Proposal

Going over the proposals in class was really helpful to me. I have been a little bit confused as to exactly what it is supposed to entail- I think that is partly I already did the IRB protocol, and it is similar to that but encompasses a lot more of the cultural aspects of a field study. Also, its hard to propose a plan for EVERYTHING you are going to do in a three month time span in a place you've never been before doing something that you've never really done before. So, while I have more clarity on what I am supposed to put into my proposal, I still feel like I am just giving my best guess as to exactly what I am going to be doing out in the middle-of-nowhere Mexico :)
But I thought that I would share some thoughts that I have about my proposal- mostly this is just for my benefit in being able to write it down just after discussing it in class today.
First- I think that because we had to write the IRB proposal in sections without the more formal format of a regular paper, I have been writing the proposal in a similar way. It's been kind of hard. And now that I understand that it should have introductory paragraphs and conclusions etc, I think it will be a lot easier for me to organize my thoughts and help my reader better understand what I am talking about.
Also, I think that in order to incorporate the cultural immersion aspects of the field study, I have just been tagging those parts in a paragraph at the end of an explanation of my project. That is actually a very easy way to do it. Now I understand a little better that I need to include those things throughout my proposal and they shouldn't feel so separated from my project. I think this part will take a little more effort on my part. Especially with the nature of my project (I am not really using interviews or observations to collect data) it is a little less obvious how immersing myself in the culture is going to help in the project. But luckily, I think that it will. My professors are going to Hungary for about a week to do this project. I don't feel like that is a lot of time to really see how the differences in culture change the results from area to area. And I think that a lot of scientists (especially in the more biological and physical sciences) don't really see the need to get the whole picture when collecting data. I think that the data they collect will be good and valid. I just also think that it could be even better with more time spent there and more effort to immerse themselves in the culture. So I am excited about the different insights that I will gain as I really live among the people in the ranchos and do what they do. I think that it will personally benefit me as a researcher and a person. Still, I'm not sure exactly how I will do this or what I will find so its going to take a little bit of brainstorming on my part to figure out how to incorporate it into my proposal. I think it will come together though.
So those are the thoughts that I have right now. Have a great day :)