week 13

End of class.

I believe that I have learned a lot about reasearch methods.
More than what I ever imagined.
It was good to know that there are so many types of approaches
to a problem and different ways of conducting your sudy.

I also learned that eventhough you may be attracted to a certain
methodology, you might need to use a different one to obtain correct or
precise results in your study.

During the semester I felt like the students who were taking the course and were near
the end of their coursework were benefiting more from the course since they had so much
more experience with the different types of research methods.

Now, I believe that It was very helpful for me to take this course during
my first year of my PhD studies. This way I have a better view of what awaits me
and of all the possibilities that are out there.
Plus, it also helps me understand better the types of research that I read and will
encounter through my sudies.

This class has truly helped me understand better the options that I have for conducting research
and has made it less scary for me. This is the first time that I will conduct research with people
observing and collecting data and I was in total oblivion before I took this class. It has helped me
get an idea of what to expect and do.
Thank you.

week 12

Phenomenology

I must admit that when I heard the word phenomenology I was a bit apprehensive
about the topic. I believed phenomenology was definitely not for me. I thought I was not prepared
for conducting such studies and I did not see alink with my track and phenomenology either.
after reading the suggested text for class I was less apprehensive, yet did not quite understand the
concept very well.

After discussion in class I totally changed my mind about phenomenology.
It does not seem threatening to me anymore.l In fact, I like the approach
of studying experiences. In fact, I feel very attracte dto this kind of study now.

It is interesting to study an experience as it was lived through.
But, it is hard to have your interviewe try to describe the experience as it
was without adding personal analisys of the situation.

The idea of conducting interviews and searching for data that is usable seems
exciting to me and more human than the types of study where charts, graphs and
numbers are involved. I enjoy a more philosophycal aporach to research.
In part it seems more pshychological as well, for it focuses on the understanding of
an experience.

I wondered whether phenomenology is based on behavioral issues only and I guess
in part it is since when describing and experience you are talking about behavior.

I also thouoght about ethmography wen discussing phenomenology and found out that
the difference lies on the purpose of the study. Phenomenology is focused on the experience
as lived while ethnographic studies can be more holistic.

A difficult aspect about conducting phenomenological studies is to focus on the experience
and not on the people. The people are important, for they are the one who describe what happened.
Yet, it is the "what happened- teh experience" that we are interested in.
So when conducting interviews, you have the responsability as as researcher to focus on the experience
and lead the person describing teh experience back to the issue in question when the ocnversation
leads to other aspects [which is bound to happen regularly since we are people talking about their experiences].

We want the description of the experience in a pre-reflective manner, therefore we must interview our participants
right after the experience.
I also asked myself if observing the experience would work better. It would mean less interruptions of stranding off.
Interviews are crucial for this type of sudy, rather than observation since the observer cannot understand what
the person is experiencing by mere observation.

Another aspect of phenomenology that I enjoy is the fact that it is honest in that it says that there is a problem or situation and yet even through study, we might never get to fully know what teh experience was. It leaves room for change, new research and findings. While some people migt find this a bit not reliable and without purpose, I believe it is more open and honest than other types of research.
I know you run the risk of having people play with you and not be totally honest about their experience. But most of the time they are honest and the best you can do is hope that they are honsetly contributing with the study.
Plus, we were told in class that as you become a more experienced researcher you may be able to recognize who
is being honest and who is not, therfore enabling you to separate usable data to the one that is not.

week 11

Action Research

Action Research leads to change. That's what I like about this type of study.
As we mentioned in class today, we can talk action and change things.
This is a great way of looking at educational problems with hope.
Is Action research emancipatory?
I believe it's complicated. It might seem like it is.
But then the problem comes when you decide who wants to help whom.

In 8131, last semester, when we talked about crtitical pedagogy, we talked about
how the post moedrnists tried to help teh marginalized. And sometimes, in the pointing
out that a group is marginalized, and in trying to obtain what you think is best for them,
you are contributing to that marginalization as well. Then it is not emancipatory.
Do you make a prisoner out of a prisoner so it can be free?
It is ironic and complicated how I sometimes have felt this in some of my classes.
We would joke abou it, yet I was put on the spotlight (with the purpose of emancipation
and yet becoming tha target).

What is different about actin researc though is that as a researcher you place yourself
as part ofthe system you are studying and want a change for; not an outsider like in the
previous example.
When you are involved in the changes and you yourself change as well, then it is true action research.
Then there is no 'guily' of trying to free someone other than you and the ones in your system.

You can study your own school or classroom But, then again, ethical issues mught come around
that are hard tod eal with. I guess that's part of the price you pay for change.

The good thing of action research is that there is always data to be analyzed and studied.
It is your own data therefore, it becomes flexible data.
Yet it might take time to to transfer the data into usable data, perhaps too much time.
Another good aspect is that you can conduct action research with one student and study a process
such as reading etc.
I also think that action research is probable in my future.
I don't believe there are many studies conducted in PR in terms of education. It would be great to
have data that can truly reflect our people.

Week 10

Grounded Theory

"Grounded theory enables you to generate a broad theory about your qualitative
central phenomenon "grounded" in the data.." This is what our professor said when discussing
grounded theory.

When I think about it, Ithink it is agreat way of addressing a porblem that has no previous
theories that address your problem. It is wonderful to generate a theory as you go along
studying your perticular situation. Grounded theory fits teh situation because it is the theory
is creted for that purpose.

I believ eit could be useful in my research in the sense that it will enable me to study a particular
porcess anx hel explain the actions of people. This kind of research helps the researcher by providing a
step by step systematic procedure for analyzing data.

I believe that grounded theory is really authentic to its situation or problem,
yet I also believe that it is very hard work and it may take an extra effort to have
apprehensive audiences believe in your study.
I guess this is my personal opinion for in class we discussed how thie type of research
exhibits the rigor qualitative researchers like to see in an educational study.
Yet, personally I believe it is harder to achieve that than what it seems.
It is great to be able toinnovate and create theory to problems that have no previous theory
to suport them.

Week 9

Feedback, How is the course going?

I really enjoy this class. It has been an eye opening experience for me
in terms of what research is and teh vast variety of research methods that are
all so new and appealing to me.

As I mentioned before, I thought reasearch was a scary scientific and mathematical
process that was impersonal and based on statistics and numbers.

Now I can see that there are other forms of research and other approaches that can
be really helpful in my Literacy track.

I must admit that sometimes I read from the text and do not fully comprehend
the chapters. But, after class discussions I feel much more confident in my newly
aquired knowledge in research methods.

I lke the class dynamics where we meet in small groups to discuss and later on share with
teh whole class. It's less threatening when you are not so sure about what you understood
from the readings and still your doubts or questions are clarified and answered.

I liek that the professor and the students are respectful and provide the trust for everyone
to say freely what they believe and how the feel. I think everyone's questions are answered in class.

Week 8

designs of mehodology

Historical Reseach seemed a little confusing to me at first.

We talked about life history and how you name it different things according to
the perspective you are coming from. What I understood of historical research is that
it is unlike biography in that the researcher adds the findings that he finds through other
documents, data, examples and perhaps a course taken about teh time in question.
There are holes to be filled and with this new information the researcher tries as best he can
to fill them up.

From a positivistic point of view, a reasercher believes that this knowledge already existed and
that you just have to go and find it.
From an interpretivist point of view you just want to figure out what this information means for us today.
Definitions change with time, therfore it could mean that something different can be decoded later.

It turned outthatfater we discussed in class I understood historical research much better. I do not think
it is my thing or that I will conduct any historical resreach in the near future; but it was interesting to
learn about all these different pointof views and how people interpret definitions now and hoe they did in the past.
It makes you wonder how things that seem so clear to us today might me interpreted bythe people of the future.

Week 7

Case Studies and Ethnography.

I must confess that case studies is what I have had in mind for a long time
when I think about conducting research in a classroom. I believe tht particular
cases must be approached in separate ways. Each situation is unique and a separate case.
We as educators can learn from particular cases, and eventhough they might not be replicable,
they present us with information that can be useful in our practice, or that can help us understand
our students better.
Case studies can also motivate us to research other particular cases.

Ethnography is so taughting to me. I have always had questions about education in Puerto Rico.
And had always thought about conducting cased studies with Puetorican students. Last semester I
had to do a small project on some ethnographic aspect and I chose an online group we have
of "Boricuas in Minnesota" This was the first time ever that I learned what thenography was and that
it could mean not only people from a particular ethnicity, but a culture created by similar aspects and likes
and not just ethnicity.

I now believe that ethnography could be one of my future projects related to Puerto Rican Literacy.
I still do not know how I'll manage to do it, but I know it is in my future plans.

Today we talked about Interpretivist and Critical Theory.
From what I understood, Interpretivists what to find the answers
to questions such as how? They want explanations and interpretations
of situations or cases.
Critical theory researchers have in mind other questions such as How can we make change?
I feel attracted to critical theory, yet I believe that my previous exposure to research had
more of an interpretivist side to it.