Process of collecting data

The process of collecting data started from October 2010.
i. Letter of approval to MD (Okt 2010): no reply
ii. Interview with branch EO: most data are P & C
iii.Email to AGM CCs (end Okt 2010): no reply
iv. Letters of approval to HR & AGM CCs (4 Nov 2010): still waiting for the reply!

What's next?

My PhD Proposal 2

My supervisor's comments on Research Methodology:
i. Introd-needs further discussion
ii. Research design-too brief & needs further discussion
iii. Population & sample-needs a larger sample size
iv. Data analysis-needs to link models with objectives
v. Framework-needs further discussion

My actions now:
i. Re-search & extend discussions on relevant parts as required

Writing & publish

We are not trained to be a writer. As a child, we learned and practiced writing only for school exercises. The same experience continued at the university level i.e. writing only for academic purpose. Writing a diary or making notes is not common in our daily live. We are actually 'don't like to write' and 'don't know what & how to write'.

My experience of writing a book is very challenging. I found it is very difficult at organizing facts and elaborating them. Feeling fear of giving wrong points is there, almost all the time. I failed to give some 'life' to the book. In other words, the book is of 'no life' i.e. 'too dry'. But it serves the academic purpose well.

Next move is to start writing articles for conferences & journals. If compared to books, writing articles is short but must be very specific, very current, follow certain standard of refernce, preferred empirical & fully analyzed. So, lets start writing...we can start by writing blog!. Enjoy writing. Lets writing enlighten and broaden our live!

My PhD proposal

My supervisor's comments (15 Jul 2010):

i. a short title is preferred

ii. certain parts of background of study should be excluded to other relevant parts

iii. problem statement should be more focussed especially on efficiency & productivity

iv. new key terms should be included

v. other parts: OK

My actions now:

i. amend the proposal

ii. search for new information especially on efficiency & productivity

iii. plan for a pilot study

iv. start writing a new chapter on development of banking in Malaysia.

Poster presentation

My 1st attempt to present a paper from a thesis proposal is at 1st NAPAS 2010 (6 & 7 Jul 2010, The Grand BlueWave Hotel, Shah Alam). I was sponsored by IPSis to present at the conference. This is only a part of the proposal submitted to IPSis, UiTM. Unfortunately, this paper was only accepted for poster presentation but included in the conference proceedings. So. this is how the poster looks alike-too simple-because of no experience in poster presentation before!

Penyelia: Faktor kegagalan PhD?

Kajian Azni et al. menunjukkan ramai pelajar PhD menyatakan kegagalan mereka adalah disebabkan oleh faktor penyelia (supervisor)! Benarkah begitu? Kejayaan atau kegagalan seseorang pelajar PhD bergantung kepada banyak faktor spt diri sendiri, orang lain (keluarga, rakan, supervisor, masyarakat, institusi dll) dan persekitaran. Faktor diri sendiri paling dominan berbanding faktor-faktor lain. Kita lah yang buat keputusan untuk belajar, kita yang pilih tajuk, universiti, penyelia dll. Sebagai pelajar PhD, mereka mesti berkeupayaan mengawal dan mendorong diri supaya sentiasa berada di landasan yang betul. Tetapkan matlamat dan istiqamah untuk mendapat kejayaan tersebut. kalau ditaqdirkan mendapat penyelia yang ??, dapatkan bantuan co-penyelia @ orang lain yang pakar dalam bidang tersebut. Jangan terlalu bergantung kepada penyelia. Jangan menyendiri-berkawanlah dengan pelajar-pelajar PhD lain. "Be independent and matured". Apa-apa pun yang berlaku kepada penyelia, teruskan kerja dan jangan berhenti berusaha. Sentiasa lah berdoa kepada Allah SWT supaya dipermudahkan PhD kita, kerana kepadaNya sebenar-benar tempat pergantungan.

Cabaran sebagai pelajar PhD

PhD hanyalah suatu proses pembelajaran untuk mengendali penyelidikan akademik secara betul dan tepat. Tetapi cabaran dalam proses ini amat hebat dan rumit. PhD bukan proses untuk tentukan seorang pelajar itu bijak atau kurang bijak. Tapi lebih kepada samada seseorang itu berdisiplin, sabar, berjiwa besar, berusaha atau tidak. Kena belajar bagaimana utk sentiasa komited dan fokus. Banyak perkara yang perlu dipelajari semula. PhD adalah masa untuk kita belajar mencari ilmu, menulis, mengkaji dan berkarya dengan cara yang betul. Untuk itu, pelajar PhD seharusnya berusaha mencari GURU yang betul, RAKAN yang betul, TEMPAT yang betul dan BAHAN yang betul supaya boleh menamatkan proses pembelajaran ini dengan betul dan berjaya. Sesiapa yang bergelar pelajar PhD sebenarnya adalah orang yang amat berani dan sanggup menerima cabaran. Syabas!