One benefit to having a long commute is that I have the luxury of listening to uninterrupted radio for a good stretch of time. The other day on my drive to campus, I listened to a sweet little documentary about a university called Quest (not to be confused with the Tribe Called Quest) in British Columbia. As I have recently become a student again, the program interested me on a number of levels. Aside from the focus on the university's interdisciplinary and small group learning style philosophy, I was actually more interested - or inspired may be the better term - in the way the students were all able to easily state in one line their research interests.
Since writing my statement of interest for my grad school applications, I have been struggling to find a simple one-liner about my goals. Partly that's because I am still learning about all that is out there related to my interests, and partly because each time I think I have the right words put together, I either find another term/concept that better matches my interests or I find nuanced understandings of the terms I have been using that now make me call into question my choice of language. But let's save deconstructing this for a later post (or posts as I get more immersed in my education). One reason for having a simple statement is that it makes it easier to tell the people at the pub what I'm doing without boring or confusing them too much. But it's also the process of getting to a simple statement that is beneficial. As simple as the statement may be, it is based on much background work; epistemological work that is necessary for rigorous research. Along with creating a course blog (or blogging about the course), we have been given the seemingly simple task of to providing a title for a pilot project that we will work from for the duration of the course. Although a title can't always encapsulate everything that the research project is about. It may not be exactly the one-liner I'll tell the folks on the street, but it should at least get the attention of those for whom the research will be of interest. A title should say enough about the research problem, the design, and the theoretical perspective as possible to engage the target audience. As far as my 'research problem' is concerned, I want to explore the experience of photography of non-violent dying and death in low- and high-income countries in the realm of humanitarian (or maybe more specifically humanitarian healthcare) practice; I want to explore if imagination, through the experience of photography can be a vehicle for empathy. This is definitely not a single-line research problem statement. And as for a pilot study, this is far too broad. The first part of the problem statement is still quite broad for an initial study. Narrowing it down to a researchable question can be done a variety of ways, I'm doing it here through the act of exploring research design. Worldview John W. Creswell's book on Research Design greatly simplified the process of clarifying my research problem. In a nutshell, I can say for this pilot study I will conduct qualitative research that espouses an advocacy/participatory worldview, employing qualitative strategies and methods. Experiences and practices of photographing end-of-life is not a topic that has garnered much academic (or other) attention. It is not a testable in the quantitative sense, there are no theories to prove, or cause and effect relations to test. Depending on the intent of the outcome of the research, my topic could employ a constructivist worldview: it is theory generating, inductive, and incorporates multiple negotiated meanings from various participants (p.8-9). My intent, however, is that the results of this research will contribute to social change. Ultimately, through a more respectful, responsive and ethical photography, empathy can replace stereotypes and humanitarian action can become less political. With that intent in mind - an intent that is political and change-oriented - my worldview starts looking more like Advocacy/Participatory (A/P). When I include the awareness that this research is dependent on my being able to gain knowledge through the participation of photojournalists, humanitarian professionals, spectators, and those included in (or alongside) the images, I fall squarely in that worldview. It is not that I consider any of the 4 worldview presented by Creswell as being inherently better or worse, in fact, I think I have quite a pragmatic worldview, but by (and this is a sign of my pragmatist leanings) letting my research topic determine the most suitable research design, A/P still is the most applicable. Even though I feel confident in this worldview, there are appealing elements of the pragmatist view. I do agree that approaches can be dictated by the research question. For instance questionnaires may be the best way to get answers, depending on the topic or the size of the sample population. I have been a part of mixed method research where closed-answer surveys were used to narrow a very broad topic in order to generate themes that were more easy to explore and discuss in interviews. I am also curious about Creswell's statement that for pragmatists "truth is what works at the time" (p.11) . This is likely connected to their postmodern lens, and their underlying belief of external and internal worlds (plural meanings/truths). That they don't want to keep questioning the proof of inner and outer worlds is a sign of how much they believe in this 'truth'. But perhaps this is better left for when we're visiting our theoretical perspectives....(I wonder: Will exploration of theoretical perspectives lead to my possibly changing worldview? How porous are these borders?) Strategy Coming from an anthropological background, I've always viewed ethnography as the ultimate qualitative approach. It is holistic, incorporating multiple interrelated elements and influences in its field of view, and includes the luxury of research over a long timeframe which allows for nuances and richness (or thickness à la Clifford Geertz) to surface. I still find this type of research most appealing, though I have yet to employ it. It is, however, often impractical given time constraints (political/institutional pressures) and funding structures. In my experiences I have been fortunate to have employed grounded theory, case study, and narrative strategies. I have not been involved in phenomenological research, though determining whether it was relevant to the research topics I have worked with has come up several times. In the event that I focus more on the role of imagination and empathy development through the experience of photography, then phenomenology may be a better strategy, but that's for future exploration. For this pilot study, in which I want to explore practices and experiences, phenomenology is not ideal. Case study might work if in the end I find an excellent exemplary case of a series of photographs by one photographer of a single individual (of family) that would encompass all that is relevant in my study, but at the moment I do not have that in mind. I am not ruling it out, it is simply that at this point I feel I'll be talking with a relatively large number of people about likely only one experience of relevance (hopefully they have not had too many events of non-violent death being photographed). Grounded theory and narrative research are the types I have most recently been involved in, again with a degree of overlap/porousness, or method slurring. Instead of providing us with generalities, participants I have interviewed over the years have shared with us their personal stories. Over the course of an hour or two or more, these individuals generously and honestly narrated cancer genetic testing experiences, personal expectations as research participants on autism genetic research, decision-making processes about internal defibrillators and end-of-life, and ethical dilemmas faced while providing humanitarian or military healthcare in crisis or extreme poverty situations. These stories became the foundation of the research project, informing subsequent areas of exploration (e.g., talking with tangentially related individuals, documentary analysis, theoretical exploration, etc.),and sometimes changing the direction of the research goals. Because the narratives were analyzed in concert with other relevant and complementary information, a grounded theory strategy was used to constantly compare data, test and explore theories and develop concepts relevant to the topic (p. 13). I'm not sure what this says about the academic rigour of the research I was involved in, but it always resulted in positive outcomes (publications) and fruitful findings (e.g., leading to changes in practice, further research). Methods With an Advocacy/Participatory qualitative worldview, and a narrative and/or grounded theory strategy, the methods that I'll be employing are likely to begin with document (text and visual), and audio-visual data (internet videos) data collection and analysis. Following that, I'll have a good sense of who (or which organizations) I'd like to approach for interviews using a set of open-ended questions. Depending on the responses from those interviews, more document analysis, interviews with other relevant parties/individuals may be required. Where and when possible, I'd also like to partake in observational data collection to add further nuance and test the validity of participants' narratives. Sometimes people talk in idealistic terms, or simply forget that in certain instances their values are tested/downplayed. It is in these instances that often the very important knowledge can be gleaned. Conclusion: Title So after all that reflection, all the 'what ifs' and 'oh, that's thought provoking', I have a relatively solid research design. The interplay of narratives and grounded theory, the potential for porousness between the two strategies, is something I would like to further explore. Ultimately, however, the process of defining a research design has made the task of generating a title more epistemologically comprehensive. To conclude here is my (tentative) working title (after a discussion of the qualitative strategies, the title may be tweaked): The End: Narratives of experience at the intersection of photojournalism, humanitarianism, and non-violent end of life. It may still not be something my friends will understand, but it's closer to the radio soundbites from the Quest students. If you really press me for a one-liner instead of title, then I'm going to pilfer somewhat from one of those students' lines and say my research is about: How visual communication can lead to social change. References: Creswell, John (2008) Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. Sage Publications Inc. 3rd Edition. Geertz, Clifford (1973) Thick Description: Towards an Interpretive Theory of Culture. IN The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. New York: Basic Books, pp. 3-30. Holloway, Immy and Les Todres. (2003). The Status of Method: Flexibility, Consistency and Coherence. Qualitative Research 2003 3: 345
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