This week at ECOSUR was incredibly productive. I returned from my vacation on Monday and met with Roberto Solis, who helped me download the SPSS statistical program (in Spanish) so that I could analyze my data. I completed about ¼ of my surveys in Mesbilja (approximately 27 family surveys) and I was ready to enter the data. He helped me develop a database for the ‘attitudes and practices’ section of my survey, which was administered to both women and men. Later that day, I worked on entering the data for the 27 families I had surveyed in Mesbilja. After ECOSUR, I went to salsa class in the afternoon, which was incredibly fun because I got to dance with one of the instructors who knew the steps really well. I don’t know what I am going to do without this salsa class every day when I go back to D.C. After class, I went to go see Oliver, one of my friends from salsa class, play guitar and sing in a café and then we got dinner.
Photos from last week: Francisco in front of a anti-tobacco mural
(I didn't think you'd want to see pictures of me analyzing data...)
On Tuesday, I finished entering the data from the ‘attitudes and practices’ section of my survey and then met with Roberto Solis again. He helped me develop the databases for the other sections of my survey. Because my household survey (the section on demographics and socioeconomics) was similar to other ECOSUR studies, I was able to use the same database. Later that day, I worked on creating a database for the section on “access to services, obstetric history, and knowledge” (administered to married women 15–59) and also created a database for the section administered to pregnant women.
A dog in front of the beach where we went to in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca
On Wednesday, I went to ECOSUR and spent the day entering data for the 27 families I had surveyed in Mesbilja. Despite never having used SPSS before, I was surprised at how easy it was to use and how quickly I was able to enter my data. By the end of the day, I was able to finish entering in data from all the surveys. Hopefully it will not be very hard to learn how to do data analysis using SPSS.
In front of Chiflón waterfall (from last week)
On Thursday, I went to ECOSUR and worked on writing my thesis. I worked on the methods section, where I described the study population, the sampling method, the sample size, the data collection (i.e. my quantitative survey), and how the data would be analyzed (using SPSS). After ECOSUR, I went to salsa class and let loose a little bit after a full day of working on my thesis.
At the beach in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca
On Friday at ECOSUR I met with Roberto Solis, who helped me revise my databases using SPSS. I also talked with Rosario about the logistics for my study. Next week, I will go back to Mesbilja (the first community I am working in) with Elena to finish interviewing families for my study. Hopefully we will be able finish my field work in Mesbilja by Thursday, so that I can start my field work in Tzopiljá the following week. I also talked with Dr. Ochoa about some concerns I had about my study. Despite having asked multiple times about how to calculate the sample size for my study, I am still a little confused about how exactly Dr. Ochoa decided on the sample size for my study. I sent him what I had written in my thesis on the sample size and the sampling methodology to look over. Before beginning my study, I had also asked him about an ethics review or IRB for my study. He assured me that because my study is classified as ‘minimal risk’ (since I am only surveying people), I do not need to get an ethics review. Hmmm. On Friday, I also finally made myself book my flight home from Mexico – it is really the only thing I have procrastinated all semester because I don’t want to leave!
Parents walking along one of the main walking streets in San Cristóbal
We came across some music near my parent's hotel
This past weekend, my parents came to visit me. They were on their way back from Argentina and decided to “stop by”. It was fun to have them here – I brought them to my favorite cafés and we walked around the city of San Cristóbal. We walked on the pedestrian streets and up a hill to one of the main churches with a great view of the city. On Saturday night, we went to go see my friend Oliver play guitar in a café and my dad enjoyed it so much that he wanted to go see him again on Sunday night. Oliver even let my dad play guitar in the café (I wish I had taken a photo)! Overall, they were very impressed by the people here (“very honest and hardworking”) and were glad they came.
Flags outside one of the churches in San Cristóbal at sunset
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