1 Transcript 01

2
3 Q: Good morning. Thank you for speaking with me today. My name is X and I'm a doctoral
4 student in the DLP, or Doctor of Law and Policy program, at Northeastern. In part of my
5 research and my coursework, I'm conducting a qualitative study on why students choose to
6 pursue the professional doctorate and how they experience growth and challenge along the way.
7 This conversation will take about 30 minutes, and I'm already recording, but I can stop if you'd
8 like. So, with your permission, I'd like to continue recording, so I can transcribe accurately, and
9 it's only used for purposes of this research. Your participation is entirely voluntary, and your
10 name is not going to appear in any of the written materials. You can stop at any time. Is it okay
11 to continue recording? And are there any other questions before we begin?
12
13 01: Yep, fine with the continuing. And ready to begin.
14
15 Q: Perfect. Thank you. I genuinely appreciate your time and openness. So, I’m not sure if you've
16 done this before, but I wanted to just give you sort of a warm-up question to get you comfortable
17 with answering. So, can you walk me through a little bit of what your life was like? What were
18 you doing professionally and personally, the year or two before you decided to apply for the
19 DLP program.
20
21 01: Yeah, so the year or two before I applied for the DLP program, I had been working in the
22 energy industry. So the first 10 years of my work experience was largely in the Navy's nuclear
23 field, doing mechanical operations and chemistry monitoring, but the few years before the DLP
24 program, I'd been actually working in the electric utility industry, initially starting out in the
25 operations in the control center, so actually operating the power grid, the transmission system,
26 the generation resources, but more recently, in the two years, the past two years, I've actually
27 transitioned over to the regulatory side of the industry, into the transmission policy and contracts
28 department, where I really generally found my interest and passion being in energy regulation
29 and law.
30
31 Q: So why did you switch, and did that switch, and also more recently, what your, the discussion
32 about the regulation, and so forth, were those factors in the choice to continue forward with the
33 application process?
34
35 01: Yeah, so like I said, when I was in the Navy, I was in the nuclear side of the industry, so it's
36 just governed by regulations and policy and all that, and that's something I got really, really used
37 to, and then when I got into the civilian world, into the electric industry, we had procedures, and
38 just to say, hey, follow these procedures to operate the to operate the power grid, and I was like,
39 well, where did these procedures come from? Why are we doing it this way? So, after doing that
40 for a few years, and actually kind of understanding how the system works, I really wanted to
41 kind of get into the details on why we're doing things the way we are doing things.
42
43 Q: Well, that actually leads very well into the next into the first question, actually, which is walk
44 me through that decision making process that led you to enroll, and what were some of the key
45 moments and turning points, and so forth, and in that decision making process.
46
47 01: Yeah, and I will say that I might be in a little bit of an outlier in this, because my desire for
48 education is also the reason I pursued this program. I would not have pursued this program had
49 the Navy or the military not been funding my education here, so since I did have, since my
50 education is free due to the Navy or the military benefiting it, I figured, well, since I have this,
51 these funds available to me, I guess I'll do the next logical step and get a doctorate, so in
52 choosing the doc, choosing the program, I want to figure, well, I'm still interested in learning
53 energy regulation and law, so I'm going to be doing this anyway, so I might as well get a piece of
54 paper out of it as well.
55
56 Q: Very cool. So, if they hadn't been funding it, it's likely that you wouldn't have come, come,
57
58 01: Correct.
59
60 Q: Okay. And then, did you think about it for a while? I mean, how long did it take for you to
61 determine what was the process there?
62
63 01: Yeah, so in my current role, have been, have pretty much worked with lawyers every single
64 day, and realized that, hey, there is a difference between practicing law and then making policy
65 and everything, and I am more so interested in the development of policy more so than enforcing
66 the law that the policy's creating, so the fact that I wanted to kind of understand the policy and
67 kind of maybe potentially shape it in the future, I figured I'd go into this program just because
68 kind of lets me continue looking into what I want to do, instead of going into a more structured
69 program, saying, hey, this is contract law, this is torts, this is constitutional law, all that.
70
71 Q: So, how long did it take you then to make that decision overall?
72
73 01: So, I was battling between a JD and this program for probably about a year, I had signed up
74 for the LSAT, but, like, after talking with some of the lawyers at work they kind of, they were a
75 little bit biased, because, like, hell yeah, should get a law degree, blah blah blah, but after, like,
76 just seeing what I'm already doing, are basically already doing what they were doing, and I like
77 what I'm doing right now, so I figured to try to do something a little bit different. So, yeah, it was
78 about a year battle between choosing DLP and JD, but yeah.
79
80 Q: So how come you chose this particular DLP specifically? Kind of already answered that, but
81 we'll ask you this specific question, and then what is it that you're, you hope that it's going to
 82 give you that your existing credentials or experience can't give you, since you're already doing
83 some of the work as you described.
84
85 01: Yeah, and that's something I do actually still question myself, because again, the with the
86 military funding things, and me kind of just doing this for the interest of researching, it is
87 something I am still kind of questioning myself, but one thing I do value in the world of policy is
88 everybody has their own interpretations and views on things, so since I've been in the program,
89 it's been interesting just hearing how everybody's minds work differently, and then also kind of
90 here after reviewing like court cases and everything, it's been kind of interesting seeing the
91 people factor and how that plays into pretty much policy across all different industries,
92
93 Q: so the motivation you really, you're describing here is purely professional, really?
94
95 01: I'd say professional, personal, just for this, I guess I'd say it's more so personal, just for
96 because I'm interested in the industry, and I'm just simply researching to research.
97
98 Q: Got it great. Can you describe a specific moment or period in the program where you had felt
99 you had generally grown intellectually, professionally, or personally? You have, you had that
100 experience.
101
102 01: It's hard to say, because for the past, so I've been here, this is my third quarter, and it's all the
103 course, all the classes, courses we've taken so far. Obviously, there's not a whole lot of energy
104 industry focus thing, so I think the thing that I've grown more, so I think I've grown more
105 professionally and personally, just by just hearing more people's thoughts on things, because in
106 the10 years I was in the Navy, a lot of those people were very engineering operations minded,
107 and then even getting out of the Navy and going into operations, where I'm just working with
108 engineers and operators, again engineering and operations minded people, and then in my current
109 role, deal with a lot more extroverted people, and seeing that also in some of the people in this
110 course, so I think I think I've grown more personally and professionally just by kind of hearing
111 other people's thoughts on things, and how their mind works.
112
113 Q: Has anybody at work noticed any of these changes, and have they made any comments or
114 anything like that?
115
116 01: So they have noticed that, hey, I am more of like an engineering operations focused person,
117 so we at our work, we kind of like did a personality test, and kind of saw that where the [the
118 disc?] line, and I'm like, okay, I'm a more blue-minded person, and then, but also kind of leaning
119 toward green, and stuff like that, and everybody, most of the people at my work that aren't, that
120 aren't the lawyers, they're in the yellow area, and the lawyers are kind of like in the red, blue, so
121 it's,
122
123 Q: I think I'm red, think, yeah, we did the same one, so yeah, yeah, that's pretty funny. So, did
124 you see, do you think you're good, if you were to take the DISC before and then take it after, do
125 you think that you'd see a change in the DISC?
126
127 01: I will, I will say that maybe I'm headed more so toward the maybe more so out of the blue
128 and into the green. But I’m wondering whether or not I'm gonna, I'm a pretty solid, I think it was
129 red, I can't even remember, very solid, and I'm actually very interested, like the HR person that
130 did our disc, and that was like, I've never seen anybody so solid in one, so I'm wondering
131 whether or not exactly it's gonna actually change, I think it actually may get even worse, I'm not
132 sure, so these programs can be taxing, right?
133
134 Q: So they ask a lot from the people that participants, where have you felt this most, this pull
135 most strongly while you're in the DLP, between the work and the program, family and programs,
136 so on and so forth.
137
138 01: Yeah, so I'm definitely a workaholic, so before my current position I was doing 12 hour days
139 shift work. So my current role is a Monday to Friday gig, where theoretically would be just an
140 eight hour job. However, I am very, very interested in this, so I do end up kind of sometimes
141 doing 10 hour days, so by the time I get home I have maybe three hours, three to four hours left
142 in the day before going to bed, so have to balance time between spending time with my wife and
143 then the school, so like during the work week, I try to do two hours of dedicated homework, and
144 then give two hours to the wife. However, obviously my wife said, "Hey, I feel like we haven't
145 spent as much time together, and so I do one thing a previous professor told me in the previous
146 program, is hey, yes, should be family first, then work, and then what other, other, what other
147 personal things you have, and then school. School shouldn't be really in your top priorities. So I
148 do try to take that guidance, and like, okay, do you need to prioritize my family and my work
149 more so than the program, because program, it's not needed, it's not needed, and, but again, I am
150 a workaholic, and purpose of going into this program is to kind of like look into stuff that I'm
151 doing at work, so it is troubling, or not troubling, but it is difficult to balance everything between
152 it, between it all. But it's,
153
154 Q: Does your wife have shift work as well, or what is her work schedule? Is it more flexible, less
155 flexible?
156
157 01: Yeah, so hers is definitely more flexible, and she was originally Monday to Friday, but now
158 she's like just Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, so she does have a lot more free time than I do.
159
160 Q: Does that create some tension?
161
162 01: So it does create some tensions, and like, because obviously I still want to like contribute in
163 the household, and like, well, hey, I'm working 50-60 hour work weeks, and I'm doing school.
164
165 Q: Yeah, so it's hard. Have you ever thought about stepping back at all, or have you
166 ever questioned the decision to continue forward?
167
168 01: Yeah, so I have kind of, I have questioned whether or not I should even continue with this,
169 because I haven't put any of my own money in this, and I am just doing it simply out of the sake
170 of research into research, so it is, I think, duties, understand, make clear to myself, like, hey, you
171 are just doing this for fun, you don't need to dedicate 100% of your time to it, and it's just hard to
172 not give something that I'm doing my 100% but that's what I'm realizing, like, hey, I might not,
173 might not be able to put my 100% into this, but I am still interested in what I am doing, so it's
174 just a personal conflict that I kind of have to
175
176 Q: Strike the balance. Yeah, yeah. So the last question, if you had to tell a story of your DLP
177 experience so far in a few sentences, how would you tell
178
179 01: It would be really hard to put, and it's kind of hard to put in some words, but I'd say it's been
180 an interesting experience, just hearing the different, different personalities, opinions, the way
181 people think, and it's been really enlightening after spending my entire professional career
182 working with engineers, engineering operation type people, and hearing the different hearing
183 different mindsets has been enlightening. So, if I were to put like a single word to it, I'd say
184 enlightening. Yeah,
185
186 Q: I'll put that as the title of that chapter, the enlightening, the enlightened part of here, very
187 good. So we are at the end of the interview. Is there anything else about your experience or your
188 motivation, your growth, or the challenges that you face that we didn't cover, I didn't ask you
189 about that you'd like to share, and is there a question that you expected me to ask that, that I
190 didn't ask you.
191
192 01: I don't think so. I think we pretty much covered the scope
193
194 Q: Very good, very good. Well, thank you so much for your time and openness. I'll have the
195 recording transcribed, and thank you for letting me record it again. And I may follow up with a
196 brief summary of themes to confirm that it does accurately, accurately reflect what you've shared
197 with me today. This is called member checking, and it is an important part of research. Your
198 name is not going to appear in any written materials, and please do not hesitate to reach out if
199 you have any questions. Thank you very much for your time. All right.
200
201 Q: Thank you. Okay, this is a member check-in, as I referenced at the end of the last initial
202 interview. I wanted to know why it was a follow-on on question two. Why you chose this doctor
203 law and policy program over other programs that were out there.
204
205 01: Yeah, so for me it was really a choice between some sort of policy program, so like the
206 doctor in law policy program, or a JD.
207
208 01: So I did struggle with that for a little bit, choosing between the two of them, but I really knew
209 that I didn't want to practice law, and I was really more interested in the policy side of things.
210 Like, don't get me wrong, I am interested in law, so that's actually why the doctor of law policy
211 really attracted me, because hey, you are learning the law and the policy side of things, and
212 again, I'm not trying to be a practicing attorney, so this program really just fit better with me.
213
214 Q: So why this one, as opposed to like some another school? Why the Northeastern program?
215
216 01: Well, the Northeastern program really was out of convenience, because honestly, I do live 20
217 minutes north of this campus, so you do, so really was out of convenience, and I think I really
218 only saw one other Doctorate of Law and Policy, and I don't know, actually, where that was
219 located. I just saw, oh, Seattle, cool, easy, done. Yeah, that's actually interesting, because I didn't
220 find another one. I didn't see another one. I think it was Liberty University or something. I was
221 already looking into JD, the Flex JD program at Northeastern, and so then when that one, I was
222 realizing, much like you, I'm like, I don't want to practice law. Then I looked in, and it had this,
223 so I didn't even know there was another one. So that was really what it was.
224
225 Q: Awesome, awesome. Thank you for spending the extra time. I appreciate it.
226
227
228
229
230
231 Surroundings Observation:

232 1. What is the physical environment? Anything unique? Anything happening to

233 influence what is going on with the interview?
234 a. We sat in one of the cubicles on the perimeter of the classroom. We were in a
235 comfortable space that was geared towards homework, education,
236 schoolwork.
237 2. What do you notice about the social environment? What is the engagement of your
238 participant? What is the body language telling you? What are you noticing about
239 voice, tone, inflection?
240 a. The participant was very engaged, warm smile, eager to answer questions –
241 easy and comfortable conversation.
242 3. What do you notice about yourself in this interview? What is your own body
243 language? Tone?
244 a. In listening to the recording my tone reflected the conversational ease of the
245 participant and

246