Two Heads Are Better Than One

This post is another note on getting unstuck. But before I tell the short story, allow me to disclose my reason for sharing. I am in the process of completing a task of which I had the opportunity to view the finish work as opposed to live out. To see something done is one thing and to do it yourself is something else.

I had a second cousin, Yvonne B. Miller, who obtained her Ph.D. And she wished me well in my studies. I learned more from her obituary and a YouTube interview than I had the opportunity to discuss with her in a one-on-one conversation.

"Sen. Miller broke the combined gender and color barrier in 1983, when she was the first black woman to win a seat in the House of Delegates, the oldest continuously meeting legislative body in the Western Hemisphere." - Lewis, 2012, Washington Post

I also had three friends to go into Ph.D. programs before I started, but I was not privy to all the intricacies of their experiences. One stopped because her advisor left Carnegie Mellon University and left the school vacant of her area of interest. Another left Morgan State University before finishing. But after some time off, she has returned to finish what she started. A third left a school in Florida after realizing it was not what she wanted after several years of doing the work. Although challenged by the vicissitudes of life, there are few that surpass the level of sheer joy she exudes in this season.

The stories of Black women in Ph.D. programs that I have come to know are far too numerous to share in this space. However, I challenge you to consider their abstracts to get a glimpse at their processes and products (see links below).

So with all this in mind, I share stories and nuggets in this space so that I leave a trail behind from which others can glean. If no one else other than my nieces and nephews gain insight from this space, then that is just fine with me. They are my heirs. 

Now on to the short story...

Last night I found myself stuck once again. I needed to select the method of data analysis and sources of data for one of my two research questions. I figured out one, but the other was giving me a literal headache. In that moment I received a reply to a text message that I sent earlier. In the reply of my friend, she asked how I was doing. To this I responded "I'm doing well. 🧐 🤔 I'm scratching my head at one part of my proposal. I think I'm going to phone a friend." And yes, I phone a friend who graduated with her Ph.D. few years ago from my program and left a message. So, I called another friend, Dr. Rebecca who graduated from Penn State, and she answered.

She allowed me to talk out the short version of my theoretical framework, selection of case study methodology, rationale for the use of a logic model as the analytical technique for my second question, and data sources for the first question.  I told her that I was stuck and that it was because I had too many options to consider for artifacts. The resolution from our conversation...employing multimodal analysis. Sometimes it takes talking things out with a friend to work things out in your mind.

​...two heads are better than one.

Exploring the African Songo Game and How Gameplay Enhances Multiple Literacies Among Adult Players in Cameroon and the United States - Rebecca Bayeck, Ph.D. Penn State

Mobile Message Design: A Mix-Methods Study of a Maternal Health Project in Northern Ghana - Erica Bass, Ph.D. GSU

Writing HERstory: Examining the Intersectional Identities of Black Women in Educational Leadership - Natasha Johnson, Ed.D. GSU

Unsolicited Narratives: The Experiences of Afro-Caribean Women as Mathematics Learners and as Mathematics Educators in U.S. Institutions of Higher Education - Dihema Longman, Ph.D. GSU

Centering Black Women's Ways of Knowing: A Review of Critical Literacies Research and a Black Feminist Analysis of Black Women Educators’ Extraordinary Literacies - Francheska Starks, Ph.D. GSU

An Examination of Data Management Systems and Utilization-Focused Participatory Evaluation - Syreeta Skelton, Ph.D. GSU

Seeing Beyond the Stereotype to See the Whole Human: Teachers' Perceptions of Media Stereotypes and Black Youth - Syreeta Ali McTier, Ph.D. GSU