Research Update

I suppose I ought to be more faithful to this blog and update more often (I tend to update my "other" blog a lot more frequently).

So, what's there to update about my lonely dissertator's life?

It's been frustrating and scary and exciting at the same time. Frustrating in that I want to spend all of my time focused on designing my dissertation proposal but I can't. Life gets in the way. Scary because my dissertation looks like it's going to be a heckuva major project that has never been done before. Exciting because if I can pull this off, it will result in a real contribution to the field--it may even be a landmark study.

My advisor (my new advisor, that is) told me today that there is safety in the committee. If they feel like I've taken on more than I can chew, they can sometimes redesign the whole thing and make it a lot more simple and d-o-a-b-l-e.

Doable. That would be nice.

I dropped the "I"

I am no longer ABDI (all but dissertation & internship). I finished all 500 hours of my doctoral clinical internship as of yesterday. So now, I'm truly ABD.

A couple of things have transpired for me and my dissertation.

First, I've completely changed my internal committee members. I had planned originally to do quantitative work and so I selected people who would appropriately help me in that regard. With my change to qualitative methodology, I have felt a strong need to change to people who understand the qualitative research process. It is VERY different! With that change set, I am now happily going to start on my dissertation proposal.

Second, I have decided to collect my own data in my home country. It's ambitious but there is really no other alternative for me. I feel that this is the only thing that I can do and feel like it is work that truly matters. I don't want to spend my time doing work that does not feel important and significant to me. I want to publish my dissertation, I want to allow my dissertation to be the launching pad for my research work into the future. The extra effort will pale in comparison to my motivation to do my dissertation. At the end of the process, I want to be able to say, "that was really meaningful work!"

My Epistemological & Ontological Bent

I have come to the realization that epistemologically, I am social constructionist. I was not sure what to make of my ontological bias. I may have found it, in Critical Realism.

According to wikipedia, theologian NT Wright is one such example. This following quote by him (as taken from wikipedi under the title "Critical Realism" retrieved today) resonates well with me:

"..I propose a form of critical realism. This is a way of describing the process of "knowing" that acknowledges the reality of the thing known, as something other than the knower (hence "realism"), while fully acknowledging that the only access we have to this reality lies along the spiralling path of appropriate dialogue or conversation between the knower and the thing known (hence "critical")." (The New Testament and the People of God, pp. 35)

Pardon my French in the previous post. I just had to let some frustration out.

Epistemologies

It is incredible sometimes how one's epistemology can create so much conflict and controversy. Social research can be dangerous sometimes; not only others to me, but also I to others.

In the spirit of integrity and expediency go I.

And no more bullshit.

Beverages Welcomed

"You are welcome to bring beverages in covered containers into the study areas of the library."

Aren't those the most wonderful words you have ever read on a sign in a library?

Not only that, the desk is big (good for spreading out papers for editing), there is a nice yellow lamp creating a feeling of warmth, it's very very quiet (maybe because this is the hallowed halls of a seminary), and most importantly, there is a wall of windows offering a beautiful view to the outside and some sunlight to my soul!

This is what it looks like:


















Oh yeah, and I don't have to pay for parking. Sweetness or what?

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On a separate note, I attended my first dissertation support group hosted by the University counseling services this morning. I'm glad to report that it was a positive experience. More on that later.

Psychological Services for China's Traumatized Quake Survivors in Full Swing

BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific - May 19, 2008

Text of report in English by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency)

["China Exclusive: Psychological Services for China's Traumatized quake Survivors in Full Swing" - Xinhua headline]

MIANYANG, Sichuan, May 19 (Xinhua) - China's largest ever psychological service operation for survivors of a natural disaster is in full swing, a week after an 8.0-magnitude earthquake rocked the southwestern Sichuan Province.

In a temporary residence site for earthquake victims in west China's Mianyang City, Dr Wang Ningxia, a psychologist faced an eight-year-old girl Qiao Xi, who was traumatized and unable to speak after experiencing the tragic disaster.

Qiao Xi's mother lost four of her family including her son, Qiao Xi's elder brother, in the earthquake. The voluble girl lost vitality after that.

"Do you still want to go to school? Would you want to go back to your school?" the doctor asked.

The question won the first one-word response from the traumatized girl a week after she lost speech.

"Want," whispered the girl, who had been communicating with simple body languages of nodding for "yes" or shaking head for "no".

Doctor Wang said that the session with the girl had had some success. But not all the cases she met in the quake zone progressed.

"I tried in vain to communicate with a mother who lost her daughter in the earthquake. She could not face the mishap that happened. She neither cried nor ate anything," said Wang.

The doctor from the South West University of Science and Technology led 10 teachers and 34 students to carry out psychological service work in Mianyang City.

Wang took out a questionnaire she drafted, and pleaded with Xinhua's reporters to help submit it to authorities, who have the power to hand out the questionnaire among quake victims.

"The questionnaire would help psychological counsellors to locate victims who urgently need psychological treatment," said Wang.

There are at least 300 professional psychologists working in the quake zone, according to Xinhua's tally of medical staff sent by the Ministry of Health and a dozen of medical institutes around the country.

A group of psychologists led by Zhang Yuqing, associate professor from the Psychological Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has carried out counselling on 1,000 school children in Beichuan County, closest to the epicentre of the earthquake.

"We have taught the children some psychological knowledge and some methods to ease psychological stress," said Zhang, who also planned to meet injured victims and orphans.

Wang Ningxia said that most of psychologists working in the quake zone volunteered to join the task.

"This was the first time that we faced so many traumatized people. This is the first attempt at such a massive psychological operation in China. The work lacks overall coordination," said Wang.

She said that psychological therapy is urgently needed, since survivors are still gripped in horror, and by a sense of insecurity and solitude.

"They re-experienced the horrible scenes again and again in everyday nightmares or insomnia. The trauma may remain for two to 10 years," she said.

Zhang Kan, director of the Psychological Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said that millions of quake victims, witnesses, rescuers and even reporters on the earthquake may suffer psychological trauma, and need counselling.

"Some people may not handle the helpless emotion, and suffer long- time panic, the feeling of setback and emotional dysphoria. Such patients may turn to liquor, cigarettes and drugs for comfort. Some may contemplate suicide or other extreme behaviour," said Zhang.

Thousands of volunteers from around the country have registered through local psychological service stations to go to the rescue front line. However, there is still a heavy shortage of professional psychologists, since the therapy is in an initial developing stage even in China's major cities.

(C) 2008 BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved

Soldier cries: "Please let me rescue one more!"

I read the following article that is being published in many Chinese news sites. It is a personal account of the earthquake in Sichuan, translated into English (article in Chinese here: 消防战士跪地落泪：求求你们让我再去救一个)

[Disclaimer: the following article may be disturbing to some readers, but it is meant to mobilize us to action.]



"I just received a call from a reporter who had recently interviewed me. She just returned from MianZhu. On the phone, she described a scene she personally witnessed. She used only four words to describe what she saw - "世界末日" (Armageddon). She could barely work, because while there her tears never stopped. There was ruin after ruin, and the void left by collapsed buildings was filled by the sounds of crying. Rescue teams frantically rushed from site to site, but often it was too late. The photographer that went along with her only took one picture before throwing away the camera to join in on the rescue effort. The surroundings made it impossible to just stand and watch.

She told me that at a school she saw a scene that she will never forget. Half of the school's main building had collapsed. When the quake happened, roughly 100 children had been buried by the debris. All of them were elementary school kids. Soldiers-turned-rescuers had already retrieved teens of live children and 30 some corpses from the site. Watching the miniscule children that will never be able to open their eyes again, she couldn't find enough strength to even speak.

But as the rescue effort escalated to an all out sprint against time, aftershocks and the instability of the building was threatening a further collapse. Anyone going into the rubbles again would only meet certain death. The rescue commander issued an order for all rescuers to immediately evacuate the scenes until further notice. But just at that time, some of the soldiers who had just left the ruins yelled that they had found more trapped children.

When some of soldiers heard the news, they lost it and immediately began to crawl back down the rubbles. At that very moment, the second collapse happened. A huge slab of concrete was falling right in front of everyone's eyes. Other soldiers attempted to restrain those who wanted to go back in. The two groups wrestled with each other, until people eventually moved them into a safe zone. A soldier that had just pulled a child from the rubbles, kneeled on the ground and sobbed, pleading to the people pulling him away.

"Just let me rescue one more."
"I am begging you, just let me rescue one more."
"I can rescue one more!"

Everyone who watched the scene unfold cried. But they could only stand helplessly, as the building collapsed for a second time. Later on, those children were retrieved from the rubbles, but only one was still alive. As the reporter watched the young soldiers carry the sole survivor to the rescue tent, she sobbed uncontrollably.

Even though the story was told to me through the phone, it touched me greatly. I can't imagine how emotional the scene would have been had it occurred right in front of my eyes. What I do know is that it is a true story, and that right now, in the heart of the quake disaster area, the same story is being repeated. Tonight, as I sat in the comforts of my room, I first became aware that I should do something. Even though it is not realistic for me to be at the disaster site, can I do something that is within my power?

With tears in my eyes, I decided to first publish this article. I know that this article won't bring about any real help in itself, but this is the fastest, most immediate thing I an do. One article doesn't have any real power, but at least I can let more people know what is happening. Only after finishing the first task, can there be a second or a third..."

Pray for China. Show your love. Friends, no matter what situation you are in, as long as it is one where you can help, I hope we move as fast as possible. Don't let the fact that your action has too small of an effect, deter you from doing it. One article, one dollar of donation, they are all forms of support."

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I am going to do something.

Current death count exceeds 20,000; those buried under rubble estimated to exceed 25,000; total feared dead exceeds 50,000. Millions are homeless. [Source]