The document discusses different conceptions of research and approaches to data collection and analysis. It presents statements that people may agree or disagree with about the nature of research and what it can provide. Participants are asked to discuss in pairs which statement they most strongly felt about. The document then discusses working with different types of quantitative and qualitative data to understand what is happening and their limitations. It outlines different interpretive approaches to research and various qualitative data collection methods that could be used before showing a video about mixing methods. Finally, it provides some example research questions and prompts participants to do some observational data collection.

1. Being curious, creative & courageous:
or why research is fun
@solentlearning
@tansyjtweets
Tansy Jessop
21 February 2018

2. Your conceptions of research

3. Agree
Research provides a scientific view of
reality
Disagree

4. Agree
Research is the art of interpreting reality
Disagree

5. Agree
Research needs to be impartial
Disagree

6. Agree
Stories shed light on phenomena in a way
that statistics can’t do
Disagree

7. Agree
You need a large sample to do research
Disagree

8. Agree
Truth is relative so research is a bit
pointless
Disagree

9. Agree
Research needs to be objective, scientific
& neutral
Disagree

10. Pause
• Turn to the person next to you
• Which statement did you feel most strongly
about or most interested in?
• Chat to the person next to you about why this
struck a chord with you

11. Making sense of data: what’s going on
• Groups A and C: take the TESTA quant data and
work on it for ten minutes to find out what you
think is going on. Write down your conclusions.
What don’t you know from the data?
• Groups B and D: take the TESTA qual data and work
on it for ten minutes to find out what you think is
going on. Write down your conclusions. What don’t
you know from the data?

12. The characteristics of quantitative data
• List the main characteristics of
quantitative data
• What are the strengths of quant
data?
• What are its limitations? What
doesn’t it tell you?

14. The characteristics of qualitative data
• List the main characteristics
of qualitative data
• What are the strengths of
qual data?
• What are its limitations?
What doesn’t it tell you?

15. Mixing it up
• Mix it up to see if the data makes more sense when
you join qualitative and quantitative forces.
• Group A and B meet together to find out why
scores are low.
• Group C and D meet together to find out why
scores are low.

16. Two interpretive communities
Tough minded
• Empirical
• Rational
• Closed, convergent
• Interpretation as method
• Numbers
• Traditional texts
Tender minded
• Intuitive
• Emotional
• Open, discovery-oriented
• Interpretation as art
• Words
• Experimental texts
(Denzin 1994)

17. Eight different approaches
• Nominal group technique
• Observation, field notes, ethnography
• Think aloud methodology
• Visual or photographic methods
• Narrative methods
• Poetry
• Cards
• Appreciative Inquiry

18. Magic Washing Machine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sqnptxlCcw

19. Your live responses

20. Your live responses

21. Collecting some observational data
• What’s your research question?
• What will you observe and how will you write or map
your observations?
• What contextual factors might you notice?
• Expressions, tone of voice, body language,
movement etc….

22. Trigger questions…make up your own
or choose or adapt
• What are people’s drinking preferences in the
afternoon?
• What is the predominant use of the Deli in relation to
consumption and conversation? (eating and drinking
vs social) and how do you know?
• What’s the nature of activity on the Spark stairwells?
• How do people use the social spaces in the Spark?

23. Take two: your conceptions of research