I have been going back and forth in my mind about how I am going to approach my research. I wanted to do surveys and then I didn't. The first chapter helped me to understand who I should be researching and why, and these two chapter defined the what and how.
In chapter two, I learned that observations are very important; they can tell a lot about a single person, a group of people, or an entire community. Observations can also tell what types of behaviors or actions one might make in a certain situation. I would have to watch and observe many people to understand why they make the choices the do and try to understand (maybe through surveys) why they make certain choices.
While reading the section on language use, I thought about what matters to the people involved and why do people use certain types of languages. For example, in the classroom setting many children seem to have their own language (this might be considered a classroom norm set by the student's themselves or the teacher at the beginning of the semester).
As I was reading through this, I wondered how I could use today's online language and incorporate it into my research. I know I have to sift through a lot of stuff and observe how people use this type of language and why, but I think it will be worth while to look into.
In chapter three, I learned about boundaries and setting them accordingly so I don't go off topic and I don't go outside of the topic I want to discuss/ research. This chapter suggested many good ideas on how to conduct research and to stay within one's boundaries.
In all, I have to ask myself "who am I and how do I impact this research?" Are my choices, questions, observations, and approaches going to add or take away from the research. I may need to think more about these things while I am observing and definitely take them into consideration while I put together my research.
Caroline,
ReplyDeleteI have also experinced complications with my research and finding out ways to eliminate my bias. Like you, I considered using a slew of different methods of research (surveys, interviews, etc). Unfortunately, I have found that the question, "Who am I," is far more difficlut than the book lets on. Although I am 29, I am still developing a concrete sense of my identity; in fact, I believe that I will always being searching for concrete identity (our belief systems and other things that create our identities often change).
I think a more appropriate question is: Who am I in relation to this specific environment? By focusing my questions, I have been able to focus my research ideas.