So um, now what?

Conducting Research
(or Now That You Know What You Want To Know, How Do You Figure It Out?)

Our morning started off in its usual way: we got lost on our way to class, at the Virtual Knowledge Studio (VKS). Amsterdam is gorgeous city, but it could seriously benefit from some signage; none of the streets are particularly well labeled - this is definitely a city of landmarks, not street-names. We left twenty minutes early for a ten minute bike ride, arriving ten minutes late (that would be 10h10) because we missed the first, crucial turn because the street is apparently unnamed in reality, but has some long complicated Dutch title according to the map. Exciting, no? Six of us (yes, nearly half) eventually made our way there, on our bikes, in the rain (although I'd love to evoke some pity, it was actually quite warm), without being horrendously late (though we all felt terrible, to be sure), settled our drowned-rat looking selves our seats with a nice cup of tea (or coffee) and enjoyed a perfectly timed lecture from Sally Wyatt on data collection, through the specific example of her recent research project on the Internet and Healthcare in Brighton, England.

Dr. Sally Wyatt, Senior Research Fellow and Professor of Digital Cultures in Development at VKS, provided us with a fabulous insight into the realm of research within the field of health sciences. By explaining her project on the impact of the internet on healthcare and the informed patient in Brighton, she was able to take us through the step-by-step process of research: formulating a question, creating a project, (applying for funding), collecting data, processing and analysis, and a final presentation of your (team's) findings.

While she spoke specifically on her methods of data collection (surveys and interviews, primarily) she provided a thorough overview of the entire process of data collection, analysis and presentation, applicable to nearly every type of data. For those of us who had absolutely no idea what were doing, what our next step would be, and how we were supposed to take all of this STUFF and make it sensical, intelligible (and intelligent) and presentable - this was perfect. I know I have certainly benefit from this lecture, though I daresay Emily S and Lauren made off like intellectual bandits as their project, like Wyatt's, was related to healthcare/information access. I would be jealous, but then Dr. Leon Deben's lecture was pretty much a synthesis of my project, so I really shouldn't complain!

After returning from the lecture and grabbing lunch, Jenny and I spent the afternoon at the Waterloopleinmarkt, and picked up some last-minute groceries on the way home.