Studying my work

My research project is in the same area as my day to day work. In the daytime I'm a software development manager, and one of the bigger applications we've developed is an eLearning system. By night I'm a PhD student who is studying eLearning (but rarely fights crime). My research topic involves adding functions to the big eLearning app I manage during the day. This is both good and bad, in a number of ways.

Convenience sampling

Not many PhD students have a group of 1100 students to test their theory on, but the eLearning app we've developed is used by that many students, which means that's my sample space. I've asked the students to opt in, so I actually end up with about 700 students in my study, but that's still a lot. My fellow PhD students have to do a lot of negotiation to get a class of 30 students to study. This is definitely on the good side for me.

Access to real source code

My position means I have access to, and permission to modify the application. I don't have to create a new application and set up an artificial situation in which students use the app - I have direct access into the app these students are using on a daily basis, and permission to deploy the changes I make into the live system. This means I'm really testing my theory in a real world setting, which will give me confidence in my findings.

Prevention of unexpected changes of direction

If I were developing in a system that was also being developed by other folks, I would need to worry about whether they might make radical changes to the system that break, or render irrelevant, my functionality. But since I'm involved in all the conversations around changes to the applications, I can ensure that I'm prepared for any changes, so I can adapt my code appropriately.

Keeping focus

Were my PhD in a completely unrelated field, I'd be thinking about entirely unrelated things by day and night. With my current situation, things that I do in my studies benefit my performance at work, and vice versa.

Overdosing

There's a lot of potential for just getting too much exposure to this system, and either getting bored, or being just too close to it to be able to step back and see the big picture. I don't think that's happened, but it's definitely something to be wary of.

Conflict of Interest

Then there is the issue that I am probably extra defensive about the system I'm building. If the University decided to shut down this application and replace it with a third party tool, my PhD would essentially be rendered irrelevant, and I'd have to start over again. So in discussion about the future of the system I am definitely biased, and probably can't make an unbiased decision about what is in the organization's best interests. But I was like that before my PhD anyway - the applications we build are like our babies, and we always want to protect them.

Can't quit my job

Leaving my current job would endanger my PhD work - it would be very hard to get the kind of access to the system that I have now, if I weren't working where I am. I have strongly considered quitting my job a few times over the last year, and one of the things that has prevented me was the difficulties this would pose for my study. Even if I didn't burn any bridges, it would be against normal policy for the university to grant me the kind of access I have now if I weren't a staff member. This causes quite a bit of personal tension.