Chapter Two of Ten!
Good morning everyone!
This week has been very long, but great. On Tuesday I started going to the gym with my REU project partner Max. We made it to the office by 9, and I began looking back over the previous papers that I have already read, and adding in additional notes.
My favorite paper so far has been Surviving Grief: An Analysis of the Exchange of Hope in Online Grief Communities. This is my favorite paper because it was very detailed about the methods that were used, and the themes/sub-themes that were found. I was able to learn new methods like the constant comparative method, and its relevance in analyzing qualitative data. I was also able to see examples of the different types of bereavement groups which I felt was important to the project.
I am starting to see a relation in the articles showing that the use of technology assists the bereaved with grieving after their loved one has passed. Based on the information that I have gathered from these papers I now know that creating and introducing technology to the grieving population of people is difficult because this is a very vulnerable time. Most of the material that I have read about grief insists that grieving should be looked at on a individualistic level. Therefore coping styles, personality, and personal life experiences should be taken into consideration before creating technology. Moving forward I would like to explore the different prototypes that are already out there. In doing so, I hope to be inspired, and understand all the possible options that are already out there for technology for grief support.
My partner and I found some recurring topics in the articles, so we categorized them and made themes. We both have started watching tutorials on Dedoose, so hopefully we can analyze our data more efficiently soon. As of today, I think that we have a pretty good outline of our paper. It’s been a new experience for me to try and organize and piece together the related work, but I am happy to say that everything for this project is coming along very well.
I can’t wait for next week!
Giving you my personal perspective from the palm trees of SC to the corn fields of IN.
~Meagan Price