By Wednesday at 6 p.m. please post a paragraph or two about where you think you fit regarding the researcher paradigm/worldview we have been discussing. Think of Creswell's categories (post-positivist, social construction, advocacy/participatory, pragmatic) and Johanek's contextualist stance. Try to respond to your partners' posts before class on Thursday.
Basically, I’m a social constructionist. I view the world through a lens that tells me there is not Truth, there is no essential self, and even what we think of as biological difference is socially constructed and manipulated. Creswell makes a distinction between social constructionism and action research, which I think is unnecessary. I believe the research should strive to be action-based and that a social constructionist worldview assists the researcher in finding and correcting social injustice. There is a lot of difficulty inherent in social constructivist viewpoints, especially as we strive to take social and power structures apart and best navigate ways to proceed from there. I also consider myself a feminist scholar, which tints what I think research is, how it should be deigned, executed and interpreted. I value narrative and ethnography and other methods that allow participants to be given voice and to illuminate subjective experience.
Johanek’s contextualist stance doesn’t really jive with me. Although I understand her claim that the research question should dictate the research design and methodology, I have a difficulty accepting her view that methods and design can be chosen free of political ideology. I further disagree with her assertion that one might choose feminist research methodologies solely based on political ideology. Johanek is almost right; we need to be mindful of bias in choosing research methods and to be sure to choose the research methods that best fit the question, but we cannot completely displace ourselves from those ideologies in order to choose objectively.
"Although I understand her claim that the research question should dictate the research design and methodology, I have a difficulty accepting her view that methods and design can be chosen free of political ideology."
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on this one--it is impossible to escape one's worldview in order to try and remain free from ideology. Not to just tear down Johanek, either. By the way--your post is way more articulate than mine!
I feel you. I don't know how to choose a method without thinking of what it values and how it will be valued. That's political, right?
ReplyDeleteI'm interested to talk to you about your decision to put yourself in social/constuction rather than advocacy.