Morjes!

Welcome to my blog. I write about fitting in, sticking out, and missing the motherland as a serial foreigner.

Human subjects, here I come

Guess who's certified to conduct research on human subjects?

Yes, it's true: I AM.

I had to complete the NIH's series of web modules in order to be able to even APPLY for approval from the university's IRB (Institutional Review Board) for my thesis research. So I learned a lot about how not to coerce people into participating in my research and how to not discriminate against certain populations and the special issues involved in conducting research on current prison inmates.

I'm still a long way out from the thesis finish line, but I am making progress. I am working very hard at producing a robust, well researched proposal, so that the thesis will fall into place when the time comes. I hope to defend my proposal within the next month or two, and my thesis a few months after that. However, it's not all in my control - my research depends on certain universities being in session, so if I hit the doldrums of late July and August (or *cough* Ramadan), my thesis completion and defense will be delayed.

If you are wondering what my thesis is about, it's topic C from this poll a while back. The working title is Intercultural Competence and Classroom Cultural Conflicts, but that was something my advisor and I threw together at the last minute when we had to fill out some paperwork. The final title will probably be a little different and will hopefully not have as many Cs in it, because yikes.

April 19th, outsourced

Don't miss it.