my passion

passionfruit flower from my vine 

Tomorrow marks the second anniversary of setting up this blog. So in honour of that I return to what is my primary passion in research - conversation analysis. While my various posts recently have meandered around various aspects of research, particular in relation to supervision of higher degrees students, I maintain my own interest in CA as a research methodology. I particularly enjoy the distance from literacy pedagogy offered by some of the guiding methodological principals developed within CA.

today i've been re-reading a paper by Schegloff, Between micro and macro: contexts and other connections. What I liked about this writing was the employment of Schegloff's ideas about establishing relevance of context to members and how that relevance is evinced in the interaction that ensues. The article problematises context; something that I think is important in the field of literacy education where some take for granted concepts like modelling, guided instruction or explicit teaching without providing a clear description of what the concepts entail in the classroom according to empirical evidence that encompasses all participants.

xmas reading from amazon

My most recent purchases from amazon.com have arrived just in time for the xmas break from the office. I bought Yin's Case Study Research and Yin's edited The Case Study Anthology. I started my reading of the anthology with Yankee City: The social life of a modern community. This material was first published in 1941 so a couple of years before Street Corner Society was published and a long time before Yin's first edition of Case Study Research. Design and Methods.

Here is a little bit that i enjoyed reading from Yankee City.

"When the research on Yankee City began, the director wrote a description of what he believed was fundamental in our social system, in order that the assumptions he held be explicitly stated and not become unconscious biases which could distort the fieldwork, later analysis, and ultimate conclusions. If these assumptions could be stated as hypotheses, they were then subject to criticism by collection of data that would prove, modify, or disprove them. Most of the several hypotheses so stated were subsumed under a general economic interpretation of human behaviour in society. It was believed that the fundamental structure of our society, that which ultimately controls and dominates the thinking and actions of our people, is economic, and the most vital and far-reaching value systems which motivate Americans are to be ultimately traced to an economic order. Our first interviews tended to sustain this hypothesis…Other evidence began to accumulate that made it difficult to accept a simply economic hypothesis." (Warner & Lunt, 2004, p. 38)

Neat.

This all led to me doing a search for similar studies, and I found this site which provides information about other studies of communities.

in print

  

in this book

  

I've just received a copy of this new book with a chapter in it that I co-authored with Associate Professor Susan Danby from Queensland University of Technology. It has been a privilege to write with Susan and I thank her for giving this early career researcher such an opportunity.

rocky days

   It is six months since I moved to Rockhampton and took up my position at Central Queensland University. The move was a big one especially in relation to my work (Faculty re-structuring in progress, multi-campus sites to think about, new courses to develop and teach, and so on). After thirteen years in unis, I've already experienced a lot of what has been thrown at me recently (smile), however, more than ever it seems important to keep the admin and teaching manageable if I am to develop my research activity and profile as a researcher.