main street that passes through the center of the city, as I was walking back to our apartment from the university. I had already been aware of the strike because my last participant was unable to make it up to the campus as the buses through the city had been rerouted to accommodate the crowds that filled the streets throughout the main downtown area. It had also been widely advertised by fairly ubiquitous posters throughout the city as well as general word of mouth for several weeks. The event was in protest of (I believe) recent budget cuts that resulted in decreased funding for various levels of public schools throughout the country. What I thought most interesting was that the crowd in the street did not appear to have gathered as a result of the organizing efforts of a single group but was instead comprised of a multitude of smaller groups, each of whom were wearing their own respective attire, carrying signs with their own messages and shouting or singing their own slogans but all of whom were there to support the same underlying purpose. Amongst the protesters were university students, elderly couples, families with tiny children. The tone of the event was not characterized by aggression but rather seemed to be centered around expression of values, and the actions of those present did not convey hostility but rather what I perceived to be a sense of community in their shared intentions. I thought it was so awesome to see such variety among those participating in the demonstration, as to me it reflected a culture in which the act of collectively articulating one’s convictions is considered to be of substantial value across demographics. Keeping my promise to Giuli, however, I refrained from further diversifying said demographic by grabbing a sign and adding myself to the mix…
This past week I also made travel arrangements to take a weekend trip by myself to Nerja, a small town comprised of a cluster of whitewashed buildings through which narrow streets (and, truth be told, THRONGS of tourists) wander. Situated between a cliff that plunges to the Mediterranean and the Sierra Nevada mountain range to the north, it was certainly a lovely destination for a brief stay, if evidently a bit geared toward accommodating vacationers. I found a single room in a hostal which, though somewhat reminiscent of a prison cell in its lack of window, seemed glorious to me as it marked my first time in arranging for accommodation and staying alone. I also acquainted myself with the excellent bus system that connects a truly impressive variety of locations throughout Southern Spain and enables one to travel at an astonishingly reasonable price. Now that I’ve seen how easy (and liberating!) it is to make such plans entirely on my own, I will definitely be taking advantage of our amazing location and these resources that are so readily available to travel more whenever my schedule permits.