Just all over the place, personally

Since my last post I have been doing more reading in Grbich (2013).  Specifically, I have been reviewing classical ethnography and critical ethnography approaches.   I see connections between the criticisms of Carspecken’s approach and John Law (2004), as he advocates for flexibility in research.  Particularly, feeling myself very much in line with the critical approach, I appreciate the fourth bulleted criticism Grbich notes about researcher neutrality (p. 58).  Again, as Law underscores, all approaches are biased or “help to produce the reality that they understand” (p. 5).  Therefore, a critical approach should be as good as any.  

As for Chapter 22 of Grbich (2013), I think I need to sit down with Atlas or some of the other qualitative packages more, so I can experience their power.  Earlier this evening I wondered if I could find a program that would enable me to upload photos of underlined statements, categorize them by both author and themes, and generate information lists by author or theme.

Where my individual project for this course is concerned, I remain undecided.  Previously, I mentioned the abstract proposal I wanted to write for an oral history.  While I was very interested in studying my grandmother’s key social values, I doubt the feasibility of the idea.  As for a dissertation topic, here are some of the notes I’ve scribbled around the place or put into my phone over the past couple of months:

·         “Capitalism’s impact on teachers”

·         Suggesting a new feminism based on the female teacher, perhaps in the vein of Bell Hooks.  That is, teaching is not an occupation for the females of the bourgeoisie.  We are part of the exploited underclass, and maybe we would rather go home.

·         “Teachers: Unpaid labor for testing companies”

·         “Apparently, I’m not a professional, and that is just the tip of the iceberg”

·         “Dime a dozen: Oppressing the white female teacher”

·         “Worker bees, expendable bees”

·         “The pendulum swings backwards: The decline of education in the global economy of education”

·         Back to the Dark Ages: Neoliberalism and the decline of labor and education

Perhaps I could work on something of utility related to one of the above.  I gather I’d be taking a critical ethnographic approach with thematic analysis.  However, this summer I was instructed to write a theoretical dissertation proposal.  I consulted Edmund’s C. Short’s Forms of Curriculum Inquiry (1991) with chapters on ampliative criticism or the speculative essay, but I remained somewhat confused.  What I understood was writing in itself is a method and that I should just write a book. 

Where the group project is concerned, we are still considering options.  My idea is to take an ethnography or film and have each person evaluate it from a different approach per Grbich.  I am certainly not married to this idea, however.

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to my blog for Advanced Qualitative Research, Fall 2014.  Last week I completed three readings related to the diversity of qualitative research.  They included the following:

• Grbich, C.  (2013). Qualitative data analysis: An introduction (2nd ed.). Los Angeles: SAGE.
• Law, J. (2004). After method: Mess in social science research. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
• Lovitts, B. E. (2005). Being a good course-taker is not enough: A theoretical perspective on the transition to independent research. Studies in Higher Education, 30 (2), 137-154. doi: 10:1080/03075070500043093 

Basic ideas that be derived from these texts include:

•  All methods contain bias.  Therefore, quantitative methods are certainly not neutral, right along with qualitative methods.  That is, as Laws (2004) states, "It is that methods, their rules, and even more methods' practices, not only describe but also help to produce the reality that they understand" (p. 5).  
• It should not be necessary to following dominant methodologies, as they are biased, and assume reality like the others (Law).
• Creativity is the ingredient that separates successful doctoral students from those who do not succeed.

Also, as of last week I finally understand constructionism.  That is, Grbich (2013) discusses how the reality we perceive "change[s] continually in interaction with the environment" (p. 6). I have also learned of the most simple concept with the scariest name, the Hermeneutic Circle.  That terminology just names researchers' continuous attempts to understand their subjects better by repeated visits in the field and intermittent data analysis (Grbich, p. 16).

However, I have been concerned about my own progress as a researcher, and the readings reminded me of this.  For one, I am very concerned about developing an interesting and conceptually unique dissertation topic. Though I am also interested in Marxist Feminism, I am even more concerned with the decline of living standards for so many in the U.S.  I feel like the globalist capitalist system is undermining the rights workers fought for in bygone times, and the grave exploitation our ancestors knew, as is currently known by the third world, is returning to us.  I look at labor polarization in the U.S., how the public education system is being plundered by profiteers, and the media's divisive and deceptive power.  This is highly problematic and of more concern to me that anything feminism. I need to read much more, however, so that I can find some fresh angle.  The lack of time between work and the pedagogical classes I've completed (recently required for a certification upgrade), have left me little time to read works of interest, as they have my colleagues.  It is not that I find the assigned readings in my courses boring (lots of post modernism and critical race over the past year); it is that I want time to read in my area, which I consider even more interesting.

Also, I have been kicking around the oral history idea for a book chapter.  Originally, I wanted to fish for clues to the evolution of my 99 year-old grandmother's values, perhaps as they have been influenced by the media.  Or I was hoping to be able to write a paper suggesting her values are far less neo-conservative that those of my parents because she is from another lifetime.  Yet, I don't think I can work out an approach that will work.  Now, I'm considering something Bell Hooksesque about my grandmother's life and perceptions as a member of the rural working class.