Atomizing the Problem

I’m planning a trip to LA and have been really deep into interpreting the comments I received from my advisor regarding my thesis. I had been working on a new draft for many months and when she sent me her review I had not heard from her in many months. I looked at a number of resources to learn exactly what it was that she had sent me as well as decide what I needed to do to address her comments. I looked at about six of her emails—old and new—as well as several older drafts and notes. I put them all together and then wrote a long description of what I saw in chronological order. This method of description is my way of doing research. I find that it is particularly onerous but effective. My only problem is that it can never happen quickly.

I was especially having problems with my stats. Basically, every stats problem is unique. I have found that asking someone else for help means that they have to do it for you. I have finally begun to understand how to address this using the conversation and my books to deal with each problem on a low level. I think of this as atomizing the problem into specific steps that are not so unique. If and when I do need help I can ask about these things instead.

This is a regular series chronicling my life at regular intervals. This Memo series is meant to be a retrospective of what I have written and experienced. In each of these posts I use my notes in conjunction with memory, mementos and souvenirs to create a snap shot of my life. I wrote this on the 26th of May and posted it to the blog on June 13th.