Classroom discussion on affordances

The classroom discussion on Tuesday was again very great. Creating our own list of the use of technology in qualitative research enables us to see technology is everywhere in our research process starting from data collection to writing. It reveals the digital tools in qualitative research beyond the use of software packages. Many researchers use various technological tools in their research including video-recorder, flash drive, or like Skype, blogging, word documents even though they do not use any software packages.

The discussion around the meaning of affordances is quite impressive in terms of hearing how other people conceptualize this word. Solomon define affordances as “ possible use”, while Conole- Dyke identifies as “ intended use”. I interpreted affordances as conveniences and new options technology brings.

 I also very much enjoyed talking about factors that abstain qualitative researchers using software programs in their data analysis process. It is pointed out many qualitative researchers concern about institutional access to certain software. In other words, geography and context is a matter in deciding on the software usage in qualitative research. Social norms, political structures, socio-economic condition and even policies of institutions influence individuals’ choices in integrating technology in their work.

I am very thankful to Dr. Lester for her criticism regarding the Straub’ s (2009) ideas about how the context of time influences researchers’ inclination towards the use of digital tools. I also disagree with the statement that “ Early adopters tend to have higher socioeconomic status, have broad access to communication methods, have higher upward mobility within their social culture, are more likely to be literate, tend to be more intelligent, and have higher capacity for uncertainty for change” (p. 631) since various factors including personality, intentions, desires, geographic condition, social context, cultural norms, institutional policies may influence individuals to be early adopter versus late adopter of technology.

Technological affordances

In last week’s reading, the article written by Paulus et al. (2014) briefly described that the use of technology brings both affordances and constraints in human life. In the last part of the chapter, the authors encourage readers to evaluate each research tool in relation to its affordances and constraints.

The given articles for this week elaborate the concept of affordances more deeply. Boyle-Cook's (2004) article provides an introduction to the concept of affordances.  The article of Conole- Dyke (2004) sorts into categories the affordances of information and communication technologies.

Today, I am going to write my reflection regarding Conole-Dyke’s  (2004) article.  The article starts with an argument that the ubiquity of technology, in particular the use of computer and software programs, bring numerous facilities in human life.  One of   the big affordances of technology is to provide new forms of dialogue and communication. Through technology, diverse group of peoples from different part of the world can able to come together to discuss and share their ideas.  Social networking tools including blogs, twitter or Google allow individuals writing and sharing their reflection with thousands of people in a quite high pace. ICT presents various multimodal and nonlinear learning opportunities resulted in allowing people to adopt individualistic learning style.

The authors also discuss possible challenges of the use of technology drawing upon ideas of Anthony Giddens. According to Giddens, the concept of risk is a part of our understanding of modernity.  The use of technology is a sign of modernity; consequently includes some sort of inevitable risks.  One of them is the growth in the amount of information available on the web creates ethical problems, and plagiarism is one of them. It is possible to increase number of examples showing the risks of technology.

Overall, Conole-Dyke's (2004) article is quite informative for me in terms of making taxonomy of affordances of technology.  It serves as a supplementary study considering last week’s readings and classroom discussion. In addition to affordances, the article touches issues including uncertainty, globalism, surveillance- all of them quite interesting topics and I hope to discuss in the class.

Qualitative research

First, I will comment about the meaning of qualitative research. I considered myself a beginner researcher in the qualitative research and  on Tuesday I reaffirmed that I am a beginner. Though I was familiar to some types of the qualitative research such as ethnography, case study, and grounded theory, I  still have very limited knowledge about the genres of  the qualitative research. Qualitative research is a multi-layered work and each layer  is also  consisting of many parts. In other words, it is a huge area. When we look at the definitions of  the qualitative  research we discussed in the class, we might see it does not have a certain definition. For some researchers, a qualitative research meant to be  thick and rich description , for ones, it could be unfolding meaning and so on. It seems to me that qualitative research is a vague term which is open to discussions and various interpretations. Also, when we consider all varied epistemologies and ontologies  and how they influence the qualitative research, we can understand that qualitative research is one of the challenging concepts to define . Its definition might be changed depending on the perspectives you look through.

Given readings and classroom discussion on Tuesday, I found a chance to consider my own position regarding the  use of technology. In the class,we discussed the value of reflection in qualitative research, therefore I want to write a self-reflection. Although I am willing to learn using technology, I am a late adopter of digital tools. Most of time I do not have confidence to start using a new  device.  I do not have enough courage to try a new tool. After the classroom discussions , I questioned myself and realized that I am scared of being unsuccessful in learning and using technology. And I asked myself " why am I scared" and found the reason. I was not introduced to technological tools in my early ages, and consequently I followed the technological developments one step behind my peers. For instance, while my many friends had the computer around 10-12 years old,  I was not exposed to computer until I started to the university. I believe  early exposure to technology might increase the use of technology  in qualitative research and make adaptation process more easier. Therefore, I will definitely encourage my future undergraduate and master students to integrate digital tools in their studies, even in  their assignments. I am a kind of "digital immigrant" , but I hope my future students would be "digital natives".

  I am currently very excited about CAQDAS.  I believe these software programs makes me more comfortable while inquiring for the dissertation. Even I am  a late adopter of technology,  I will use these software programs in my future academic life.

Readings

Having read articles from Paulus( 2014) , Davidson& Digregorio ( 2011) and Paulus, Lester& Britt ( 2013)  showed me using technology in educational research is not a new issue, but  it took time for researchers to integrate digital tools in  their research. Today, almost every researcher use technology including computer, iPads, cameras, or cloud storage, however many of them are hesitant to use CAQDAS.  I believe there are two main reasons abstaining qualitative researchers to use CAQDAS. First one might be qualitative researchers  attribute a high level of meaning to their data, since their data includes emotions, interpretations, ideas or knowledge not only about their subject/participants, but also about themselves. Their data also represent some piece from their own life experiences. It seems to me like qualitative researchers construct  emotional relations with their data and  many of them agree with the claim  " computers put distance between the researcher and her/his data" (Paulus, Lester& Britt, 2013). They avoid analyzing data via CAQDAS since they are scared of losing those meaning they attributed to data. I heard from my many friends that  they do not accept analysis of computers as their own analysis, and they do not trust what computers did.

The second will be qualitative researchers do not feel confident enough to integrate CAQDAS in their research due to the lack of knowledge about certain software. And a learning a software is taking time and energy, consequently challenging researchers.I did not have any research experience until I started to Ph.D, however based on my experiences so far in Ph.D, I can say that qualitative researchers have a   less tendency to use digital tools in their research . Before I registered for this class- J-650 , I mentioned my close friends who are senior Ph.D that I would take this course. My friends who study qualitative research  stated like " are you sure" or like " it is waste of time, these tools do not work for qualitative study " .

I also  enjoyed reading the article of Kilbourn. I am currently in the stage of determining a research topic for my dissertation and it is a difficult process. Kilbourn's  article draws a map for me showing where I  should start and how I should think.  Even though the article is quite long, I read carefully every line. In particular, the quote "All research problems in the field of education necessarily involve educational problems, by definition, but not all educational prob- lems are research problems. Only a portion of all the imaginable educa- tional problems merit the attention of two or three years of painstaking systematic inquiry" is a kind of eye-opening statement. This semester, I am also taking two other courses about writing dissertation proposal. Kilbourn's statement are aligned with  what we read and discuss in my other two courses. In addition to learning the use of digital tools in qualitative research,  taking this course will help me to compose a qualified proposal. It is a relief for me.

 

Beginner

This little blog is all about my experiences in research and technology. I am quite excited while setting up this blog that allows me to become a reflective researcher. As a doctoral student, I am in the process of deciding the research topic for my dissertation. It is a  a quite  challenging process, but at the same time very exciting.

Welcome!

Hello there. I am Naime Elcan, Ph.d student in Curriculum Studies.