Archive | Uncategorized RSS feed for this section

Software & Online Resources for Research (Part 5 of 7) “Analysis”

8 Sep

This is part 5 of a 7 part series about software and internet resources for research. Part 1, “Inspiration for an Idea,” can be found here and part 2, “Literature Review,” can be found here, part 3, “Research,” can be found here, and part 4, “Transcription”, can be found here.

For now, I only have to software recommendations for analysis. I use Atlas.ti for coding interviews – this doesn’t cover the “analysis” part per sey, with Atlas.ti you still do the actual analysis, but the codes make it easier. Atlas.ti is not free, it’s $175 for a student copy and it’s only compatible with Windows. There is a free demo version available, and I have used this for one project. Once you get into big amounts of data the free demo is useless because it limits the amount of codes you can use. Regardless of this, I do like Atlas.ti because it is somewhat easy to use once you get the hang out if and you are able to run a lot of useful reports once the documents are coded.

For quantitative data I’ve used SPSS. SPSS is not free, but it is compatible with both Mac and PC. You can purchase a student version for under $150. ((if you buy it on Amazon make sure you buy a NEW copy because the license can only be used twice)) I’m not particularly found of SPSS, but I think it has more to do with my dislike for quantitative data than the actual program ;)

During analysis, I began (sometimes continue) to make notes of themes, hunches, etc. At this point I’m usually writing things out by hand and then I type it up. Wikis, mind maps, and plain old text files are useful at this stage.

Software & Online Resources for Research (Part 4 of 7) “Transcription”

8 Sep

This is part 4 of a 7 part series about software and internet resources for research. Part 1, “Inspiration for an Idea,” can be found here and part 2, “Literature Review,” can be found here, and part 3, “Research,” can be found here.

After you conduct your research, the next step will likely be transcribing your interviews and/or focus groups, etc. I only have experience with transcribing one-on-one taped interviews and taped focus groups. I’ve tried a few different transcription software programs and Express Scribe is by far my favorite. It’s free software that is compatible with both Mac and PC (so the free part is a benefit). The reason that I love Express Scribe is the features it offers. It’s compatible with Microsoft Word, so you can set up “hot keys” (or short cuts) that allow you to play, pause, rewind, and fast forward while in Word i.e., you’re typing in Word and without switching back to Express Scribe you use “control+d” to pause. It makes the process much easier and you save a lot of time by not having to switch back to Express Scribe. Two other great features are playing in slow motion and automatic rewinding of 5 seconds upon pause.

I do not have any experience with transcribing video, but the other RA in the online-on-campus comparison research project used Transana to transcribe the class discussions in the on-campus class. I don’t think it was her favorite software, but it worked well enough. Transana is no longer free, but you can download an older version from their website for free. You can purchase a copy for $50 and it is compatible with Mac and PC.

I also like to make a few notes about possible themes/hunches while transcribing and to do this I usually use a mind map. I’m always super careful to make these notes because it’s really too early to be thinking about themes- but I always “test” them against the data once it is available.

Related post: My first experience with Express Scribe

Software & Online Resources for Research (Part 3 of 7) “Research”

4 Sep

This is part 3 of a 7 part series about software and internet resources for research. Part 1, “Inspiration for an Idea,” can be found here and part 2, “Literature Review,” can be found here.

So, you’ve found your inspiration for a research project and you’ve done your review of existing literature, so now If you are following a traditional research design the next step is to do your research, or the data collection.

The advice I have for software and online resources for this step is relatively short, so if you’re reading this and have recommendations please add them in the comments!

One thing I have found to be helpful is to tag electronic articles about data collection in Yep with a tag that signifies which method it’s about. This way once I’ve decided what data collection methods are appropriate for my study, I can pull up the appropriate tags i.e., “in-depth interviews” in Yep and refresh my memory.

I also find myself keeping lists of things I want to do while conducting data collection and “hunches” I’m having throughout the process of data collection. As a warning, I’ll remind you to be super careful with your “hunches” you have in data collection- make sure you carefully analyze for them and re-evaluate them after data collection is done! To organize such lists I find wikis to be the most helpful, but I think that mind maps may work well for some folks.

The Radical Anthropologist has recently done some posts about field notes, which might be helpful for you to read at this point.

My recommendations center around data collection methods and organizing data, but don’t forget.. you can CONDUCT your fieldwork online! Here are some links to anthropology research being done online here, here, and here.

Software & Online Resources for Research (Part 2 of 7) “Literature Review”

30 Aug

This is part 2 of a 7 part series about software and internet resources for research. Part 1, “Inspiration for an Idea” can be found here.

I started off part 1 by saying this series would be better as a wiki and I’ve already proven that to myself, I made several additions to part 1 yesterday and will make a few more today. As I flesh out the notes I’ve written for the stages I keep thinking of new things and finding new links.

Now that you’ve spent some time cruising the internet and thinking about what sort of research project you’d like to do, I’m sure your inspired to pursue your project. What should your next step be and how will the internet and software help you? Well, if you’re following a traditional approach to your research, your next step is to do some review of existing literature.


Organization


If you’ve read this blog for any amount of time then you most likely know that I am hyper-organized. It’s very important to be organized with your research from the get-go and if you didn’t start to do this while you were seeking inspiration now would be the time to do it. There is a sea of electronic articles and even if you’re interest lays in an obscure topic, you’ll have many articles to keep track of.
My recommendations for organizing literature are bookmark the articles and to store the downloadable PDFs in a PDF data software program, such as Yep. I’ve also hear of using EndNote to keep track of bibliographies, etc. I have no experience with this software (I tried it and lost interest quickly) but it comes highly recommended.
If you start this early you’ll thank yourself in the long run!

Now is also a good time to consider maintaining a wiki or a mind map to organize your thoughts.


Literature Reviews

One of my favorite parts of anthropology is the fact that its work is best when complimented by another discipline. Many (American) anthropologists specialize in a more focused topic within one of our four sub-disciplines, i.e. public health, policy, environment, etc. Remember when your searching for literature DO NOT limit yourself to articles, etc. that say “anthropology”- think of what other disciplines might have something to offer.


Where to find literature

Don’t forget about the places where you found your inspiration in the first place, look for their recommendations, bibliographies, etc.

Amazon.com typically gives really good book descriptions and most books have customer reviews.

Look for people that work in the area you’re interested in. Some professors share their syllabi online and if they don’t, you can always email them and ask if you can have a copy.

Del.icio.us

Search the bibliographies of related articles.

Anthrosource

AnthroBase

Anthropology Review Database

Open Directory Project

List of anthropology journals here.

Open Access Journals here, here, and here .

This list is by no means exhaustive, so I’ll continue to add to it and I am interested to hear about other resources you all are using.

Update on the “comparing the same online & on-campus graduate course” research

25 Aug

Back in January I started working on a research project with my advisor and an on-campus peer. The focus of the research project is to compare an online version and an on-campus version of the same graduate course (taught at the same time and by the same professor). My advisor was the professor for the courses, the other RA was in the on-campus course at the time, and I was in the online course at the time. So we all have a somewhat “emic” view of the Fall 2006 course.

The on-campus RA conducted and transcribed 12 face-to-face interviews and transcribed three class meetings. I conducted and transcribed 9 phone interviews (using Skype & Pamela), transcribed three teleconference meetings, and organized three weeks of discussion board postings. The data has been collected and consists of 21 interviews and all of the course communications (class meetings, discussion boards, and teleconferences) for the same three weeks in the course. We have A TON of data.

We have weekly teleconferences between the three researchers, we email almost daily, and we have a secure online site where we share our collaborative documents and files. The entire process has been really interesting for me and I think it’s very fitting that I am an online RA for this particular project.

We have all of our transcription finished now and we are moving into the analysis phase. Our presentation on our research has been accepted at the 2007 AAA Meeting in D.C.. We will be doing a presentation about how our findings will be applied to the UNT online master’s program. We hope to find ways in which the online program can be improved upon to make the experience similar to that of on-campus. The goal of that program has always been to offer a master’s degree and graduate experience that is comparable with that of an on-campus degree. The fact that our findings will be applied really shows UNT’s dedication to the online master’s.

I don’t have any findings that can be reported yet, but we’re making good progress thus far. We have a lot of people interested in the project- so that’s very exciting for us.

Reminder to download the 2007 SfAA podcasts!

12 Jul

A reminder that the podcasts from the 2007 Annual Meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropoogy will be taken off the website on July 31, so if you are interested in downloading the files make sure you do it by July 31. Here is a shortcut to a blog post that has shortcuts to all of the podcasts and blog posts. shortcut to all podcasts.

Update on Shelley Batts’ story

26 Apr

I posted about this last night, Shelley Batt’s from Retrospectacle is being threatened by Wiley with legal action over the reproduction of a chart and a graph in one of her blog posts. It’s totally ridiculous, but what is really awesome is to watch the comments of support for her pour in. Boing Boing even picked up the story! I submitted the story last night after I noticed someone suggesting that everyone submit it so that it would be sure to catch Cory Doctorow’s attention. The “thanks” at the bottom of the post says “to everyone who suggested this”- I’d be interested to know how many people did. She has a lot of supporters and I admire her for standing up about this complete injustice!

Watch the internet buzz about the story

The importance of not reproducing aspects of academia and politics that you disagree with.

25 Apr

About an hour ago I read a post on Afarensis about Shelley Batts’ legal troubles with Wiley over one of her blog posts in which she explains, or rather writes about, data presented in a Wiley journal. The specific aspect of her post that is (wrongly) in question by Wiley is the chart and graph in the post.

Essentially what Batts is doing is providing free advertising of the data in the article and ultimately for the authors and publisher. In my opinion, and the opinions of many of the commenters on various blogs, there is nothing wrong with what she has done. She presented the data, the chart, the graph and offered some commentary. She didn’t slander the data or anyone associated with it, nor did she take credit for their work. However, it appears as though some folks at Wiley disagree with her use of a chart and graph in the post. In my opinion, Wiley really, really should find better ways to use their resources, rather than bullying a PhD candidate at U of M into taking down visual elements that support her blog post that was dedicated to an article in their journal. It’s absolute silliness.

So what does the “The importance of not reproducing aspects of academia and politics that you disagree with” part of the blog post mean? Well, it is in reference to myself. My initial reaction was to get up on my soap box (see above) and shout about how I feel this is completely ridiculous. However, before I could login to my blog I had a thought; “what could this mean for me?”. Now, I know that this is totally selfish and I now realize that it was actually completely out-of-character for me. BUT it happened and I want to share the rest of the process. In a hypothetical situation, what could jumping into a role of advocate for a fellow blogger (I don’t know her- but aren’t we all in this together :) against a publisher mean? Well, it could make a publisher mad at me (they are clearly not busy doing real things, but rather cruising the blogosphere for little guys to pick on).

Aspects of the habitus of academia are to accede to bureaucracy, abide by the “rules”, and to get through grad school without pissing anyone off. I’ve never been very good at doing any of these things- reason #1 why I’m in an online program… to stay as far away from the academy as I can. So, why should I start being mindful of these things now? What’s really on the line?

My conclusion; I’m not going to censor myself in order to stay under the radars of the more-powerful than I. It’s unlikely that this post would draw such attention- so it’s really the principle of the matter. By censoring myself, by being mindful of the ways of academia that I disagree with, and giving in- I’m reproducing those qualities. How will anything in academia (the bad of course, not the good) change if we surrender and reproduce those qualities? And, most importantly to me, how will I live with myself if I become a “reproducer” of these qualities?

Another passing thought before I end this self-reflection, I’ve never branded the podcast project as an open access project for fear that people may misunderstand the movement, shy away from the project, and (at worst) shut the project down. Although my intent for the project is by no means to start the movement within anthropology, I avoided the mentioning of it (after I realized that it does indeed have a small bit to do with it) for strategic reasons, with the thought that if “open access” was associated with the podcasts people might disapprove of it. In a way it was a very political thing to do- and again, out of my character. Blah. I need to take more moments of reflection if I’m going to stay true to myself in the very influential world.

Newer Entries →

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.