karma

I'm not a strong believer of good luck charms, such as the 4-leaf clover or the rabbit's foot. Nor am I a supporter of superstition, such as maintaining the (ice) hockey players' play-off routine of wearing lucky (and unwashed) clothing or keeping (facial) hair (thank goodness!). I am, however, a strong advocate of the old saying, "what comes around, goes around".

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

It's getting nearer for me to start data collection for my project -- especially, if you ignore the fact that I still need to finalize my research protocol, submit to receive scientific and ethical review, and conduct the pilot study. In preparation to face the longest (and toughest) year of my graduate life, I'm currently volunteering all my spare time to participate in other post-graduate students' research projects.

Thankfully in England your dinner does not get disturbed by market researchers trying to conduct questionnaires over the phone but my inbox is bombarded by daily requests to complete online surveys (which I obliged to, of course). Not only are there surveys but also invitations to participate in face-to-face studies. Fortunately, my age, sex, and non-smoking status precludes me from performing all studies. To date, I've listened to thousands of syllables through a headset, had my height, weight, and blood pressure measured, and given a couple of blood samples. No incentive received, unless you call the month's supply of soda pop for the trial I'm participating in as an incentive...

All this is in hopes that people will recognize my good efforts and do the same when it comes to my turn. The only flaw to my theory is that I'm not recruiting students to my study but rather members of the general population.