Case examples

Readings for 2.14.13

Case Examples p. 232-273

Readings

            As I read the case examples, I scribbled my reactions in the margins.  Wonderings about living with ambiguity, having an established criterion for quality interpretive research, and an emerging interest in narrative were among the scribbles.   

On page 262, in the Case Example #4 section, the authors say, “Resonating with the study entails a willingness to live with the uncertainty of having the phenomenon and context fade in and out of focus, catching a glimmer of a picture only to have it blur into the masses of raw text.”  My marginal comment was ‘scary’!  I agree with this idea and see the importance, but I also struggle in thinking about how that fits with established time lines for project completion, defense, graduation and possible job contingencies.   I am wondering how to allow myself the time to live with the uncertainty so that I produce a quality study and, at the same time, meet deadline requirements.  I am thinking about the ‘backwards planning’ that you discussed in class and am wondering if I build myself this sort of structure now if it will help me as I get closer to writing my dissertation.    I am also thinking that establishing a study group as I work on my dissertation might be helpful.  Constructive comments from others might help me not come to hasty conclusions for the sake of meeting deadlines.  

In our small group on Thursday, we had some discussion about the criteria for interpretive research that the authors outlined in the text.  I appreciated the criteria and felt it gave me various goals and ways to check the quality of what I will produce in the future.  I was surprised by my group members’ response to the criteria.  We had a great deal of discussion about arts based dissertations and how/if the criteria allowed for their inclusion in the research world.  I feel that the criteria do not inhibit this type of work, and that if done well, the arts based dissertation can meet the various criteria.  I wondered aloud to my group members, if not this criteria (posed in the text by the authors) then what criteria for qualitative research… Case Example number 5 helped me think more about this issue.  The conflict in this case study seemed to be that the author was a master of Reader’s Theater and that lack of ability compromised the integrity of what she was trying to produce.  Had she been fluent in the genre, there may not have been an issue with writing a dissertation in this way.  I think our conversation on Thursday fits with Jean’s ‘tension between what constitutes research and what constitutes art.’  

Reading the case examples that described narratives made me consider it more as an option for my dissertation.   We didn’t spend very much time discussing it in my intro class, and am drawn to it, as I have always been interested in writing and journaling and describing human experiences.   I would like to read narrative dissertations in their entirety to get a better sense of this genre and if it might be a real possibility for me.

Project Update

By class time on Thursday, I will have visited my research site 3 times for day long visits.  I have taken extensive field notes and typed them up into more descriptive notes.  I have also collected artifacts from the site (resources my professor has provided to the teachers, schedules etc.) and read numerous email exchanges between the teachers and the professor.   I have read Stake’s The Art of Case Study Research and have begun Yin’s book on Case Study Research and Methodology.  I have also reread the chapter on case studies from Barone’s Literacy Methodologies text.  I will be taking notes on these text and reflecting on them as a step toward writing 2 or 3 pages of “academic writing” for my first workshop session on the 21^st.  I will be attending the Atlas workshop on Monday night, and hope to use the time to upload all of my primary documents (field notes, artifacts, emails) into a new HU.    More details of my progress on my project will be outlined in the Project report that is due on Thursday before class.