Has Nancy White been blogging !

Very quickly her blog's become one of my must-reads. Unfortunately my Radio Aggregator does not accept her Atom formatted XML Feed.  Still well worth a visit - every time.

She has a nice post that is worth a read - Difficult Conversations (offline and online), where she talks of Heath Row blogging, in his Fast Company blog, some suggestions from Ellyn Traub on difficult conversations, and provides links to more resources on challenging online situations.

Her comments : 

"How does this translate online?
The methods themselves translate very well online if the participants in the conversation are willing to engage in what is usually a more drawn out interaction, particularly if asynchronous modes are used. The common wisdom is to pick up the phone or go F2F in conflict mode, but in many situations that is not possible, so developing the skills to slow down and get in to productive, difficult conversations is valuable. For some, the more thoughtful and relaxed response times of asynch are a plus...IF we approach it with that intention. Intention. Hm, there is something worth more contemplation.

The difficult parts are pretty well exposed in the second list above. We either have to have ESP to pick up the subtle layers of communication (F2F embodied in tone, body language, style) in writing, or we have to take the time to be more explicit in our communication. We have to pack feeling, acceptance or resistance to an idea, confusion -- all in to our text. We have to slow down and read more carefully, more generously. For many of us, rushing and impatient, this is the point of failure. Above all, we have to ask more questions! I am in TOTAL agreement with Ms. Traub on that."

9:15:15 PM    comment []  trackback []

Metaphors are constantly used in qualitative research - on the field and in our reporting.  I'm wondering what's a good metaphor for qualitative research / researchers ?

Here's one paper i found - Qualitative Research as Bricolage. Where qualitative researchers are 'bricoleurs'. Its a good metaphor, although in this paper it is discussed in the context of therapy research.  From the conclusions :

"The image of the ëbricoleurí evokes a tension between creativity and conformity. The image of the ëbricoleurí (or boatbuilder) is permissive, in suggesting to the qualitative researcher that it is acceptable to look at any possible means of knowledge-generation and discovery that could be relevant to the task of finding out more about the research topic that has been chosen. The image of the ëbricoleurí also places a great deal of responsibility on the shoulders of the researcher (or members of the research team) by forcing them to take higher-level epistemological decisions and find appropriate ways of communicating their ëbricolageí in writing (or through other media). But in many ways this creativity is one of the core characteristics of good qualitative research. It is very difficult to do good qualitative research, and those who do so achieve quality by drawing fully on their personal and cultural resources, rather than by following a set of laid-down procedures. The image and metaphor of the ëbricoleurí captures well the resourcefulness of the qualitative researcher."

And an abstract for a presentation by Dr. Gary Shank that talks of the mirror, the window and the lantern :

"In a recently completed introductory QUALITATIVE METHODS' text that I have written for Prentice Hall, I was struck by the need to identify a vision for qualitative research that works in concordance with other visions of empirical inquiry. Toward that end, I came up with the threefold metaphor of the mirror (describing Greek and medieval empirical approaches), the window (describing the scientific approach), and the lantern (describing the qualitative approach). By describing qualitative research as "the systematic empirical inquiry into meaning," the lantern approach becomes the metaphor for seeking hidden, obscured, or poorly understood meanings"

Would love to discover and generate more. Thoughts ?

8:10:18 PM    comment []  trackback []

Is this synchronicity ... or something else ? 

The covers and cover stories of the June 14 issues of two of our weekly magazines - India Today and Outlook!

12:57:32 PM    comment []  trackback []