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A question of blogging
Fig.1. Why blog?
A) What is the research trying to find out; what questions is it trying to answer?
B) How will the proposed research answer the questions?
C) Why is this research worth doing? Punch (2006:05/60)
My interest and participation in blogging is obvious. I am exploring other subjects to research, but inevitably come back to this. There are fields where blogging works, and others where it does not.
Do you think that students who keep a blog learn more?
Retain more? And so get more from their undergraduate studies?
Are certain subjects more appropriate for this where writing and digital literacies are being developed?
Such as:
- journalism,
- corporate communications,
- advertising (social media and copywriting)
- creative writing and even postgraduate research?
Blogs also mean generating, collecting and curating images and video
What role do these play in personal and professional writing?What if it is made compulsory, a graded component of all or part of a module you are taking?
What about those in the visual arts such as designers and art directors, who create concept boards for development purposes, or for architects and fashion designers, as well as in the performing arts such as actors and directors?
Might those following vocational subjects such as medicine or law set in train a way to enhance a life of learning?
Could blogs be peer graded successfully?
What benefits do you get from reading or contributing to another persons blog?
Is it less a blog and more of a publication when others contribute and the ‘blog’ carries advertising and is available to read only through subscription?
What do we learn by thinking of the origins of blogging as keeping a diary, log or journal, such as the private diary, journey log in a yacht, or writers journal?
Is it just electronic paper?
‘Tell the reader what QQ the researcher is trying to answer, or what questions will initiate the inquiry in an unfolding study.’ Punch (2006: 65)
Another way to gather your thoughts and ideas?
When is a blog an e- portfolio? What does it reveal about the person if the blog is shared?
Are like-minds attracted to each other?
What are the copyright and other legal issues?
How honest or revealing should one be? Are the concerns about exposure and disclosure valid?
It’s not what you remember about yourself that is of concern, but what you remember about other people. What they did, who they were with …
When does truth turn into fiction and does it matter if the reader cannot tell and isn’t told?
What about plagiarism?
What is the perspective behind the research?
What is the role of theory?
What is the prestructured versus unfolding research?
What is the relevant literature?
Will the study be quantitative, qualitative or both? Punch (2006:60)
‘The proposal should indicate the significance of the proposed study. Synonyms for ‘significance’ here might be justification, importance, contribution or intended outcomes of the study.’
Punch (2006: 68)
REFERENCE
Related articles
- ON BLOGGING /1: Blog Brunch March ’13 (javaaficionado.com)
- Could blogging be seen as a scholarly activity? (mymindbursts.com)
- All you need to know about blogging that you can’t be bothered to research for yourself because you’re too busy blogging … (mymindbursts.com)
- No Doubt: Blogging Is Good for Business (zemanta.com)
- A Contemplative 1,000th Blog Post (timesflowstemmed.com)
- Driving learning through blogging: Students’ perceptions of a reading journal blog assessment task. (mymindbursts.com)
12 research questions featured in a spider map
Fig.1. Research questions spider map
When reading an academic paper give it due consideration by using this spider map as an aide-memoire.
It runs from Structure in a clockwise direction through to Implications.
I’ve only just counted the number of ‘issues’ – 12 is a coincidence.
The reality so far is that 8 will do it, 12 if I want to be thorough and probably just a few of these if I am going to look at title, abstract, authors.
I create a standard template using these as I go along – two columns minimum, sometimes three depending what I want to take, or share or develop from the paper.
In time these should become automatic.
‘Paradigms’ still throws me.
I’m not hot on ‘Concepts’ or ‘Frameworks’ either.
All the more reason to be on the postgraduate module H809 : Practice-based research in educational technology with the Open University
Research Terms
RESEARCH TERMS
The many methods used all have names. In a brave attempt at getting my head around these I’ve started this list for the terms I stumble upon in H809 and related reading.
| CRD : A cluster randomised design – by class as it is impractical to teach different things to the same group. (Torgerson and Torgerson 2001. p. 321) |
| CCT : Case Control Trial – A characteristic of this approach is that the two sets of schools may well be different in a number of aspects other than the intervention being tested, and this may affect the results. i.e. Schools needed to have been either chosen randomly or chosen because the had a similar intake and similar results. |
| Epistemological : the study or a theory of the nature and grounds of knowledge especially with reference to its limits and validity. (Merriam-Webster) |
| Ethnography : studying a particular culture by learning to live the life of its members (Hammersley & Atkinson, 1994). |
| Exploratory RCT: The explanatory trial design is probably the one with which most people are familiar. (Torgerson and Torgerson 2001. p. 320) |
| Evidence based research: Randomized Control Trials (RCT) – as Dr B. Price Kerfoot et al (2006-2012) |
| Interpretive paradigm: qualitative methods. |
| IRD. An individual randomised design – as with Spaced Education at Harvard Medical School under Dr. B. Price Kerfoot. (Torgerson and Torgerson 2001. p. 321) |
| Positivism: a belief in the application of a particular model of the methods of the natural sciences. In Wegerif: verification of hypotheses, numerical measurement, tests of statistical significance and experiments. |
| The pragmatic RCT : the environment in which the trial is conducted is kept as close to normal educational practice as possible, though the sample has to be far larger to detect smaller changes. (Torgerson and Torgerson 2001. p. 320) |
| Quantitative: of, relating to, or involving the measurement of quantity or amount. (Merriam-Webster) Coding schemes and publicly verifiable criteria to make categorisations. (Wegerif and Mercer. 1997. p. 271) |
| Qualitative: of, relating to, or involving quality or kind. (Merriam-Webster) Interpretative method (Torgerson and Torgerson, 2001) Interpretative analysis of transcribed speech = qualitative. Are the techniques valid? The study of shared knowledge over time. Crook (1994) ‘Qualitative analysis can be effective for generating theories but not so effective for rigorously testing them (Hammersley, 1992). |
REFERENCES
Hammersley, M. (1992) What’s Wrong with Ethnography. London: Routledge.
Kerfoot.B.P., Yineng Fu, Baker.B., Connelly.D., Ritchey.M.L., Genega.M.G. (2010) Online Spaced Education Generates Transfer and Improves Long-Term Retentionof Diagnostic Skills: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Journal of the American College of Surgeons, Volume 211, Issue ,September 2010, Pages 331-337.e1, ISSN 1072-7515, 10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2010.04.023.
Torgeson.C.J., and Torgerson.D.J. (2001) The Need for Randomised Controlled Trials in Educational Research British Journal of Educational Studies , Vol. 49, No. 3 (Sep., 2001), pp. 316-328
Just what is qualitative research?
I stumbled upon this paper which looked rather handy in relation to qualitative and quantitative research.
|
Qualitative Research |
Research begins at the other end, pursues patterns of cause and effect by replicating possible experiments in controlled settings … |
|
Investigates a priori hypotheses, examines what people are doing and how they interpret what is occurring … |
The understanding and use of the information is a social phenomenon defined by time, place, persons, and events. These understandings were unearthed through the ethnographic, qualitative process. (Morse, 1984)
Interviews, generally open ended, usually included (Morse, 1994):
- experience-behavior questions,
- opinion-value questions,
- probes of the interviewee’s feelings,
- requests for factual information,
- sensory types of questions, such as what the interviewee saw or heard, 6) background-demographic queries,
- time-frame questions. I wanted the interview to help me understand the situation from the perspective of the interviewee.
(Biklen & Moseley, 1988; Goetz & LeCompte, 1984; Lincoln & Guba, 1985; Patton, 1983; Spradley, 1980; Stainback & Stainback, 1988).
“The fundamental principle of qualitative interviewing is to provide a framework within which respondents can express their understandings in their own terms” . (Patton, 1983, p. 205).
Naturalistic Research Paradigm
To ensure that I did not impose my bias on the information, I corroborated my findings by triangulation–the convergence and analysis of multiple data sources. (Morse 1994)
My awareness of myself as an influence is a basic principle in qualitative research (Blumer, 1969; Bogdan & Biklen, 1982; Goffman, 1959; Guba, 1985; Miller, 1982; Perinbanayagam, 1985a, 1985b; Spradley, 1980; Stainback & Stainback, 1988; Strauss, 1987). (Morse 1994)
Qualitative research tools as triangulations, notes, and transcripts are empty exercises until and unless the people–the focus of the research–trust the researcher. (Morse 1994)
Therefore, conducting qualitative research is like walking into the wilderness: Some trails are well trodden, whereas others not visible at first sight. The map, which helps a group to decide which forks to take, becomes clearer as each person interviewed and observed along the path suggests turns to take. In keeping with the principles of qualitative research, I saw myself as a catalyst to help people put their thoughts into words. As a consequence, I felt an obligation to go with the paths they suggested, even when these differed from ones I wished to explore. The choice was always dictated by my interactions with the participants in the study and by their perceptions and their concerns.
Truth “comes not from the thing itself but rather from the interpretation given to it by a person” (Stainback & Stainback, 1988).
FURTHER READING
International Journal of Qualitative Methods
REFERENCE
Agostinho, S. (2004). Naturalistic inquiry in e-learning research. International Journal of Qualitative methods, 4(1), Article 2. Retrieved [insert date] from http://www.ualberta.ca/~iiqm/backissues/ 4_1/pdf/agostinho.pdf
Lincoln, Y. & Guba, E. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
(From Amazon on this frequently cited ‘bible’ Naturalistic Inquiry provides social scientists with a basic but comprehensive rationale for non-positivistic approaches to research. It confronts the basic premise underlying the scientific tradition that all questions can be answered by employing empirical, testable, replicable research techniques. The authors maintain that there are scientific `facts’ that existing paradigms cannot explain, and argue against traditional positivistic inquiry. They suggest an alternative approach supporting the use of the `naturalistic’ paradigm.)
Morse, MT 1994, ‘Just what is qualitative research? One practitioner’s experience’, Journal Of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 88, 1, p. 43, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 13 February 2013
Stainback, S. & Stainback, W. (1988). Understanding and conducting qualitative research. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.
Wiggins, BJ 2011, ‘Confronting the dilemma of mixed methods’, Journal Of Theoretical And Philosophical Psychology, 31, 1, pp. 44-60, PsycARTICLES, EBSCOhost, viewed 13 February 2013.
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Mind Bursts 