I also came across the first chapter from the same source identified by yourself, and have saved it in preparation :-)

I also came across the first chapter from the same source identified by yourself, and have saved it in preparation :-)

Hi Larrydavid,

Googlebooks doesn't let you view the whole book, and I looked at the other website you mentioned before posting the thread, but was hoping to read the chapters in full. Thank you for the tips though!

RLD

Morning All,

I wondered whether anyone was able to help a (very) distant learner out by pointing me in the direction of an electronic copy of the above book?

Sods Law, my university has TWO copies available for long term loan, but 28 hours of travel are required in order to retrieve a copy! My final option is to purchase the book, but I'm slowly becoming better stocked than the local library because of the distance from my 'home' to the university. If I'm able to save a few pennies/dollars on this occasion then that would be great!

Many thanks in advance
RLD

Sneaks - I love your response! So true.

======= Date Modified 01 Jun 2012 12:11:56 =======
Just a quick thread to say that every time I see someone posting a thread about an article request, Ady is there!

A star, who thoroughly deserves a spout leaf ;) (sprout)

======= Date Modified 10 May 2012 04:12:00 =======
Hi Thephder,

I am struggling with this issue literally at this very moment! I am currently writing my results and discussion chapters, and in preparation I downloaded and saved a lot of literature that I wanted to refer to, but I now have so many papers I don't know what I have! Like you I had papers saved in different folders, but it just wasn't working for me (my memory isn't the strongest). So what I done is create a table in Word; I skim read each paper and assigned it a general 'theme', i.e. policy, education, etc., and assigned this information to the first column in my table. I then recorded the author's name and year of publication, title of the paper and any findings that are significant to my study (this helps if you have already completed your initial analysis of the data or know what you are going to report). I now have a table that runs over 20+ pages, but it will make the task SO much easier when I'm writing about, say confidence or communication, as I can do a simple CTRL & F search and find all the literature relating to that area! It has taken me days to complete, but I feel it will so be worth my time. 

In regards to my data, I too have used NVivo and it has been brilliant. If you're doing qualitative research, which is sounds like you are by your comment regarding interview notes, I would thoroughly recommend it.

Please keep us updated as to how you decide to proceed. We could end up learning a thing or two from you!

Good luck, RLD

Aww Ady you're a star, thank you so much. AND I get a turkey back! There's no way of topping that one... ;-)

Am just about to PM you.

Thank you again!

======= Date Modified 01 May 2012 08:20:36 =======
Hi All,

I wondered whether anyone was able to access the following article for me please:

McConkey, R. (2001). 'Employment aspirations of people with learning disabilities attending day centres', Journal of Intellectual Disabilities, 5 (4), 309-318

A huge thanks in advance! And a sprout leaf to further display my gratitude (sprout) ;-)

RLD

Yes, we made the move about 6 weeks ago. It has been difficult getting back into my routine of working on my thesis, but I think I'm there now and only 2.5 years until I complete! ;-)

Hi Delta,

Just to let you know, I recently moved from the UK to Western Australia (Perth), so if you have any questions regarding this part of Oz then let me know and I'll do my best to answer them!

Good luck with the search,
RLD

Hi Redridinghood,

I agree with Rick, in that you should include the participants for the reasons outlined below, and also because of the fact that they had little or nothing to say on your chosen topic as significant in itself.

Good luck!
RLD

Hi Pixy,

I also have used semi-structured interviews in the hope of picking out 'themes'. I have come across several analytical approaches that seem to be applicable to this type of analysis, but to date have been unable to pinpoint how they all differ! The terms I have come across (which may be of use to you) are: thematic analysis, narrative analysis and content analysis. I'm hoping that the following books will help me clarify the differences between the approaches:

- Making Sense of Qualitative Data: Complimentary Research Strategies (Coffey and Atkinson, 1996)
- Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook (Miles and Huberman, 1994)
- Analyzing Social Settings: A Guide to Qualitative Observation and Analysis (Lofland, 2006)

Good luck!

Hi BusyBee,

What works for me is tackling one chapter at a time and writing a REALLY detailed plan of that chapter before physically writing anything. For example, I will write a list of say the five big areas I want to discuss within that chapter. Then I will make a list of the sub-sections I want to discuss within each of those main sections. When I get to the point where each point represents a paragraph, I list the main points that I want to discuss within that paragraph and then 'beef up' each point into a sentence. Hey presto you have a draft chapter! ;-) (if only it was that easy ... :-s)

Using this approach I am also able to allocate an approx. word count for each section, what prevents me from babbling on for too long. I'm not very good at parting with words that I have already put on paper.

Hi Kath,

Thank you so much for your response!

I think! (she says dangerously :p) I have a mental picture of how I'm going to structure my million and one codes, so am going to give it a go tomorrow and see how it goes!

If I have any other silly questions would you mind if I came back to you? I'm waiting to get the okay from LinkedIn to access that group you mentioned, so thanks for that too!

Cheers again,
RLD (up)