Week 9: A Setback

Hi everyone! This is the one and only Joleen, and we are here at the second to last blog post of this season. Whew! Today’s blog post contains a very important lesson for all my views. Without further ado, let me tell you a story!

SPSS is a relatively old software, so if someone were to analyze data, they might have to use the newer version available on most modern-day computers. However, I am using an older SPSS data analysis version. Instead of using my daily computer, I use another special computer from the 1990s. At that time, technology was not as advanced, so many tools that we have today on Google Sheets were not made available until after the old SPSS was released. 

One day, I woke up when the sky was all blue, the birds were chirping, and I was in a great mood. I went downstairs, had a wonderfully delicious breakfast, and got ready to work on my senior project. First, I check for emails or reminders from my advisors. Then, I finish up my previous blog post and send it over to be published. That day seemed pretty cheerful, but little did I know that it would set me back a couple of weeks. I opened up the old computer from the 1990s to continue my data analysis but ended up staring at the screen with my brows furrowed. My dad comes in and asks me, “Why do you look so confused?” Well, I had just noticed that half of my data was missing. Shock led to sadness, and sadness led to anger. How could I ever forget about that “save” button? 

Remember how I mentioned earlier that many tools we have today weren’t available back then? Well, automatic saving is one of them. I tried everything, like undoing some actions and checking previous versions, but all my data was permanently gone. That meant I had to reenter them for 13 participants! Fortunately, I kept the interview papers, so I could enter the data quickly if I focused. So this week, I mainly reentered data and double checked to make sure I was on schedule. 

Readers, let this be a lesson to you. If you aren’t using Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides, please double-check to see if you have saved all your work, because not all platforms will automatically save. I have now learned from my mistakes! Next week, I will wrap up my project and do some concluding thoughts. See you for the finale!