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Analysis- Where do I begin?

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Today I sat down at my desk with my laptop, opened my notebook and module handbook and thought, where on earth do I start! I have just completed my first draft of my literature review, have conducted my interviews, and now the daunting task of analysing my data must commence.  Triangulation- Something mentioned in the handbooks. It is done to increase validity in research and enhance the researcher and consumers confidence in findings. The idea is to compare my data from interviews, to data found in literature, to my personal experience. However, again the question arises, where do I even start! I decided to research into how to analyse qualitative data. Despite looking into this through module 2, I felt my brain needed a little refresh. I discovered a video that I have attached below that discusses the analysing process. The host of the video says the key to beginning your analysis is by reading the data.   Read the data and then read it again! This is the only way that you w...
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Academic Writing with Peter Thomas

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This morning as part of our twilight group zoom meeting, Peter Thomas who is part of the Learning Enhancement team at Middlesex University joined us to discuss Analytical writing. This is obviously something that is extremely important for Module 3 which concludes with an analytical written report on our chosen inquiry.  Peter defined the structure for a theme-based piece as this: Introduction - This should be roughly 10% of your written report.  What? What am I going to be discussing throughout my report and what areas shall I be examining.  Why? Why am I looking into my chosen inquiry. How? How am I going to be looking into this. What methods will I be using throughout this piece.  Context-  This is where we define our key themes for the reader. We also give an overview about background examples here. In Module 3 our Literature Review will fall into this section. It will give an overview of what we are looking at throughout the pieces.  Analysis- Here ...
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Conducting an Interview and choosing the right questions..

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 I have never conducted an interview before and therefore was very unsure how to begin developing my interview questions to ensure that I would only be asking beneficial questions and gaining data relevant to my inquiry topic.  I decided to use web 2.0 to inform myself about where to begin with creating a semi- structured interview. I came across a really helpful video that broke the preparation for the interview process into stages. That has been the key thing that i have taken from this video, is that it is imperative to prepare! You don't want to waste that precious interview time and ask questions, consequently gathering data that is not relevant to your inquiry and will not further your research.  In the video posted below, it is suggested that you develop your between 7-10 questions and take different topics into consideration; Behaviour- What a person has done or is doing?  Opinions/Values- What a person thinks about a topic. Feelings- How someone feels toward...
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Beginning a Practice Based Inquiry

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 And we are back.  Beginning module 3 feels rather daunting. Through module 2 we created inquiry process plans in preparation for module 3 and now it's time to bring this research project to life.  I assumed the aim of  a research project was to find answers, to solve the question and shed light on an area of knowledge that I felt important to recognise. However since reading through the module 3 handbook I have discovered that this is not the case. This project is about reflecting on the process rather than searching for a result. Thinking about how you take the journey rather than the destination itself. Throughout Module 3 I shall keep a journal where I will note down thoughts and reflect through comments to help my journey. This will help keep me on the path of reflecting rather than searching for answers! This is something I wish I had done from Module 1! I decided to delve straight back into this module with the help of a TedTalk video that was suggested in our...
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Reflection

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 Through this module I have found reflection to be key to discovering more about my practice and the inquiry title that I wanted to know more about. As time draws nearer to the submission date and the end of ACI3622, I cant help but feel a sense of relief at getting through this module.  Reflection is a fantastic tool in the sense of it can make you question decisions made in the past and influence your approach in the future. At the beginning of this autumn term I was unsure of what I wanted my inquiry to be and what I wanted my research to be centred around. By reflecting upon my practice and my work I discovered that I wanted to it to relate to my teaching and therefore I formed my question around the student and teacher relationship. On reflection I spent so much time panicking this term about whether or not I was doing the right thing and therefore I feel like so much time was wasted. However, I was reminded that learning is about discovering what you don't know and stayi...
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Gantt Chart

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 Within the Inquiry proposal that we are preparing as part of Module 2, we are asked to make a Gantt Chart. I had no idea what this was! So i took to the web! I discovered that Gantt Charts are a popular way of scheduling time when partaking in a research project. Therefore, I decided to search through Youtube to learn how to create one.  I found a fab video that talked through the stages step by step, allowing me to pause and try out the method I had just learnt. I am very proud to announce that I managed to create a basic version stating the data collection, analysis and writing process against the duration of time to complete it.  Thank goodness for Web 2.0 and for YouTube!! I have attached the link below as I personally found it really helpful! Good Luck!!
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The BAPP Community and Literature Reviews

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 Last week I was feeling rather foggy on module 2 and what i was expected to do. I didn't understand how to do a literature review, my chosen title inquiry wasn't broad enough and as a result I felt like I was going round in circles. Last night some of the module 3 students held a skype chat that was intended to offer support for BAPP students. It was so helpful! things that I had been thinking about and not understanding for weeks finally started to click into place. My biggest issue was the looming literature review and not understanding how to tackle it. One student shared with me her blog that included a video breaking the process down into easy manageable pieces that made it all feel a little less overwhelming.  It explained that the literature review is a process of gathering background information on your chosen topic.  The Literature review steps: 1) Take your summary's and citations and reword all that information into a paragraph. Refer to the Author or article ...
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