More frustration

This part of the PHD journey seems to be marred by a lot of frustration. I had some success on Tuesday when I went over to X University to recruit participants for my study. I was able to talk to English students at the end of a joint lecture. Following my appeal, I got 15 students signing up to say they were interested in participating. I came home feeling very satisfied that at last some progress was being made. I have since then e-mailed all 15 students, sending them more details, but so far had nothing back. If I don't hear by the end of the weekend I will e-mail them again.

Tomorrow I am going to talk to two groups students at Y University. I think I will take some forms with me to allow students to give me their contact details, rather than just asking them to put their e-mail address on a list. I have already made appeals, via my gatekeepers, to both these groups of students and have had a small amount of interest. I have made appointments to see two students from these groups but both, unfortunately, have failed to keep the appointment. One sent me a text after I had waited 10 minutes for him and another just failed to turn up. It is a bit dispiriting, but I am hoping that once I get people on board the project, then it will go a little more smoothly.

I have been reflecting on the issue of why students on this project might be advantaged, as Charlotte asked why this might be. I suppose one reason is that it will help students to have more insights into the way in which they read and such metacognition is seen as one of the processes which helps to make more effective readers. Another reason might be that talking about what you have read is a useful piece of reflection, prior to writing about it. I suppose there is also a sense that simply having someone else interested in how you go about your reading is likely to make you approach it in a different way.