Still a qualitative methods researcher

Since beginning my academic career at Capilano University in the fall of 2014, I have focused most of my coursework in English, Women’s and Gender Studies, and Anthropology. Many of the courses where I have received my highest marks within these fields have been qualitative research methods-based. However, the qualitative research methods that I have learned and applied in these courses have been limited to observation and content analysis. In LBST 200 Refocusing Knowledge: Introduction to Research Methods, I gained qualitative research methods skills that I had not yet been exposed to, especially interviewing and handling material found in archives and special collections. I came into this course with an established preference for qualitative research methods (over quantitative research methods) and the knowledge and skills I gained from this course have greatly complemented and furthered my academic skills and interests.

In spring 2019 I commence my first Liberal Studies Tutorial, focusing on cross-cultural masculinities with Professor Maureen Bracewell. Much of this Tutorial will require content analysis of different textbook chapters, case studies, and ethnographies. The coding technique for content analysis that I learned in LBST 200 will help me recognize and organize similar ideas across these multiple texts.

Given that my final year at CapU is fast approaching, I am beginning to put thought into my Graduating Project. If I choose to pursue the same direction as my spring Tutorial for my Graduating Project (for example, examining masculinities at CapU) the observation and interview skills that I learned in this course will be very applicable. In the course module on observation, I learned how to conduct time-pressured observational note taking (class assignment) and critical observation (module assignment). These skills will be useful in conducting observational research on masculinities-in-action at CapU. In the course module on interview skills, I learned how to prepare for and conduct my first semi-structured interview (with a “student-stranger”). These skills will be useful for finding individual perspectives on and, embodiments of, masculinity at CapU. I should note that before completing this assignment I would never have thought to conduct an interview for my Graduating Project!

I found the course material on “Drawing to See” with guest speaker Professor Sandra Seekins and the module on archival research very interesting and hope to find ways to incorporate these research methods into my Graduating Project. As pertaining to the archival research methods module, this course provided my first exposure to archives – I didn’t know that archives were publicly accessible before this course. I accessed both the North Vancouver District Archives and the Capilano University archives and performed archival research with materials from both.

Thank you Professor Ashley and Professor Zamorano for an interesting and inspiring term!

Indigenizing Capilano University

To access a PDF of my Digital Research Folio Assignment, 
please click here.

 

What Indigenization efforts has Capilano University Undertaken?

To access a PDF of my Digital Research Folio Proposal Assignment
with Literature Review, please click here. 

 

St. Paul’s Residential School – Sharon Proctor Fonds 202 – North Vancouver Museum & Archive

To access a PDF of my Primary Sources Analysis Assignment, 
please click here.

 

Interview Assignment: cURRICULUM AND COURSE AVAILABILITY AT CAPILANO 

To access a PDF of my Asking Questions: Interview Assignment,
please click here.

observation assignment: a map of campus

To access a PDF of my Observation Assignment: A Map of 
Campus, please click here.

A map of Capilano University campus that reflects the places that are significant to me:

 

A social scientist and a feminist

As an emerging researcher, I affiliate myself to a grey area between the critical and interpretive educational research paradigms as discussed in James Scotland’s ‘Exploring the Philosophical Underpinnings of Research.’ During my three year academic career at Capilano, I have focused my coursework, and have conducted most of my research, in the fields of Women’s and Gender Studies and Anthropology. Women’s and Gender Studies is aligned with the critical research paradigm: it is heavily theory-based, “seeks to address issues of social injustice and marginalism,” and is directed at “interrogating values and assumptions, exposing hegemony and injustice, challenging conventional social structures and engaging in social action.” In contrast, anthropology adopts the interpretive research paradigm. By definition, anthropology is the study of culture, past and present, through holistic, and comparative perspectives. Anthropological research fulfills various requirements of the interpretive paradigm including, but not limited to: seeking to understand through the perspectives of the researched group, accepting ideologies without questioning them, and not dominating the participants. These two fields of study, and opposing paradigms, largely define my academic interests, and educational research preferences.

As a researcher, I believe it is important to understand and accept how circumstance has shaped reality, aligning myself with the ontological position of the critical paradigm, that “reality has been shaped by social, political, cultural, economic, ethnic, and gender values.” However, I hold that the ontological position of the interpretive paradigm – that reality is subjective and varies from person to person – is also valid.  Both the interpretive and critical paradigms hold the epistemological position of subjectivism which is based on real work phenomena, however, the critical paradigm links this with societal ideology. I align myself stronger to the epistemological position of the critical paradigm, that “knowledge is both socially constructed and influenced by power relations from within society.” As well, I believe that whether, or not, it is appropriate to simply accept ideologies (interpretive) or to challenge them (critical) is subjective, and should be based on the nature of the research being undertaken. It would be inappropriate to question the ideologies or values reached about a researched group in an ethnography, just as it would be inappropriate to ignore injustices and otherwise in Women’s and Gender Studies-directed research.

In my academic career, I am bias towards undertaking research that uses qualitative research methods and that will result in qualitative data. My biases are also evident in the subject matter of my research endeavours – whenever possible, I have construed assignments to apply a feminist perspective. I found a connection between my preferred educational research paradigms and course work in Women’s and Gender Studies 222: Cross-Cultural Perspectives. This course approached Women’s and Gender Studies with an anthropological lens, by evaluating gender roles in different cultures while maintaining cultural relativism. The final project for this course, ‘Cultural Artifact Analysis,’ required students to choose an open-ended “artifact” from a culture different from our own, and apply feminist concepts and explanations, without imposing judgement. The interpretive paradigm, especially in the form of anthropological research, as well as the critical paradigm, especially in the form of feminist research, frame my interests and beliefs as an emerging researcher.