Codingcodingcoding writingwritingwriting

It's going fast now! Last week, I've coded my 20 interviews and looked at the program Atlas.ti in which you can process interview results in a more scientific way. The program connects codes which you apply to certain (pieces of) texts, and gives overall view of what you're doing. Easy to use!
Besides that, other results are useful for me.
- what the websites of the schools say about guidance and placement policy on their sites,
- the additional data some people gave me about their school
- the percentages of throughput, ranged on: grade retention, etc.

I need to combine those 3, and then say something about it.
The structure of my thesis, and the layout is ready. Now I have to fill it!

My goal? Hand in a quite good first thesis on August 6...
How to? Lock myself in till that time and having no contact at all.

So maybe there will be no update next week! Well, I will be going on with the same stuff as described above, so I will be repeating myself then.

oh! and my research proposal is also finished. I made the final changes a couple of days ago. The teacher was so kind to let me finish my interviews first!

Interviews!

Sorry for the delay: I've been on a one day tour yesterday and it was fun!

Finally things are happening. The last week I've been busy mainly with mailing schools and persons who can be interviewed. One school told me they only took requests from former students, so I could cancel that one.  It got me a bit nervous.. the first school I approached said 'no'. Luckily, I found another school in the area that fulfilled all necessary preconditions. A school that indeed wanted to help out! I have had one interview yet, and planned 2. My goal is to speak to four or six employees per school location. 

Another school also want to help out, so I've planned 2 interviews there also. Besides that, it is really time consuming to wait for a reaction, when you don't have a telephone number. Or, when people misread their own appointments and have to change the schedule. 

There is a lot to do actually: I need to type out the interviews I had, and that is really time consuming. I think I can upgrade my notes a bit more than I do now, that will save me time... 

For the research proposal: no reactions yet. I send another mail to the teacher asking him if the mail was sent right. Within 10 minutes I got his reaction that he will look into it soon.. Well, my interview appointments are more fixed than this promise.. I shall see, until then I will be busy with performing my research!

Final research proposal

It's kind of easy actually. I was way thinking too much and wanting too much. The elements I've chosen for my research are that big that only a group of researchers which spend years on it can accomplish it. Well, I'm not trying to do that, so I've cut in my research variables. It really clears the air, for I can see the path again :)

First, I've had to let go of some very interesting variables namely giftedness and under achieving. These elements will pass by, but only as a really small piece and not as a main variable.

And, finally my (I'm afraid to call it definitive, but it is actually definitive) main research question:

''In what way does the placement policy of secondary schools, in the field of determination and student counseling, affect the throughput of students?''
(In Dutch: ''Op welke wijze heeft het schoolbeleid op het gebied van determinatie en leerlingbegeleiding invloed op de doorstroom van leerlingen?'')

In which throughput stands for the numbers of: grade retention, demotion (and up-promotion to another higher school level) and drop out.

So, the dependable variables are: grade retention, demotion and drop out.
The independable variables are: placement policy and student counseling.

I expect to finish the final research proposal in a couple of days!