Tag: Research

Learning Journal Entry

I am reworking a learning journal entry I made concerning the methodology I used for this module’s project, grounded theory. While I posted this within our course Moodle website, I thought it may be of some interest (or not) to share it here, especially given how little time I have had for blogging recently.

I have intentionally selected a different strategy of inquiry for each of our modules, having moved from case study to narrative inquiry to ethnography and now to grounded theory, based on Kathy Charmaz’s work. I recently attended a workshop that Kathy offered, as I had previously heard how this can be a rather involved and complicated process. I thought I understood it, until I tried my hand at it. As I imagined, I did need a computer assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) application to manage all the data that I generated (who would have ever thought I would drown in data of only 3 people?), so purchased and learned MAXQDA, one of the programs that people commonly use to handle and manage large amounts of data. I found the program a life-saver, as I never would have been able to do the 2 levels of coding that then I used to proceed to theoretical sampling, ultimately learning something that I did not expect to find at all.

Perhaps that is one of the benefits of grounded theory; I started with the text and was open to anything I found along the way, upon which I would ground (or build) my theory, without having some things in mind I was hoping (or even not hoping) to find.

Labyrinth in Lower Manhattan

I went for a bike ride this morning, and found myself at the labyrinth in Battery Park in Lower Manhattan. Deciding to walk it, I thought about the birds chirping over head, and the trees looking down from above, all while thinking that the labyrinth is like a metaphor for life itself – – the path twists and turns, though ultimately it travels toward a single life’s journey, wherever it leads.

Reminded me of why I have become so interested in research, as I enjoy hearing the stories of various experiences, and how people make meaning out of them.

I wonder how many of these experiences have similar meaning frames? Ahh, that is for another day.

Research Interests Thus Far

As I am sitting in one of the lounges in the airport, awaiting my trip to the university for the residential, I want to write a bit more about my research ideas thus far as we were asked to do for a discussion this coming week.

Let’s take the first round at this, and revise a bit more tomorrow while en route:

Interests and Context:

I am interested in issues of identity, and how people experience and process transformative (cf. Mezirow) changes in the learning. I am interested in when these things happen within the context of online communities (cf. Wenger), especially when navigating identity while engaged in adult or higher education. I am really interested in exploring threshold concepts (cf. Land). I am not  sure how I may work critical theory (cf. Brookfield, Marcuse, Gramsci) or Postmodernity / post-structuralism (cEdit Post ‹ Silence and Voice — WordPressf. Lyotard, Foucault) in, though I can envision this being the theoretical lens.

Methodology:

I know I need to firm up the above before I speak about methodological implications and possibilities, though after having enaged in case study, narrative inquiry, and ethnography over the past year in the 3 completed modules (with a heavy area of study being around autoethnography and how people experience it / reflective practice), I think the sky can be the limit (though action learning is probably not among the possiblities right now, since I am so interested in the experiences of individuals).

Oh, to have so many juicy options!

Research Interests for the Residential Next Week

researchI am traveling to England on Sunday for my residential at Lancaster University, and the focus this year is on the methodologies and ideas for the upcoming doctoral thesis (doctoral dissertation in the US) that we hope to begin after the next year of coursework.

One of the assignments we have for next week is a welcome one — we should consider our research interests and prepare a 5 minute presentation to discuss them, their context, and possible methodology. While none of this will be set in stone, it will be the first time we have discussed this together with our cohort.

I have been thinking about this, and believe I will develop this here on my blog over the next few days. I have some ideas, though need to reflect on to process them and determine how I can move forward . . .

Public Transformations Paper Submitted

public-transformations

Late last night (ok . . . before sunrise this morning), I submitted the final version of my paper that has been the focus of my life over the past 3 months, Public Transformations: Adult Learners Who Use Social Media to Express and Understand Their Identities as Developing Researchers.

I do not want to go into detail here about my findings (as I have already submitted an abstract of this for a conference paper review), suddenly everything in the analysis of my ethnographic study clicked with how the participants understand themselves as developing researchers. As I described it in the initial proposal, “I am especially interested in knowing how learners make sense of their experiences when they believe they learn something significant that helps them see things in a different way.”

I saw it, and am initially pleased with my findings. This makes for wonderful further study . . .