Week 07 - Research and theory
By the end of this week, you should be able to:
Research, analyse and understand research methodologies, management and perspectives in relation to your subject area.
Create a self-generated written narrative, referencing the research that links to your writing in an appropriate way.
Communicate through a designed piece of work (text and image), your ‘title’ combined with image, in relation to your object and writing.
Participate in and reflect upon debate on the ideas wall.
Document and communicate your working process in your blog.
Manage your independent learning through good planning and self direction.
Lecture by Martin Hosken. Martin is a lecturer in critical theory and teaches at Falmouth University
Lecture notes
Martin discusses how much time is spent deciphering academic language and terminology in research. While understanding academic jargon is important, he discusses the want to shift the focus to the individual's voice and authorship and how by deconstructing research, this allowing us to engage with knowledge in a more invigorating way and this change in perspective allows us to approach research as a human process rather than being intimidated by its weight.
He breaks down the ways of research into the following parts
01. Curiosity key to engaging with knowledge and research
02. Philosophy the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality and existence
03. Methodologies the process used to collect information and data for the purpose of analysis, enquiry or decision making
Martin also discusses the CRAAP test.
• C = currency. Is the information up to date? Does this matter?
• R = relevance. Does it relate well to your research area?
• A = authority. Who is the author or source? Are they credible?
• A = accuracy. Is it reliable, truthful and correct?
• P = ourpose. What is the reason it exists? Or who is it aimed at?
Methodology approaches
Generally, academic research methods have broadly been split into two distinct arenas. The qualitative and quantitative approach. There is a brief outline of these below.
Qualitative research - broadly centres around the idea of discourse and language. The researcher will use their senses to observe and interpret the results. Concerned with understanding human behaviour from an informant’s perspective, it assumes a dynamic and negotiated reality. Data can be collected between participation, observations and interviews and analysed by themes from descriptions by informants. You will likely wish to use some original material. This may be collected through in-depth interviews, participation, observation, recordings and field notes, nonparticipation observation or some combination.
Quantitative research - is concerned with discovering facts about phenomena. It assumes a fixed and measurable reality. Observations are decreed from instruments, rules or balances i.e. Much more formulaic.
All these points are essential when considering my resources for this week’s task. They are a beneficial way of weeding out those that may not be useful or academically acceptable.
How to write and research effectively to answer this weeks workshops challenge
After listening to this weeks lectures I realised there were quite a lot of academic methods I needed to introduce to keep my research on track.
Feeling this is totally out of my comfort zone, and using the examples from this week’s lecture, I decided to break down the research into sections so I could choose the best methodology.
What, Why and How…
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What tools will I use to collect the data and analise the subject? Internet, library, interview etc.
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Why are you choosing the subject, interest, general knowledge, familiarity?
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How do I intend to make use of the methods. For me this was to write a 300 word paragraph.
The challenge at the end was to condense my research into 300 words, which is a very small paragraph when you look at it. I needed to think carefuly about what I wanted to achieve in my paragraph to make sense.
Question of the week
How do you approach research methodologies for your academic journey?
Define the problem. The first step is clearly defining the problem I am trying to solve with my research. What are the goals of my research? What do I hope to learn?
Identify the research methods that are appropriate for the problem. Follow the processes above.
Collect data. Once I have identified the appropriate research methods, I must collect data. This may involve conducting interviews, surveys, focus groups, or observing people in their natural environment.
Analyse the data. Once I have collected data, I need to analyse it to see what it tells me about the problem I am trying to solve. This may involve looking for patterns in the data, identifying trends, or making comparisons.
Draw conclusions. Based on my data analysis, I need to draw conclusions about the problem I am trying to solve. What do I have learned? What are the implications of my findings?
Communicate the results. Finally, I need to communicate the results of my research to others. This may involve writing a visual report, infographics or giving a presentation.