Finally--I get to actually do something with data!

I am really excited to revisit my previously collected data.  At first, I was concerned about what type of data I was going to use, and my head was spinning on a hamster wheel.  Thanks, Journey, for discussing our 529 pieces.  I am anxious to see how the analyzing process goes with this type of data.  This is a round of firsts—the first time I will be looking at video data, the first time I will be transcribing in ATLAS.ti, the first time I will be analyzing data thoroughly.  Yaay! It’s about time.  I have been learning about how to do all of these things, and I am very glad that I get to have a trial run prior to doing this for a pilot study and for my dissertation work. This is exciting J

            I know how we discussed Rapley (2008) as a cookbook of sorts, but for someone who is new to qualitative research as a whole and just learning about DA, I am appreciative of his clarity and accessibility of the topic. I am interested in the readings and I like what I know about DA so far.  I am a bit sad—this is something I’d like to take up sooner rather than later—like in my dissertation, but I am not sure if I could do it justice. Here is what I like about it—it allows us to actually ‘see’ what we’re saying.  Our intentions come out through our talk (Rapley, 2008) and we can truly understand the situation.  This can be helpful in education—how we educate pre-service teachers, how mentors and pre-service teachers interact, how teachers and students interact (I know Journey is a Reading Recovery specialist, and how they interact with their students is discussed in great detail, following along the principles founded by Marie Clay)—DA is really cool.  I am not just saying that because I am in this course—I love words, I love how they are shape-shifters and world-changers on a micro or macro level.  Someday I am going to write a piece using DA as a methodology—I just don’t know when.  I am still trying to determine the difference between conversation analysis and discourse analysis…

            FYI—“chuckleable” is going to be my new word for Thursdays J Gotta love Sacks.

 

In chapter 8 Rapley (2008) discusses the idea that conversation analysis can say that context matters (use of social knowledge) or that contextualization doesn’t matter because one should only look at the words actually spoken After reading the accounts of the women’s focus groups on date rapes (or saying no) and the doctor/patient interactions—I am not sure what to think.  I think I believe that who we are determines how we talk to people—I am thinking how teachers will talk to parents, or how doctors may talk to patients (I have had personal encounters with both types of doctors portrayed), so, who is it that allows the ‘social inequality’ to remain?  The people speaking or the society that constructs it?  I am not sure if that is clear—I may have to revisit that again prior to class tomorrow.  I will think on it in order to be more clear…I have a thought, but I can’t verbalize it this second.  All that I know is that I want to know more.