Cultures of Inquiry
"The researcher tries to appreciate the culture of groups"(Straub, 2004)
Whew! The last two weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind of information and learning.
Reflecting on unit one, something that stood out to me was the impact and importance of the different social and cultural backgrounds we inhibit as individuals. The completion of assignment one struck a cord in me that made the research possibilities exciting. Particularly evaluation research, as I often am conducting research in this way at my work; looking at a problem, finding data around the issue and then looking at possible solutions to make the situation better. The challenges of each culture of inquiry was fascinating to me, as each resonated with a common theme of removing your personal bias and socio-economic background out of the process. Research can be a daunting and overwhelming task it seems, and the information on each culture of inquiry is vast, however the Mind Map activity opened the Pandora's box for me, and unlocked a great curiosity. As I am an individual that is always seeking change for the betterment of the masses, particularly in the workplace, action research felt like a good fit when I applied it to my scenario. Academically very limited research has always been a part of my learning, however, I can tell it has just been the tip of the iceberg that is true research, and as I move along in my learning journey with RRU, we shall delve even deeper.
References:
Straub, D., Gefen, D., & Boudreau, M. (2004). Glossary. The ISWorld quantitative, positivist research methods website (Dennis Galletta ed.).
Woods, P. (2006). Qualitative research. 
Hi Petrina,
ReplyDeleteA whirlwind for sure, I feel the same way! You sound very optimistic about the research process and I wish you great success not only in your learning journey but also in your role as a mindful researcher.
Lanka
Petrina :)
ReplyDeleteWe share similar feelings - a bit overwhelmed on the one hand, but optimistic and excited on the other. We also share an affinity towards evaluative and action research (although I am more on the action side). I think this whole idea of "mindful inquiry" is one that is going to be a very involved learning process. I have never had to do research of this capacity before and the notion of trying to fit myself into the process first seems like a great place to start.
I just wrote a blog entry on "knowledge democracies" (related to action reasearch) - interesting stuff.
Cheers,
Kristin
Petrina :)
ReplyDeleteWe share similar feelings - a bit overwhelmed on the one hand, but optimistic and excited on the other. We also share an affinity towards evaluative and action research (although I am more on the action side). I think this whole idea of "mindful inquiry" is one that is going to be a very involved learning process. I have never had to do research of this capacity before and the notion of trying to fit myself into the process first seems like a great place to start.
I just wrote a blog entry on "knowledge democracies" (related to action reasearch) - interesting stuff.
Cheers,
Kristin
Petrina, you have certainly captured my feelings about the first two weeks and my fascination with action research. I am equally fascinated by critical social theoery and am planning to learn more. What I find interesting is the ability to tie these cultures of inquiry into learning theories. The theory I most subscribe to is constructivism both as an epistemology and a learning theory. Action reseasrch and critical social theory both work very well within this epistemology.
ReplyDelete