Coding the beads.

Dissertation survival: I’m up to data coding. I have to go through my interview and diary field notes line by line and label chunks. Every time I look at them I get new insights and produce new labels. It’s like my daughter making jewellery. She’s threading beads to make a bracelet out of her many bead trays and the possibilities are endless. She's so creative.

My fear: I’ll never stop coding or labelling. Stoppage is always my biggest challenge in life – when to stop talking, stop writing, stop worrying, stop loving so much. I suppose I’m afraid of moving to the next stage.

My task: Focus on the data. Forget the theory in my Lit Review. Get back to the data. I have to be able to find some new claims and conclusions from the data.

My anchor: Remember that I have to explain all that stuff in my dissertation. Don’t forget there is someone out there called the reader. It’s so easy for a thesis student to fuse with all those words and texts and forget to come up for air.

My promise file: That’s where I put those superbly interesting chunks of data that have no bearing whatsoever on my studies but I can't let them go.

Greatest joy: This is the most creative process I’ve ever gone through. I’m not discovering a story. There is no one-right-path. The Data and I are co-creating the story.

Best advice to myself: Remain a bit skeptical. It’s healthier.