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.