In my last post, I ended up with a working PQR definition of my research project. The next steps are to develop that some more. I know that by the time I publish this blog, it will look as though I have it all straight in my head but actually as I start, I am not really sure where I will end up. I am sure this blog will take a number of iterations and revisions before I publish it – and even then it will just be the ‘latest thinking’. Continue reading
I have been grappling with the issue of purpose in my relation to my research. I am not the only one as there has been a discussion about it on my course forum.
My own post in that thread shows my dilemma: Continue reading
(T847, Block 1, Activity 9)
The first thing that crops up in my mind when I think about ethics is the material I covered as part of juggling the B-ball in Tu812. This drew on von Foerster to describe ethical action as acting in a way that opens up – rather than closes down – possibilities for others. Continue reading
(T847, block 1, activity 4 – 7)
Bamberger et al. (2006) offers a classification of four types of politics that operate in organisations and wider society. Continue reading
(T847, Block 1, Activity 3)
The module materials talk about a theory-based (or theory-guided) approach to research. It refers to the fact that “a theory or model has been proposed as to how the object of what is being researched operates, or what the outcome(s) or impact(s) are likely to be.” It is important to explicitly identify the theory (or theories) that underlie a research project.
The materials cites Chen (2005) who refers to these as ‘assumptions’ and differentiates between two types:
Descriptive assumptions concern the causal processes that lead to whatever problem/issue/event is being investigated.
Prescriptive assumptions prescribe those entities and activities (components, resources, systems, people, etc.) that the designers and/or other key stakeholders in a research project or programme deem necessary to successfully tackling the problem/issue/event.
It seems that in order to think about these assumptions in relation to my research, I need to be a little clearer about the problem/issue/event that I am investigating – I have not yet articulated that explicitly enough. Continue reading
(T847, Block 1, Activity 2)
Activity 2 asks me to identify an example of a paradigm and related theories and concepts that are relevant to the ideas that I am considering for my research.
The T847 materials summarise a paradigm as “a perspective or point of view affecting what is recognised, known, valued, and done. As such, a paradigm advances both a set of assumptions about the world and a philosophical framework for the study of that world.”
The materials also have a neat way of explaining theories and concepts: “suppositions or systems of ideas, or mental representations or abstract objects intended to explain something, or a set of principles on which some form of activity is based.”
I have recently come across Schein’s work which links to research. I have come across him before – as one of the oft quoted theorists on organisational culture. In fact it is this work that is mentioned in the wikipedia article about him.
Schein’s work draws and comments on that of Lewin – a ‘thinker’ included in the Systems Thinkers book by Ramage and Shipp. Given that, I feel happy adding Schein into my interpretation of a ‘systems thinker/practitioner’.
So what does Schein offer to my thinking…. Continue reading
I’ve got a feeling that this is going to be quite a long post because I have spent the last two weeks grappling in my head with something that concerns me.
I’ve never been one for Programmes and Projects – with capital ‘P’s – with all the trappings of templates and documentation and traffic light reports but recently I’ve found myself yearning for more structure and more shape to what I am doing. I’ve started to wonder if – in my wholesale rejection of Project methodologies, I have thrown the baby out with the bathwater.
True it has been a bit of a extra messy time with particular big fluxes of events and issues over time. Lots and lots of uncertainty – maybe the woolliness is getting to the point when I am lost – and if I’m lost then others around me probably are too. I have started taking action at work to change this but I do want to explore – if not a Project, then what? Continue reading
Coghlan and Brannick (2010,40) have a small section on research paradigms and action research which helpfully adds some more detail to my previous post on Epistemology and research.
First there are some useful explanations: Continue reading
I have just realised how many medical-like metaphors are out there in the world of organisational research/development. This insight was prompted by my reading of Coghlan and Brannick (2010) which took me off on an interesting tangent…
We ‘diagnose’; talk of organisational ‘pathologies’ and go on to ‘intervene’.
One such example is in the use of the Viable Systems Model – the model can be used as a diagnostic ‘tool’ and Hoverstadt (2008) draws attention to a range of ‘pathological’ archetypes.
So I started to think about what was behind these metaphors… and the possibilities and problems they could bring. Continue reading