Winter Quater is over!

::whew:: I just submitted my last final and I’m very happy to close the books on Winter 2012. 

Here’s just a quick overview of what has happened to me in the last 10 weeks: 

Dad and I spent a super-fun weekend in Point Reyes

Andy and I explored Napa and San Francisco with Steve and Linda (the in-laws)

Andy and I explored other parts of San Francisco with fellow Baylor alum, Adam

Jenae and I explored still other parts of San Fran at the DML conference

Aside from a couple of hours of TV before bed, pretty much every other moment of the last ten weeks as spent on schoolwork. So what did I learn this quarter?

I can now use Stata (statistical software) more or less successfully and can apply and evaluate multiple regression models. I understand what a p-value and a t-statistic and a slope coefficient are; I can check data for outliers and perform sensitivity analyses; and, hell, I can even generate and evaluate a studentized residual plot.

Apparently socioeconomic status DOES influence how well a kid scores on her SAT-Math

On the qualitative research side of things, I completed a full pre-pilot research project. I took field notes at two site observations (I observed Andy chatting with his Clarion group), created a protocol and conducted a semi-structured interview which I later transcribed, and then I coded and analyzed all of my data.

It turns out that "data analysis" requires a lot of highlighting.

I also started this blog, learned several new technologies, led a class discussion, and created a website. 

I'm actually kind of proud of this; it's a resource for composition instructors that promotes the use of online tools to teach invention: https://sites.google.com/a/ucdavis.edu/invention/home.

 And I’ve continually added posts to the blog I write for Academic Technology Services, the Wheel, have become increasingly active as @ucdaviswheel, and have begun to enter the worlds of Digg, Pintrest, StumbleUpon, and Reddit. 

I write this blog as part of my job as ATS's Graduate Student Researcher.

I’m tired.