So What’Cha, What’Cha, What’Cha Want? (What’Cha Want?) 1

 in Mentor / SISOlson / SISOlson17 by

I’ve always had a certain apprehension to meet with educators. I get a little bit frightened on whether or not I’ll be exposed for something that I clearly wouldn’t have and couldn’t have done. Irrational fears aside, one of the perks of the Olson Scholars program is that I get to meet with a faculty mentor who is experienced in the field that I am interested in researching.

As I mentioned in my last post, I am paired with Professor Esser, and we had our first face to face meeting on Wednesday, August 30, and for about 45 minutes to an hour, we discussed my proposal (which I had sent to him over the summer) and how to proceed once I got further settled in as an Olson Scholar. We also went over some sources that he had suggested I read before arriving to campus: a selection from Deborah Stone’s Policy Paradox, Juan Pablo Bocarejo et al. and their article on social fragmentation in the city of Bogota as a result of their Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system, and Matteo Rizzo’s article on the challenges of implementing a BRT in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. (On a further note, I’ll be creating a page to host as many of these sources–be on the look out for that soon).

Professor Esser and I also discussed my need to properly format a research question; something that could allow me to collect data and interpret it accordingly. For practice, he pointed me in the direction of a few more topics to gather further information on and formulate research questions for. These topics are spacial organization (specifically he gave me an article on Managua, Nicaragua), social fragmentation, and neighborhood-level income inequality in Santiago de Chile.

I’m definitely getting more and more excited about the prospects that my research could yield, though I dread the day when I have to decide what to focus in on for my only research topic. Again, I’m just tinkering with different puzzles on the giant game board of research, especially in a topic that is as broad as city organization/transport. I am sure that it will get easier as I gather more information about various facets of the field, and now all I need to do to continue on is find that information.

Until next time,

Nathan

P.S. Cheesy references are my thing, so be on the lookout for them in my post titles 🙂

 

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One thought on “So What’Cha, What’Cha, What’Cha Want? (What’Cha Want?)”

  • Reply ↓
    Dr. Boesenecker

    It sounds like you had a productive first meeting, Daniel, and that you are on the right track with some reading suggestions to keep you thinking about finding a focused puzzle and articulating research questions. As far as your concern (or “dread”) goes, I know that it does seem like you are facing a whole bunch of confusing choices right now. Just remember that the purpose of our coursework and discussions in 206 is to help you navigate these . Hopefully you will gain a better sense of how you will manage the choices/tradeoffs that are part of the research process as we go through 206. As always, remember that you can always stop by office hours if you have questions!

    Writing/posting note: make sure to include correct footnote citations and bibliographic information for the sources that you reference in your posts!