The last time I met with my faculty mentor, Professor Levan, was 1-2 on Wednesday November 29th. I was planning on meeting with him this coming Wednesday, which is why this post is coming out now, but it turns out he will not be on campus then. During our last face to face meeting we discussed my interpretivist research design sketch, which methodology I was thinking of pursuing, and what, if anything, I should do over the break.
We didn’t spend all that much time discussing my interpretivist research design sketch. While I hold him that I was planning on analyzing the European discourse on democratic decline in Hungary, I also indicated that I was leaning heavily towards doing small-n analysis. He suggested we focus our discussion on that choice and then what next steps I needed to take. The primary motivation for my choice was that, while I believed my proposed interpretivist project to be interesting, I am philosophically just not an interpretivist and a case study approach to democratic decline in Hungary was far more appealing to me. Large-n analysis never came up in this discussion of potential choices for methodologies, which was fine with me.
As I am not proposing to conduct interviews or really do anything with human subjects, I do not need to start the process of seeking approval over Winter Break. Indeed, I really don’t need to do much over the break. Professor Levan recommended that I do not overly stress myself over my project over the break as taking a break can often be important to producing quality work later on. He did point me towards a pair of books, To Begin Where I Am by Czeslaw Milosz and Disturbing the Peace by Vaclav Havel, that might make interesting reads over the break. Milosz is a Polish poet while Havel a Czech writer and dissident who would go on to become the first President of post-Communist Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic. In their works, each captures part of the zeitgeist of their respective countries under Communism and the 1989 revolutions that led to the emergence of contemporary Eastern Europe. As both those legacies are important to my research, each of these books should add to my ability to explain Hungary’s current democratic deficit.
As of right now I have no specific questions or concerns about SIS 306. I plan to go into break, read a few informative and hopefully interesting books on my topic, and then resume research in the Spring. I feel pretty confident about my choice in methodology and am looking forward to making my research design a reality.
This sounds like it was a productive meeting. You’re certainly right that you don’t have to do too much over the break — and you do want to take plenty of time to relax and enjoy the break! — but a bit of reading to keep you thinking about your topic area is always a good idea. Make sure to touch base with Dr. Levan early in the spring term (as you will be required to do in 306) to start thinking about the feedback you receive on the Final Narrative Paper and your next steps in 306.