navigating theory: a phd student’s ongoing journey
TRANSCRIPT
@louisedrumm
Navigating Theory: a PhD student’s ongoing journey
Louise [email protected]
@louisedrummSlides available on Slideshare
@louisedrumm
• Health warnings• Professional background• My research question:
What role does theory play in teaching with digital technologies at universities?
1. Theories of learning – what is learning, how does it occur?2. Theories of teaching – what do teachers do to enable
learning?3. Disciplinary areas – what is knowledge?4. Theories of technology – is technology determined or
neutral?
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First principles – what I am not doing…
I am not: • directly observing nor experiencing first hand
lecturers’ teaching• tracking changes in teaching over time• intervening in teaching• solving a teaching problem• starting with a hypothesis• specifically concerned with power or seeking
change (yet)
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What can I research?
• How lecturers report their use of digital technologies• How lecturers position themselves in relation to
technology generally• How lecturers present their teaching in relation to
their discipline and institution
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ReadingTheses
Education literature
Education technology literature
Technology literature
Research textbooks
Big books
Rinse and repeat…
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Other research on education and education technology…• Empiricist, measurable results e.g. staff uptake,
students grades, retention, satisfaction• Critical theory: seeking to uncover privileges &
working towards emancipatory agendas• Systems theory-based: computer science-informed,
networks, design-based
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Methods
Crotty, M., 1998. The Foundations of Social Research: Meaning and Perspective in the Research Process, p4
Methodology
Theoretical perspective
Epistemology Ontology
Epistemology Theoretical perspective Methodology Methods
ObjectivismConstructionism Subjectivism(and their variants)
Positivism (andpost-positivism)Interpretivism• Symbolic interactionism• Phenomenology • Hermeneutics Critical inquiry FeminismPostmodernism etc.
Experimental researchSurvey researchEthnographyPhenomenological researchGrounded theoryHeuristic inquiryAction researchDiscourse analysisFeminist standpoint research etc.
SamplingMeasurement and scalingQuestionnaireObservation• participant• non-participantInterviewFocus groupCase studyLife history Narrative etc.Visual ethnographic methods Statistical analysisData reductionTheme identification Comparative analysis Cognitive mapping Interpretative methods Document analysis Content analysis Conversation analysis etc.
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Crotty (1998), Table 1, p5
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Activity A (Crotty handout)
1. Where you can, fill in empty row with your research project epistemology, theoretical perspective, methodology and methods.
2. Turn to a neighbour and explain what you have and any areas you are having difficulty.
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Burrell and Morgan (1979) Sociological Paradigms and Organizational Analysis, p3
The subjectivist approach to social science
Nominalism Realism
Anti-positivism Positivism
Voluntarism Determinism
Ideographic Nomothetic
ontology
epistemology
human nature
methodology
The subjective – objective dimension
The objectivist approach to social science
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Sociology of Regulation or Radical Change?
a) The status quob) Social orderc) Consensusd) Social integration
and cohesione) Solidarityf) Need satisfactiong) Actuality
a) Radical changeb) Structural conflictc) Modes of
dominationd) Contradictione) Emancipationf) Deprivationg) Potentiality
The sociology of REGULATION is concerned with:
The sociology of RADICAL CHANGE concerned with:
Burrell and Morgan (1979), p18
Four Paradigms for the Analysis of Social Theory
‘Radical humanist’ ‘Radical structuralist’
‘Interpretive’ ‘Functionalist’
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THE SOCIOLOGY OF RADICAL CHANGE
THE SOCIOLOGY OF REGULATION
SUBJ
ECTI
VEO
BJECTIVE
Burrell and Morgan (1979), p22
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THE SOCIOLOGY OF RADICAL CHANGE
THE SOCIOLOGY OF REGULATION
SUBJ
ECTI
VEO
BJECTIVE
Burrell and Morgan (1979), p29
Theories within the Four Paradigms
‘Interpretive’ ‘Functionalist’
‘Radical structuralist’‘Radical humanist’
French existentialism
Anarchisticindividualism
Critical theory
Phenomenology
Phenomenological sociology
HermeneuticsSo
lip
sism
ContemporaryMediterranean
Marxism
Conflict theory
Russian social theory
Integrative theory
Social Systemtheory
ObjectivismInteractionismand social
action theory
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Activity B (Burrell & Morgan)Discuss with a neighbour where you might plot your research position within the four paradigms and why.
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Questions