I proceeded with much trepidation and caution upon reading Creswell's chapter 3 "The Use of Theory". The word theory sounds so lofty and frightening at first glance. However, as I delved deeper into the concepts of the use of theory, I realized that theory is no different than what I have encountered in many discussions with my logical husband. Together we discuss the world around us, and based on facts or previous internal knowledge, we develop a theory. When we first met, this logically based thinking was a novel arena for me, however I have become quite adept at developing or proving theories of my own. Breathing a sigh of relief, I continued perusing the chapter for insights into theory and the two main opposing research designs - qualitative and quantitative. In summation, it seems that theory placement is the main qualifier for the type of research design. For qualitative research, information is gathered and interpreted in order to discover a theory. For quantitative research, a theory is picked and then through information gathering and interpretation, is either proven or disproved. Summarizing and understanding the theory placement has assisted me in comprehending the integral role theories play in research.
Case studies presented another conundrum. What could possibly be different between a case study and a literature review of the same topic? This was especially true because in the lecture the paragraph on explaining the scope of case studies stated that "in case study research a researcher seeks to 'generate knowledge of the particular' by focusing on 'in-depth exploration of a bounded system... based on extensive data collection." This sounded suspiciously similar to what happens when compiling a literature review. Nevertheless, further reading in the lecture on case study helped clarify this distinction with a very pointed concept. "This kind of description is critical in case study because it 'serves to place the reader figuratively in the setting... to make it real." The in-depth look at a topic assists in changing the research from a complacent literature review into a full-blown case study. Continuing along this thought process, the lecture notates that "another emphasis in qualitative research generally and case study research specifically is an understanding of a complex phenomenon from the participants' perspectives rather than the researcher's." As I was gathering material for the upcoming abstract assignment, I chanced upon an interesting case study. However, I did not yet read the entire article thinking that a case study could not be more than a glorified literature review. Now, I know otherwise.
My favorite point of my readings this week was the lecture on the qualities of qualitative researchers. There are three qualities that would behoove a qualitative researcher to pocess in order to complete a well rounded and complete study. First, and most logical, the researcher should be a good communicator. Second, and hopefully knowledgeable to any researcher that has gone through IRB training, is the idea that one should be sensitive to the information collected and to the participants of the study. Lastly, and my personal favorite, the researcher should be tolerant of ambiguity during the research process. One reason that I identify with quantitative research is because I do well with methods and lists, or formal procedures. This is entirely opposite of qualitative research. Truly, there can be a lot of ambiguity with informal procedures, as well as in endeavoring to prove or disprove a hypotheses, and in creating ideas based on the researchers' understanding of a diverse participants. Ambiguity can be frustrating, so the idea that a researcher must be tolerant in this area makes complete sense and was a great point.
The holistic approach taken by qualitative researchers struck me as fascinating as well. A holistic approach includes pre-interview activity and open-ended questions, which lead the researcher to a more complete understanding of the participants and is a method to establish a connection and empathy with these very participants. I liked this approach because it speaks to my friendly nature in addition to the feeling that there should be a certain 'roundness' in one's research.
For my abstract assignment I chose to go with "summer programs" as a more narrowed topic. So far it seems that there are differences of opinion in relation to the fact that these programs help children academically. I'd be interested in discovering if these programs are in place not only for the furthering of education, rather if there is a secondary purpose in keeping the children occupied with a positive activity during these non-school months.
New search words: Program, (although 'program' seems too specific for the databases) Summer, Children, Activity
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