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Research Calendars (Logs) and similar tools (or "Why we postpone them")
During the chat following the GenTrek presentation Monday evening, GenJ mentioned keeping a research log. I knew that these existed, but I hadn't done anything yet.
After I got home from my mini-vacation, I got out Val Greenwood and other teaching/reference resources for help in setting this up.
I was immediately overwhelmed. Mentally I began "screaming:" "I can't do this! This isn't the way I work! Someone come hold my hand!"
So I took a few hours off and let these results simmer in the back brain. This discussion is my request for folks to come and "hold my hand" in a constructive manner. I don't want anyone to format my Research Calendar for me; that's both lazy and useless. I just thought that if folks would show up and discuss why and how they did these logs, I could begin to see how to make it fit my style.
Because it is true that the structure of the examples in my published books doesn't fit the way I think. My natural learning pattern is to do something, let that simmer while I go elsewhere, then come bact and work some more. This would drive many folks crazy, but it's what works for me. That style of learning makes some type of record imperative, I can see that; but setting one up is like my algebra classes — I could solve the equation, I just couldn't see how to set the equation up in the first place so that the answer had anything to do with the problem.
Some of my questions are silly: "Can I do this on the laptop?" I'm sure I can, so I must really be asking, what's the best way to do this on the laptop. Or perhaps I'm asking if a paper log is somehow more effective than an electronic log.
The general purpose is clearly to mark out where you have been in your research, to note it in ways that will prevent you from needing to repeat the research and also help others to retrace it if necessary. But how to I translate this general purpose into steps and structures that are of immediate meaning to me?
This post looks pretty muddled — which ought to indicate how muddled I feel right now. Anyone with any suggestions?
After I got home from my mini-vacation, I got out Val Greenwood and other teaching/reference resources for help in setting this up.
I was immediately overwhelmed. Mentally I began "screaming:" "I can't do this! This isn't the way I work! Someone come hold my hand!"
So I took a few hours off and let these results simmer in the back brain. This discussion is my request for folks to come and "hold my hand" in a constructive manner. I don't want anyone to format my Research Calendar for me; that's both lazy and useless. I just thought that if folks would show up and discuss why and how they did these logs, I could begin to see how to make it fit my style.
Because it is true that the structure of the examples in my published books doesn't fit the way I think. My natural learning pattern is to do something, let that simmer while I go elsewhere, then come bact and work some more. This would drive many folks crazy, but it's what works for me. That style of learning makes some type of record imperative, I can see that; but setting one up is like my algebra classes — I could solve the equation, I just couldn't see how to set the equation up in the first place so that the answer had anything to do with the problem.
Some of my questions are silly: "Can I do this on the laptop?" I'm sure I can, so I must really be asking, what's the best way to do this on the laptop. Or perhaps I'm asking if a paper log is somehow more effective than an electronic log.
The general purpose is clearly to mark out where you have been in your research, to note it in ways that will prevent you from needing to repeat the research and also help others to retrace it if necessary. But how to I translate this general purpose into steps and structures that are of immediate meaning to me?
This post looks pretty muddled — which ought to indicate how muddled I feel right now. Anyone with any suggestions?
Views: 89
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sue McCormick on -
Catherine,
Thank you for your experience. I believe it will help many people who are following this discussion..
My older daughter and I have a running mock "feud" — because she thinks like a spreadsheet and I think like a database. Since my log is in the FileMakerPro database, it has the same advantages for sorting that your spreadsheet gives you. I did want a place to jot down my questions and suggestions to myself for further research. I also wanted to be sure that my citations make sense to me. A person can do all this in a spreadsheet also.
Your system seems to be simpler than mine (but since I have a bias against spreadsheets, it would drive me crazy — they all do).
Since I "think like a database" it is good to have someone speak up for the spreadsheet approach also.
Thank you for your suggestions.
Sue
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Permalink Reply by Catherine Davis on -
You're right that I think like a spreadsheet. I really like lists too. Some of my friends tell me mind must be a combination of table, lists, and bullet points because I frequently use them even in email messages, reports, and letters and have been known in conversation to number off the points I want to make.
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Permalink Reply by Sue McCormick on
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I sometimes introduce myself at a computer club meeting by saying "I make lists for a hobby." But I make them in a database (and have done so since the early 1980's when I first got hold of a database).
My son thinks lists are some sort of trap against his creativity — I think that they release your creativity. I already mentioned that his older sister likes lists, but like you, she prepares hers in a spreadsheet. And my younger daughter mainly keeps hers in word processors.
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