My Research Garden

It is almost the end of my summer school session and today, our professor wheeled in a cart with bins full of construction paper, pom poms, wiggly eyes, pipe cleaners, glue, glitter, sequins, crayons... you get the idea. He challenged us to make an artifact representing what we've learned in this course about case studies research methodology and with that, we set to work. I was beyond delighted at the assignment though daunted by all the possibilities.

I eventually settled on making some flowers and I'll spare you the details but basically, the seeds represent the research questions, the green shoots are the long and changing research process, the flower beautifully representing the neat finished product while rooted in the messy dirt that it took to get there (Dr. MB and Corgimom, I'm kinda writing this out for you two!). I indulged my childlike whims and made sure there were many sequins and glitter on those babies!

Lest you question the rigors of my graduate education, let me assure you that we did not spend the entire class up to our elbows in glitter. This course ranks among one of the very best I've taken during my tenure here at Big University Place and I never thought I'd say that about a research methods course. Our instructor definitely pushed us to work hard and in just over two weeks, I feel progress in how I'll shape my dissertation and in my writing skills. Day-um! And the glitter now gracing my car and our kitchen table is just a shiny side bonus.