Like any project, from building a house, to scaling a mountain, to learning about people's perspectives on a particular issues, it takes a lot of careful planning to see a project through to the end. No matter how good the plans may be, however, the project will also have to have some connection to theory in order to give it a foundation for understanding. To explore the issues of research planning and the incorporation of theory, here I take a look at Creswell's research design guidance.
Creswell has a nice, easy style of approaching research methods, and his description of the way in which theory comes to a researcher's aid is no different. He presents three roles theory may play in qualitative research: as being a framework that may be used to describe that which is being observed; as a lens through which the research material will be viewed; or as something that the research will generate, an end in itself. There is also the case with such approaches as phenomenological research, where there is no explicit theory employed because such approaches are an exploration of experience, more descriptive than analytic (Creswell 2008). As much as these separations appear clean, I still find myself facing subtleties that may blur the boundaries. For instance, let's explore these uses of theory with the pilot project I am focusing on for this course. As a reminder, I am going to look at narratives of photography at end of life. There is not much by way of research done in this area, in fact, to date I have not found any that particularly look at this issue directly. But there is mention of the experience of photographing dying within particular works of photographers, but only tangentially or in passing. For this reason, it might be best to take a phenomenological approach to the topic in order to develop a broad description of the experience of taking photos at end of life. But I don't think I can set aside my bias towards a critical theory perspective. My purpose in looking at this topic is to fundamentally bring attention to the need to respect those who are dying. Thus, originally I had selected a narrative approach as it is similar to phenomenology in that it involves intensive study of a small number of people, but allows for the experiences of those whom I am interviewing to be combined with my experiences and worldview (Ibid., 13). Even within research where theory is being developed, there is a theoretical perspective being interwoven. Perhaps that is what is meant by "the researcher's own experiences", what Stake calls "naturalistic generalizations" which form part of the assertions made as a result of a case study approach (Ibid., 64). The inability to remove a theoretical lens from our researching eyes would be a 'bias' that would need to be declared within the research. In bringing up case study, I am brought back to an earlier question I had: what are the distinguishing characteristics between case study and narrative? Is it in the final writing where there is a narrative structure imposed on the findings thus presenting a story exemplifying the most salient findings? Or is it that with case study, a particularly exemplifying story is used to lead fundamentally to the development of theory? I suspect my confusion is a result of Creswell's book being too simple; there is not enough exploration of the strategies (ethnography, grounded theory, case study, narrative, phenomenology) and how they may overlap. For instance, do not all of these strategies, not just grounded theory, allow us to reach the development of a theory? Perhaps with the exception of phenomenology, that is. So at this point I am still not certain if theory in my pilot study will be taking an advocacy role in terms of it being a lens through which I see and shape my questions/approach, or if it will almost not exist at all as in phenomenological research. I suspect theory will not be developed through this study, it is just to exploratory a study; there is not enough of an understanding of the issue. For that same reason, there is no theory that can be applied as a foundation on which to explore this issue with. There is much by way of reception theory, and media and cultural studies have a long history of theorizing about the development of that which will be received. But not a theory in the area of the experience of visually representing end of life. Perhaps I won't be applying a particular theoretical lens, but it is my philosophical worldview - one that is an advocacy/constructivist view - that is what will shape my narrative strategy. I am still left, however, wondering about my approach, as there are elements in a grounded theory strategy and a discourse analysis strategy that may be of assistance. I suppose it is the constant comparative element of the grounded theory strategy that I am attracted to. And within the discourse analysis strategy, it is the analysis of texts (e.g., dialogue, printed/visual material, discourses, etc.) within the broader social experience that is I can see as helpful. Thus, after all my mental exercise, I see myself employing an advocacy worldview underlying a narrative strategy that will use in-depth interviews and observational approaches (mainly). The use of theory will be limited, in that it will take the shape of my worldview being interwoven with the findings. Now I think I can move onto the checklist that Creswell provides that will be of use in constructing a solid qualitative procedure. The points he lays out are very similar to what is included in a proposal application or a Research Ethics Board application - both of which I have become very familiar with over the course of my work as a research coordinator. At this point I will not enter into much detail .... rather, I would like to turn my attention to Discourse Analysis: The readings from Fairclough made me think about the article I will be critiquing this week more-so than how it might apply to my pilot study. The article is looking at the ethics of photographing, for humanitarian healthcare purposes, people who are suffering. The author takes a dual medical and humanitarian ethics position, and purposely leaves out the photojournalist ethics in his analysis; the former are perspectives he can personally speak from, as they inform his dual professional roles. Without getting into too much detail, his research strategy is one of medical humanitarian ethics (as opposed to one of the five that Creswell focusses on), which is perfectly suitable to his task, but means he cannot comment on the intersection of photojournalism ethics in this matter. If he (or someone else) were to want to explore how the ethics of these three disciplines (medicine, humanitarian, photojournalist) interact, a different strategy - a discourse analysis strategy - may be appropriate. Employing a discourse analysis strategy would not be a complete way of understanding the issue, but one strategy along with an ethics strategy, and/or another, to develop an enriched, thickened description. It may also be able to bring in the perceptions of spectators and photographed subjects as well. For Calain, one of the issues is that photojournalists, medical professionals and humanitarian workers, though sometimes almost indistinguishable in their actions and imperatives, can and do come from different disciplinary backgrounds that can cause tensions with each other and the people they are representing/caring for. With concepts such as intertextuality (the way in which texts get positioned with others), assumptions , genre chains (the way messages are often linked together is a type of structure), the way meaning is mediated, etc. are all ways of going beyond content analysis of, say, medical or media ethics policies, or conversations between actors. With this type of strategy, there is a way of identifying underlying assumptions and expectations within the texts, but there is also a way to identify the way in which the different texts interact, which may help develop, if not consensus at least understanding of where differences are originating. I know I will be returning to Fairclough, not just for the textual analysis of discourse, but for the social analysis as well. There are a lot of terms and concepts that still are being worked out in my mind as to how those abstractions play our in reality.
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