Today was the big day! I’d been planning it for months. I was going to meet in the classroom of the cohort that I’ve been following for 3 years, and bribe them into taking my last survey by offering pizza!

But instead, I got COVID. Talk about bad timing… Thankfully, my loyal supervisors Torstein and Tove went in my place, and survey results are now ticking in. 🙂

There aren’t many longitudinal studies in information literacy, so this aspect of my research is one of the things that makes it unique. Few researchers have the opportunity to conduct long-term projects like this one, but since I had 4 years to complete my PhD, I had the chance.

The pandemic, however, has taken its toll on the cohort that I’ve been following. They started just half a year before the lock-down, at which point their classes went online for nearly 2 years. For many students, this made it (understandably) less appealing to continue their college education. At the start of their Bachelor in psychology in the fall of 2019, there were 98 students. Now, at the end of the program, there are only 32 left. To make matters worse, only 14 of those 32 are from the original cohort. That’s an 86% attrition rate! (The other 18 that are finishing their Bachelor degrees now have most likely transferred from other programs or universities.)

The small sample size represents a challenge for my research design and data analyses as well. I’d planned on following individual students over 3 years with a repeated measures (within-group) design. However, since there were only 14 of students remaining in the end, the sample size would be quite small. But luckily, with repeated measures, statistical inference can be made with fewer participants. Alternatively, I could analyze data from the original 98 and the final 32 participants with an independent measures (between-group) design. With an independent measures design, more participants are necessary in order to make statistical inference than with a repeated measures design. So, once I see how many students have responded to the survey, I’ll weigh the pro’s and con’s of both designs before making the decision of which to use in the statistical analyses.

So, as we say in Norwegian, det var dagens hjertesukk – “that was today’s heart sigh” (today’s worries). I’m thankful in any case for the data that we have managed to collect (and for that my COVID symptoms are negligible!).

Today is March 1st and my plan is to submit my thesis on Sept. 1st – in exactly 6 months! In that time I need to interview several students, collect data from 3 surveys and 2 assignments, analyze all that data, finish writing the extended summary (kappa), and write the fourth article! There won’t be many vacation days for me in the near future.

I’m still on track though and I’m now nearly finished with my duty work. 25% of my time (1 year of the 4-year PhD scholarship) is spent teaching and contributing to various work-groups, tasks that have been relevant and rewarding. This means that I can use the next half year to concentrate exclusively on my thesis. (Plus presenting at a conference or two…)

Since I last blogged everything has been going smoothly. There’s been time for reading, writing, collecting my thoughts and making sense of everything, preparing data files, outlining the final article, designing the new survey, testing myself with flashcards, and finding a research assistant to help me assess the assignment data. A hectic phase with the final data collections for the longitudinal study is starting now in March, and I’m as prepared as I can be.

My biggest fear now is that I’ll get very few survey responses. Or that I’ll get COVID with brain fog! I need every neuron I have, plus more!

After I submit my thesis, an appointed committee will have about 3 months to evaluate it. If it’s approved, I’ll then get a date for my defense. I’m hoping that this will be in the end on November, which is when my stipend ends, so that I’ll be totally finished with my PhD before the money supply runs dry.

At this point, I’m thinking of my research day and night. I dream about it and wake up with ideas that I try to write down before they dissipate. Total absorption. What a process!

The importance of information literacy is constantly growing worldwide, as seen now in the war between Russia and Ukraine. I’ve heard it called both an “Information War” and a “Disinformation War“. In countries without a free press, citizens don’t necessarily have access to information that isn’t controlled by the government, making it hard to know what the truth is. But also in other countries it’s becoming increasingly difficult to know when written information, pictures, and videos are real and when they’re false or manipulated. We need guidance to help us determine what’s true so we can form justified opinions, take a stance, and take action. Also, we need to avoid spreading dis- and misinformation – think before you click Share!

Being information literate helps us with these things, as it involves the ability to think critically.

Facts matter! Information literacy matters!