I decided to make two posts instead of one long… From the AREOL course – Approaching an action research thesis: an overview
For thesis purposes, you will also find it desirable to ensure that you document your procedures as you go. In particular, you will want to keep a record of:
- the emerging interpretations, and any changes in these
- the changing methods, any refinements in them, and any conclusions you can therefore draw about them
- the literature you access, and any confirming or disconfirming information you obtain from it
- quotes from raw information which capture well the interpretations you are developing.
Without adequate documentation, it will be very difficult to reconstruct this when you prepare the eventual thesis. It is much easier to keep good, if selective, records as you proceed.
After reading it I quickly realise that it’s very close to what I do working on the BlogTalk paper – I use my blog to document the process.
Now I have to think hard why I don’t do that for my PhD research. First reasons seem to be:
- confidentiality – many things in the project require formal agreement to go public and sometimes it’s safer to keep silence instead of trying to draw the line between confidential and open
- complexity – I don’t know where to start documenting it
- lack of shared context – with the BlogTalk paper I don’t have to explain much, but there is a long story behind my PhD ideas
I guess it’s time to start internal weblog. I’m ready, my colleagues are ready (at least for my weblog ;), so it’s just a matter of finding time. I hope I do it after all April’s deadlines are passed. I really feel loosing something from my PhD work because of not blogging it. (Is this a sign of addiction? :)
Tags: action research, BlogTalk paperArchived version of this entry is available at http://blog.mathemagenic.com/2003/04/16.html#a550; comments are here.
Related posts