I was sent a very thought provoking paper by Ann about reflexivity which triggered my thinking again about the Phd process and the writings am doing at the moment for my two conference presentations in India and Cardiff this year. I am aware of the waves of resistance that come out of me at every stage of the research, sth that seems to be justified by personal regression resulting from my intense involvement with the topic, as suggested also in this article by Finlay (2002) “Outing” the Researcher: The Provenance, Process, and Practice of Reflexivity (see full article here) … Read more »

I have been reading this excellent book: Finlay, L. & Gough, B. (2003) Reflexivity: a practical guide for Researchers in Health and Social Sciences. Oxford: Blackwell. As the authors state this book is about how to do reflexivity in practice.The concept and application of reflexivity is a central theme in my research journey given that i could be one of the research participants myself and wanting to be transparent and open towards the meaning making process taking place during the whole process. Before i return the book to the library, i want to record a few quotes that am sure will enrich my future writings: … Read more »

As I am reading and writing about research methodology, i have been having an onlinse discussion with Ann and William about the whole debate around pehnomenology and heuristic research (where the stances, boundaries are etc). I wrote:  So, here I am with two concepts of GREEK etymology: Phenomenology and Heuristic…bloody Greeks again ? … Read more »

I have been feeling very frustrated today with trying to phrase both research and interview questions in a ‘corresponding’ manner….i guess i have left the topic too broad, involnving many variable that are not visible from the beginning until one attempts to narrow things down in the ‘how to do’ phase…I feel that this has been my difficulty from the beginning of the year: i wasnt clear as to what is my focus and what to ask participants so i have been collecting some data ‘in blind’, going with the flow…I have mentioned this to my supervisor before and he said that in heuristics, you dont necessarily need a question or questions but an ‘area’ of study is enough, especially if it is exploratory…..BUT…this leads me in chaos,i constantly feel that i ‘do not know what I am doing’ and i can see now that this chaos will be increasing…and imagine what will happen at the data analysis stage where i will have large ammount of data…if it is not ’structured’ in some ways, i do not think i will manage ever to identify common themes and patterns…..i need more detail and clarity otherwise i do noyt feel i can manage … Read more »

After so many prompts from my supervisor I starter reading again an excellent book: Kvale, S. (1996) InterViews: An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing. London: Sage…what an excellent companion really! I found this metaphor of the ‘interviewer as traveler’ ( in contrast to the metaphor of interviewer as miner)in there which so much fits with my research topic. Kvale writes (p. 4-5): … Read more »