Not used to (or comfortable) with debating …. yet

Jaye

I didn’t think for a minute that you were being critical of my dissertation …. and wouldn’t have expected you to have read it

I had been writing my post and took a break to wander around the blogosphere. When I read the comment re ‘qualitative versus quantatitive’ research and the value of one over the other in investigating the use of technology to raise attainment, I typed my thoughts and pressed publish … then went off to have something to eat.

No offence was taken, and, of course, I respect your methodological stance and preference ….. and now I worry that you were offended by my mention of it in my post

I’m sorry if you felt my comments were critical of your own work – they were certainly not meant to be. They just reflect my own methodological ( and fellow psychologists might say, behavioural) stance and preference.

Jaye

I’m loving keeping up with your own adventures on the 5L/W blog ….. the ‘adopt a pet’ idea is great

I think you’re right about why your blog stood the test of time! I think the main reason (apart from the one you gave) is that you wanted to do it. Sounds simple I know but I think it’s really important.

I remember thinking at the start of placement “I’d never have time to do that!” and I think a lot of teachers might share that view. I’ve kept the blog as an online diary and I’ve kept it up as best I can. It does take a lot of time but I want to do it. It’s the sort of thing that if you didn’t want to do it, and you were doing it because you thought you should, you would never find time to do it.

Just a thought!

Yes, I’m aware of the ferocious arguments around the methodologies – spent hours and hours pouring over such stuff in preparation for undertaking my own wee bit of research After loads of thought, I decided that a ‘case study’ approach was the most appropriate for my chosen area of study. A couple of quotes below ….

“Cohen et al (2007) add that it is important for events and situations to be allowed to speak for themselves, rather than to be interpreted, evaluated or judged by the researcher.”

“Although a ‘Case Study’ approach is mainly concerned with qualitative data, Cohen et al (2007) state that, in order to probe beneath the surface of the school’s structure, to examine the less overt aspects of the school’s culture(s) and subcultures, it is important to combine quantitative and qualitative methodologies for data collection. The two methodologies are explained in this table:

QUANTITATIVE – – QUALITATIVE
APPROACHES - – APPROACHES
Numbers/statistics – – Words/illuminative
Pre-determined – – Open-ended/responsive
Measuring - - Portraying
Patterns/regularities - – Uniqueness
Comparing - - Portraying
Describing - - Explaining/interpreting”

So I did use a mixture of both, although most of the disssertation focused on the qualitative data.

I think that both Jaye’s and Derek’s research is (without a doubt) very important! I was bewildered, though, when Jaye wrote on her blog:

“I’ve been saying for a while now that the problem with much of the educational research produce is that it’s qualitative rather than quantitative. Not that investigating the so-called soft indicators is a bad thing as they do relate to achievement in its broadest sense, but being able to show by careful measurement and statistical analysis that an intervention has a positive effect on attainment for pupils of all abilities is, for me anyway, the more valuable of the two types.”

So much so that I cut short the post I was writing to ponder on the above …… I’ll need to create a ‘Take 2′ post on blogging reflections to complete what I wanted to say

Get on the EdD and immerse yourself in the sometimes ferocious arguments around positivism and interpretivism, and qualitative/quantitative methodologies! In our post-modern times, many researchers mix methods.