Your Methods
Today we will discuss how to tackle the issue of research methodology. Before we begin, let's review the six elements every research project should contain, with their definitions:
You've figured out your topic, questions and objects. Now what? Earlier, we discussed how important it is to be aware of other people’s thoughts in your field. While this is true, as a student engaged in a university-level research project, you will be expected to do more than repeat the thoughts of others. You will also be expected to produce insights of your own. The way you do that is by proposing to study something new and fresh, or proposing to study something well-trodden in new and fresh way. Your methodology--or method--refers to the actual mechanics of how you plan to do that.
Getting Very Specific
discussing methodology, the specific trumps the general. If you will interviewing people, instance, you need to spend some time thinking about who you will be interviewing, what sorts of questions you will ask, and why you have chosen those questions and not others. If you plan to be looking at films, you need to specify which films (better yet, which scenes in which films), what questions you’ll be asking yourself as you look, and some preliminary ideas about how you might organize your findings in categories (called ‘coding’.) The specifics of devising methodological road maps (called ‘instruments’) is something we’ll talk more about later, but for now, be aware that as scholars, we are never passively , listening, speaking or reading things with no game plan. We need to be articulate why we want to engage in the fieldwork we plan, and what we hope to learn from it.
On this Traditional/Creative Methods Distinction
In this class and others, you may hear people talk about traditional methods and creative ones. To be honest, these are just catch phrases, but they do help sometimes, so we still use them. Here are some examples of each:
TRADITIONAL METHODS
There's a Name for That:
A Chart Worth Keeping Around (and Not Just Because I Made It)
- Topic: what is the general subject you wish to research?
- Question: what about your topic interests you? Why should it interest others?
- Objects: what specific cases, historical moments, geographical regions, or social groups most intrigue you, with regard to the question you raised, above? (Note: you may want to think of objects as subsets of your original subject, above.)
- Lens: whose theoretical work will inform and influence you as you consider your questions vis a vis your objects?
- Method: precisely what original work will you be doing as part of your research, how will you do it, when, where, with whom, and why?
- Presentation: how, when, and where do you plan to deliver the findings or results of your original work to your audience?
You've figured out your topic, questions and objects. Now what? Earlier, we discussed how important it is to be aware of other people’s thoughts in your field. While this is true, as a student engaged in a university-level research project, you will be expected to do more than repeat the thoughts of others. You will also be expected to produce insights of your own. The way you do that is by proposing to study something new and fresh, or proposing to study something well-trodden in new and fresh way. Your methodology--or method--refers to the actual mechanics of how you plan to do that.
Getting Very Specific
discussing methodology, the specific trumps the general. If you will interviewing people, instance, you need to spend some time thinking about who you will be interviewing, what sorts of questions you will ask, and why you have chosen those questions and not others. If you plan to be looking at films, you need to specify which films (better yet, which scenes in which films), what questions you’ll be asking yourself as you look, and some preliminary ideas about how you might organize your findings in categories (called ‘coding’.) The specifics of devising methodological road maps (called ‘instruments’) is something we’ll talk more about later, but for now, be aware that as scholars, we are never passively , listening, speaking or reading things with no game plan. We need to be articulate why we want to engage in the fieldwork we plan, and what we hope to learn from it.
On this Traditional/Creative Methods Distinction
In this class and others, you may hear people talk about traditional methods and creative ones. To be honest, these are just catch phrases, but they do help sometimes, so we still use them. Here are some examples of each:
TRADITIONAL METHODS
- Interviewing
- Observation (participant or non)
- Semiotic , Film and photography methods
- Place-based research methods
- Digital culture research methods
- Participatory action as method
- Photography as method
- Filmmaking as method
- Creative writing as method
- Ethno-performance as method
There's a Name for That:
A Chart Worth Keeping Around (and Not Just Because I Made It)