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.