day 1 reflections

I'm going to try to keep track of insights related to the course content that might be useful for the book and/or next time I teach this class.

The first night I was surprised to find that several students had not taken Intro to Qual. I'd like to remember to follow up on their experiences to see whether we need to keep Intro as a pre-requisite for the course. I feel less pressure to spend time on foundational topics when I know that everyone has already had the previous course; now, I'm not sure how much I can assume in terms of prior knowledge and experience. 

The students brainstormed a list of what they are looking forward to and what they are concerned about. Going paperless is a big goal, not something I expected (but should have.) I need to follow up with Naomi Baron to find out if her research on print vs. on screen reading has been published. I was happy to hear students questioning the place of technology in the process (this is not a class full of early adopters - hooray!) and they are interested in issues around efficiency vs. effectiveness, affordances vs. constraints. There's concerned that the layers of technology "remove" you from the primacy of the experience (something Jessica and I have talked about), but also good questions about how technology mediates the relationship b/w the researcher/participants and over dependence on the tools to the extent that you don't know how to do anything without the tools (that pretty much describes modern life, I think, and yeah, it's scary). I see a need to maybe add a reading or two that historically contextualizes the debate within the qual field related to the use of technology, maybe a reading on the diffusion of innovations theory, too, and an overview of cloud computing for those unfamiliar with it (cloud computing is what enables most of the new technologies to be so collaborative). 


Another concern is managing the explosion of information and how to focus a literature review. I mentioned the idea of delimiting your search approach which was a new idea for most folks, as well as searching the past 5 years of the major journals in your field. 


Also of concern is the ethics of putting participant information in digital form. Not sure how to tackle this one as no one really knows the answer to this yet.


Journaling seems to be something everyone knows they should do, but no one does well. I'm excited that Ginny shared Evernote, as it may be a better alternative to blogging (well, different, maybe not better, depends on whether you want feedback on your journal or not.) Handhelds/smart phone apps may make it easier to keep up with journaling and even with field notes. We had an interesting discussion about spoken journaling vs. written journaling - both are processing, yet they are different. I wonder if anyone's looked at this research-wise.

There's still a lot of mystery around what the analytic software actually *does*. I fear some students are going to be disappointed when they finally "get it" - but maybe not.  


I want to see whether Brown has published anything recently since his overall argument is similar to the book idea. His concepts of digital convergence and layering are important. 


Finally, the issue of power has come up in both classes. Why is print still the gold standard, even as multimedia develops in leaps and bounds? A lot of what Doug argues is relevant to this class.

optional books

It looks like the optional books are not all listed on the UT bookstore website, so just in case here is a list. Again, these are not required, but they may be useful to you in your research careers.

Anderson, T. & Kanuka, H. (2003). E-Research: Methods, strategies and issues. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Di Gregorio, S. & Davidson, J. (2008). Qualitative research design for software users. New York, NY: McGraw Hill. 

Fielding, N., Lee, R.M. & Blank, G. (2008). The SAGE handbook of online research methods. London: Sage Publications.

Gibbs, G. (2008). Analysing qualitative data. The Sage Qualitative Research Kit, Edited by U. Flick. London, Sage Publications.

Hart, C. (1999). Doing a literature review: Releasing the social science research imagination. London: Sage Publications.

Howell Major, C. & Savin-Baden, M. (2010). An introduction to qualitative research synthesis: Managing the information explosion in social science research. New York: Routledge.

Kozinets, R.V. (2009). Netnography: Doing ethnographic research online. London: Sage Publications.

Lewins, A. & Silver, C. (2007). Using software in qualitative research: a step by step guide. London: Sage Publications.

Maxwell, J.A. (2005). Qualitative research design: An interactive approach. London: Sage Publications.

Saldaña, J. (2009). The coding manual for qualitative researchers. London: Sage Publications.

Wolcott, H. (2009). Writing up qualitative research, 3^rd edition. London: Sage Publications.

heads up

Hello everyone – this email is going out to everyone registered/wait-listed for EP604: Digital Tools for Qualitative Research.  I’m really looking forward to working with you this summer! 

I am still working on the syllabus, but I wanted to give you a heads-up on a few things:

1. We are scheduled to meet from July 11-August 8, 5:00-9:25pm, Monday and Wednesday evenings in Hoskins Library, room 110C. This is the classroom used by OIT/ITC for their technology training sessions. It should have enough power strips for everyone to plug in their laptops as needed, as well as projection capabilities to demonstrate tools.

2. I will send more details on this later, but it will be important for you to have a Windows laptop to use during the class, and you need to be able to download software to the laptop. If you do not have access to one, I have a set of new netbooks available for check out for the entire period of the course. You’ll be able to download and try out the software that we use on those netbooks. If you would like to use one of these, let me know and I will get it to you before the class starts so that you can get comfortable with it.

3. Other recommended equipment: headset (headphones/microphone), regular headphones, web cam, digital recorder. More details to come on this along with the syllabus.

4. Please note that there are no required books for the course. I have ordered a long list of optional textbooks which should be in the bookstore. These are books that I have found useful in my qualitative research work, and they would be great references for your personal academic library. I will be selecting key articles and chapters and posting the materials in Blackboard as well as referencing some of the books as we work together.

5. The focus of the course will be on best practices in the qualitative research process and how technology tools can support that process. My plan is for you to get an overview of some key tools out there and also have the work time to really dig into the tools you are most interested in. If you have experience with particular tools I would love for you to share that with the class. We’ll be working collaboratively, helping each other learn the tools and trouble-shoot problems as they arise. I’ll share what I know, but I know that I will be learning a lot from you, too!

6.  I think that’s it for now – I’ll be away from email next week but back after that so please feel free to send any questions you may have my way. Once the syllabus is complete and the Blackboard site is up I will be back in touch! Hope first summer session is going well for you all.

Trena

two more good references

An introduction to qualitative research synthesis

Qualitative research design

Getting to work a bit today on summer syllabi, I'm getting excited for the class.

Qualitative Research Design for Software Users

Ran across this book which looks very useful for the course - probably as another optional text. 

Qualitative Research Design for Software Users.

Have happily received permission to have class over in Hoskins - excellent!

Working with OIT to schedule the data analysis software workshops at a time when students can attend them for class. 

classroom

I'd like to have class over in Hoskins where the ITC/OIT has its teaching classroom. It's the only space on campus designed for students to be working on their laptops along with the instructor, and I think they have plenty of power strips available. Since a lot of the class will be hands-on, I need someplace where students can work on their computers during a 4.5 hour class. I sent an email today to see if it's possible for us to use the space.

books!

I had to submit my book orders this week, and all of these books will be optional/recommended, but not required, for the course:

Hart (1999). Doing a literature review: Releasing the social science research imagination

Kozinets (2009). Netnography: Doing ethnographic research online

Lewins & Silver (2007). Using software in qualitative research: a step by step guide

Saldana (2009). The coding manual for qualitative researchers

Gibbs (2008). Analysing qualitative data

Wolcott (2009). Writing up qualitative research

It's important to emphasize/remind students that the qualitative research process is the same - but also introduce them to new technologies can transform that process. These are some of the latest and best books out on the various aspects of the process. 

Required readings will be journal articles rather than books, as they are more up to the moment in terms of technology & qualitative research.

I'm working on an article with a graduate student on how qualitative researchers have tended to shy away from embracing new technologies, and illustrating how various tools can transform the process in meaningful ways that have yet to be explored by most scholars. Eventually I'd like this to develop into a book, and this summer's course will help that process along quite a bit!