Update 3

I am presently working on writing up my Research Design.

In a way, it is like a Proposal because I am finding that I have to address many of the areas usually found in a proposal.

At any rate it is good because this gives me a chance to get down on paper the things I have read and learned.

I find that my OUTPUT / WRITING is lagging behind my INPUT / THINGS I LEARN.  I find that it is better to write things down before I forget them, as I seem to have done so in many instances.  This is a waste of time because I will have to go back to look for it later on.  So, I am trying to compose the research design so that I can commit to paper what I have accumulated and what I have decided on, based on what I have learned so far.

This will take sometime to do because I find the writing process to be disjointed at best.  What I mean is that it is hard to find a big chunk of time to commit to this task.  Often I am interrupted by having to attend to the necessary like attending classes, meetings, consultations with students, etc.

Thus, the last month has been less productive for me in terms of trying to get my writing going.  Still, I hope to be able to get the Research Design done by the end of April (not sure if this is over or under-ambitious, but I just need a deadline for myself).

After this is done, I hope to be able to attend to a few other things:

• writing a conference paper on blogshops 
• writing a paper on Grounded Theory design for website analysis (I hope the research design that I am working on now will shed some light later on the feasibility of this paper) 

Some other issues I have that I need to attend to eventually are:

• When does the Ethics application come into play?  Do I apply for Ethics clearance before or after doing the Proposal?
• When should I present the proposal?  The Research Higher Degrees Policy and Procedures document says at the end of the first year, so we will need to fix a date soon.
• When should I enter the field and start the sampling and data collection process?  Grounded theory prescribes doing this as soon as possible, so unless there are good reasons, I think I should be able to begin this anytime after completion of the research design.