Research Philosophy ... OMG!!!!

I can't go back to yesterday because I was a different person then

~Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland~

The second module of the Certificate in Research was entitled Research Philosophy. Where do I even start?

Unlike the other course—Research Methods, from the Passion blog—we did not have an intense week of vignettes. Rather, this was an intense week of reading, self-reflection, and quite a lot of big words that were difficult to pronounce and sometimes understand. Of course there were still lecture sessions, but now they were three hours long and the group work never seemed to stop. I started the week a little worried as the course does have a rather odd reputation on campus. At the very least it is recognized as a necessary evil.

I was not impressed with the four pre-readings for two reasons: (1) there were four of them (I did have other work to do) and none of them a few pages long and (2) was I really supposed to understand them all? Now I love reading, especially things that catch my attention, I can relate to or are well written so I did get through two of them. But two paragraphs into the third one and I felt like Morpheus was trying to make me choose between the blue or red pill to see how far the rabbit hole went. Whoops! Just a tad too much for me!!  In addition to the pre-readings, when I looked at the schedule there appeared to be one or several readings for each session (talk about overload; I really felt like a student.)

I was therefore pleasantly surprised to enjoy the few sessions we had. Moreover, I really enjoyed the group sessions during the week. They allowed us (the students) to learn from each other, talk through what we had learnt, what we didn’t understand and kinda muddle through it together.

Now, about the teaching sessions in more detail… sigh. These sessions were thought provoking, interesting, befuddling at times and sometimes fun. Please do not think this story will have a typical ending i.e. expect poor session but it turned out to be great …no no no… this story has a totally different emphasis. Let me focus on the thought provoking part of the week. Have you ever asked yourself:

• ·         What is reality?
• ·         How do I view reality?
• ·         Are there multiple realities?
• ·         Does the reality of a situation change for the same person?
• ·         What is the truth?
• ·         How do I know that something is the truth?
• ·         Are there several truths?
• ·         Does the truth change according to the perspective of the viewer, thinker or individual?
• ·         Is the truth the same no matter whose point of view it is seen from?

These are the types of questions that were being tossed at us (almost carelessly) during that week. The answers to these questions, or rather our answers to these questions or our point of view would apparently make it easier for us to determine our philosophical positions as it relates to research.

Seriously?!? Who thinks about this stuff? Who wants to do this much self-examination? What was I doing here? Was getting a PhD supposed to make me examine myself and my beliefs? Even scarier: were these questions really that difficult? For some persons I am sure the answers would come very easily because everything in their lives is so clear-cut and sure. But right now, right then especially in the face of all these differing perspectives, what did I really think? What was I sure of? What did I believe?

What do you believe?

Sigh… all this thinking is exhausting. Anyway … the week went by, I believe I participated and I know I learnt something. Words like ontology, epistemology and methodology all became a little clearer; I even think I get interpretivism and positivism. Unfortunately that didn’t mean that I knew the answers to the hard questions or that I was ready to complete the assignment which essentially requires my answers by January.

What do you think? What is the truth?

Some things change...

Distance not only gives nostalgia, but perspective, and maybe objectivity. 

~Robert Morgan~

I have been thinking for a while what the next blog would be about and honestly could not come up with a good theme, thought or lesson. I have been correcting too many papers to think too closely about blogging, honestly. However, I have had a few fleeting, disjointed thoughts. If I was to attempt to find a common thread among those thoughts, and it may be a stretch, I could say that those thoughts have largely focused on the things that I love about being here or that I am very impressed by here but are very different from my own experience, while others have been about how similar some things are to my home. This blog will focus on the first section of that list—“Some things change”, with the list of things that are different. The follow up blog—”And some things stay the same”, will discuss those things that appear eerily similar.

Some things change:

• One of the most beautiful things I have observed here is that most everyone says thanks to the bus driver as they get off the bus. I LOVE IT!! It’s so polite and it doesn’t appear to be done by most people just because. Rather, it appears to be done out of gratitude. Those who don’t care just don’t say anything. So, as a line of people get out of the bus they look him or her in their face and say: Thank you, Thanks driver, Ta and other similar things. I guess I don’t have to say that I have warmly embraced this habit; it’s beautiful!
• This one is about teaching. Everything seems so well planned. There are set forms for marking, set guidelines as to what each band of marks represents and it is clearly laid out (in all the cases I have encountered so far) what you are looking for with each assignment as you mark. No guessing here! All students have access to these forms and therefore know exactly what they need to do if they want to excel. Puts the responsibility firmly in their hands.
• The library is AMAZING! You can walk in with your bag, phone or whatever. It is just expected that you will be responsible enough to stick to the rules of the floor. That means that if it is a silent floor each person respects that and if it is a group work floor, everyone respects that.
• Have I mentioned that the library is AMAZING!! Let us not even get into the fact that I put my books on an automatic ‘thingee’ and it gives me a receipt for my books and I get an email when they are due back. Returning is just as simple, place the books on the conveyor belt and get a receipt. AMAZING!!! Of course, as cool as this is, I have lost the human interaction (and I do love to chat).

...and some things stay the same

Distance not only gives nostalgia, but perspective, and maybe objectivity. 

~Robert Morgan~

This blog as promised is the follow up from…"Some things change" and will be my list of the things that seem to have no cultural barriers (should I even say that?) A better way to put it may be that this list will include things that remind me of home and make me feel nostalgic… lol (that wasn’t any better.)

…and some things stay the same:

• Students! I so far generally (please note I did not say always) see more effort from the ‘foreign’ students than I do from the ‘local’ students. Doesn’t that sound familiar? When I had a conversation with a member of the Administrative staff about it she said, “Well they pay.” My first thought was I could be in the office at home sitting talking to anyone else in my own Administrative department and they would say something eerily similar if not absolutely the same.
• Shorts! Imagine my shock to come to the UK and see girls in what can only affectionately be termed batty riders (short shorts for those of you not familiar with the term). Lol. Fashion always comes before practicality! A girl has got to look good! Granted, they are wearing tights under them (sometimes very sheer ones), but I in my naiveté could not imagine wearing shorts in this cold weather (before now … hmmmm… I am already rethinking some outfits).
• Penguins! I almost did not believe it when I saw it but I saw a guy wearing his pants below his boxers. I really am naïve when it comes to fashion (Shakes my head) I expect to see this practice in the States; I somehow did not think that in this cold weather that anyone would want their boxers exposed to the elements that sounds like it would lead to a mighty cold butt!! But (lol) in their defence, locals are a lot more used to the weather than I am.

Honestly I am sure there are other things but right now they are not coming to mind.