Week Six Reflection: Lost in the Whirlwind of Life

This week came and went before I could blink an eye. Looking back on the process as I am now, I realize that I was all over the board with regard to what research method to employ for my project in Apalachicola. My research Proposal stated many different methods that were not supported by what I was writing about. My intentions and the direction I was going was not clear. For example these are my words, "The use of Ethnographic research is an appropriate match for my study because I am focusing on a community with a distinctly unique culture... I am considering using Descriptive and narrative research approaches. I feel this works with my way of thinking and would give credence to my voice while supporting the Philosophical inquiry". I even mention the mixed-method approach.
As the result of the rapid fire nature of this class I did not have a genuine understanding of the various approaches that we are learning. This is evident in the research proposal draft.
After a good conversation with Dr. Gates I was able to see the issue clearly and now am reading about Ethnographic case studies.

http://www.globalimpactstudy.org/2008/07/the-ethnographic-case-study-approach/

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Case-Study-Research/dp/080395767X

I like to refer back to this article :

Smith Koroscik, J., & Kowalchuk, E. (1997). Reading and interpreting research journal articles. In S. Pierre & E. Zimmerman (Eds.), Research methods and methodologies (pp. 75-102). Retrieved from https://ares-uflib-ufl-edu.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/ares.dll?SessionID=D094742171V&Action=10&Form=50&Value=66690

Janice—Blog number seven: Reflection

My experience of this class was much different from what I expected. I think I had assumed I would be working directly on my thesis; in a way, of course, I was: I just had no idea so many questions and options existed around and for research work. The best readings for me were the articles about qualitative research options: Richardson (1993), Moen (2006), and Slatterly (2003), to cite a few. My thesis work, evolving as it has into a more creative piece of writing, thinking, and even living, as been a real shot in the arm.

The responses from my peers and my critical friend echoed some response and promptings from Leslie: I must pay more attention to academic practice and style. Yes, I can be more far-reaching in my thoughts and writing than I had previously thought, but I can’t be perceived as being sloppy or unaware of expected stylistic forms. Those are the two large “things I learned”: the paradox of increased intellectual freedom along with the increased necessity of documenting and supporting that freedom with a history and community. I won’t get away with writing off the top of my head.

My next is to follow where my journal is taking me. I will read definitive sources for social learning theory with utmost attention—Bandura, (1977), for example, and more intensely allied theories of creativity and psychology: Mumford & Connelly (1994) and Kitchner & Brenner (1990) being two good starting points. I need more internalized knowledge to recognize and respond to those granular teaching moments I am looking for.

The most important piece of knowledge I gained from this class was that I can do this. It is ironic: the basis of my hypothesis (self-efficacy) is what I had to achieve myself. I don’t know what I will remember in one or in five years time: I don’t make predictions of that sort. I suppose I hope I remember being happy in the face of doubt and chaos and turning a corner. I do know one thing: you never know what will happen in the future.

How has my knowledge grown about research? Even though I want to carve out my own path, others have carved out their own paths before me—and part of mine as well—and I must situate myself in a conversation with a research community. There must be strong tentacles to the world of academia. As for skills—I sometimes feel as if I am arm-wrestling sentences into shape; trying to make my words as clear, meaningful, and fluid as I would like them to be. Writing is hard work: I have to write, re-write, edit, deliberate, expand, contract, and ground—over and over again. Writing is an old interest newly revitalized, but I have the experience of my years of reading, thinking, taching, and artmaking to help make it happen. A skill I must work on is organization: my thoughts and notes are scattered over several journals, dozens of notated articles, and in my reading reflections. I need to create system for bringing information together and, sometimes, breaking it apart to go in different directions. I haven’t figured out how to do this yet.

I don’t think I changed the general tenor of my beliefs but perhaps I opened them up to new possibilities, especially in the realm of arts-based research and post-modern qualitative methods. The part of the class that seemed most worth my time, to me at this moment, was the reading and the research proposal draft and the pilot study. I feel good about my research because I was intuitively on the right path, but I had to learn to circumscribe my ideas so they, in turn, could be more focused. The single most important thing I learned about me and my research was trust: to trust my ideas and my ability to shape them.

I didn’t respond much in the discussion board. Most of the time I was lost in the chaos of my own thoughts and sometimes felt overwhelmed reading about the chaos of others. With all the surrounding study we did about research, I am certainly much more aware of the forms it can take and questions and issues it must address. I have more trust in my ability to evaluate research.

If I took this class again I would notice and submit to the academic requirements more quickly. Informal research is a part of daily life, and formal research can be a creative part of an artist and educator’s life as well. I would approach the class with a better understanding and respect for both perspectives.


References:

Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. New York: General Learning Press.

Kitchner, K., & Brenner, H. (1990). Wisdom and reflective judgment: Knowing in the
face of uncertainty. In R.J. Steinberg (Ed.). Wisdom: Its nature, origins and
development (pp. 212-229). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Moen, T. (2006). Reflections on the narrative research approach. International Journal of
Qualitative Research Methods, 5(4), 1-11.

Mumford, M. & Connelly, M. (194). Creativity and problem solving: Cognition,
adaptability, and wisdom. Roeper Review, 16 (4), 241-257.

Richardson, L. (1993). Poetics, dramatics, and transgressive validity :The case of the
skipped line. The Sociological Quarterly, 34(4), 695-710.

Slattery, P. (2003). Troubling the contours of arts-based educational research. Qualitative
Inquiry, 9(2), 192-7.

lesson 7

Reviewing this class has made me realize how little I knew about research! I have learned a lot and I have changed many of my ideas multiple times during this class as well. When looking back at the discussion boards I’m reminded that my classmates had some really good ideas for finding information; it could be referred to online “brainstorming!” Being able to work through varied methods of research I was able to identify the mode that I am most comfortable with. Designing my thesis will now be an educated process. I won’t throw all my “eggs in one basket” and too late realize that this is not going to work for me.

One of the articles that I thought was quite interesting for my research, as well as for educational purposes, was the Evans-Palmer journal “The Potency of Humor.” It puts things in perspective in what we see and do every day, and reminded me that keeping myself stress free and adding humor to my day will also help with keep students engaged! I have also used a source I was not aware of previously, the National Arts Education Association, to obtain information for my research. With all the information they have, it’s been very helpful.

The following was very insightful for me as well and I feel the same way!

This was also very helpful, I do know, it’s from you (professor), but it did help with understanding Quantitative research.

Leslie Gates (lesliegates) (Nov 8, 2011 9:57 AM)

You write, "Adding actual experiences to the factual numbers definitely makes reading the research more interesting to me." One point of clarification - sometimes numbers portray experience. Quantitative research doesn't necessarily exclude experience. The difference between qualitative and quantitative research is how the data is expressed - either with words or with numbers. Both could present experience. Perhaps a more accurate way to say what you're feeling is that you prefer to have the data presented in story rather than in numbers. ?

Porter's Research Map

My research map went through several transformations throughout this class. The first few maps were drawn with no understanding of the research process.

After almost 8 weeks in this class, I can say I have a much better understanding of the processes involved in a capstone research project.

Reflections

This class has been an eye opener for me! I had done research before but never really understood or knew the depths of it. I knew that for research you had to look at sources and create your own idea of them, but never did I know how many different ways that could be done. I have learned there’s more than one way to conduct research and find what you are searching for. Learning about all the different options for research sort of overwhelmed me and put me at ease at the same time. I felt I now had a better idea of what I was looking for and how exactly I was going to find it. This course truly helped me find what I wanted to know. I now know what I want to research for my capstone project. I came in with an idea, but not really as specific as I knew it needed to be. This class taught me to dig deep within myself and find what I was truly looking for, not what sounded good on paper.

I now know as I leave this class what my research topic is, which is “using art as a tool of personal reflection in traditional art curricula.” Now knowing my goals, and what I am wanting to research by laying out my plans in my research proposal, I feel I am ready for the next step. After this class, I will begin my research during my independent study. It helped doing my pilot study in this class so I could learn from my mistakes and also learn from what worked. I now know how to conduct my study and what techniques I will use, it is now just time to do it. I know now I will use quantitative methods to collect my data, such as journals, interviews, artwork, surveys, etc. Before this class, I didn’t even know they were considered a part of a specific method of research. This class has helped me see the full world of research I never knew existed. I am thankful I have taken this class, because it taught me not just about research but also about my own research. It helped me learn to think more clearly and to problem solve by asking more than one main question. It helped me realize I can have more than one question I want to answer in my research study, but they can all be answered by possibly one overarching idea/question.

In all, this class definitely stressed me out and made me feel ignorant or stupid at times, but leaving, I now feel scared, but ready to move on to the next step. This class has empowered me with valuable tools that I am sure I will continue to use through out the rest of my career as an art educator as I strive to improve my own practice.

Patty's Personal Reflection

My research will take me into the classroom of AP art students, to observe and document their work as I try to answer how visual culture influences their perception of identity as created through their portfolios.  It is my wish to observe these students for a few weeks and take the role of the student, as they are the teachers teaching me what I need to know. I believe this research to be phenomenological. What I am trying to learn from them is deeply personal.  It is an essence of who they are and how that is reflected in their chosen medium.  What influences these choices? I think visual culture has some influence, but I am not sure just how much.  I hope that this exploration will be beneficial to my research, but also to the students.  I would like the students to understand how they form their ideas, and what influences them to make the artworks that they create.  I would also like the instructors of the school to understand how their students form ideas, so that their teaching practices can better benefit their students.  I am expecting this to be a pleasurable learning experience for the students, the class art instructor, and me. 

I wish that I could say I learned a great deal about research from this course, but that would not be true.  What I did learn is that research is more complicated than I ever thought, or so the academic writings would have me believe, and just when I thought I was beginning to understand, another method, methodology or approach came along to muddy the water.  I’m not sure why the selected readings for this course where chosen but they were, in most cases, difficult to understand.  Such as Beittel (1983), who seemed to be writing for the privileged few who could understand the language of research at a much higher level than the beginning researcher ever could. I felt he was pompous and he perpetuated the idea that art is too difficult to understand for the mere mortal. That being said, there were a few articles that were quite enjoyable, including Keifer-Boyd (2007).  As I return back to past posts on the discussion forum, I do not find them as helpful as they have been in other courses.  The ability to write freely, and from the heart, has been hindered by the need to write in technical terms.  It has been these forum “conversations” that have helped me greatly in past semesters.  I suppose this was the reason for the creation of this blog, but I do not feel it had the same impact.

As we near the end of this course, I still am having trouble organizing concepts in my mind. The various methods and approaches along with difficult terminology may have been better understood if an outline of terms, their definitions and some examples would have been provided at the beginning of the course, like a primer. Perhaps this course should not be condensed.  A sixteen-week course might give enough time for understanding to occur; or maybe it just delays the inevitable, that research is not to be understood until you are immersed in it.  What I do know is that peers can be a valuable resource to bounce ideas off of and to help you stay sane, and I’d like to thank my critical friend for that support. Without her I may have decided not to continue, finding the course too difficult and abstract for my need of the concrete.  She has helped me to focus and take the process step-by-step, and for that I am extremely grateful.

Earlier today I posted my final research map.  It is simple and focused, and concerns only the research I am about to undertake.  I needed to remove all other language that was not specific to my project and keep only what I know I will use in my research. This new map allows me to see completely the path I must take to complete my research project.

Beittl, K. R. (1983).  The phenomenology of the artistic image. Visual Arts Research, 9(2), 25-29.

Keifer-Boyd, K. (2007). From content to form: Judy Chicago’s pedagogy with reflections by Judy Chicago. Studies in Art Education, 48(2), 134-154.

Porter's Final Thoughts

Taking this class has been like riding a roller coaster. At first there was apprehension. What will the professor be like? How many assignments will we have per week? What will be expected? The unknown – it always makes me apprehensive. But then you get in your seat and begin that slow crawl up the first high embankment, and the feeling goes from apprehension to anticipation. You get to meet, or re-meet all the other students. You skim over the course schedule and go straight for the first lesson, because you want to get a head start. The first lesson is always the easiest, and then you are at the top of the hill and reality sets in.

I know, without a doubt, that this class pushed me further and harder than any other class I have taken. Even though it was intense, I can definitely say that I have learned more in this class than in any other class I have taken. Albeit, I would not want to repeat this insane schedule and feel strongly that this type of workload might be more of a deterrent to learning instead of the encouragement for which it was meant. It pushed me out of my comfort zone, as I desperately clung to my seat and tried to keep my hands and eyes inside the car at all times, and forced me to either sink or swim.

One critical realization that I have made during the course of this class is that research is not an individual endeavor. My feelings can be best said by the quote from Isaac Newton; “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” In other words, I can accomplish something that I could not do on my own, by the works, ideas, and thoughts of others. I started this search with my use of the studies of others before me. The wealth of knowledge that was found within journals, books, websites, and even magazines opened up my eyes, first of all, to a knew type of language that I am still learning.

At first I just tried to find articles that ‘matched’ my topic – how art councils can support town revitalization. These articles helped me to see how there were things missing from my initial research statement, as well as from the literature that I had investigated. Even though I found examples, such as those given by Stutman (2001) and Wallace (2011), which spoke of the arts changing communities, the programs used within these studies were quite different. What overarching issue linked these arts councils in their successful choices of programming?

The article by Guetzkon (2002) briefly touched on the topic of how relevant selection of programming would impact the effect of this programming on a community. The topic of relevant arts programming gained more traction with the additional information I learned from a study conducted by Kay (2005) that explored how arts programming was more effective when implemented and encouraged from within the community. The results of my pilot study indicated that a community art council’s intent to inspire their community is made possible through relevant and meaningful programming that considers the needs and desires of their community. All these factors have allowed me to discover that in order to revitalize a community, the focus of a community arts council should be on the needs and desires of their community in order to encourage community engagement through the vehicle of relevant arts programming.

There are two things about my participation in this class that I regret. One thing was being forced to answer and post my reflections so early due to my schedule. In some instances, I realized that my writings would have been totally different if I had been able to take more time, and possibly interact more with the other students within this class in order to gain a clearer focus of the questions that needed to be addressed. Of course, I could probably ‘work on’ my reflections FOREVER, and still not be totally satisfied with them, so maybe this was a blessing in disguise. My second regret was my lack of knowledge when we had to perform a critical review of our friend’s summary. I had no idea what half of the questions meant, much less how to answer them intelligently. If we were to perform the review today, I think I would do a much better job.

As I make my way down the last hill of our ride, I can say that I am looking forward to the normalcy and even the monotony that will be found, once again, in my everyday life. Just as with everything else that has touched my life, this class has left its imprint on me. When I started this class I thought that I just had to find some problem to ‘fix,’ but have come to realize that just fixing a problem is not enough. If that problem is not important to me, then what’s the point? I hope that by ‘standing on the shoulders of others’ I can help change the world positively at least a little, and eventually become a set of shoulders that maybe others can stand on.

Guetzkon, J. (2002, June). How the Arts Impact Communities: An Introduction of the Literature. Paper presented at the Taking the Measure of Culture Conference, Princeton University.

Kay, A. (2005). Art and community development: the role the arts have in regenerating communities. Community Development Journal, 35(4), 414-424.

Stutman, N. (2001). Art changes lives (Urban Art Trail). Letter Arts Review, 16(1), 24- 33.

Wallace, N. (2011). A theatrical ‘gumbo’s helps a small town stir its economy. Chronicle of Philanthropy, 23(7), 20.