While
reading a paper, I always find myself conceiving particular information
which are aligned with my purpose. For instance, when I read the same
paper in different times for different purposes (i.e. for my literature
review, or for class discussion), I realized that my understandings vary
depending on my purpose and depending on my background knowledge.
Therefore, I really liked the suggestion of Paulus, Lester, and Dempster
(2014) that readers are better to reflect upon themselves and their use
of technology. I would like to take this reflection opportunity in my
blog to describe how I position myself as a researcher, a technology
user, and as a researcher using technology in her researches.
Since my family could
not afford, I met with computers when I started to college in 2001. So, I
am definitely a late adopter. Until 2006, I learned enough about
computers and using some software; enough to do my assignments but not
more. I always hesitated to explore new things because I was afraid of
making mistakes. Also, there were technology consultants in the computer
labs who were ideally supposed to help you and answer your questions.
However, the ones that I encountered were so arrogant that they
discouraged me a lot. Therefore, my real engagement with technology
started with having my own computer in 2006. I explored freely without
being afraid of making mistakes and being humiliated. The more I
explored, the more I learned, and the more I enjoyed.
After I started my PhD
at IU, I involved in several research projects which required using
various digital tools and apps that I have not used before. I worked
hard to learn those tools quickly in order to take part in the projects.
This process made me discover how I learn a new digital tool. So now, I
feel more comfortable as a technology user even though I am a really
late adopter and "digital immigrant".
As a researcher, I put a
lot of emphasis and effort on building a good rapport with my
participants. If they want, I also prefer continuing to communicate with
them after data collection. Why is this so important for me? It is
because I participated a lot of research so far but I feel like I didn't
really be part of any of them. It is because after the survey or
interview, researchers disappeared. I don't know what conclusions they
reached, what papers they published, and how my contribution helped
them. So, I do not want to exclude my participants from my research
process and even after the research has been completed. To keep in
contact with them, I used facebook, email groups, dropbox folders to
share documents with them.
Besides, I like
creativity and flexibility in research. In my studies, I always seek for
creative ways of inviting participants to my study (i.e. once I made a
short movie and embedded presentation in the movie), creative ways of
collecting data (i.e. In the data collection of my dissertation, I
developed thinking flow chart which served as a record of individual's
ideas. So, I learned their ideas even if they did not have chance to
state them in the class), and creative ways of analyzing data (i.e. I
think that digital tools open us more room to develop our creative way
of analyzing data). Creativity is one of the important reasons why I
value qualitative studies and why I want to learn more about digital
tools and how to use them in qualitative studies.
What an interesting post. This highlighted for me how 'access' certainly plays into how we come to know and orient towards technologies. I would be interested in learning more about your thoughts on maintaining contact and interested participation from your research participants. Have you run into any ethical challenges with the use of Facebook, dropbox folders, etc.?
ReplyDeleteI first wrote an email including all of my participants (who are Turkish pre-service mathematics teachers) as recipients. However, very few of them responded to me. I thought that it might be because either they did not want to write to me or they do not check their email accounts frequently. So after couple months, I began to send friendship invitation to each of them. Then, I wrote a message to the ones who accepted my invitation and told them about myself, and even some personal experiences which made me how I am right now. I sincerely shared that I want to keep my contact with them. I provided several options to keep in contact; namely, emails, skype account, google hangout, facebook. Since they are in Turkey while I am in the USA, using technology was my only option to communicate with them. I also told them that they could contact me individually or respond to group emails if they wanted to share with the whole group. In the first year, I did not have any ethical challenge because I think I expressed myself clearly to build a trustworthy relationship between us. Even though my data collection was an embedded professional development (PD) practice in one of their courses, the course instructors did not attend to the class in this process. I think this also helped them to trust me that all of the information will be kept seriously and not shared with any other person. That's why, some of them shared really personal information with me. I also told them that I put lots of restrictions on my facebook account, so that I will be the only person who can reach my messages. They used the method they wanted.
ReplyDeleteThe second phase of my data collection took place in the following year. Similarly, it was a PD activity embedded in one of the courses. Most of the students were the same but there were three new students who did not participate into the first phase of my data collection. I explained to them that their work will not be included into my data set but they will still take part in this PD. So, I kept our communication through emails and facebook. However, one of the new students was seriously disturbed by this communication even though all of my group messages was for guiding them about the PD. I think that she did not experience such a communication between students and instructors (i.e. I was not instructor, but she might have perceived me as an instructor). Then, she emailed me several times and I wrote her to make sure that there is no misunderstanding between us. Except this, I did not experience any challenge because participants selected the most reliable method for themselves to communicate with me.
With the help of facebook, I can still learn about them. They have already graduated and appointed to different cities to work. From their posts, I can follow them about where they are currently doing.