Blogging and Research

A scholarly practitioner is described as “someone who mediates between her professional practice and the universe of scholarly, scientific, and academic knowledge and discourse  . . . that is, someone who is continually integrating professional practice and research” (Bentz & Shapiro, 1998, p. 66). Bentz and Shapiro (1998) indicate that the first step to becoming a scholarly practitioner is to get involved with research—asking questions, reading current and classic research, and articulating your interests in research. In recent years, blogging has become a rich resource for topics and discussion around research. I have been pleasantly surprised at the ease of reading research blogs in that the tone tends to be more casual and conversation-like.

Blogging allows academics and researchers a public or private platform to accomplish a variety of things. Terese Bird encourages researchers to jump in and get started with blogging and experience the possibilities such as: motivation and progress tracking; research diary; publicity; practice for career; academic networking; social networking; discussion; and digital profile/CV building.

Heide Estes uses her blog as a way to work through issues that arise from her academic work and also how she perceives a non-visible chronic illness impacts her academic identity. I couldn’t find a clear definition of academic identity (on her blog or elsewhere) but I believe it is an individual’s view of themselves as an academic and how they want to be perceived by others (students, colleagues, superiors, etc.).  I felt it was an appropriate way for her to bring attention to this issue of hidden disability for herself and for the population as a whole.

Resources:

Bentz, V. M. & Shaprio, J. J. (1998). Mindful inquiry in social research. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Bird, T. (2011). Blogging for researchers [Slide share]. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/tbirdcymru/blogging-for-researchers

Estes, H. (2012). Blogging and academic identity. Literature Compass, 9(12), 974-982. DOI: 10.1111/lic3.12017

Who Am I?

Bentz and Shapiro (1998) state that the process of becoming a researcher “can seem mysterious, mystifying, intimidating, or overwhelming, and can awaken feelings of insecurity, self-doubt, ignorance, inadequate preparation, and anxiety” (p. 162). Check, check, and check. I am ankle-deep in a sea of information, much of which is new to me. Bentz and Shapiro (1998) advocate the need to be centered, grounded, in research and the research process. Mindful Inquiry is presented by Bentz and Shapiro (1998) as a strategy to cope with the massive amount of information available in an advanced industrial society. A key component is the centering of research in yourself; that is, the research should stem from the researcher’s life and lifeworld. Awareness and reflection of our world should impact the intellectual awareness and reflection in our research and vice versa. From this perspective, the best place for me to start is with myself and to articulate who I am.

At first, I described myself as a wife, mother, daughter, sister, RN, educator, writer, cook, photographer, traveller, coffee, dog and outdoor-lover. I could go on with descriptors, but what does it all mean? These labels describe what I am but who am I? What is my sense of self? A balanced life is very important to me and something I’ve struggled with my whole career—the need to take care of myself so that I can take care of others. I am a fixer. I work too much sometimes, and have lost the ability to relax. I want to make a positive difference and valuable contributions to the lives of my family, patients, students, and peers. I need to feel challenged and that there is a purpose to the work that I do. I watched my dad struggle and succumb to Parkinson’s disease and dementia; my twin daughters were born prematurely and have long-term complications resulting from that; I work in a professional field that is physically and mentally exhausting, where suffering is a common plight that can’t always be fixed.  These events have impacted me, shaped me, given me a completely different perspective, a different worldview.

References: Bentz, V. M. & Shapiro, J. J. (1998). Mindful inquiry in social research. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications

The First Steps

June 25, 2015

The first leg of this learning journey into research has stirred up feelings of apprehension and excitement all at the same time. I have had very little exposure to true research, with the bulk of it being from a quantitative approach, and although I knew I was a novice in the arena of research, I only now realize how little I really know. The learning curve is steep.

There have been experiences that I’ve documented with students, that I believe would fall into the ethnography tradition; had I known better at the time, I could have possibly approached the activities as  research projects. My employer encourages faculty to participate in research but I’ve never known where to even start.

Bentz & Shapiro (1998) in their book, Mindful Inquiry in Social Research, provide a compelling read for the beginner researcher. I was intrigued and pleasantly surprised by the personal nature of their writing and was startled (again, pleasantly) at the inclusion of a spiritual tradition (Buddhism) in their philosophy of research. Maybe this is common, but I wasn’t aware of it and it adds such a unique but important dimension. The authors advocate for the researcher to put themselves at the center of their research and ask detailed personal questions in order to find the appropriate research approach. I am interested to see what my own answers are to some of these questions and will dig into this as the weeks progress.

Resources: Bentz, V. M. & Shapiro, J. J. (1998). Mindful inquiry in social research. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.