Light at the end of the data collection tunnel (is an oncoming train)

Goodness, it's already nearly October. I meant to blog about my research woes earlier (as usual) but it was hard to muster up the motivation and energy.

I've just finished what I think should be my last class observation, since the kids are taking their end-of-year exams. I'm not expecting to have anything worth observing post-exams and before they break for the holidays. This period I think is more usefully spent gathering some data from the students before they forget everything that's happened this year. Right now, I'm undecided if I should run focus group or individual interviews, or some combination that includes a questionnaire before I speak to them face-to-face. It's a concern that they might not be ready or able to share their thoughts with me, for various reasons.

It seems quite amazing that I've already spent so many hours collecting data, particularly observing the lessons. I thought I was pretty prepared for the process, but nobody told me how demanding it could be physically. It seems that I am always trying to play catchup writing my fieldnotes after each observation. The audio recordings are a boon, because they help me flesh out my jottings, which despite my best efforts tend to be more impressionistic. It also takes a bit of effort to make sure everything is organised neatly and backed up regularly. No huge disasters so far, but I am still behind! I've got 3 periods worth of fieldnotes to write and 2 teacher interviews to summarise. The heaviest marking load of the semester (undergraduate essays) has also just come in, which is both a distraction and a burden. I'm not somebody with a great deal of stamina, so upping my productivity is always a struggle. (There are also family obligations that I cannot and don't want to neglect -- I won't allow my PhD to be that all-consuming.)

It doesn't help that I have a lingering paranoia that there'll be nothing of interest in my data, though obviously this cannot be true (and isn't -- there's definitely something there). Maybe it's more doubt that I missed something important in the data collection process, and haven't got what it takes to see the significance of what I've collected (I've run out of interesting things to include in my conceptual memos). The terror of qualitative data analysis just isn't dealt with sufficiently in the literature! I've been reading whatever I can get my hands on, but you don't know how comforting the apparent certainties of quantitative analysis are until you are confronted by the relative vagueness of qualitative analysis. I'm simultaneously comforted by the knowledge that there's no one right way to do things, and alarmed that there's no one right way to do things. Argh.

Then there's my confirmation document. I have an extremely broad outline set up, with things written for previous assignments that I want to include, but they can't be included as is, and there's also some data analysis that I need to include. Thinking about how I've fallen behind in my writing schedule is another source of anxiety. I don't write poorly (I think), and once I get started can often churn out a lot. But getting started is always hard. It might seem paradoxical, but I've always thought that my writing muscles are just weak, and that by writing via blogging more regularly I can build up my stamina and make getting started that more effortless with time. I also want to blog more regularly as part of my plan to establish myself as someone (I hesitate to say 'expert') that people can turn to for help and advice on assessment issues, but that's another story for another day.

Time to end this post before I ramble on any further. I'll be back.

Data collection. Finally! For real!

Haven't posted for awhile now. Since my last post, I've spent a lot of time waiting for ethics clearance from Lancaster, and then getting approval from MOE as well. By the time I got the green light, the school was in the middle of Term 2, making it very difficult for me to start data collection.

So I waited, using the time I had to work on my interview guide with L's guidance. His idea was that I should interview the teachers before I did my observation, so that I had a good idea of what they've done and plan to do. I was also supposed to start working on my confirmation document (due end 2014) but what with everything happening at home, I just didn't have the free time to write (nor the mood, to be honest). 

The new school semester has just started, and to date I've interviewed both teachers, and issued information sheets and consent forms to their classes. I've also collected various relevant documents. Going by their timetable and mine, it's likely that I won't be able to do any observation until I return from the UK in late July. 

I'm sure I'll have more than enough data by confirmation. The question is if I'll have enough time to transcribe, analyse and write? In addition to data collection and actual work (which I'm scaling back this coming semester). As excited as I am to really get my teeth into this project, part of me wonders what Murphy's Law has got up its sleeve for me.

Will be in Lancaster next week to meet L, attend the department 40th anniversary event and postgrad conference, and then Wales and London the week after for a short holiday. I probably haven't got the discipline to actually get anything done during these 2 weeks! Just hope things at home are uneventful while I'm away and I can buckle down when I get back. 

I'm officially in Year 3, and coursework is OVER

I see that I missed quite a few weeks there -- I'm so lazy! So the new semester has started, and with fewer hours of teaching than I'd anticipated. Without the additional pressure of assignment deadlines, I'm feeling quite free. Must remind self not to be lazy.

This is not forgetting that I have to set the wheels in motion for data collection. Unfortunately, the whole process with permission seeking (MOE) and then ethics clearance (Lancaster) is confusing and convoluted, and I'm probably not as thick-skinned in pushing things ahead as I ought to be. As I write this, I'm waiting for MOE to issue what they call in-principle approval so that I can apply for ethics approval from Lancaster. Only when ethics has been cleared can I get official approval from MOE. This really needs to be on a FAQ somewhere so that others don't end up running round in circles like me. I don't know what luck I have in getting everything settled by mid March.

My last 2 assignments were returned later than I'd expected, and while waiting I was working myself up to a state of paranoia. I had sleepless nights thinking that I might have failed the modules?! Of course I didn't. But even though I had half-expected it, the feedback was kind of demoralising. Of course, I'm a student and am still relatively unskilled at this stuff, but it seems that I haven't improved much since my first assignment. I don't know if the nature of the assignments is such that I find it difficult to produce better papers, or that I genuinely haven't come far, and so will really struggle when I write my thesis. I guess I'll find out. 

A school, finally (maybe)

Good news: I think I finally found a school that could be my research site, though I have yet to get the nod from my supervisor.

Bad news: Apparently getting permission from MOE and ethics clearance from Lancaster could take 3 months or more. My aim is to have my confirmation panel while I'm in Lancaster in July, but I might not be able to collect enough data for that. Which means I'll have to do it via Skype (confirmation is supposed to happen within 36 months of starting part-time study, and I don't really want to fly down again in December). Not ideal. Ugh.

Regardless, I hope this school meets with L's approval, and I can get the paperwork started before 2014 begins.

In the meantime, I'm finishing up preparations for my new ePortfolio course by working on my own eportfolios (a general career one and a PhD one) and also the course Google Site. Reflecting on the courses I've taught since leaving NIE as a full-timer, it seems that only this one will be somewhat related to my research interests. I will probably get the chance to run assessment workshops for the school I end up collaborating with, but I wonder if I'll ever get to actually teach a course on it? Theoretically this is a good niche to specialise in (everyone says so), but I remain doubtful there's a market for it in Singapore. Will I find my alt-ac career here? Another 'why am I doing this again' moment.

Still alive (and sane)

Not sure how I did it, but I miraculously survived the semester. I survived 16.5h of teaching a week and an insane amount of marking, a course development project, and 3 assignment deadlines (>12.5k words in total). It was very hard going, but I think it helped me to 'level up' in terms of productivity. Certainly I had to exercise very strong self-discipline because missing one deadline was potentially disastrous for everything else. I'm a born procrastinator so it's a particular achievement not to have missed any (important) deadlines. It looks like my workload next semester could be similar or worse, but at least without the assignment deadlines. 

It does make me worry that without externally imposed deadlines, I may not be very productive with regard to my PhD. Many of my assignments helped me to get my reading and thinking done, for which I'm quite grateful. With this latest batch of essays, my ideas have achieved a new clarity, though I wouldn't dare say they've finished 'baking' (when do they ever?)

I'm on a lot firmer ground with regard to methodology now. If nothing else, I think the methodology modules have been very good for me. Methodology is interesting and important to me, and I want my study to be solid in that aspect. I also think I've now got a deeper understanding of assessment issues and digital literacies (which was my last paper). With practice theory, I've also found I think the 'missing link' between assessment practices and literacy practices. It was very fuzzy and unconvincing before. When I jumped on practice theory (Schatzki, Reckwitz and later Shove, Pantzar & Watson), I thought that it was a better fit for talking about assessment practices though maybe not so for literacy practices, since that already has a strong tradition going. Lo and behold, I see Reckwitz popping up in Lankshear & Knobel's New Literacies (though new to this 3rd edition I think). Which just goes to show my knowledge of the lit isn't what it should be yet, though I am making new connections as I progress. 

As much as I'd learnt from writing my assignments, finishing my coursework does allow me to read more specifically for my PhD rather than to fulfil assignment requirements. With my last 2 5k word papers, I learnt how to use Citavi. It is exactly what I wanted Mendeley et al. to be, in that it not only manages my references, but also helps me to organise, make sense of and synthesise literature. I could have done with Citavi with previous lit heavy papers, like the Qual one on Rasch.

Now that I have some free time, I have some things to accomplish before the new semester starts:

1. Catch up on reading, not only the lit that's directly related to my PhD, but also the peripheral stuff that could help with my writing and career. Practice theory is at the top of my lit list.
2. Focus on getting access to a school. This is actually quite urgent but I've put it on the backburner this semester and am trying hard not to panic now.
3. Develop my own ePortfolio as a means of reflecting on my progress (which this blog is also meant to do). I think it would help me personally as well as model ePortfolio keeping to my Reflection & ePortfolio students in the new semester.

I'm going to try to blog more frequently, if only to update on my progress.

Pragmatic epistemology, possibly

Bored and unmotivated this morning after sleeping in. (Yesterday was my killer 8h Thursday, so I felt justified.) Things to do today include marking (I spread it out as thinly as I can while still meeting deadlines) and working on my Qual paper on case study. 

While thinking of ways to procrastinate, I suddenly remembered this blog. I'm sure it only counts as semi-procrastination! 

So while working on my Classroom Research paper I recalled L's suggestion of Pragmatism, because I was (still am) troubled by this theoretical framework thing. I'm reading up on Pragmatism, after watching a series of YouTube videos (yay YT!) on the basics of the philosophy and deciding that it might be a good fit. It doesn't seem to conflict with the approach I described in my previous post. Using Crotty's (1998) framework for theoretical frameworks (LOL), maybe I could put it this way:

Epistemology: Pragmatism

Theoretical perspective: Social practice

Methodology: Ethnographic case study

Methods: Participant observation, interviews, focus group discussions, document analysis, questionnaire (maybe)

But Pragmatism is of course more complex than as few YT videos can explain. I have to delve into the scary rabbit hole of philosophy, while I wrangle that case study paper.

Post-post-pre-confirmation thoughts

I really should have blogged after the July residential since that was a pretty major milestone -- my pre-confirmation panel. The panel threw me off-balance (to say the least) and I was pretty lost for at least a few days but by the time I left Lancaster I did have some sense of the new direction I was going to move in. 

While in London I just wanted to have fun (which I did) but from the moment I landed in Singapore it has been work, work, work. I didn't work much last semester because semesters here clash with the Jan residential, so I've been trying to make up for it this semester. As a result I probably took on too many jobs -- I'm currently teaching at NIE, NUS, SIM University and NAFA, in addition to some course development work and miscellaneous workshops. This has also made it hard for me to chase up schools for access; I'm hoping to do that at the end of the year which is school vacation in Singapore.

I worked out an overly ambitious schedule, according to which I should have started the 2nd of the 3 assignments due this semester. Which I haven't of course. I count myself lucky to be able to finish the first (and the shortest at 2.5k words) before the 30 September deadline. In the course of writing this paper, I've had some time to think about my research. In my post-panel report, I wrote that I was looking into practice theory instead, specifically Reckwitz's (2002). This is something which I found and put aside previously, and I think now it could work for me. I'm not sure, especially after the panel, if the literacies practices paradigm really works for me, and Lave and Wenger's CoP isn't quite it either. 

While at the Lancaster campus bookshop, I came across Shove, Pantzar and Watson’s (2012) book "The Dynamics of Social Practice: Everyday life and how it changes" and found it very interesting. Prof Elizabeth Shove is from the Sociology department at Lancaster, and the authors have adapted Reckwitz's framework, which is more complex, into something more streamlined and usable. They analyse practices based on the three elements of materials, competences and meanings. I like that they approach this with the aim of changing practices, not just describing them.

My methodological approach as it stands now is primarily case study, with an ethnographic perspective. I've read up further on ethnography and participant observation for the paper, and feel better prepared to explain how I'm taking up the ethnographic perspective without actually doing ethnography. In exploring ethnography, I discovered that there is a strong mixed methods tradition, which I wasn't aware of before. I guess this further explains the considerable overlap between case study and ethnography. This is useful to know if I end up administering a questionnaire. 

I know many people find coursework a drag, but I'm really grateful for it, especially at this point. I think a solid methodological foundation is important for research. Not to say that I believe that epistemologies and paradigms are unshakeable; I tried that and I think that view doesn't really work for language assessment. Maybe pragmatism really is my epistemology. 

I also think I've got a more precise notion of the research gap I'm trying to fill now. Not only is there insufficient research into the classroom-based, social and digital aspects of language assessment, but what there is currently also tends to focus on assessment tools and frameworks, which on their own don't seem to have much of an impact on assessment reform. So I'm arguing that this is why there's a need to look at things from a social practice viewpoint, which has been done in general ed assessment but not in language assessment.

This feels like a move forward for me, but that's what I feel every time there's a change in my thinking, so it might just be an illusion :P