A graduate student's research stalled when classified military data arrived after the enrollment deadline, forcing him to leave school mid-degree. Steve Tippins explains why researchers relying on external organizations need to build in extra time and plan for delays that are almost certain to happen.
I worked with a student once and they were dealing with the military and they assured me many times over that they could get access to the data. And then a new commander came in, so they had to deal with a new commander. And then that commander put some new requirements in that ran into their time limit at the school. And the new commander went on vacation and was ready to sign finally when he came back, but that was a week after the student's time period was expiring at the school. Interestingly, the school, a month before that, said, "Oh, we're gonna actually add an extra term in for everybody." So he was supposed to be kicked out of school and was kicked out of school because the extra time period didn't start till 3 weeks later. And I wrote and said, "Please let him stay in." And they said, "Nope, can't do it." So he actually had to leave. Leave school, petition to come back to school to then get in and be able to finish his degree, which he did. But, you know, control for as many things as you can. He never would have run into those problems if he actually was able to get the data from the military organization. A real clear takeaway on this is it may take a lot more time than you think. And if it is going to take more time, what are the implications of taking more time? Think about that ahead of time. Instead of panicking at the end. Drop the word "help" in the comments below, and I'll send you the link to my free dissertation help community.
