Dissertations: A Research Journey

Boo!

Research: Rewind & Re-think Research – its everywhere!Philosophy to PracticeConcept and ContextsThinking ToolsSome References

The Research Journey

Research: bland, boring OR real exciting, imaginative and creative? Research Counts: in all the sectors Public– from grant funding (charities – Big Lottery; Scottish

Enterprise); initiative evaluation (community art project); policy (everything health, education, policing - think present PM debates)

Private/Commercial – product design and development; consumer profiling to service; brand to strategic direction

Academic – investigating phenomenon; advancing theory to inform and transform policy and practice

Is it about uncovering or constructing Truth – is this an ‘evidence game’ (we will come back to this)

The key – research is at the centre of most of what we do!

Research: Rewind & Re-think

Research: it’s everywhere!

RESEARCH

POLICY

PRODUCTS

PRACTICE

So let’s get going – JUST DO IT! However research is not linear – like our lives and work its

messy and dynamic SO STOP we need to unlock the stuff in relation to you and

your area Then we need to locate and link some ideas/issues that impact

on your area. YOU NEED A CREATIVE CORE – the mystical AIM !

Philosophy to Practice

So in mapping out your area and some issues there in we need to look at them – coz they connect to much deeper debates

Remember are we in an ‘evidence game’ This relates to some questions on ‘Truth’ or ‘truth’

‘The most fundamental truths about ourselves and the nature of the world we live in, as well as the rules for arriving for at such knowledge, could be established by philosophers…philosophy provided ‘foundations’ the research done’ (Benton and Craib, 2001: 1).

Philosophy wrestles with this, which feeds into research approaches

Concepts & Contexts

The Myriad of Wellness What do we mean?

Normative Interpretive CriticalSociety & the social system The Individual Societies, groups, individualsMedium/large-scale research Small-scale research Small-scale research

Impersonal, anonymous forces regulating behaviour

Human actions continuously re-creating social life

Political, ideological factors, power and interest shaping behaviours

Model of natural sciences Non-statistical Ideology critique & action research

‘Objectivity’ ‘Subjectivity’ ‘Collectivity’Research conducted ‘from the outside’

Personal involvement of the researcher

Participant researchers and facilitators

Generalising from the specific

Interpreting from the specific Critiquing the specific

Explaining the behaviour or seeking causes

Understanding actions or meanings rather than causes

Understanding, interrogating, critiquing, transforming actions and interests

Assuming the taken-for-granted

Investigating the taken-for-granted

Interrogating and Investigating the taken-for-granted

Macro-concepts: society, institutions, norms, positions, roles, expectations

Micro-concepts: individual perspectives, constructs, negotiated, meanings, definitions of situations

Macro & Micro-concepts: political and ideological interests, operations of power

Structuralists Phenomenologists, symbolic interactionists, ethnomethodologists

Critical theorists, action researchers, practitioner researchers

Technical interest Practical interest Emancipatory interest

Proposal, Practice, Problem?: what gets you going – there’s an idea/problem in there YOUR AIM!

Before we return to your contexts/issues remember the problem of YOU!

Cycle of Reflexivity - take account of your ‘logi bubble’ your world view

Often concepts/analytical spectacles if you will help us see the taken-for-granted the world differently

Thinking differently helps us in the creative quests of our areas – gives us the USP of our AIM

Concepts & Contexts

LIFESTYLE IDENTITY

DISCOURSE of IEM

PRACTICE POLICY

Marcuse

Zizek

Featherstone

Brohm

Foucault

Bourdieu

Derrida

Bauman

Bhabha

Adorno

Big 3: WMD

Grainger-Jones

Waters

Johnson &Scholces

Berridge

Kreitner

Getz

Henry

Heywood

Bull

Bowdin

Consumption, Production & Governance of Events

Thinking Tools!

Catalogue of Concepts: Get Some Glasses & Start Thinking Analytically!

Business & Management: Grainger-Jones; Waters; Johnson & Scholces; Porter; Kreitner; Reid & Saunders; Henry; Priest & Ewart; Handy; Covey

Socio-Cultural: Marx; Weber/Ritzer; Marcuse; Zizek; De Bord; Foucault; Bourdieu; Deleuze & Guattari; Derrida; Butler; Elis & Dunning

Business/Socio-cultural: Pine & Gilmore; Jensen; Buxton; Kurzwell – an on and on!

Back to you and your idea/problem/AIM ?

Some References Benton, T. and Craid, I. (2001) Philosophy of Social Science: the philosophical

foundations of social thought, Baisingstoke, Palgrave. Bryman, A. (1992). Research methods and Organisation Studies. London, Routledge. Flick, U. (1999). An Introduction to Qualitative Research. London, sage. Haralambros, M. and M. Holborn (1995). Sociology: Themes and Perspectives. London,

Harper Collins. Honderich, T., ed. (1995) The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, Oxford, Oxford

University Press Jenks, C. (1998) Core Sociological Dichotomies, London, Sage Johns, N. and D. Lee-Ross (1998). Research Methods in Service Industry Management.

London, Chapman & Hall. Jorgensen, D. L. (1989). Participant Observation: A Methodology for Human Studies.

London, Sage. Lechte, J. (1994) Fifty Key Contemporary Thinkers: From structuralism to postmodernity,

London, Routledge

Lincoln, Y. S. (2001). 'Engaging Sympathies: Relationships between Action Research and Social Constructivism'. Handbook of Action Research: Participative Inquiry and Practice. P. Reason and H. Bradbury. London, Sage: 124-132.

McQueen, R. and K. Knussen (2002). Research Methods for Social Science: an introduction. London, Prentice Hall.

Miles, S. (2001). Social Theory in the Real World. London, Sage. Park, P. (2001). 'Knowledge and Participatory Research'. Handbook of Action Research:

Participative Inquiry and Practice. P. Reason and H. Bradbury. London, Sage: 81-90. Reason, P. and H. Bradbury (2001). 'Introduction: Inquiry and Participation in Search of a

World Worthy of Human Aspiration'. Handbook of Action Research: Participative Inquiry and Practice. P. Reason and H. Bradbury. London, Sage: 1-14.

Rowan, J. (2001). 'The Humanistic Approach to Action Research'. Handbook of Action Research: Participative Inquiry and Practice. P. Reason and H. Bradbury. London, Sage: 114-123.