Confessions of a closet CA...

Dr. Huth

I just want to quickly mention that I did enjoy Dr. Huth.  He started off rather slow, but once he picked up, I found what he was saying interesting but at the same time confusing.  Essentially, he is crossing both DA and CA and saying they can be interdependent?  That one informs the other?  That is what I got at the end when he split the room—but it seems as if you can’t, or else they wouldn’t be separate in the first place, right?  Or is it akin to ‘ethnographic case study’ where you are using parts of each methodology and blending them to make a new one?  While I was glad to hear a linguist’s approach—I still had questions.

 

DA

Although my submissions of assignments would say otherwise, I am very interested in DA.  As a teacher of teachers, DA makes sense as a research methodology.  Word choice, next-turn-proof, and Jeffersonian transcription can be extremely informative if the researcher wants to know what is happening in a classroom setting.  If I want to find out if I am giving effective feedback to my interns as their supervisor and mentor, I could use DA to analyze video or audio recorded and transcribed conversations. 

I have found myself analyzing text conversations(using CA) with a friend who is neither in graduate school nor a teacher, and I have seen the reasons why we do not talk as much—we are completely misunderstanding one another.  I start a conversation, she will respond, but her response is not my ‘expected’ or ‘preferred’ response.  Sounds crazy, maybe, but now I have actual proof that there is miscommunication based on what I’ve learned from CA and DA.  Sacks may be a unicorn, but I’m glad I’ve gotten to see him.

ATLAS.ti

This is my third course using ATLAS.ti.  I must admit, I was totally prepared to be an expert on ATLAS, and use it to its fullest potential (or to the fullest of my knowledge, anyway).  This did not go as expected.  ATLAS is not difficult for me, please do not misunderstand.  The practice I had in advanced qual and especially in digital tools was extremely beneficial, and although I do not consider myself someone to have ‘insider knowledge’, I believe that I am proficient with this CAQDAS program.  However, other outside forces converged at the same time as this course.  Composing and defending comps, having 8 interns in the field for a nine week period in 4 different districts in grades K-12, plus one formal observation for each, my own kids’ daily school activities and  projects (we had two ‘biggies’ this semester—a book project and an imagined animal project), and ENG 456 (Dr. Keene’s writing for publication), my scholarship suffered greatly by my choice of priority arrangement.  I recognize that, and I own that, but that doesn’t make it easier at the end of the day.  I like ATLAS.  I would like to continue to use ATLAS.  I am also interested in inVivo, but I can save that for later (maybe).   The only ‘problem’ I have encountered with ATLAS, really, is my lack of data.  I have never worked on a large-scale project.  This semester is the most data I have ever worked with in ATLAS, and I do not feel overwhelmed by the actual functions of using it-- my inequities lie within the process of analyzing.  I’ve never done any research requiring this type of data analysis.  I have never coded anything deeper than transcribing and invivo.  I am unsure of what I am doing, and there are texts out there for that, but I have to practice it in order to feel at least somewhat competent with it.  You have to start somewhere, and this is a starting point for me.  This will be the most analyzing of data I have done.

The course

I have felt this course (and the other three I have taken from you) have been safe, comfortable, and they have made my brain hurt.  All of these things (in my mind) are beneficial. Working with my peers has been beneficial (our data groups) and I am excited to see other people’s work/interest/research.   I have a clearer picture of qualitative research—it  is not nearly as ‘mysterious’ as I thought it would be while I was learning about paradigms in 640 (theoretical framework/theory construction).  I am thinking more critically, I am questioning sources, I am seeing the choice of certain methodologies over others depending on the research question, the setting, and the participants. 

Because of this course in particular, I have been paying attention to my own word choices in conversation (and others’), and I believe that I have been a better mentor to my interns when we have reflections on a lesson and teaching.  My eyes are just beginning to see the possibilities out there for further research and I am formulating ideas of where I want to go.

Future Use

I have been thinking heavily about DART.  The idea of going over data and analyzing work and working with a group on DA sounds wonderful.  However, I am reluctant for a few reasons.  First, I know that I have made a poor showing this semester, which may make others reluctant to have me, thinking I lack the capacity to give meaningful feedback or contribution.  Secondly, although I would like to use DA, or even possibly CA in the future, I will not use it in my dissertation. Finally, I do not want to commit to something when I feel that I consistently overstretch my obligations and something suffers.  I may just be too busy. 

Thank you for everything you have done.  I have an immense amount of respect for you as a researcher and a teacher.  Your courses have been the most challenging, enjoyable and mind-bending in my course of study. 

To blog, or not to blog? That is the question ;)

Although I did not take DP, the method section of Lester & Paulus (2011) is something that I may refer to when analyzing my own data—I am going to get the references and look up the articles/books used in this section so I can model this type of method of coding.  I was initially planning to look at interesting things on my first go-round, but then I wasn’t quite sure where to go.  Gee’s tools are helpful, and I may somehow incorporate a couple of those, but I also need a research question—somehow I want to include a critical analysis, possibly CDA (?) as a method, but I need to look more into that.  My text document that I am analyzing along with my video data is raced and classed to the dominant culture.  My student is a non-native speaker, and the inherent bias in the assessment affects her outcome.  Somehow I need to frame that—and I’m still working on it, hence the reason I am grateful for the group activities.

So, in regards to the readings—I was wondering about blogs.  In this class (and many others) we blog.  In two of the courses I took, it was required to respond to other posts, and we also had a ‘blog group’ or partner.  Although I am not sure if I used the “I don’t know” to distance myself—I am wondering about blogs that are ‘available’ for the class to view, but not required to have a response.  In both of the articles, the blogs themselves must be viewed and have a response by the students in the class, which seems to make them take up the assignment differently than if the blogs were private.  In this course, we have access to everyone’s post, but we are not required to read them.  Our blogs are on a public forum (at least mine is) which means they are accessible to anyone if they know the url.  With that being said, I wonder if there is any difference between the blogs in this course (or a different course that was the same 600 level with less students) and the undergraduate blogs.  At this point in my academic career, I welcome any and all feedback, and I do not concern myself with the public or private state of my post.  If people read and comment, great.  If it is to the instructor only, fine.  Are undergraduate students the same in their thought process?  Are they ‘comfortable’ with their own writing so it is not a ‘delicate’ thing?   Maybe for future reference you can examine the posts of your graduate students using the same question and method—wow.  That was very quantitative and positivist of me, wasn’t it? Trying to replicate a study?  Yikes.  Regardless, I kept thinking about how my peers and I discuss blogging amongst ourselves, and I wonder if you would find similarities.