It’s been a while since one of my updates on my dissertation. Though my blog is mostly about games and fish sauce, in between these diversions is some hardcore writing!
My page count actually shrank in the past few weeks. I broke 300 a month ago, but I dropped back after getting some feedback. My original Results chapter was 95 pages of exciting… graphs. And graphs. And charts. My advisor suggested that I only show the most interesting graphs, and shrink them. Apparently the 100% view in Pages does not offer the same readability as a printed copy. One Photoshop macro later and I have a pretty easy workflow to go from SPSS tiffs to shrunken gifs (to reduce file size). Redoing the charts and enhancing the statistical tests took three weeks or so, but the end product is a sleeker 55 pages of Results. My advisor has it right now. While I wait, I rather not go to the Discussion chapter in case some analyses could be further improved. Counting chicks before they’ve hatched, and all that.
I’ve also been talking to my peers about the general academic process. It turns out that only chumps buy their own overly-expensive statistical packages. One of my tasks now is to find a small grant that would buy one for me instead. A friend suggested Systat. While I’m good with SPSS, I also hate it, so it might be worth my time to invest in a different program.
That’s all in the realm of dissertation to report! Next… more anthropology in games.