In the interests of sharing with my fellow Honours crew I'm using the following template to take notes on journal articles for my literature review.
It is adapted from a book called Demystifying the Dissertation by Peg Boyle Single http://books.google.com.au/books/about/Demystifying_Dissertation_Writing.html?id=EoDXe9ZC_1EC&redir_esc=y
I'm using End Note as my bibliography tool (yes I know there are many better tools out there now but I already had a large End Note library and it felt too hard to change).
I'm pasting this template into the 'research notes' section of the reference and attaching the pdf so everything is in one place.
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Author discipline:
Keywords:
Copy of abstract:
What is the big picture? How they set their research into the broader research? What is the bigger context they are addressing?
Big point of their study:
Premise or hypothesis or aim:
Data sources or arguments as material thing they study:
Theories or conceptual approach:
Analytical or research methods:
Results or analysis
Quotations
How this article or book influences your research:
Citable notes:
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Feel free to share your thoughts and ideas on this template
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Monday, March 25, 2013
The Machine Stops
After reading an excerpt from EM Forster's The Machine Stops written in 1909 I'm left wondering if I live in a machine or at least according to the machines and what if these machines stop?
When I became a Scrivner devotee recently I read an article by 'The Thesis Whisperer' (http://thesiswhisperer.com/2011/01/13/is-your-computer-domesticating-you/) called 'Is your computer domesticating you?'
I didn't realise I was 'in the machine' until the Whisperer pointed it out. I've been a slave to Word for ever and not realised how bloody crap it is. Now I'm using Scrivner and I'm liberated, or am I.
In Forster's story people live in a post apocalyptic world underground where is it safe from the mess made above ground by people in the previous generation.
Airships fly people between underground worlds where they live in 'splendid isolation' using pneumatic post and a form of telepresence to communicate. They talk in half-baked, second-hand ideas that feel spookily incomplete and fear visceral communication above all.
They are the old school hikikimori (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori). They are sort of me and very much a lot of the younger people I know.
Tonight I had two things delivered that I bought online - a bag to hold the machine (a lap top) and a food dehydrator. Technically now I could exist in isolation if I begin dehydrating the figs and vegetables in my backyard.
I also shopped for a door online, received two phone calls from family members, sent and received multiple texts, submitted an online task for a class, checked the weather for tomorrow to decide if I would ride my bike or take the tram.
Why go outside? Why seek out people in person?
I guess it is for that nuanced emotion that Forster's character Kuno feels and seeks and to practice real human contact and empathy. Because I like my friends and the fresh air and ultimately because I'm afraid of that empty feeling becoming normal.
When I became a Scrivner devotee recently I read an article by 'The Thesis Whisperer' (http://thesiswhisperer.com/2011/01/13/is-your-computer-domesticating-you/) called 'Is your computer domesticating you?'
I didn't realise I was 'in the machine' until the Whisperer pointed it out. I've been a slave to Word for ever and not realised how bloody crap it is. Now I'm using Scrivner and I'm liberated, or am I.
In Forster's story people live in a post apocalyptic world underground where is it safe from the mess made above ground by people in the previous generation.
Airships fly people between underground worlds where they live in 'splendid isolation' using pneumatic post and a form of telepresence to communicate. They talk in half-baked, second-hand ideas that feel spookily incomplete and fear visceral communication above all.
They are the old school hikikimori (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori). They are sort of me and very much a lot of the younger people I know.
Tonight I had two things delivered that I bought online - a bag to hold the machine (a lap top) and a food dehydrator. Technically now I could exist in isolation if I begin dehydrating the figs and vegetables in my backyard.
I also shopped for a door online, received two phone calls from family members, sent and received multiple texts, submitted an online task for a class, checked the weather for tomorrow to decide if I would ride my bike or take the tram.
Why go outside? Why seek out people in person?
I guess it is for that nuanced emotion that Forster's character Kuno feels and seeks and to practice real human contact and empathy. Because I like my friends and the fresh air and ultimately because I'm afraid of that empty feeling becoming normal.
Friday, March 22, 2013
Grounded theory - cop out or legitimate approach
After a discussion with my supervisor it seems I'm using something fairly akin to a Grounded Theory approach. This is something I've always read in academic papers - "this research uses a grounded approach with allows the meaning to emerge from the data" - and wondered if it's just a way to meander on into a topic without much thought.
I am pretty sure I've changed my mind about this now.
After wrestling with the idea of using Bourdieu to understand my data I've come back to the notion of not using any big 'T' theories to enter into my subject.
For a lovely look at the character and work of Bourdieu see the YouTube clip "Sociology is a Martial Art" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Csbu08SqAuc (note, there are multiple parts to this clip).
I've realised the point of using a grounded approach. It allows me to collect my data using open ended questioning and see what the data reveals in terms of theoretical understandings and concepts. Perhaps it will show up ideas around Bourdieu's habitus, distinction and fields of capital, but perhaps it won't and if I'm looking for evidence of these notions I will surely find them.
Konecki points out hat in allowing the findings to emerge from the data we therefore allow for serendipity, or accidental findings to occur which may not have happened had we used a more structured approach to analysing the data.
Grounded theory also uses theoretical memos which are designed to encourage the researcher to reflect on their own engagement with the data and the process of grounded theory.
From these ideas then I would suggest it is important to have a broad idea of the possible emergent qualities of the data. If I've only read a couple of papers on my topic I can only recognise those concepts in my data, where as if I understand multiple theories and a breadth of concepts around my topic many more things might 'emerge'. The role of the supervisor must be crucial in this as they can surely recognise many more things that the student in the data.
Konecki, Krzysztof Tomasz. "Grounded Theory and Serendipity. Natural History of a Research." Qualitative Sociology Review 4.1 (2008): n/a. Print.
More information on Grounded Theory: http://www.cprjournal.com/documents/groundedTheory.pdf
I am pretty sure I've changed my mind about this now.
After wrestling with the idea of using Bourdieu to understand my data I've come back to the notion of not using any big 'T' theories to enter into my subject.
For a lovely look at the character and work of Bourdieu see the YouTube clip "Sociology is a Martial Art" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Csbu08SqAuc (note, there are multiple parts to this clip).
I've realised the point of using a grounded approach. It allows me to collect my data using open ended questioning and see what the data reveals in terms of theoretical understandings and concepts. Perhaps it will show up ideas around Bourdieu's habitus, distinction and fields of capital, but perhaps it won't and if I'm looking for evidence of these notions I will surely find them.
Konecki points out hat in allowing the findings to emerge from the data we therefore allow for serendipity, or accidental findings to occur which may not have happened had we used a more structured approach to analysing the data.
Grounded theory also uses theoretical memos which are designed to encourage the researcher to reflect on their own engagement with the data and the process of grounded theory.
From these ideas then I would suggest it is important to have a broad idea of the possible emergent qualities of the data. If I've only read a couple of papers on my topic I can only recognise those concepts in my data, where as if I understand multiple theories and a breadth of concepts around my topic many more things might 'emerge'. The role of the supervisor must be crucial in this as they can surely recognise many more things that the student in the data.
Konecki, Krzysztof Tomasz. "Grounded Theory and Serendipity. Natural History of a Research." Qualitative Sociology Review 4.1 (2008): n/a. Print.
More information on Grounded Theory: http://www.cprjournal.com/documents/groundedTheory.pdf
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Just waiting for the perfect conditions in which to write my blog. First, clean the bathroom, then make coffee, then I really should read an article on my topic, surely that will help me to 'get inspired'.
Feeling completely freaked out by my topic - better not write on that, it wouldn't be a good look.
Nope can't think of anything to write. This must mean I'm officially a student again. Might go get the washing of the line.
Feeling completely freaked out by my topic - better not write on that, it wouldn't be a good look.
Nope can't think of anything to write. This must mean I'm officially a student again. Might go get the washing of the line.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Upcycled blog
Adrian (course coordinator and subject lecturer) has asked that we set up a blog.
Despite being a partial Luddite I am happy to report that I already had one - a long abandoned page whose name will need to be upcycled for its new purpose. While once 'Sustain the Wander' was more literal - how long can I keep going across countries before returning home to Australia - this title is now metaphoric. The wander is now some kind of cerebral wandering and sustaining this requires constant practice and improvement - both things that will help me coast along to a finished and totally awesome thesis. Smooth transition right!
Adrian told us in class that the very act of blogging obliges us to write in a way that makes sense to others and now that I'm back in this space I can see that. I am, of course, writing in draft first to avoid sounding crap. My fear in keeping my reflections in one neat space is that the lines will blur and I'll forget about the public nature of blogging and I'll sound crap.
Despite being a partial Luddite I am happy to report that I already had one - a long abandoned page whose name will need to be upcycled for its new purpose. While once 'Sustain the Wander' was more literal - how long can I keep going across countries before returning home to Australia - this title is now metaphoric. The wander is now some kind of cerebral wandering and sustaining this requires constant practice and improvement - both things that will help me coast along to a finished and totally awesome thesis. Smooth transition right!
Adrian told us in class that the very act of blogging obliges us to write in a way that makes sense to others and now that I'm back in this space I can see that. I am, of course, writing in draft first to avoid sounding crap. My fear in keeping my reflections in one neat space is that the lines will blur and I'll forget about the public nature of blogging and I'll sound crap.
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