Dissertation Goals for the New Year

1. Refining my research question. It is still uncertain that I really have one.

2. Figuring out what "this is a case of". That is, coming up with a "theory."

3. Figuring out how it is that I have a mixed-method survey + interview research design and surveys without really knowing whether I have the preceding two taken cared of.

4. Coming up with testable hypotheses, even if this is a "theory generating" project.

5. Not losing sight of the normative, "legal" question, the motivation for the entire project on organizational compliance with the FMLA and how it should be amended. That is, the forest for the trees.

6. Finishing my literature review. Ughhh.....

7. Coming up with a sampling frame of organizations to survey based on a nifty database I found at the Liberal College Business School Library.

8. Getting IRB approval for the study. Ughhhhhhh.......

9. Doing my pilot study by May 2008.

10. Starting the field work by June 2008.

Bonus 11. Stop avoiding my advisor when I fall short of these goals. Ughhhhhhhhhhh..........