Reflection on readings for 8/26 (foundations and craft)

QUAL 8400: Jackie Clark
Reflection on readings for 8/26

The readings this week were a good introduction to the world of qualitative research. Having done mostly quantitative research in the past, getting to know and understand the qualitative foundations was very helpful. I don't have any issues between the two, they seem very logical in terms of getting to the information that you are looking for as a researcher. These options for method allow you to look at different aspects of an issue or problem. I think a profound leap for me was understanding the complex history of research, and how the natural sciences and the scientific method have colored all conversations since. It seems all research has been measured against quantitative philosophies, and it's difficult not to fall back on those frameworks when thinking about research. Understanding qualitative work means opening your mind, changing your lens, and grasping that the study of people is simply not the same as the study of the natural world like biology or chemistry. Interestingly, I listen to a lot of science podcasts, and this conversation is alive and well even in the "hard sciences" where a number of key individuals are arguing that their past positivist mindset and methodology is lacking in many areas.

The readings for this week were an excellent introduction to this kind of research, but also interesting because they were very different in tone and style. The Prassad  chapter was amazingly concise for all the information it included, while also being accessible and friendly to the new research student. Her analogy to the work as a "craft" really resonated with me, as a former artist. It helped me understand how you can learn technique and history, but in the end you craft your own work. She also did a good job of explaining how although there are methodologies and philosophic underpinnings to qualitative research, there is a lack of agreement on terminology and each researcher defines the work in their own way. On the surface this might seem disorganized and confusing, but if you understand why this might be expected or even sometimes necessary, you get back to the idea of this research as craft.

Given this occasionally confusing description of qualitative research, the chapter by Michael Crotty provides a more solid framework, what he calls a scaffold. His four part progression from epistemology to methods makes understanding this research much easier. It also makes a great point on page 14, regarding the divide between qualitative and quantitative work comes at the stage of method choice in his model. In this way, it's easy to see how either might work for your research and sometimes both are appropriate.Given my own research interests, this chapter really helped me outline my work.

Now for the "heavy-hitter" work by Weinberg. This chapter really challenged me intellectually, but was very interesting. I feel like I had to put on my philosophy hat to dig deep into this piece. In sum, it provided a great history of the philosophies guiding constructivist work and how important authors were in many ways simply struggling with challenges of their time as guided by history, politics, and culture. You could say their work was heavily influenced by their socialization. The progression over time, each critiquing the last, allowed me to understand how foundational epistemology is and to think about the creation of knowledge differently. As a pragmatist, I appreciated the conversation on page 28, connecting philosophy to the concerns of larger society. Finally, I remain challenged by the latter portions discussing language and dialog. I am not sure I fully understand the way language impacts construction of knowledge, so maybe we can talk about that in class.