Day Six: Saturday DIY Project

Before the national lockdown on Wednesday, 25 March, I had an inkling that it would eventually happen. I prepared for it bit by bit. First, I bought myself a Nintendo Switch Lite as an early present for my thesis defence. I thought a gaming console will provide an alternative form of entertainment. Then I bought some things online so I can re-arrange my room to allow for a small work nook.

I got a shelf to provide more space to put the bits and bobs I had on my desk. My desk is now just reserved for work materials! I spent the afternoon assembling this shelf:

I feel good having accomplished this mini project!

No work today, since it's the weekend!

Day 5: New Normal

Not much interesting today. I guess it's really about adjusting to this new normal. I got to do a lot more work, I felt much more focused in the afternoon and was able to do a few hours of uninterrupted work! For my work, I'm spending most of my time preparing for our community EEW virtual workshop on the 3rd of April. I do have a list of tasks that I need to work on, but taking things one at a time.

Aside from that, I'm just establishing routines such as waking up normally, having breakfast, going for walks, taking breaks from work. Really mundane things, but feeling a lot more comfortable in this new setting.

We had a big downpour early in the morning, and we expect it will be rainy in the next few days. So I took advantage of the sunny break during midday and went out for my daily solitary walk. Here is a standard sight from my walks, a shadowy patch leading to a view of the bay and the city:



Skipped rice tonight, and I made some stir-fried noodles for dinner:

Day Four: Alert Level 4 Lockdown Starts

Today is the official start of the Alert Level 4 Lockdown in New Zealand. It just seems so surreal. I don't think I have fully excepted that this is indeed happening. It just seems too strange to be true. But it is happening!

On the home front, I think we have quickly found our own spaces. I spend most of my work time in my room, Ashleigh in her office, and Jess in their bedroom. We share the common space to have lunch/dinner and have coffee/tea breaks. 

Routine wise, I try to do a short walk outside (but might need to find alternatives for exercise especially for rainy days).  Here is a photo I took during my walk during the late afternoon:

At night we watch some local TV and then watch an episode or two of Ozark together. 

I'm trying my best with work. I was able to send out the minutes of a few meetings we had this week. I also got to send a few emails out. Certainly not the most productive, but keeping on with the work.

Today has been very mundane. Eerily normal despite the non-normality of it all!

Hope my outlook improves in the coming days. 

  

Day Three: Illogical Shopping and Work Nook

Today is T minus-one for the lockdown. Despite trying not to panic, my housemates and I decided to go for a shopping run. We dropped by New World (supermarket chain) and then to The Warehouse (Home depot-ish type of store).

Things were not as manic as I expected. There were fewer people in New World than a normal busy Sunday. Everyone kept their distance, it's just that the queue to the counter was longer than usual. There was kind of an adrenaline rush getting into the supermarket. I wanted to be as quick as possible, but every time I went through an aisle, my mind just kept telling me that it might be my last chance to buy an item! I know logic dictates that the supermarkets will remain open and stocks continuously filled, so I won't run out of anything! Sadly, logic didn't win this round. I only had set out to buy two items: half-a-dozen of eggs and a box of matches. I came out with a bag of random stuff... and I forgot the eggs!

The Warehouse was also not as packed (despite today being the last day they will be open). They controlled the entry numbers, so we had to queue for a short while to get in. But, I got to buy the chair I needed to set-up my work nook! I cleared some space in my room, and this is officially my designated workplace for the lockdown:


No photos of my dinner tonight, since I just had leftovers from the vegetables I cooked on Day 1 and Day 2.

Tomorrow, the official Alert Level 4 lockdown begins. This means I will be staying at home, and limiting my physical interactions only with my housemates.

Day Two: Establishing Routines

This is a time of adjustment. Each day brings about new changes in how we live! Last week was so different from this, and two weeks ago, everything seemed almost normal (even though it wasn't)!

I find it challenging to work from home. All throughout my PhD, I always worked from the office. Home was where I relaxed and took time off research. But work and home will now merge as we move towards full lockdown in the next 24~ hours.

I need to establish some routines. But planning for them is easier than implementing them! I intended to go for a walk this morning before starting work at home. But lazy me just decided to sleep in until 30-minutes before the first online teleconference call. Ah well... tomorrow, I will try again.

I did get to walk outside today in the afternoon after work. I did a loop walk that took around 50-minutes. It gave me some space to pray and contemplate. On my uphill climb, I prayed the rosary. It felt nice to be outside. But it also felt surreal. Every person I saw on the street seemed normal. But I know where we are now and where we are headed is definitely not normal.

Although a bit sad and scared, I remain hopeful.

Work was busy, I attended a few online meeting. Tested the use of online conferencing tools. I wrote-up a low-risk ethics application. I jotted down minutes from meetings. Nothing too strenuous. Did not get to do some of the tasks I intended. But definitely felt tired at the end of the day.

Day 2 dinner: Stir-fried vegetables with rice (again... but using different veggies).

Day One: Social Isolation Starts

Today, the New Zealand government has increased Alert Level 3 in response to COVID19 outbreak. The Alert Level will further be increased to Level 4 on Wednesday. This means that everyone needs to stay at home! We can still go out for walks, but it is encouraged to minimise social interaction with those outside your household. So... don't meet up with friends in the park, don't invite your neighbours over for lunch! The good thing is that essential shops (supermarkets and pharmacies) will remain open.

I'm frankly a little bit afraid, but also hopeful that we are doing the right thing. I knew this total lockdown would happen. But, now that it is happening, I feel like things are so surreal! I don't think I have yet quite cognitively and emotionally processed what this means for how I go about my day-to-day.

Despite all of this, my life as a researcher continues. I am currently working on two projects: (1) low-cost community-engaged Earthquake Early Warning systems, and (2) high-impact weather citizen science. Today, I worked on both. Just going to lay down my accomplishments to feel good about myself:

• Sent out new invites for the EEW virtual workshop that is planned for 3rd of April
• Created a run sheet for the workshop
• Worked through with Emily on the agenda items for the workshop
• Coordinated a group call with HIWeather Citizen Science working group

There also seems to be a list of things I need to work on:

• Coordinate with the speakers for the workshop
• Send more invites for the EEW workshop
• Test ZOOM capabilities for the workshop
• Draft email to be sent out to the participants
• Work on the guidance note
• Write up minutes for QuakeCoRE and HIWeather calls

It all still seems quite busy for me. It may be a good thing, to keep busy! But I got to make sure I also take it easy on myself.

Also, I want to share some lighthearted stuff here (might need to create two separate posts in the future).

Day 1dinner: Stir-fry vegetables with rice:

Musings on Critical Realism

For the past two weeks, I have been reading about research philosophies and methodologies to help design my research.  It is a bit difficult, given that I am working with an interdisciplinary topic that crosses multiple areas. My topic is on the 'usability of disaster mobile applications from the perspective of the citizens'.

There are two strong research paradigms: positivism or interpretivism. I was on the fence on which one I will adhere to... Because, even just on the top level, I can cut my topic into three broad themes: [1]  mobile applications (technology), disaster management  (social science/ management), [3] citizens' use (computer-human interaction). So there is the technical, social, AND the interaction between the two. So... am I primarily dealing with information systems which has a strong predominance on positivism? Or am I dealing with the social concept of technology use which might lean more towards an interpretivist stance? 

However, after further reading, I realize that these are more than two options. There are also other concepts such as pragmatism, critical realism, and others. So far Critical Realism (CR) seems to suit my research world view.

Critical realism takes on the realist stance -- where reality is believed to exist outside human perception (hence 'realism'). But knowledge of this reality can only be perceived through human experiences where knowledge is always local and historical; viewpoints (scientific, political, social, etc...) are all valid but to some extent fallible (hence 'critical'). Critical realism is "ontologically bold but epistemologically cautious." (Wynn and Williams, 2012). 

How reality is viewed by critical realism:

CR acknowledges that there is an intransitive domain where there are enduring properties. In the realm of the real, there are inherent powers and tendencies of things. In the realm of the actual, these tendencies are triggered into events (whether observed by us or not). The empirical is the realm where we acquire our knowledge, where we get to measure and to perceive the experienced events. 

Despite a realism ontology, CR allows for epistemological relativity (Zachariadis, Scott & Barret, 2013).  The process of our scientific knowledge is in the transitive domain where it is "historically emergent, political and imperfect"(Zachariadis, Scott & Barret, 2013). With a relative epistemological stance, CR supports mixed methods research. CR acknowledges that in order to access different epistemological characteristics of different type of objects we can use a range of research methodologies.  (Mingers, Mutch & Willocks, 2013). 

Some key points to consider further

• retroduction
• causal tendencies

Important Readings (some read and some still to read)

• Critical realism and information systems

Carlsson, S. a. (2011). Critical Realist Information Systems Research in Action. In M. Chiasson, O. Henfridsson, H. Karsten, & J. I. DeGross (Eds.), Researching the Future in Information Systems (pp. 269–284). Turku: Springer. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-21364-9_17

Dobson, P. J. (2012). Critical realism and IS research: Some methodological implications. In M. Mora, O. Gelman, A. Steenkamp, & M. Raisinghani (Eds.), Research Methodologies, Innovations and Philosophies in Software Systems Engineering and Information Systems (pp. 63–81). Hershey, PA. http://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-0179-6.ch004

Mingers, J., Mutch, A., & Willcocks, L. (2013). Critical realism in information systems research. MIS Quarterly, 37(3), 795–802. 

Smith, M. L. (2006). Overcoming theory-practice inconsistencies: Critical realism and information systems research. Information and Organization, 16(3), 191–211. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2005.10.003

Wynn, D. J., & Williams, C. K. (2012). Principles for conducting critical realist case study research in information systems. MIS Quarterly, 36(3), 787–810.

Zachariadis, M., Scott, S., & Barrett, M. (2013). Methodological implications of critical realism for mixed-method research. Management Information Systems Quarterly, 37(3), 855–879.

• Design science

Carlsson, S. A. (2010). Design science research in information systems: A critical realist approach. In A. R. Hevner & S. Chatterjee (Eds.), Design research in information systems: integrated series in information systens (Vol. 22, pp. 209 – 233). http://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5653-8

Hevner, A. R., March, S. T., Park, J., & Ram, S. (2004). Design science in information systems research. MIS Quarterly, 28(1), 75–105. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5653-8_2

Peffers, K., Tuunanen, T., Rothenberger, M. A., & Chatterjee, S. (2007). A Design Science Research Methodology for Information Systems Research. Journal of Management Information Systems, 24(3), 45–78. http://doi.org/10.2307/40398896

• Mixed Methods

Venkatesh, V., Brown, S. A., & Bala, H. (2013). Bridging the qualitative-quantitative divide: guidelines for conducting mixed methods research in information systems. MIS Quarterly, 37(3), 855–879.

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