Learning from Methodology

Learning from Methodology pp. 382- 384

Research Materials- methodologists call this ‘data’

In order for a methodologist to do ‘good research’, “We have to think about our research while we are doing it if work of good quality is to be produced” (Becker 1998)

- “blindly following methodological rules can close things down and lead to accounts that don’t hold up under criticism” p. 838

-author feels that methodology can improve the quality of research (p. 382)

“…if researchers learn to read methodological writings as moments of scholarly reflection in a research career that…encapsulate some research skills that the writer has learned.” P. 383

-when reading research, the reader must be aware that the findings of any given study may only be relevant for the present research context and not work outside of this context…so if they want to include the findings/ideas into their own context, but do this with good judgment

-author believes that methodological reflections from the quantitative method have a lot to offer qualitative researchers (p. 283)- goes onto to say that in quantitative research cannot be valid or invalid but instead be cited as ‘approximately’ or ‘tentatively’…control groups, stats are technical procedures that do not make a study ‘valid’

-quote on P. 283 explains what Campbell and Stanley believe

“…rules for proper research are not universally applicable are modified by pragmatic considerations…”

-the evaluations that happen in research depend upon, “linguistic practices, social norms, and contexts, assumptions and traditions that the rules had been designed to eliminate”

-the author also refers to these ‘rules’ as ‘threats’

-the author seems to say that qualitative research allows the researcher to enter into the ‘thoughts’ of the researcher to figure of the context in which the research is being done…this then adds to the ‘richness of the eventual account’ p. 283

-the internal dialogue shows transparency from the researcher and the author believes that methodological procedures assist with this initial inner dialogue and then help with sharing the dialogue with the external audience p. 283