[Air-l] Question re Size of Data Set...

[Mary-Helen Ward]

Hi Matthew

You don't mention what method you have used to analyse your data. Do  
you have some kind of database set up to enable you to make links,  
organise, and other wise see the data in new ways, rather than just  
reading it? A good software program can really help you see patterns  
in big wodges of text. NVIVO is a well-known one but I'm sure people  
here can point you to others.

M-H

On 25/01/2007, at 10:31 AM, Matthew Pearson wrote:

> Hello All:
>
> This is my debut post to this excellent list after a long time spent
> reading lots of good stuff from others.
>
> I have a question re the size of my data set for my dissertation
> project: Is my data set too large, too small, or just right?
>
> I'd very much appreciate any insight/ideas/feedback anyone has about
> this.  My advisor and I aren't that sure about this issue, and I
> haven't been able to discern much about this issue from a lot of the
> studies I've read.

<snip>

> Any thoughts?  Good sources re this kind of methodology?  I've got
> Virtual Methods Ed. by Hine, among other sources, and haven't seen
> anything yet re sample size.  Maybe I missed it somehow?
>
> many thanks,
>
> Matthew Pearson
> mdpearson at wisc.edu
> PhD Candidate, University of Wisconsin Department of English--
> Composition and Rhetoric;
> Research Assistant, UC-Irvine Writing Project;
> & Man on the Street