Understanding The Field of Neurology

This past week, I have done in depth research and carefully curated a list of questions for my informational research interviews focused on neurology. It was extremely hard to come up with specific questions since I do not have a lot of knowledge of the field itself. However, this week for my first research, I decided that instead of focusing on the more common disorders, I wanted to research the rare ones. The main idea that I researched this week was Psychosomatic and Conversion disorders. By reading this article, it showed neurology in a completely different light than what I had envisioned.

As I began to compile my contact list in hopes of finding a couple of doctors who would be willing to conduct interviews, it became evident that it was quite the challenge. Most doctors do not have a direct line and that requires me to go through a “gatekeeper” to secure myself an interview. This may end up in a lot of rejections. My goal for scheduling interviews is to find more contacts at a hospital instead of private practice. But doctors that work in a hospital are busier, so as a backup I have added some private practice doctors.

This week I succeeded in creating interview questions, finishing my first annotated research assessment, and creating my contact list. I have also gotten ahead and created my cold call script for when I began to call professionals. My goal for my research assessments is to focus on a different area every week such as brain chemistry, brain anatomy, common/rare disorders.