Module 2 Skype Call - 7th March

On Thursday 7th March we had a Skype call with a Module 2 focus entitled - What if you can't interview someone?

However, I feel that the call was more about the value of an interview to a qualitative research project. The bottom line is, What new information can an interview bring to your inquiry if you are asking questions that you have devised from purely your own thought processes? Will you be asking questions that inform you or are you encouraging your interviewee to say yes or no in order to agree with your existing thoughts?

The Skype call helped me and most of us on the call to realise that there may be a more fitting form of data collection to suit our inquiry that doesn't include an interview.

I had initially thought that I would use Observations of classes/internet tutorials and focus groups to discuss what my fellow teachers understanding of multiple intelligences were and if they felt they applied this knowledge to teaching. But the call introduced more appropriate data collection forms.

Reflective Observations - A reflective essay can be used as a form of data collection, in a narrative inquiry your personal experiences count as knowledge within your practice. It was a reflection on a past teaching experience that first piqued my interest in my inquiry topic, so I now plan you include my own experiences past and present into my inquiry plan. 

Existing Literature/Reviewing Documents  - When I first started looking into my inquiry topic, I knew that there was lots of available literature from many different perspectives, and while I was aware I had to do a literature review I hadn't realised that I could source existing literature to directly apply as data collection. On the call, Adesola implied that I could probably complete my whole inquiry based on existing literature. While I have found some great pieces of information I feel I would add more depth to my inquiry if I looked outside the literature and made it real to me. 

We also discussed what our current inquiry ideas were and how we are making them non-biased and not focusing on what we already think the answer is. This led me to look more into Ethnography and I found a few useful explanations.

'The true skills of the ethnographer are learning to observe, ask the right questions and at the right time to cause minimal influence on the actions of your subjects' (The Interaction Design Foundation, 2016)

'You go in search of truth rather than taking truths with you' (The Interaction Design Foundation, 2016)

I am hoping a combination of my inside view and theory of others found in my literature review will make my inquiry balanced while ensuring I have reflexivity in my own data capture and a range of thoughts from notable scholars in my literature.

  
I have now tasked myself with rewriting my inquiry topic question/heading so that it isn't a right or wrong I am trying to prove but instead an open query that will add knowledge to my own current practice and the professional transitions in my future. 



Bibliography 

The Interaction Design Foundation. (2016). What Does an Ethnographer Do?. [online] Available at: https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/what-does-an-ethnographer-do [Accessed 11 Mar. 2019].