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.