Category: Academia

Musing on Grounded Theory

As I am nearing the point where I need to submit my doctoral thesis research proposal idea by the end of the month, and then the first draft of the proposal itself by the end of February, I am starting to narrow down my seemingly endless options and consider what will hold my interest for the next two years, as well as what will have enough (workable) depth to allow me to leverage the results of this process in an academic context.

While considering this on my own, I am quite happy that Jane, one of my colleagues at Lancaster University and through the Twitter group #phdchat, is a few steps ahead of me on the path and is doing her own thinking about what appears to be our shared methodology of choice, grounded theory. Her most excellent recent post, Remodelling Grounded Theory – some quotes and the odd note, has me thinking again about some of the reasons why grounded theory started and continues to attract me.

I remember when I first encountered grounded theory through the work of Glaser, it seemed a little rigid and, dare I say it, almost quantitatively qualitative. I had the sense that he wanted his perspective of grounded theory to be objective, as if qualitative research can (or should) be objective, in any way. What does it mean to be objective when we are trying to understand meaning-making, much less so if we are intentionally trying to problematize it (which I mused on regarding transcription itself)?

With a little more learning and more experiences since then, though not necessarily more wisdom, I can now try to articulate a bit about what in Glaser’s work, especially in his essay Remodeling Grounded Theory, does not feel right with my perspective in this research. It seems Glaser works from a different paradigm than I do, and that is how I perceive a certain rigidity he seems to have with how grounded theory is used or understood. I can’t help but think that Glaser approaches grounded theory from a post-positivist perspective, where he seems to make meaning and derive theory about something by finding out what is already in the pattern of the experiences, as if it were objectively sitting there already awaiting his discovery, rather than he as researcher bringing the meaning to the phenomena.

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While I am not clear what Glaser means in his reproach to the concept of “Qualitative Data Analysis,” though I think it has something to do with Denzin’s shift (thanks again to one of Jane’s links) that is well-articulated in the work of Kathy Charmaz where the researcher is clearly a part of the grounded theory research process, with all that it entails.

I again agree with Jane, “More thoughts and deliberations to follow“!

Literature-Based Study Completed, Farewell Content!

Late last night I took a major step forward in my studies — I submitted the last research paper for the last module of content in my degree program before I begin working on my doctoral thesis (dissertation) proposal in January. The research was entitled Diversity and Aha Moments in Doctoral Student Identity Development, and helped to fill-in some background in the literature as well as lay more of a foundation for when I presently begin working on the all-consuming doctoral paper.

Not sure what feedback I will receive and how much I may need to revise it, but I want to share this and thank all those people who have been so helpful and encouraging to me throughout all the years I have engaged in study. 

Next steps include begining to bring everything together and try to articulate my proposed study. Think I will use a brainstorming tool to help me visualize this.

Internet Research 12.0 (2011) Call for Papers

Thrilled to see that the AoIR (Association of Internet Researchers) call for papers for the  Internet Research 12 Conference IR12 is now available on the conference website. I liveblogged and wrote obsessively about the current year’s conference in Gothenburg, Sweden, and took many ideas away with me that are now beginning to influence my own research.

Did I see that the focus this coming year will be Performance and Participation, with a smattering of issues around identity (the interest of mine that is becoming all-consuming)? Take a look at the focus this year in the call for papers:

To this end, we call for papers, panel and pre-conference workshop proposals from any discipline, methodology, community or a combination of them that address the conference themes, including, but not limited to, papers that intersect and/or interconnect with the following:

  • Creative performances and digital arts
  • Participatory culture and participatory design
  • Critical performance and political participation
  • Identity performance
  • Exclusion from participation
  • Economic performance of Internet-related industries
  • Game performance
  • Performance expectations (as workers, citizens, etc.)
  • Ritual performances and communal participation

This increasingly looks to be a place for my work, as all of it involves Internet Research, focuses on identity formation and development, and is about as interdisciplinary as the social sciences themselves. Hope to attend and present my work for more engaged and constructive peer feedback.

What are Threshold Concepts?

Since I am working with a colleague on a research project around the idea of Threshold Concepts in doctoral education, I thought it may be useful to provide a fundamental definition of this to potentially assist those who supervise doctoral students to consider participating in this research.

As per Jan Meyer and Ray Land, the originators of this area:

A threshold concept can be considered as akin to a portal, opening up a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking about something. It represents a transformed way of understanding, or interpreting, or viewing something without which the learner cannot progress. As a consequence of comprehending a threshold concept there may thus be a transformed internal view of subject matter, subject landscape, or even world view (Meyer & Land, 2003, p. 1).

While there is certainly more to it, threshold concepts exist within disciplines of study and often result in a transformed perspective of something.

Reference:
Meyer, J., & Land, R. (2003). Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge: Linkages to ways of thinking and practising within the disciplines. Enhancing Teaching-Learning Environments in Undergraduate Courses Project Occasional Report 4, May 2003. Retrieved November 5, 2010, from http://www.etl.tla.ed.ac.uk//docs/ETLreport4.pdf

Do You Supervise Doctoral Students?

Do you (or somebody you know, such as your doctoral supervisor or mentor) supervise, mentor, advise, or teach doctoral students?

Have you ever seen an aha moment occur with your doctoral students, when they suddenly grasp something related to their study in a way that helps them move into a new place in their work or thinking or experience? If so, we would love to speak with you for a research project we are engaging in that we are calling Faculty Support: Doctoral Student Threshold Concepts.

More information about what we are planning to do may be found here, including our research consent form.

Please consider forwarding a link to this study to anybody who you think may be interested in this work or email me if you have any questions or wish to participate.