• reflection is a meaning-making process that moves a learner from one experience to the next with a deeper understanding.

• roots in scientific inquiry

• needs to happen in the community and interaction with others

(basically, the cohort model that AU has adapted)

Experience

• most important for myself in this journey of EdD

• being an active participant in events and progress

• creating a sense of continuity from what is created

"let's live by an ethic of promoting justice through engaged, transformative research."

"Straddle the worlds, walking a precarious and somewhat invisible line."

Concept of reflection and reflexiveness comes up again as a vehicle for success of not only community building but also to create an equitable space of growth.

Does the research contribute to more equity in society? Instead of reproducing inequity or diminishing it.

Positionality: race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, other identities, power, privilege.

Positionality is a CONSTRUCT

• continual exploration of one's power and privilege

• includes feedback from critical peers that can identify where and how one might not be aware of differences and conflicts between their assumptions and the lived experiences of participants.

• policy (actionable projects)

• people in power that have the power to change

A dissertation can be considered "action research" or "participatory action research (PAR)" if the research methodology employed is focused on actively intervening in a situation while simultaneously collecting data to analyze and improve practices, often involving significant participation from the studied group, making it a collaborative process aimed at social change; essentially, the researcher is not just observing but actively working with participants to solve a problem within a specific context.

• rue of numbers and debate of

• come from different traditions

• society built on a bias where data is numbers

• inquiry process of understanding based on distinct methodological traditions of inquiry that explore a social or human problem

• study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or to interpret, phenomena in terms of the meaning that people bring to them

• PHENOMENA

• what is happening, what are people doing, and what does it mean to them?

• highly interpretive

• describes reality

Qualitative Research

• rich description

• focus: quality or meaning of experience

• philosophical roots: constructivism, interpretivism

• goals of investigation: understand, describe and discover

• design characteristics: flexible, evolving and emergent

• data collection: the researcher as instrument; their own interpretation of the data

• Goals: 1. explore (identify patterns, ) 2. description (heart of it, the essential is that it conveys info and to accurately convey experience. 3. Interpretation (meaningful to make sense of what goes on) --> leads to a phenomenon

• Methodological traditions: case study- any number of techniques, flexible, widely use. grounded theory- sociological research, ethnography, phenomenology- essence of human experiences, narrative approaches- stories that individuals provide

• Data: interview, focus groups, documents, observations

• Methods to use in analysis: 1. preparing and organizing data, 2. reducing data into themes such as coding, 3. presenting data in narrative or a graphic form

• validity in qualitative research; credibility, trustworthiness, confirmability, dependability

  • validity- prolonged engagement, rich and thick description, triangulation, member checking, discrepant information, clarifying research bias, peer debriefing, external auditor.

• 
  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsAUNs-IoSQ

"if we assume we are guest, we will be welcomed, if we assume we will be welcomed we are no longer guests."

• space but it has to be in terms of the community that is being researched on

• protection in guaranteed sense can aid in renewal but not fully heal

• if research does not change you as a person, then you

• raise consciousness

Wang uses these five concepts

• Images teach

• Pictures can influence policy

• Community members ought to participate in creating and defining the images that shape healthful public policy

• The process requires that from the outset planners bring policy makers and other influential people to the table to serve as an audience

• Photovoice emphasizes individual and community action

Photovoice has three main goals:

• To help those who are often unheard gain a voice, enabling them to record and reflect on their experiences and their communities’ conditions, both positive and negative.

• To encourage critical consciousness. Through choosing, discussing, and reflecting on the subjects of their photographs, the photographers can come to a clearer understanding of their circumstances and the economic, social, psychological, and political forces that shape them.

• To bring about change that will improve conditions and enhance lives by reaching and influencing policy makers.

Photovoice is usually PAR, but can be used as qualitative research

Why use it?

• a picture is worth a thousand words

• policy makers can't deny reality when its staring them in the face

• pictures can be used to hold policy makers and others accountable

• provides a means for empowerment

Types of organizations that could benefit from using Photovoice with participants:

• Schools and other organizations that work with children and youth.

• Orphanages, group houses, homeless shelters, and other living situations for those who need care.

• Organizations that work with people whose needs and humanity are commonly ignored.

• Community health centers and similar health providers.

• Organizations that serve people with physical and mental disabilities or mental health issues.

• Advocacy organizations or health and human service organizations that include advocacy in their mission.

• International aid and refugee organizations.

https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/assessment/assessing-community-needs-and-resources/photovoice/main

Life history theory employs a qualitative research approach that focuses on collecting and interpreting personal narratives to understand the intricate experiences of individuals or groups over time and within their social, cultural, and historical context.

• shapes their choices and experiences

Narrative inquiry (approach)

• story telling and personal narratives to explore the individuals experience

Critiques:

1. the argument that qualitative research may lack objectivity because researcher can influence findings -- using multiple research data sources

2. researcher bias

3. lacks transparency - communicate to the researcher differently than what that actually happened at that time (question)

4. scientific rigorous

5. procedural clarity

6. replicability - difficult to do this, qualitative research (reproducibility)

how is this different from an ethnography

• immerse observation into understanding a certain phenomenon or group

  
  

• Descriptive statistics

  Summarize the main features of a dataset using measures like the mean, median, and standard deviation. Descriptive statistics state facts and proven outcomes from a population. For example, preparing and reporting financial statements is descriptive statistics.

• Inferential statistics

  Use sample data to make estimates, predictions, or generalizations about a larger population. Inferential statistics analyze samplings to make predictions about larger populations. For example, analyzing financial information to make decisions on the future is inferential statistics. 

Inferential statistics use probability theory to infer characteristics of the population from which the sample was drawn. Because it's usually impossible to measure the entire population, inferential statistics use a random sample to analyze the data. The difference between the sample statistic and the population value is called the sampling error. Inferential statistics incorporate estimates of this error into the statistical results.