Relationships and Life Stories

One area that I have gained greater understanding of myself as a researcher is with the dynamic of qualitative research being a highly relational process. As a result of the experiences in this class, I have learned that I really enjoy the connection and camaraderie that is built between the researcher and the participants during a study. Not only does a personal connection exist between the researcher and researched, but it is actually expected and encouraged as a part of the methodological process, understanding that there are boundaries and standards that the researcher must adhere. This dynamic is something that primarily does not exist in qualitative research and I think it fits my personality well to go in this direction with my dissertation and future research.

Related to this is that I have learned that I really enjoy hearing the story of an event from multiple perspectives. With my case study on the Shanghai international program, I had the opportunity to sit down with twelve individuals who have participated in some way with the program. Each has there own unique view on the program and each has a powerful story to tell in regards to their experiences. By having the opportunity to hear so many perspectives, I felt privileged to have audience to a very thorough picture of the Shanghai program, perhaps more than any other person. This privilege is not to be dismissed as irrelevant and it is motivating to my as a researcher to approach the analysis and reporting with the highest degree of integrity.

Faith Reflections

This semester has revealed a great deal about who I am as a researcher as well as the methodological process. In regards to my faith, I see the connections and how one influences the other. I have begun to understand my likes and dislikes of the research process, the challenges and struggles that I encounter in the research process, the areas where I need to continue to develop as a scholar, and the profound impact that my personal faith in Jesus Christ has on both how and why I engage the research process. On the surface, my projects did not seem to lend themselves to deep spiritual purposes, but after spending time in reflection, I can see how my faith profoundly affects the process of my research. The three areas that I now see as very relevant to my faith integration into my research are the areas of working with integrity, following God’s directions, and seeking to honor Him by using the skills, abilities, and resources He has given me to the fullest.

I can see how my faith was even integrated in some manner into the specific subject matter of developing a study abroad program in China. Specifically, I think that looking at study abroad in China through the lens of my faith allows me to see the importance of such developments in the spread of the truth of God’s word. By having U.S.-based campuses develop in China, more opportunities will exist for the free exchange of ideas and ideologies. By having Christian schools such as Pepperdine establish relationships with Chinese universities, both the students and faculty of these universities will have the opportunity to develop relationships that can be used by God to plant the seeds of Truth. While on the surface it seems that my research is completely secular, I see now how God could use my research to start a chain reaction of events that my lead to the spread of His Kingdom.

Interesting

Now that I am in the coding and evaluation stage of the research, I am starting to notice an interesting pattern about the data that is emerging from each interview. I sense that each subsequent interview that I conducted has provided better data than the one before. After contemplating this observation, I think this may potentially be a sign of two things. First, I think it speaks to an increase in my comfort level and skill as an interviewer in that I am able to ask better questions the further I progress, I'm able to allow space for the interviewee to go into more depth, and I'm better able to respond to the uniqueness of each interview in a manner that allows me to collect better data. Second, I think that it speaks to me having a better understanding of the case (the Pepperdine Shanghai international program) and the dynamics that make the case such an interesting study. By gaining incremental knowledge and perspective on the Pepperdine Shanghai program, I am better able to orient and structure my data collection in a way that brings out the best in the interviewees. This dynamic makes me want to go back and re-interview some of the individuals I worked with early in the process. I guess that's the beauty of a long-term qualitative project is that you have the time to go back again and again, if necessary, to clarify certain points of data and gather better information.

Golden-Biddle & Locke, Ch. 1

After reading the intro and chapter one, I think that the Composing Qualitative Research book is going to be very helpful and educational in my learning how to write qualitatively. The authors main point in the intro was to give a framework for the book, being mostly that their purpose is to inform the reader on qualitative writing. While that sounds simple, I think the books purpose is to get qualitative writers to think differently about how they go about writing. Their intro also does a good job of citing other authors who have written on qualitative writing and how their insights contribute to the writings of this book. Within this literature review, the authors also convey how their ideas and suggestions differ in certain ways from previous qualitative writing studies. Further, the authors provide their opinions on what qualitative writing is and is not, being not writing that reports facts, but writing that connects and illuminates. In concluding the introductory chapter they draw an analogy of a "story" as how qualitative writing can be developed while also discussing how the books chapters are organized.

Chapter one begins the journey on what qualitative writing is and how it can be approached in regards to style and practice. It gives a blunt assessment of the profession of writing, basically stating that writing is the cornerstone or foundation for everything we as researchers do. They contextualize this claim by noting that even though quality writing is so important, it is largely ignored, dismissed, or oversimplified by most in the field.

They continue the chapter by debunking the myths that scholarly writing must be totally "scientific" and devoid of personal expression, stating that all writing, no matter how scientific, incorporates the authors personal influence, personality and emotional fingerprints. They counter that good writing uses personal rhetoric and influence to enhance the data, even arguing that the obtuse scientific style of writing discourages other audiences from engaging the findings. The remainder of the chapter is dedicated to answering the what, for whom, and under what terms porting of writing up the collected field data. The chapter concludes by giving light to how data and research becomes knowledge, basically saying that it is not knowledge until it is submitted for peer review, accepted into a journal in the relative field, and cited by other scholars in their writing.

In reflecting on the introductory chapter and chapter one of the book, I really liked the content and style in which they present their thoughts. The authors write in a simple, but complete, manner which makes it easy to read as well as informative. There were a number of points that stood out to me, a few being the idea that writing should be for a particular audience, that writing should be consistent with a good conversation, the manner in which qualitative research becomes knowledge, the usage of the "storyline" metaphor, the irony of claims that scientific writing is straightforward, and the breakdown of the injunction to "just write it up." Each of these helped illuminate the qualitative writing process and provided greater understanding of what it means to write. I am looking forward to getting in to the meat of this book.

telephone recordings

One lesson I have learned is the difficulty of recording and then transcribing and interview conducted over the phone. I recently conducted an interview with the director of the Shanghai international program, the subject of my project, using a skype internet connection. I then attempted to record the conversation with my digital recorder. Although I managed, the audio quality of the of the recording made it very difficult to transcribe. In the future, if I have to conduct an interview over the phone I will look into a device that plugs in to the phone in order to obtain a better recording.

Greasin' the wheels

I learned a valuable lesson this week while interviewing a professor for my project. He was very stand-offish and difficult to engage as I began to explain the project. He did not seem to trust me or understand what exactly I was doing. Before the interview began I realized that this was not going as planned, so instead of turning on the recorder and asking the first question, I began to ask him about his research and work and things like how he got to Pepperdine University, etc. Slowly, over a period of about 15 minutes, he began to warm up as we chatted. It was almost as if he was feeling me out to see if I had an agenda or something. Only after we began to chat about things not related to the project at all did he get to a point where he was willing to participate in the interview. The result was a great data set. He provided deep and meaningful information on my topic and the interview lasted longer than any others. In fact, when I closed the interview by asking if there was anything he wanted to add, he went on to provide amazing insight in areas I would have never thought to ask. We ended it by promising to keep in touch and a final offer of assistance as I move forward with the project. I truly believe that if I had sat down, explained the project, and started the interview right away that he would have been short with his answers and would have provided no meaningful data. My guess is that it would have lasted 10 minutes tops. Instead, I was able to get an amazing interview that lasted well over thirty minutes and contained wonderful data.

Rabbit trails

Rabbit trails are one of my favorite aspects of conducting qualitative interviews. As the researcher, I can’t help but formulate ideas about what information is going to result from my questions. Often I am accurate in my prejudgments, but occasionally I ask a question that opens up a door of data that I had not anticipated, but is full of rich and meaningful data. For instance, I asked an administrator about the history of the Shanghai program and how it began and he shared about the inauguration speech of the current university president. During this speech, over 12 years ago, the president projected a vision for making inroads to higher education in China. This foundational vision that was cast in his speech started a domino effect that over the course of more than a decade resulted in the foundation of the shanghai program. Here I was anticipating an answer to my question that I believed would center around a 3-5 year period, but I learn that it all started with a presidential inauguration address. These gems of information that are totally unanticipated are one of my favorite aspects of qualitative research.

interviewing

I’ve found that the interview phase of qualitative research is my favorite. People generally want to tell their story and if the right questions are asked, it is cool to see the energy that is created in the room. The interviews I've conducted with the participants and planners of the Shanghai international program have been great because it is something that the interviewees want to talk about. They get excited which in turn gets me excited. Every interview I've conducted thus far has been pleasant and each time the interviewee has been enthusiastic about participating in any future follow-up interviews.

Nathan 6 & 7 and Creswell 10

My freshman year - Ch. 6&7

What stood out to me at the beginning of chapter six was that Nathan kind of qualified her findings a bit. While this is a common practice in qualitative research, I was surprised that she held off on this aspect of her reporting until now. She mentions that some of her observations are nothing new and are "two centuries old." She also makes a point that not all college students could be categorized by her observations. While these facts are obvious, there would have been comfort in some of her reporting if she had stressed or embedded this point in in the earlier chapters. At times when I was reading the book I dismissed her findings because I mentally made the note that "well, I'm sure not all of the students in her school are like that. Why doesn't she report on some of the more positive aspects of what she is observing?" While it's obvious that this reality exists, I would have given her more credit if she had mentioned this along with her findings. Maybe this is just a personal preference.

Later in the chapter, I appreciated her discussion on the manner in which administrators and teachers over-stress the importance of time management skills. Her writing deign in reporting this portion of her findings made me feel like I was one of the students beginning the school year. Her vivid descriptions evoked emotions of my own personal experiences as a freshman. I think good qualitative research, which this obviously is, is exposed as such when an "insider" has an "AH HA!, YES" moment to what the researcher is describing. While I was not an insider at her particular institution, I was an undergraduate student during the time period of her study, and I related to what she was saying.

With chapter seven, I liked how she postured the chapter as an opportunity to conduct personal reflection and to also make some inferences from the data. Further, I liked how she put the book into context by stating that "I hold out my conclusions not as advice but rather as food for thought that students and teachers can share." Too often I think I get wrapped up in the need for research data to bring about change. After all, most quantitative research has a section devoted to application and changes, or "suggestions for practice." I love that such profound research can be done simply for the sake of starting conversations. After all, it is these conversations and the interrelations of people and campus leaders, that will lead to change measures and applications.

Creswell Ch. 10
"Is the account valid, and by whose standards?" So much is wrapped up in this questions posed by Creswell. I really enjoyed this chapter because it answered many of my curiosities that had emerged during the previous chapters. The discussions of validity and reliability, specifically in regards to the techniques used to enhance the quality of the research, were very informative. Having operationalized definitions for terms such as credibility, authenticity, and integrity was helpful for a beginning qualitative researcher. I almost think that this chapter could have been covered earlier in the book. Many of the terms described in chapter 10 have been used throughout. While the reader may have had a general understanding of their meanings, it would have been helpful to have a more thorough grasp of the terminology. Further, coming from a strategic point of view, the section on Validation Strategies would have been helpful earlier in the book as well. I think I would have been able to see what composes the skeleton of good qualitative research and been able to use that information to better understand the information.

Timelines

What I have been most surprised with about the research process this semester has been my lack of timeliness. I set a time-line for my big project with my proposals. I glanced at it this morning and chuckled. In my idealized world at the beginning of the semester I had it all planned out. Then life hit and things got pushed back again and again. Now I am glad that the first day of summer has begun and I can focus a bit more on my research. July will be here soon.

My Freshman Year Ch. 4 & 5 and Creswell Ch. 9

My Freshman Year Ch. 4 & 5

Chapter four was an interesting peek into the world of international college students. Nathan did a fine job of juxtaposing the experiences of US students with those from differing countries. Misinterpretations (or possibly accurate interpretations) on the part of international students towards US students in regards to language, friendship, and activities were all explored in this chapter. What was interesting is that the majority of the reported data concerned how international students perceived and interacted with US students. It did not really explore the full college/academic experience of international students, rather, the data was used to explore the international experience in the context of US students. It was more about the international students interpretations of the US academic and social systems then it was about the international students themselves.

Chapter five was an interesting portrayal of the attitudes, approaches, and habits that many US students take towards their academic life. It was actually a very critical examination of some of the flaws in the manner in which colleges educate their students and the way students respond in this environment. For instance, the chapter touched upon the unwillingness of students to engage in dialogue or critical thought, their separation of in-class and out-of-class behavior, and the "real" motivations for their attending and progressing in college (hint: it wasn't to simply learn or get a good education). These interpreted realities, while not transferable to all students at all institutions, portrayed a somewhat grim picture of academics in college in my opinion.

My first question raised while reading chapter four & five of "My freshman year" was how are researchers supposed to handle the relationships that develop during qualitative research? Nathan noted that, "As a partial outsider in college owing to my age, I found myself drawn to other partial outsiders, and vise versa." She further noted that "the transfer student on my hall became a friend" (p. 66). As researchers, is it okay to allow relationships to develop in the course of your work? If so, how might it affect the data? Might there be a tendency for the relationships to positively or negatively alter the data? Further, in the case of Nathan, is it ethical to develop friendships under the false identity of being a student when in actuality, she is not? Interesting, indeed.

One thing I liked about this chapter was how she developed the research protocal as she progressed, based upon her findings. For instance, as she learned more about the international student experience, she decided to incorporate formal interviews of these students into her work. I would guess that chapter four resulted from this decision. The information that was discovered concerning the experiences of the international student was fascinating. Had it not been for this momentary shift in direction, the reader may have missed out on this important aspect of modern-day college life.

The final notable point that I learned about the research process from these chapters concerned the valuable of data that can emerge from a participants misunderstanding of a researchers question. For instance, in response to Nathan's question, "Do you have friends who are American?" she learned a great deal about American students. She learned that often American cordiality can be misinterpreted by international students as being fake or lacking depth in relationships. But, I would argue that this data suggests that many American students are fake and do lack depth in relationships. If the international students had simply understood the face value of her question about friendship and not responded with confusion, this data may not have emerged in the research.

Creswell Chapter 9

This chapter was interesting in that it began to paint a picture of what the writings of quantitative approaches can look like. As with most of his chapters, he systematically walked through each qualitative approach and highlighted the gist's of each one. He also relied heavily on the writings of others in this chapter and this was helpful in hearing others take on how to proceed with a particular approach.

My initial assessment of the chapter was that it was somewhat scattered and varied and lacked flow. While frustrating at first, I think that it speaks to the many directions in which qualitative research can be pursued. The thing I liked the most about the chapter was the manner in which he incorporated metaphors to describe writing styles within the different approaches. Things like "walking slowly around a statue," or a camera lens zooming in focus and then zooming out to look at the larger picture in context were very helpful in understanding the differing approaches. This was helpful in better understanding the uniqueness and complexities of each approach. What I realized early on in the chapter is that for me, I think the best way to write about in a particular qualitative style is to read actual qualitative research. Although his descriptions were informative, there was still something lacking. It's almost as if he was trying to add structure while simultaneously noting that there is substantial variability in the structure. I liken Creswell's attempts in this chapter to trying to describe the method to writing poetry. While there are definite approaches to writing sonnets or hiku, to truly understand a sonnet or hiku, you have to experience it. I think the same can be said of the writing of qualitative research. I look forward to getting more into the literature with the base knowledge that Creswell has provided.

Interview reflections

In conducting the interview for the recent assignment, I was pleased at how open and frank the student was in answering the questions and providing depth to his answers. It was somewhat surprising because I have conducted student interviews in the past that were like pulling teeth to get meaningful answers. One of the strategies I used with this student that I had not used in past student interviews was to conduct the interview in a neutral setting. In the past, I had conducted interviews in my office with myself on one side of my desk and the student on the other. In class it was mentioned that conducting interviews in a neutral setting was helpful in obtaining better data. Thus, I chose to conduct the interview at an outdoor patio sitting at a picnic table. This was a great setting in regards to neutrality. However, there were a few too many distractions such as people walking bye while talking on their phones and a low-flying airplane that was very loud. If I were to conduct the same interview again, I would have probably either conducted the interview indoors or in an area more secluded from foot traffic.

An important factor mentioned by Creswell (2007) was the importance of choosing interviewees that are not shy or hesitant. My question with this is whether I as the researcher should attempt to decipher which students/individuals are going to be hesitant or shy in an interview type situation, or do I conduct the interviews without filtering and simply discard the ones in which the subject is apprehensive? It seems that the second option is the most appropriate. In a past interview I chose a participant that I thought would be energetic and articulate on the subject. However, during the interview she had very little to say and was very general in her responses. I could not have known that beforehand, so I ended up just disregarding her interview. With the student in this interview, I had no idea that he would provide as much detail on his experiences as he did, so I was just lucky, I guess.

Another change I would have made would be to refine the interview questions through use of a pilot-test. I believe this would have been helpful in collecting better data. There were a few instances where the student had to ask a clarifying question as to what information I was looking for with the question. While I was able to explain what I meant by the question and while he was able to provide an appropriate answer, I think the interview would have been better served had a pilot-test been conducted. The questions made total sense when I asked them to myself, but my biases and assumptions play a large role in how I hear and answer questions. Having someone lend a critical ear to the protocol before I actually use it would have greatly improved the quality of the questions.

The final observation that I noticed in my interviewing skills was that I was often eager to get to the next question. In transcribing the interviews and listening to the playback, I realized that I should have probably gone in to more depth with particular questions or allowed for a few more moments of silence in anticipation that the student would have added more to his answers. While I was pleased with the majority of the information that he provided during the interview, I think that if I had been more patient and less focused on the next question that the data would have been much more meaningful and rich.

Creswell Chapter 8

Chapter eight was helpful in developing a visual model of the qualitative process. The “spiral” helped provide a structural framework for each step in the process. I also appreciated his “enter & exit” analogy in relation to the spiral. It simplifies the research process in my mind when it is thought of as entering the process with data such as text or images and exiting with a descriptive narrative or account.

The spiral, and other aspects of the chapter, provided a clearer picture of where the different approaches are similar and where they differ. While describing the development of coding and categorizing the information, Creswell used the term “winnowing” to describe how the data is organized and often even discarded. I was struck for the first time while reading this section of the chapter at how much influence the researcher has on the data in qualitative research. I think it really calls the researcher to an extremely high standard in accurately representing the data that was gathered.

Another aspect of the chapter that I appreciated was the guidelines or parameters that he mentioned for establishing the number of categories in a qualitative study. With hundreds of pages of data, it must tempting to identify hundreds of categories that can be coded. However, Creswell’s standard of not developing “more than 25-30 categories of information” helped me realize that the point of qualitative research is to identify the categories and data that speaks the loudest and carries the most depth. Although there are probably hundreds of findings that could be reported on in a qualitative study, he stresses that it is important for researchers to limit themselves to the most meaningful.

The table on pages 156-157 was helpful in further understanding the "spiral" for each of the five approaches. By reading through the processes for each approach, I better understood the differences in the approaches that were introduced in chapter five. This was particularly true when examining the process of moving into the describing, classifying, and interpreting phases. Although theoretically similar, these phases of the process look quite different.

New beginnings

This has been an interesting few weeks in regards to my research direction. I feel that I'm finally starting to gain clarity on the direction God is taking my studies and maybe my post-doc career. Over the past two years of my course work, I've struggled with what I was going to focus my research on. While I was interested in many of the topics from class and the research areas of my professors, I never was able to fully engage in them to a point where I knew that I wanted to focus my energies there. My goal was to have a specified dissertation topic by January '09... the half-way point of my coursework. My thought was that if I knew my topic by this point in the program, then I could be strategic (yes, it's my top strength, for those of you who know strengthsquest) in approaching the remainder of my assignments with the topic in mind.

Well, it turns out that I did not have a dissertation topic by this past January. I had brainstormed a number of possibilities, but had yet to feel a peace about any of them. The possible topics I had considered included things like student leadership development, administrative leadership, strengths, positive psychology, spirituality, and international higher ed/study abroad. In looking back at my "choice assignments" over the past 3 semesters, an interesting pattern that emerged was that most of them centered around some facet of international higher ed or study abroad. My interest in this area has been long-standing and actually traces back to my summers spent in China as a college student. These summers were by far the most formative summers of my life and I have been fascinated on Asian/foreign cultures ever sense.

So what does all this have to do with my research interests and dissertation direction? Well, just a few weeks ago I shared my heart surrounding all this with one of my professors in an e-mail saying...

"I want to chat more about your international h.e. research ideas and maybe brainstorm any ways I could help in that. I have been soul searching a lot about why god has given me the privilege of graduate studies and how he wants to use me. I keep going back to the biblical example you mentioned in class of “the least of these.” There’s so much freedom right now in the direction I can take my research that I want to make it matter. It’s not that I don’t think things like student leadership development are important; it’s just that I don’t really get inspired/excited when thinking about doing serious research in those kinds of areas. Anyway, we can chat more about it when we get together. Let me know when you’ll be around. Take care. -Jake"

Starting with this e-mail and then over the course of about 10 days God began to further develop my interests towards international higher ed and the research opportunities that exist. During this time He was also revealing in me an interest passion for what APU will be doing in Cambodia in the coming years. In various ways over the past two weeks (I'll get to these in future posts), God has started to reveal to me that this is where I am called to focus my research. It is amazing the peace and energy I get when thinking about this. Having the opportunity to invest the privileges and blessings I have been given as a graduate student into a developing country like Cambodia would be humbling and amazing.

So with that, (sorry for the long post) I just wanted to share with you my excitement about what the next few years are going to look like in regards to my research with what looks like will most likely be Cambodian higher education and and other areas of international higher ed. I would love to talk further with anyone who is interested in hearing more. I'd appreciate your prayers as I (and Em & Abby Jane... and even many of you!) begin this journey.

-Jake

Creswell Chapter 5

One thing I noticed while reading chapter 5 was how “stuck” I was on grounded theory as the only approach I would really consider for qualitative research. Strategic is my top strength so I like to see patterns and processes emerge from my work. Therefore, it was natural for me to want to use my research to construct theories and have some sort of "strategy" in my desired path. However, in reading chapter 5 my interest began to grow in regards to the other approaches. I was particularly glad to discover more about what it means to do narrative and ethnographic research.

Narratives are interesting to me because they give the reader a window’s glimpse into the depth of a human being. People fascinate me, so to have the opportunity to be able to delve deep into a person’s story would be fascinating. For instance, I often find myself wondering about a person I encounter asking myself questions like, “I wonder what it is like to be them?” or “How are they experiencing life differently than others around them?” Narratives help to answer these questions. For example, I work with a student who is Vietnam-born and then French-raised starting in middle school. She is now an undergraduate student at Pepperdine and talks like she was born and raised in L.A. It would be rare for anyone, even friends or professors, to be aware of her foreign dual-citizenship unless she offered up that information. Her background is so unique that I think it would be fascinating to conduct a narrative study on how she experiences life as an international dual-citizened female college student in America

The prospect of conducting an ethnographic study seems pretty cool as well. I have always been interested in exploring alternative and unique cultures. For instance, when I travel I am not much of a fan of doing the tourist thing. I like to get in with "the people" to experience and observe their every-day life. An example of this happened during my last trip to Boston. I was in Boston last year for a conference and I had a ton of school work that I needed to catch up on. My plan was to spend my mornings at the conference and my afternoons studying. I ended up finding this café/pub about a half-mile away from my hotel that was very much off the beaten tourist path. I was fascinated to watch the culture of that neighborhood unfold in front of my eyes as I observed it over a period of four days. After that experience I felt like I had truly “discovered” Boston. Having had a great glimpse into the daily lives of the Bostonians living in that neighborhood was a blessing and a privilege. I would love to have the opportunity to conduct an in depth ethnographic study one day.