So, I took my Medical Terminology quiz earlier this afternoon. After I finished, Dr. M-S told me that out of the research proposals that were reviewed this morning, one passed, three were given conditional approval, and one failed. She didn't know which proposal were given which ratings, so she invited me to go with her to Dr. Delucchi to ask.
So we go upstairs and Dr. Delucchi was in the middle of a lab with a class, so she told me to come back around 4:00.
Ok, that's fine. I came back here and lounged around for a while, idling wondering if my proposal was the only one to pass, one of the few that needed revisions, or the one that was flat out rejected. I mean, its gone through so many drafts, and all the people who have read it never had problems with it. That, and there is absolutely NO risk to the people participating. It's incredibly simple and safe. At the most, it requires a small lifestyle adjustment for a week. That's it. So, I didn't really worry about it too much.
So, I just got back from meeting with Dr. Delucchi . . .
Mine was the proposal that failed . . .
Why? Because Dr. Delucchi and the rest of the committee didn't know where I was getting my subjects from. And its true that I didn't specify where I was getting the homosexual subjects; I didn't think it was relevent. Then she went into how I ask a lot of personal information in the participant survey that has nothing to do with my project, and how is it going to be kept confidential if the sujects are recruited from a small a population as Dana?
I tried to interject answers to her concerns, but she just rolled right on over me and continued, exclaiming, "What are you going to DO? Go to a lunch table and say, WHO'S HOMOSEXUAL!? Or are you going to pass out surveys and hope you get enough PEOPLE!?" And for anyone who knows Dr. Delucchi, you know that she talks just like that, all condescending and everything. Anyway . . .
First of all, it says at two places in my paper how I will be "individually inviting" people to participate. How does she leap from individual invitations to a general announcement in the cafeteria or random surveys?
One of the variables she asked about on the survey was ethnicity, and what that had to do with anything. Well, right in my introduction I state how there are racial differences in placement and concentration of scent producing glands in the skin. Did she read my paper? I also explain later on how stress and illness have shown to alter an individual's scent. All the info is RIGHT THERE in the paper. How could they have missed it?
In regards to her confidentiality concerns, I state in SIX places in my paper how participant information is kept confidential. How many times to I have to say it? One of the reasons I didn't specifically say where the subjects were coming from was partly for that reason. If the subjects know that the shirts they're smelling didn't neccesarily come from Dana, then peoples' identities are just that much more confidential.
I can understand where the committee might wonder where I'm going to get subjects from, and even be skeptical that I will find them (because gay people are SOOOOOOO rare *rolls eyes*). But, really, that's not the issue at all. That is up to ME, not up to THEM. If I find the people, then what concern is it of theirs?
She also mentioned something about having a small sample, so examining the other variables would be problematic, or something like that. And, well, this study isn't focusing on those other variables. It's focusing on gender and sexual orientation. I'm not recruiting specific ethnicities because its not the point. The other variables are there to examine any other possible reasons for any trends that develop. If there is a trend in orientation, I look to see if one of the other variables matches up with that trend. So if all the homosexual males are also non-smokers while all the heterosexual males ARE smokers, then smoking could be another possible reason for differences in any trends that develop. But its not what I'm looking at, so if I can't make that specific comparison, its ok because IT IS NOT THE POINT. Ugh.
I really don't understand their thought process at all. If they had READ my proposal, most of their questions and concerns would have been addressed. But I didn't even get a conditional approval. I got a flat out rejection. WHAT THE FRELL!?
She said I'll get a formal letter about the decision next week. Gee, thanks, that's another week I have to wait before I can even get started, draggin this out even longer, and making me bust my ass even more to get this done before graduation.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Eric 4/15/2005 04:17:00 PM
