It's been a couple of weeks since my last blog post. Sorry about that! I have been trying to get my head down to finish a first draft of my literature review, and have been sharing some tips on Twitter, like the ones below.
My literature review tips (that I wish I had followed sooner).
1. Make notes. Always. Future you will be grateful.
2. Summarise notes in one place.
3. Keep notes open so you can easily add to them, be it Excel, Google Sheets, your notebook, whatever.
[continues...]— Thomas Williams (@tjw_94) February 28, 2019
NB: This is a further iteration of my previous Tweet. https://t.co/N29BGBmKE1. I (now) use Mendeley to organise/manage references and Google Sheets for keeping notes.
— Thomas Williams (@tjw_94) February 28, 2019
However, I have also been looking at a few other things to keep all the different strands of my project moving forward (and to keep myself from getting too bogged down with the literature review!). Find out what I've been working on below.
Playing with Technology
One exciting thing I did was to take a break from writing to try out some new tools for developing augmented reality (AR) applications. I wanted to test how easily I could augment an object I had lying around the office, since I am anticipating people wanting to use their own personal objects. Here's a sneaky screenshot from the Android application.
As you can see from the watermark in the bottom left, I used Vuforia to create this. Vuforia have a great set of tools for developing AR applications, which are free to use for research, including an object scanner. I used that to scan my mug, which is what enabled me to put the words and arrow next to it to remind me to drink it. The words even follow the mug around (sort of...).
This looks much better than what I put together last year, and I am looking forward to exploring this further.
Learning More About Dementia
I have also been working through an online course on Future Learn, developed by UCL, called The Many Faces of Dementia. In the course, I have been learning about four rarer types of dementia, including:
- familial Alzheimer's disease (fAD);
- behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD);
- dementia with Lewy bodies; and
- posterior cortical atrophy.
For each type discussed, a personal story from someone with that type of dementia is used to highlight the unique challenges caused by the rarer forms of dementia. It has been very interesting learning about these rarer types, and has helped when writing about dementia in my literature review. There's still time to take part if you are interested in learning more.
Planning for the Steering Group
Although I still need the official go-ahead before recruiting for members of the steering group, I have started planning already. In order to prepare for the first meeting, I have been reading a book called Focus Groups, edited by Joe Langford and Deana McDonagh.
The book provides useful guidance about the pros and cons of focus groups as a research method, gives an overview of the essentials for running a focus group, and presents a variety of examples of running focus groups in specific cases, such as when working with older participants. I will combine this advice with the advice from the DEEP network, who have published guides on how to involve people with dementia in groups such as the one I am developing.
Coming Up
I am hoping to have a first draft of the literature review finished before the end of the month so I can move on with the research in earnest. I will be meeting with my supervisors this week to work out the next steps for this might be. Watch this space!
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