As I complete readings in the Introduction to Research course, I am beginning to see binary viewpoints in academic articles; either on the ground, or 30,000 feet in the air. I am not speaking of the theoretical framework or the methodology the researchers take, but rather how micro or macro focused the literature is in scope. I just finished an
article discussing how a group students felt about their first-time experiences with distance learning. The authors summarized the reflections of twenty students from their own video logs. There was a lot of personal feedback from the students as they tried to balance school work and other commitments. The students also shared their feelings about their relationship with the learning technology and the academic supports available to them. This study, very much rooted in phenomenology, gave me a micro, on the ground view of the subjects. I felt like I really understood the their individual challenges and motivations (or lack thereof).
A few other articles I recently completed were research reviews of
distance education and the
digital divide. After a lot of synthesis, the authors present the reader with a "state of the nation" snapshot of what the research at a macro level says about their respective subject matters. An aerial view of distance education, or the digital divide in education, as it were. As I read more academic articles, I can see the benefits of both the on the ground and in the air views. Sometimes you need detailed data from specific subjects, within specific situations. At other times, you need to understand what the emerging trends are in an industry, sector or country.
Just to keep it interesting, I added a new word to my vocabulary this week,
meso, an intermediate level of analysis. This came up in one of the articles I was reading. I'm still working on the analogy for meso. The walking on stilts view? The hot air balloon perspective? I'll get back to you on that one.
Thanks for your interesting post, Joe. I saw that a few of us added new vocabulary in their posts. Maybe, we could start something like a class-wide work log. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteHi Joe,
ReplyDeleteI like Gritt's suggestion of a log of new vocabulary and I am curious if you've come up with an analogy for meso yet? I like the two you've listed in your post. I completely agree with your assessment that the nature of the works we're reading have different levels of analysis and I appreciate the "on the ground" and "from 30,000 ft" analogies, these are are perfect ways to describe the differences in approach.