When the Sandbox Gets Too Dirty….

Time to step out....

Ive spent about 5 months in the sandbox, looking at different tools, some familiar some unfamiliar. The unfamiliar got me a bit excited and nervous.

It’s this thing called Design Based Research. So I got down to reading…more reading, writing and writing, trying to make it fit. I became eager to learn about something new to try. But I still find the territory unfamiliar. Will reading more about it and writing more about it do the thing? Not quite sure.

 While I was trying to make it fit though, I saw that my Chapter 3 is still general mix of sorts – DBR, Mixed Methods and Case Study – it was practically like everything of everything. It only goes to show what Im capable of taking in or understanding…but I need time to step back a bit, reflect and foresee the exact contribution my research will be doing, then work back from there.

I was worried that going for a DBR is too big a risk to go for, but I still managed to understand what it’s about and look forward to the day that I can say to myself Im ready to go for it.

So....the verdict is this: 

I think I may have the skills and the energy to learn DBR  BUT it is not yet the time to go for it as far as this HDR is concerned. 

And this is when I say, time to get out of the sandbox because it is time to set priorities straight, before I  get my brains too mixed up.

That being a wake up call, here are my new goals:

1)    I want to use this time during my  doctoral studies to master data analysis techniques in qualitative research. It is an area which has been purely guesswork from my end.

2)    Then Id like to get into a study where I can have different unique cases.

I still feel positive, not disheartened, given the idea that I will still be working with different cases as a way to determine which among the cases can be a potential school to partner with. And by that time, I will be able to do a DBR. What can be more interesting is if I could finally be able to do a DBR with actual collaborators: research students, public school teachers and student teachers doing practice teaching.

IN OTHER WORDS….

Option A: Go take a risk on DBR – be clear about the intervention and iteration portion

1)    Read a sample DBR Theses. Go back to revise my research questions.

2)    Revise Chapter 3:  remove non essentials, to make it into a solid DBR.

3)    Magnify portion on Intervention and Iteration

4)    Follow suggested structure of a DBR Proposal—based on Herrington et al

5)    Then revise Chapter 3.

        Option B: Simplify your life.

1)    Find time to read more intently on Qualitative research.

2)    Beef up missing portions of your Chapter 3

3)    Go reflect on end contribution and work back.

4)    Review salient points which panel might ask: ex Why COI, constructivist if in case your cases are still in transition or instructivist---hence Im looking into SP and TP intersection= as a means to support transition to constructivist;  Why COI—because frameworks have been used grounded on it but they seem to be missing out the point on looking at intersections and doing it integratively.

5)    Capitalize on what you have accomplished= there are clear research gaps your study would like to address. Go for the Significance once and for all.

Again, you have done things to rule out so that you can rule in what should matter at this time in your HDR study.

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Breathing in....aaaand out. 

can I just be interpretivist & pragmatist at the same time?

The teacher researcher in me feels that any research I embark on to be truly meaningful must have direct application to my existing practices, either in my work  in my small school, in my university teacher education initiatives and to networks in the name of public service.

Any product, program or artefact finds meaning in truth in its utility and not merely to satisfy my need to create. In the process of doing so, I ask, is this as meaningful to others? To what extent? Furthermore, the goal to understand. How is their experience of it? How else can you make that experience meaningful? useful? truthful?

The academic side of me drives me to search for the theory that guides the study and the face the challenge of building on it.

My experiments with the use of technology to search for basic solutions in all these work engagements brought me to the idea of design thinking.

And now with my PhD work, it all comes to this space of where all the above converge into what can be named as Design based Research.

But what bugs me is this: what is the paradigm I am actually drawing from? All this time, I have thought it was interpretivism or constructivism  or is it only because Ive just read that far? And now since Im reading about pragmatism more closely, it is possible that I am actually more guided by it than the former.

Or can I just be both? Or why not let the research questions speak for themselves plainly and should I just junk the idea for finding the paradigm that is  ‘required’ of any research study.

So perhaps a way to go is to understand what a pragmatist paradigm is really about. since ive read it through mixed methods research, why not finally get into it. you still got time...you and your itchy brain! don't worry, you'll find to relax that itch sometime.

What I need to put into words but can only say here.....

...that it has a been quite a roller coaster  journey for me to get here at USQ.

It was  4 years of decluttering my brain of what needs to be shared thru a series of writing (and getting published) on progressive schooling, inquiry learning and dual language while doing further studies under a doctoral program (curriculum studies) at UP, my university of employment.

Then 3 more years to experiment with technologies in my small school alongside adjusting to a university career in an open university.

In between are moments of doubt and joy, of getting out of my small school comfort zone to write about my newly found Open University experiences of virtual community, teaching presence and learner presence, and blended learning.

When I finally thought that I had a major thesis in mind, after completing coursework and comprehensive exams, I realized my research interests were no longer within the field of curriculum studies. The result was a series of research proposal turn downs by my panel—and more so getting lost with all the mix of advises and lack of structure, and being at my wit's end with an impossible research adviser who surely cannot work with an IMPossible me.

Then came the decision to sever ties with my alma matter, at least as a student so I can move on and not simply settle for anything less.

Another round of disappointments came, as I searched for a university to launch my research interests. I was turned down by IGNOU (Phd DE) and OUM.

It was admissions at QUT which assured me that my emerging thesis was worth looking into. That I had in fact qualifications to back me up.  I finally see there's a path I can dare discover.

But the scholarship offer was definitely out of timing. I was in the midst of adjusting to an alternate work commitment so my daughter can enjoy a scholarship benefit from an IB school in the Philippines. Can never say no to that and I'm glad I didn’t. The experience has taught me that at 46, I still have much to learn about perspective, attitude and organizational communication. And that there are in fact limits to what I can accomplish for an institution. Seeing these limitations also showed me possibilities.

Or that, getting back to my university work alongside small school work is in fact the best place for me. Staying with U.P.  and Builders’ School only means I need not give up pursuing lifelong learning if it is the only way to come back to live my last 15 years as an educator before I shall retire happily. 

The journey has brought me here @USQ:   this is me telling myself that there are no limits to what I can choose to learn, how and when. And that now, it is ok to settle and let go of unnecessary load (and learning to actually say NO because that is what it means to say YES to research).

Looking back, I really am a classic case of a student in an unusual circumstance. But don’t we all have our unusual stories to tell?

This is me looking forward to getting back to fulltime University  work by year 2020. This time, to be at a better space to encourage, inspire and understand other research students... and set up a few things which may matter to research students, being most fortunate to experience helping myself and getting the needed student support at USQ.

YES, I still am an  ‘Iskolar ng Bayan’…I am just like any student of the UP Open University, in some pursuit, at times in limbo, but still not giving up.

YES, we will find our way.

End of story – ( I sure hell can’t dump this on my panel)

But this I can: (data analysis table...coming soon).