Research musings

Despite being on holiday, I had a trip back to London to go to class.  We were looking at different ways of categorising and coding objects.

We considered why we had paired some objects and not others.   Grouping things makes research easier.  We considered aesthetics versus function; sets; shapes, stacks.  We debated whether associations were cultural - in British culture, we would associate a cup with a saucer, knife with fork; but other cultures would not.  Many cultures use a cup without a saucer, or have knives but not forks.  A good statement to pose is "These things go together because …..".

What role does culture play in creating associations?
What role do senses play in categorisation?  Senses, frequency, constraints.
What role does use play in our categorisation?

It is very easy to get data - we often end up with too much.  So Coding enables data to be reduced to manageable levels.  Things are coded for use as well as appearance.

What use is data to me?  Use grounded theory:

Have no preconceptions
Allow issues to rise/occur to you
Gather data
Approach material openly
Refine the issues - what are you looking at/considering.  What interests you?
Iterative process and reflection.  Is this what I do when writing my blog?
Put into analytical framework.

Glaser and Strauss.  Good writers on this subject

Then we considered Academic Writing.  I suspect our Proposals, submitted a month or so ago, indicated we were not particularly good at this!

Critical thinking - via reasoning and intuition

Have a questioning attitude.  Identify the underlying question.  Dissect other people's dissertations. Reading widely identifies what other people think about your topic.  You can use "I" occasionally, but not to give opinion.  Needs to be backed up by argument, but fortunately you get to choose the arguments to be used!

Quotes.  To be used in every paragraph.  Gives:

- direct evidence of significant points
- emphasises a point.
- writing then analysing deepens your understanding (don't  I know it, from writing a blog!)
- enables a reader to consult original text
- use quotes to compare and contrast different perspectives.

1. Introduce the quote.  Who, where, what was said.
2. Quote.
3.  Indicate important part, draw significance from, and compare/contrast with other quotes.

When reading, write quote in colour, then your interpretation in black.  then you know which is which.

Paragraphs - TEEL

Theme
Example,
Explain
Link.

Stella Cotterell - Critical Thinking Skills.  Good book.