Today I worked on my paper at Barnes & Noble. My usual spot Jitterbug Cafe, a coffee house in my neighborhood was closed for the holiday and so was my backup the Lone Star College Library. It cost me about an hour to find a place to write but once I settled in it was a productive session. I was able to work until about 1pm as I had to get back in time to join the family for a New Years Eve trip down to Galveston to view the lights and have dinner. When I sat down to work I had 21 pages saved. I now have 25 but i am still rewriting and adding the citations. The first thing I did was to read through the paper and make an corrections to flow, grammar, spelling, citations etc. Once I completed that I started to add to the content. I finished the day with 25 polished pages. My plan is to work again on Sunday and send Margaret the new update on Sunday. She had emailed me on yesterday and reminded that she does not have pages so I will need to send her word copies. Also I need to make sure I use TurnItIn or at least double-check my citations against the original sources. I also reached out to Mike Swift who wrote the Silicon Valley article as well as Shellye Archambeau of MetricStream. Here are my Action items for next session.

1. Finish editing and add graphic from Silicon Valley story
1. Run against TurnItIn | Find instructions
2. Send to Margaret
3. Check prose above to see what I missed.
4. Use something from CNN special, look at APA on how to site.

Today I continued working on my chapter 2. I have about 19 pages. I still need to clean up 11 through 19 in terms of citations, flow etc. I will do that in the next session which should be sometime this week. I am finding it is too hard to wait and entire week to get back to writing. I will try to write during the week so that when I start again on Saturday I am not starting cold. I sent what I have to Margaret. During my next session I should clean up the 19 and get my citations done and try to write my next section as well as incorporate a couple of sources such as the Affirmative Action Myth, Blacks surging in technology, RAGS and A Nation at Risk. I have all of these. I need to critique, and decide where to to ask. I could easily have the entire thing down by this weekend. I am also waiting for Margaret to reply with her comments. Additionally, this week I will need to write up my plan. I have it written out on the inside cover of Whip's model, so I just need to put it in a document and upload to disscircles.

Today even though I had several distractions due to the holidays I still wrote. I really feel that I am building momentum. My dissertation comes first. Only family and something that at this point Cathy needs me to help with comes before writing. Today I finally submitted 12 pages to Margaret. It was well written and I had most of the citations there and I felt that I wrote with authority and added my analysis well. It was not perfect, but I now I will start to benefit from her reading it and guiding me. I still have not heard from the Microsoft contact so I will have to go in another direction. I will probably go back to qualitative interview idea. I have not seen that as of yet and I still like the idea. I plan to write this week during the week. But if not I will certainly write some on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I am also off this Friday so I should probably get some writing done then as well. If I maintain my discipline I should be in good shape before January 1. If I have not heard back from Margaret as it will take her some time to read then I will start to figure out chapter 3. Below is the message I sent to Margaret today:

Here is my first draft of Chapter 1. I have not run it through TurnIntIn as of yet as I need to locate my instructions and I wanted you to see the work without delay. I know that it may take you some time to review and get back to me with your comments. During that time I will work on finding the instructions and run the paper through. This is about half of what I think my complete chapter 2 will look like when complete as I continue to go through my summaries. Also, I would like to talk with sometime this week about my plans or the term and where I would like to be as well as some of the obstacles I have run into with my plans for the study. I will continue working on the chapter 2 and merge what I do with your comments and be ready to submit my changes. My plan is to send you a document each week on Sunday as I am able to write on both days. I will have some extra time here during the holidays so I plan to make progress during that time as well. I also intend to start reading about what I need to start my chapter 3.

On Sunday I sent my plan, outline and my first 7 pages of my chapter 2 to Margaret. I am waiting to hear back, but certainly I am back on track. My next session will be about building on my work this weekend and really getting a flow and some density to my chapter 2 in terms of fleshing out the sections. My goals for my Sunday session were:

1. Finish outline. I did one but I was not feeling totally happy with it
2. Write m first 10+ pages based on outline
3. Send plan, outline, and draft to Margaret

The only thing I did not accomplish was the number of pages. I may not wait until Saturday to get back to writing. Hopefully, I can get something done earlier in the week.

Kai

I spent the entire day working on my paper. I did not reach all of the goals outlined in my last session but I do feel good about the work I got done today. During the week I reached out to my chair and she threatened to give me a no-credit for the term so I was extra motivated to get something done and submitted to her by Sunday of this week. The plan from last session was to:

Read section on lit review in dj as a refresher
Find example diss
Study model diss chapter 2
Develop Outline
Write draft based on outline and model, start new doc, pull content from old one
Send to Margaret

I have not sent anything to Margaret yet but I was able to get my mind around exactly what it is I am to do. I had struggled with this for a minute. So, I studies a couple of sections in my book by Carol Roberts and took notes. That was helpful. I did find an example but not the one I wanted but I think I will be fine with the one I located. I worked hard on the outline and I could use what I have but I think it needs work and I will do that as the first goal of the next session which is tomorrow. On Sunday there will be nothing but writing. It may not be great but I will leave the library on Sunday with 10+ pages, my outline and a plan that I will send to Margaret before leaving the library. Those are my 2 goals for the next session:

1. Finish outline. I did one but I was not feeling totally happy with it
2. Write m first 10+ pages based on outline
3. Send plan, outline, and draft to Margaret

This weekend I made it through the editing process of the document. My goal for this week, that is by Sunday is to have my first draft written and sent to Margaret. My plan is to work on this chapter Monday thru Sunday. If I don't have the draft done it won't be for a lack of effort. This week I my plan is to talk to Margaret about where I am and ask her about the importance of a title. Also, I reached out to Microsoft yet again. If I do not get a response this week I will have to go back to my original plan of interviewing subjects. Here is the plan for this week as prepare my draft. Monday after work I will actually start a new document that will be the draft of my chapter 2.

Read section on lit review in dj as a refresher
Find example diss
Study model diss chapter 2
Develop Outline
Write draft based on outline and model, start new doc, pull content from old one
Send to Margaret

Well I am back. Obviously the plan I had in mind since my last post did not work out. Oh well. You keep plugging away. I have been very busy the last few months with a new career opportunity. The family has to eat, thus earning an income is pretty important. But I also have every attention of graduating in 2012 so I simply must find time to devote to my dissertation.

I am STILL working on my chapter 2. The time is hard to come buy, but this is something that I must solve. Understanding that my current work schedule is very demanding and realizing that my family time is very important to me, I have to figure out a way to get this time in. The weekdays are not an option as I keep myself pretty busy with work.

That only leaves me Saturday and Sunday. Since I have taken this 3 month break it seems now I will need to get a few hours in on both days if I am complete my mission of graduating in May. I found some time today to get some work done. Today I spent 3 hours back to editing the 90 pages (double-spaced) for my chapter 2).

I made it to page 31. Over the next couple of sessions I need to continue to edit this before I actually try to cull it into a meaningful document. My goal is to have between 25 and 30 pages organized and coherent for Margaret by November 30th. I am back focused. Soon I will also need to review the docs sent by Margaret in terms of evaluation of programs and determine if I am going to study the Microsoft program or not.

Today I started the brutal process of actually editing my first draft of my chapter 2. I wrote an introduction describing the sections of the literature review. Then I started going over the text for the first section to determine if I wanted to keep it or not, wording it properly and making sure I had the citation. I probably finished about half of the first section. I am certain this will take me the rest of the week to complete. At that point I will still want to read and edit and make sure I have good content and all of my citations are there and it flows properly. I have 4 sections to edit. Today I put in 3 hours of good work. If I can do that on Friday I will really make some progress. I am pushing to have the first pass through of the entire documented, read formatted and cited by Sunday night.

Today I have finally added the last of my content to my chapter 2 work. On Thursday I will start the editing process. I will be doing this work for the rest of the week. My plan is to have it down by Sunday and send it through TurnItIn before sending a copy of Margaret for feedback.

Today I continued to compile my chapter 2. I have 2 more reports to include and then I will start editing and cutting it down. I should get those 2 report summaries incorporated on Thursday. By the weekend I should have all of my editing done and I intend to submit the first draft to Margaret.

Today I officially started to put together my chapter 2. I went through most of my materials and categorized them and placed them in a document. I still a few more to add to the document which I will do in my next session. Then I will begin to cut it down and wordsmith and weave what I have and write the introduction. As of now, the document is 93 pages single spaced. I am looking forward to starting the next part of the process. I am hoping to get the first draft to Margaret by Thursday morning.

Today I organized all of my reports and summarizes. I still have some that I have yet to summarize but before i read them and decide if I am going to use them, I am going to start to put together my chapter 2. My next work will be to take all of the documents and organize them into my zero draft of chapter 1.

I have been continuing to read and summarize reports. I have also been continuing my efforts with BiTWiSE as well as interviewing people on my topic to find out as much as I can. I have also continued to reach out to folks. Today I sent a note to Dr. Reagan Flowers. She lives in Houston so we will have a conference call soon. I am also meeting with a representative from Microsoft to discuss possibly studying The Student Minority Program that is done by Blacks @ Microsoft to see if there is an association between students participating in the program and increased interest in computing careers.

So far this week I have completed reading The Digital Elite by John T. Barber and I have begun to summarize what I will use for chapter 2. I also started reading my book on Grounded Theory which I think is the design I wish to use, but I wanted to read more about it before I committed. But is is based on Comparative Analysis which I think is important for what I wish to do. I also reached out to someone at The Blacks @ Microsoft Employee Resource Group about the possibility of studying their program called Student Minority Day as my study. I should finish the book on Thursday and then I can get to the remaining sources I have yet to read and my discovery on AERA.net for anything new. I should complete this by the end of the week. The hope is to start to put together the chapter and send it to Margaret before the end of the month.

Today I finished reading The Black Digital Elite by John T. Barber. This is an excellent book and will fit in well with my chapter 2. It is a profile of African Americans who have played a role in the evolution of the computing industry from different sectors of the society. Each profile reveals the thoughts of these "digital elite" on what needs to be done to close the technology gap in America. This week I also reached out to Detra Newhouse of Blacks @ Microsoft to discuss the feasibility of studying their Student Minority Day Initiative for my study.

I got back in the library today. I still have articles to summarize, but I wanted to use a book I have called The Black Digital Elite. I spent a few hours today in the library and I should finish it on Wednesday. I am glad that I did because I definitely found some good stuff. I will summarize it on Wednesday. I still did not get my chapter 2 written this week. But I want to have certain sources summarized before I start to synthesize and integrate.

talk to students who have come through the bdpa program who have majored in stem. What effect did it have (ask margaret)

how does events such as career days influence the choice of career.
keep my eyes and ears open during my talk in Waco.

saw this:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007PhDT.......130W

http://gradworks.umi.com/3341359.pdf, found on google need to do a google scholar search + pro quest can still be building even though I submit to Margaret.

The study that looked at robotics used a tool to measure before and after.

1. Continue conversations and interviews (may get an idea of what to ask or design)
2. Continue summarizing what I have (for chapter 2 construction)
3. AERA (for chapter 2 construction)
4. Other dissertations for ideas for my chapter 3 (further research)
5. BiTWiSE (ideas for design, participant source)

Today I spent a few hours in the library reading and summarizing proposals. I did not get as much done in terms of how many or how much I wrote but my understanding of the problem and what I am doing is growing immensely. I read one article that was full of information and gave me several ideas.

I also finally summarized the Dividing Lines article which also had an interesting nugget or 2. My goal is to complete 10 more summaries before attempting the construction of my first draft. My goal was to get the draft to Margaret today. I spoke with her today and told her that I would get her a draft next Wednesday.

That is seven days from now and I fully intend to do that. She also made it clear to me today that I don't actually have a research design yet, although I keep thinking that I do. I guess I do unless something better comes along. My plan is to interview black technology professionals and ask them about their experiences being an information technology professional and let the themes emerge as to why so few black males pursue careers in information technology.


She was also very encouraging regarding my BiTWiSE activities. Which was very reassuring because I struggled with taking the time on the project as I was worried about it taking away from my dissertation. She convinced me that they are one and the same. She even said that I may find a way to use BiTWiSE as part of my study.

She reminded that I should look for other dissertations and check their chapter 5's for ideas for study designs. I had been doing that but I will do more more of it. She also mentioned that I could interview the IT professionals to get their take and use that information to create a survey to interview college students.

To see if what is perceived by the professionals holds water with the aspirants. I need to continue to write and keep my eyes and ears open for the idea that really clicks for me.

Today I pretty much worked on my paper the entire day. It was more about quality that quantity but I will be back at it on Saturday (tomorrow). I was able to finally transpose my notes from my last 2 interviews with Professor Moore of UT and Andrea Barefield of Lone Star College in Houston. Both were full of insights and spawned connections that I reached out to today to setup interviews. Saturday I will visit the dissertation circle and input my plans for this semester which will include conducting my proposal. The rest of the day I will get back to reading and summarizing.

I did not make my goal of submitting my first draft of my chapter 2 by May 1. For the past 2 weeks I have been preparing for multiple job interviews. This was all consuming. Although I did not get any work done with regards to the actual literature review, I did meet with several people to gain insights to what the issues may be around my topic. Margaret suggested that I do this. Some of the meetings have been a gold mine.

For example, the information that I gathered from my interview with Mario Berry will be very helpful when I am designing my interview questions. I will post my notes from that conversation on Google Docs. I also made contact with IT leaders, thanks to Wayne Hicks, in BDPA. My aim is to interview these leaders in August at the BDPA National Technology Conference.

I have their contact information and I intend to connect with them this week. I have also tried to reach out repeatedly to Richard Tapia of Rice University to no avail. Additionally, I reached out to Carmen Caldwell and Omari Gordon. These are contacts I made via my conversation with high school teacher Krystal Gordon. I left messages for both and I am looking forward to speaking with them.

I attended a job fair on April 20th. The idea was to sit down with those who are doing the hiring. I met Boi-Yeanoh Adams. I interviewed her as well and she connected with me Dr. Consuelo Waight of The University of Houston. Both meeting were fruitful. I have setup other interviews from contacts I made at the job fair. On Tuesday I am meeting with Andrea Barefield of Lone Star College. I am looking forward to getting her thoughts as well as connect one of her colleagues that she mentioned would be helpful in my quest.

Today I finished my review and summary of A Struggle Worthy of Note I also added to my notes and took some great information from the conclusion. The plan for the rest of the month is to continue with my informational interviews. At my next session I also intend to summarize my notes from the meeting with Mario Berry. I also have 2 other interviews to setup that came out of my meeting with Krystal Gordon. The plan here is to continue reading, summarizing and categorizing. I am definitely learning everything I can about the subject which I am very pleased with. I also need to search the AERA database for this year as well as review the methodology site that Margaret mentioned. I also intend to take a look at the disscircles site she setup. I tried to re-do TurnItIn for my last chapter but I had some sort of issue where it is checking against my paper and coming up 100% plagiarized. I have notified writing support and I am awaiting an answer. After I am done with my sources. I will re-read Creswell and formation and maybe one or two examples. After that I will write my first draft. My goal is to submit it on May 1.

Today I finished reading from "A Struggle Worthy of Note: The Engineering and Technological Education of Black Americans. This is an excellent resource. I wish I could find the author. I learned a great deal in reading it. I learned about the racism and exclusionary practices that kept African Americans from participating in the technical professions as well as the changes in these policies as the technical leadership of the country began to be threatened. I will certainly in my next session review the book and add more to my summary of it that I can use in my chapter 2 as well as other chapters. Also, next time I will post my notes from my meeting with Mario Berry and I am looking forward to other interviews that I have setup such as Lisette Titre. I need to also connect with NACME and the group mentioned in Jerlando Jackson's paper.

Today I continued to read for my literature review. Before my next session I need to organize what I am going to read. I definitely want to read the new online articles I have bookmarked on my pc, but I also have others on flash drives, desktop etc that I need to have organized to read. I should finish my content this week and determine if I need more. I will also do the AERA work this week. By this weekend I should cut my first draft.

Today I spoke with Margaret via Skype. She mentioned that I should access the AERA site and peruse the catalog for the latest research on my topic.

Today I spoke with Dr. Peggy Osbourn. Peggy is the Director of Counseling, Career and Disability Services. She did not offer much in the way of information but she was a networking bonanza. She gave me several contacts. I will be contacting those folks the rest of this week.

Today I started doing some of the leg work for my chapter 3. I had an appointment with the career services office of Lone Star College Cypress. The person I met with did not have any information for me but she was able to connect me with a student who had started to pursue engineering at the University of Houston who had returned back to the community college. She is going to get permission from the student. Hopefully I will hear back from the student soon and I will be able to setup a time to connect with him. She also put me in touch with others in the office who may be able to help. I am meeting with Peggie Osbourn on Tuesday. Also I will be attending their job fair on April 20th to have an opportunity to actually get contact information of actual companies and I may be able to speak with them. Today I also spoke with Wayne Hicks of BDPA in order to setup interviews during the conference in Chicago. The conference will take place in Chicago. I also met with Krystal Gordon. Krystal is a teacher at MacArthur High School in Houston. She gave me many insights and also connected me with another teacher who teaches math as well as her a hiring manager. I am also looking forward to meeting her brother. I have used her notes as a starting point from my chapter 3.

Today I continued to read articles for my chapter 2. I think I read 3 articles and summarized them. I also continued to think about the design of my study as I read other ideas popup. Doing a comparative study between African American IT Pros with White IT Pros would seem good. That is what most studies do around the digital divide. They compare low ses schools with high ses schools. Or they will compare white schools with black schools. Why not compare White men who have become IT Pros with Black Males who have become IT Pros, although that does not actually seem to answer the question of why Black males don't go into the career. If I am looking at what attracts African American males to IT then i could interview them.

survey 100
interview 15

Yesterday I finished reading Technology and Equity in Schooling: Deconstructing the Digital Divide. I still need to write it up. I also read the article on Gaming and closing the digital divide. After talking with Margaret on wednesday I was confused about why I should speak with a counselor in career services. After she explained it I got it. What she meant was that I am trying to find out why African American males don't go into IT. Her thought was that someone who might have ideas about this are career advisors. They talk to people all of the time and might have some insights. This information will help me to develop my own questionnaires. I immediately contacted the career counseling department at Lone Star College. I am meeting with them on Monday. This work is for my chapter 3. I also thought of other folks that I could speak with about this. So, I contacted Joyce Rivera of MacArthur High School and asked her who I could speak with. He suggested a teacher named Krystal Gordon who I have an appointment to meet with on Monday as well. I also sent a note to the department chair of the computer science department at Lone Star College-CyFair. I also sent a note to the head of the computer science department at UT to setup a meeting. I came up with a few other ideas but did not move on them.

I had my meeting with Margaret today. Here are the talking points from the conversation.

Speak to professors to find out why African Americans leave the major
Speak to the student she mentioned
Think about what it is I want to know. (I want to know why is it that African American males are going into the information technology field)
Start working on my chapter 3. Look at examples
Talk to a career placement office in order to decide how I will come up with what or who to ask
comparative case study (whites vs. black)
Talk to students who once majored, then changed. Pay attention to what comes up of any of these conversations.
Fred Erickson studies
Use her modules as a starting point for chapter 3
Speak to some white and some black IT professors

Take all of this in, keep on my path.

Today I did not get very much done, but the quality of what was accomplished was high. Today I summarized my reading of The Young and the Digital by S. Craig Watkins. Initially, I did not think there was much in the book that I could use, although I thought it was a brilliant book. But as I combed back through my highlights to do the summary, I found much that I could use as well as other nuggets that I had not seen the first time. It was a very good read. Now I can move on and add it to the consumed list. I still need to do the other work mentioned in the previous post and then I can get back to reading other studies and articles to summarize. I learned a lot today, so even though I did not get very much done, I did learn. And is that not the point of it all.

This is the response I received from my open records request from Texas A&M University. I also sent a similar request to Trinity University and Texas Southern University in Houston. I received good feedback from Margaret on my chapter 1. I need to clarify if she is suggesting that I interview both university students and African American IT pros.

That is precisely what Jerlando Jackson did. I should check their report for an interview instrument. Today I also finished my reading of The Young and the Digital. It was a great book but it does not offer much for my chapter 2. There is one chapter on digital divide that is very general.

I will write the summary for it on Saturday and use what I can for my chapter 2. However, the afterword offered good information on methods. For example, he mentioned how the students or participants help to design the surveys, interview questions and design of the study. I am thinking of how to come up with interview questions now. There was also mention of a great book on qualitative interviewing which I ordered. Right now it seems my study will involve speaking to university students as well as IT professionals to understand their experiences around computer science in college as well as in corporate america. So, I am thinking about how to come at the interview questions. Also, I want to do a mix methods study and I am not sure about the quantitative aspect. That is a good question to talk with Margaret about on Wednesday. I also contacted Texas Southern University regarding data.

Next Steps:
Write summary of The Young and the Digital
Send new TurnItIn report for chapter 1 to Margaret
Think about quantitative aspect
Look for examples of interview question


Mr. Dupe,

Here is our response to your request for public information, our number
2011014.
In the 5 year period between 2005-2010, there were 149 black males in
Computer Science. In May of 2010, 15 of those graduated with a different
degree and 25 graduated with a degree in CS. 109 either have not
graduated yet or did not graduate at all.

The last few days I have been reading S. Craig Watkins' book The Young and the Digital. After reading about half of it I probably won't be able to include it in my literature review. I learned quite a bit but I don't think it is really related to my topic. I should finish it this week, and by the weekend should be ready to add a few more studies to my list of summaries.

Yesterday I settled on my research design being Grounded Theory. I think it makes more sense than the others and it makes more sense for the question I am seeking to answer. Also, I settled on a design. I will contact several universities and junior colleges. I will find African American males who have switched majors and contact them to interview them to find out what led them to changing their major. I do think I wish to use mixed methods although I am not sure what kind of quantitative data would help me answer the question or be part of the design. Maybe I can survey the African American males who have dropped computer science as a major and quantify the data that way in terms of their attitude or experiences around their computer science experience. I also sent my chapter 1 to Margaret. She needed to read it again since it had been awhile. Yesterday I compiled a list of schools that I have access. Today I continued to think about my design, summarized reports, and contact schools.

1. Huston-Tillotson, Austin Texas
2. Austin Community College
3. Houston Community College
4. The University of Texas
5. Prairie View
6. Rice
7. University of Houston
8. Texas Southern University
9. Trinity University
10. University of Texas at San Antonio
11. Morehouse University
12. Texas A&M Commerce
13. San Antonio College
14. St. Phillips College
15. St. Mary's University

This morning I read an article by Paul Gorski titled Education Equity and the Digital Divide that set me on fire. The article validated many of my thoughts for when I first embarked on the journey to earn my phd and situated me in the fight for digital equity. This is what I am all about. Digital Equity and Math Literacy are the civil rights issue of the 21st century. He also made me consider Multicultural Education as a theoretical framework. I will discuss with Margaret and search for my book on the topic by Banks. I also became aware of this organization The National Telecommunications and Information Administration as a huge resource of information. Here is their link: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/
I also uncovered several sources that I will need to read and review for my chapter 2. But Paul Gorski is definitely a player. I learned much and got a lot out of this article even if it was the only one I was able to do in today's session. It was worth it. In Thursday's session which will be in the afternoon as I am pitching the radio show in the morning, I will go over the new sources and summarize those before reading and summarizing the other article I have that was written by Gorski. I also had a productive Skype session with Margaret this afternoon where she gave me several ideas for design and also validated that I could use Grounded Theory or Comparative Case Study.


1. AAM who go in IT
2. Whites who go into IT
3. African American Males who do not


High school kids who had an apptitude, where are they now


African American males who came in majoring in computer science but now 2 years later are not
in the major

just interviewing of African American males

Today I read several more articles and wrote several more summaries. I also became better organized and did more general reading around my methdology. I am also considering adding The Diffusion of Innovations as a source. I should continue to get more organized around what I have in terms of articles and have most of them documented by the end of next week. I also have a meeting with Margaret at 1pm on Wednesday. I am looking forward to touching base and discussing my progress and getting some direction. My goal is to have done my prelim before my birthday on May 31, 2011.

1. Articles on Box.net
2. Articles in Gmail
3. Articles on desktop
4. Hardcopies

I should get through all of what I have by the end of the week.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-iit-black-recruiting-0227-20110226,0,6356908.story

Read and think about posting

Today I got back on my track. Although I am still not feeling 100% I am so focused and determined to finish in 2012 that I hit the library again this morning. I had a small setback as the library was closed. No matter. I hit the nearest Panera Bread and got to work. I read several studies that led to other studies. Some of them I read online as I do not have a print copy so I will print and mark up later. I did write the summaries. I tapped into another category which I may or may not have already tapped. I will have to check when I am home. But another category for the literature review map is the node of diversity. I read several studies that point out that organizations are made stronger the more diverse they are. This would seem an important idea since our STEM workforce is not very diverse. This is precisely what led me to my research. I was thinking while I was reading one study and it occurred to me that I have NEVER met a Latino male software developer during my entire career.

I have not been feeling well the last couple of days and Kisa's birthday party was on Saturday. Today I am resting and hoping to feel better in the morning. Monday thru Friday of this week I plan to get a lot of work done.

Today I continued to gain an understanding of research design, research method and stratgies of inquiry. At this point I am pretty sure that my research design is Grounded Theory. I also ordered a book on this particular research design. Additionally, I ordered a copy of the dissertation mentioned yesterday so that I can use it as a model. I was considering Multi Case Study as well as one other design but I think Grounded Theory fits best for what I am trying to do. In the next day or so I should be pretty clear on my research method. My research strategy is qualitative. I also continued to read for and sumamrize for my literature review and I will do more of that on Friday.

I can use this study as a model:

Jackson, J. F. L., Charleston, L. J., George, P. L., & Gilbert, J. E. (in press). Factors that Attract African American Males to Computer Science: A Study of Aspiring and Current Professionals. In M. C. Brown & T. E. Dancy (Eds.). African American Males and Education: Examining the Convergence of Race and Identity. Information Age.

Today I read from Business Research Methods by Bryman and Bell. I definitely had a breakthrough in understanding what I am trying to do. The breakthrough is coming to an understanding of how research is done. I read a section on inductive vs. deductive research that brought me such comfort. Before reading this, much of what I had read and learned from others who had finished their research made no sense. I also think I am about to drop the literature that I have been reading, which is mostly focused on digital divide and digital equity, and begin to focus more on literature that is more targeted to my research question of Why Are African American Males Under-Represented in Computing. Today I have made the decision that I will talk to African American Male ITPros. I will interview them the weekend of August 3rd thru August 6th at The National Technology Conference of BDPA in Chicago. I also contacted Dr. Jerlando Jackson of The University of Chicago about visiting with him to discuss my research as his study is the one I intend to replicate. This book has helped with me immensely and to see clearly or more clearly what I need to do. It was time well spent. On Thursday, I will split my time between more reading of the text, and more summaries on digital divide, digital equity, k-12 computer science education. At some point I will finish those and I will start with the Jerlando Jackson dissertation and its references.

Yesterday I did not get to do much in terms of reading and writing. But since my goal is to be persistent and produce an artifact each day, I did read another study and summarize it. I also spent some time thinking about my dissertation. In other words, what is my research design? I am not clear on that. I thought about doing a mixed-study, because I think it would make for a better study but I am not sure what the qualitative piece would be. What came out of my thinking and conversations with Dr. Odom is when I go to work on my paper at the library it does not have to all be focused on one piece. So, from now on my work will be on different parts. I will do some thinking, some reading and writing on chapter 2 and some work on what my design. This morning I have started my reading in Business Research Methods by Alan Bryman and Emma Bell. It has helped. I will read and take notes and spark my thinking here for the first few hours today and then I will switch to reading 3 or 4 studies and summaries. I also have found a full dissertation that I need to read and check out the references.

I did not go to the library on Saturday or Sunday as my friend Curtis was visiting. He absolutely motivated me to keep on my pace or even to work harder. I absolutely MUST finish this dissertation this year before December and graduate in June of 2012. That is my goal and I will not be distracted. Today I went to the library and I continued to read research reports, incorporated the tips from Curtis and contacted Margaret about weekly status meetings via Skype.

For the past week I have been reading and summarizing studies, books, and articles for my chapter 2. I have made great progress. I have decided that until I find my next income opportunity that my job will be to finish my dissertation. So, each day I get up and go to the library as if it was a job. I arrive at 8 am and try to stay at least until 2pm when my daughter has to be picked up at school. I plan to go on Saturday's and Sunday's as well. This week I finished Radical Equations and did summarizes for multiple studies. The goal for this weekend is to continue to organize and categorize my work and determine if I need more before I lay down the first draft of the chapter. The goal is 50 write-ups.

Today I went to the library and I read 3 studies. I still need to summarize them however. I also started reading from the Jossey Bass reader only to find it won't be as helpful as I had hoped. Next session I plan to write up the articles I read today and read several more. There were a few sources I learned of today that I will read as well.

Tonight I wrote up the article Digital Inequality: Differences in Young Adults' Use of the Internet. The main point of this study is that online skill is an important mediating factor in the types of activities people pursue online. I may use this as part of a section in my chapter 2. I also examined: Insisting on Digital Equity: Reframing the Dominant Discourse on Multicultural Education and Technology. I should finish reading it on Thursday and complete the summary.

Read a few more studies and articles today. Only to find that these are not really related to my research. Of the 5, I read today,I maybe can use one. The next session I should finish my articles and move on to the citations from the study I am replicating and checking out the jossey bass reader. Then I will know if I need to actually go out and seek more literature.

Yesterday I spent more time reading research reports for my literature review. Mostly, none of them were useful, but that is still good, as it allowed me to get rid of them or decide to use them in other work.

Today I continued my work on my lit review. I studied the Degrees of Success report. This also gave me the idea to possibly do a similar approach with HBCUs. I also covered the Bayer Study embedded in the U.S Gets Poor Grades in Nurturing STEM Diversity as well as the Why So Few report by The American Association of University Women.

Yesterday was more of the same. I read, organized and summmarized the studies I will use to craft my literature review. I will do more of the same today.

Today I did more summmaries as I continue to develop my literature review map.

Over the weekend I attended the Nu Skin Kick Off 2011 for the product launch of Vitality in Orlando. While I was there I spent some time with my good friend Dr. Plinkske. Kathleen gave me several pointers on completing my dissertation and on both flights I got some work in regarding my literature review. I read 7 papers (4 of which I will use in my paper) and today I will summarize and categorize them and begin work on several others. These are the papers I read:

1. Why Students with an Apparent Aptitude for Computer Science Don't Choose to Major in Computer Science, Lori Carter

2. Factors that Attract African American Males to Computer Science: A Study of Aspiring and Current Professionals, Jerlando Jackson, Lavar J. Charleston, Phillis George, and Juan E. Gilbert.

3. Developing the STEM Education Pipeline, ACT

4. Making Computer Science More Enticing, Michelle Quinn

5. Degrees of Success, Higher Education Research Institute



3. Developing the STEM Education Pipeline

Think about modeling the Bayer Study. Although the Bayer Study surveyed several minority groups, I only want to survey African American men. But, they used email and surveys to collect their data. That appeals to me at this point. They were already scientists. And they surveyed them.

Today I continued reading research reports on my goal to 50. One of which I am sure to use. It is the Bayer Study. It once again the idea to interview students of BPDA and/or NSBE. I tried this before and Margaret did not like the idea. I will have to ask again why. I think I will finish reading this study and call it a day.

Tonight I finished reading

Single-Gender Schools and Inner City; Can They Work? Is a Single Gender Setting a positive educational setting for African American Males
by Mateen Diop.

Next up is The Operative Paradigm of Hispanic-American Women Business Leaders: A Narrative, Qualitative Study. It is 123 pages long. My goal is to get it read this week. I also plan to find a study similar in topic to mine and read the chapter 2 of that one as well.

I am reading literature reviews to get a better idea of what is expected of this chapter. I have completed my reading of The Next Generation of Community College Presidents: Critical Characterstics, Competencies and Professional Experiences written by Kathleen Plinkse. I learned a lot from reading this one. Right now I am reading Single-Gender Schools and Inner City; Can They Work? Is a Single Gender Setting a positive educational setting for African American Males by Mateen Diop. I should finish reading it on Friday and then I have one more I would like to read before I develop my first draft. Here is what I have learned and planned to do.

1. Review each of my articles (try to have 50 or so)
2. Write a Summary of each one
3. Do a literature map based on the categories that emerge
4. Organized what I have to itegrate the content
5. Weave the content in a way to present where my study adds to
6. I also intend to do a a little more research (new content)

My goal is to send my literature review map to Margaret by next Friday. Once I get that back I intend to produce my first draft a few days after that. That is the plan.