Data Analysis
Readings:
Hubbard & Power - Chapter 4 - Strategies for Data Analysis
Gonzalez - Chapter 11 - Meesing - Social Reconstruction of Schooling
Hubbard & Power – Chapter 4 - Strategies for Data Analysis
There are many strategies for the analysis of data discussed in this chapter. They talk about how to prepare your field notes, teaching journals, audio and videotapes, student samples for data analysis. Then indexing is discussed with many various examples of how to go about the indexing process. There is a section on analyzing student work and handling memos.
The Constant Comparison Method by Glaser and Strauss list the four steps of data analysis. This includes: 1) analyze the data in terms of categories and concepts, 2) integrate the concept categories with the properties of the categories, 3) define emerging theories or themes, and 4) write the theory with description and summary.
Other interesting ideas that are discussed is triangulation and crystallization. Triangulation is defined as supporting a finding by presentation independent measures that agree with your findings. Crystallization is a three dimensional version of triangulation. The researcher analyzes the data by looking at it as if it were a crystal or a three dimensional object.
My big take away in this chapter is that there are many ways to shift through the data and as you do this you are seeing, looking and exploring the data in many different ways so as to truly see the truth of your data.
Gonzalez - Chapter 11 - Meesing - Social Reconstruction of Schooling
This was a wonderful follow up to Dr. Gonzales presentation in our class. I will start with a short summary of the presentation in class and finish with some insights from Chapter 11 of the book.
The presentation:
The researchers of the Funds of Knowledge did the following:
· Established a relationship with the families and gained their trust
· Created “sense making” of the household
· Observed the movement of the household
· Recognized the household economy both formal and informal
· Documented the knowledge, practice and lived experiences of the family
The research question:
How do we engage a diverse student body without falling into a trap of stereotypical and essentializing characterization of our students?
Some definitions:
Essentialize – reducing a complex issue (ways) to limiting elements or the essentials
Orientalize – a western idea of a culture from a position of power
Favorite Quotes:
“A teacher who teaches and a teacher who learns”
“Fewer answers, but better questions”
The reading:
The observations from this showed that all of the people who participated in this project experienced a change in their perception as a teacher, which lead to a change in the educational environment. The teachers became learners as they wore the ethnographer’s lens with the students and their families. There was a shift in the teachers from a “deficit view” to a positive view, of a wealth of knowledge in the households. One quote from a teacher, “…I just don’t think about parents as not knowing things. I think about them as being very knowledgeable and having amazing skills.” She goes to say that in the homes, she went from doing less talking and more listening and was amazed at how much she learned.
The key concept I gained from this chapter of the book is that the Funds of Knowledge Project challenged teachers to learn new things about their students and families. This in turn helps them be more compassionate, understanding teachers who are less judgmental about their students and the families.
Readings:
Hubbard & Power - Chapter 4 - Strategies for Data Analysis
Gonzalez - Chapter 11 - Meesing - Social Reconstruction of Schooling
Hubbard & Power – Chapter 4 - Strategies for Data Analysis
There are many strategies for the analysis of data discussed in this chapter. They talk about how to prepare your field notes, teaching journals, audio and videotapes, student samples for data analysis. Then indexing is discussed with many various examples of how to go about the indexing process. There is a section on analyzing student work and handling memos.
The Constant Comparison Method by Glaser and Strauss list the four steps of data analysis. This includes: 1) analyze the data in terms of categories and concepts, 2) integrate the concept categories with the properties of the categories, 3) define emerging theories or themes, and 4) write the theory with description and summary.
Other interesting ideas that are discussed is triangulation and crystallization. Triangulation is defined as supporting a finding by presentation independent measures that agree with your findings. Crystallization is a three dimensional version of triangulation. The researcher analyzes the data by looking at it as if it were a crystal or a three dimensional object.
My big take away in this chapter is that there are many ways to shift through the data and as you do this you are seeing, looking and exploring the data in many different ways so as to truly see the truth of your data.
Gonzalez - Chapter 11 - Meesing - Social Reconstruction of Schooling
This was a wonderful follow up to Dr. Gonzales presentation in our class. I will start with a short summary of the presentation in class and finish with some insights from Chapter 11 of the book.
The presentation:
The researchers of the Funds of Knowledge did the following:
· Established a relationship with the families and gained their trust
· Created “sense making” of the household
· Observed the movement of the household
· Recognized the household economy both formal and informal
· Documented the knowledge, practice and lived experiences of the family
The research question:
How do we engage a diverse student body without falling into a trap of stereotypical and essentializing characterization of our students?
Some definitions:
Essentialize – reducing a complex issue (ways) to limiting elements or the essentials
Orientalize – a western idea of a culture from a position of power
Favorite Quotes:
“A teacher who teaches and a teacher who learns”
“Fewer answers, but better questions”
The reading:
The observations from this showed that all of the people who participated in this project experienced a change in their perception as a teacher, which lead to a change in the educational environment. The teachers became learners as they wore the ethnographer’s lens with the students and their families. There was a shift in the teachers from a “deficit view” to a positive view, of a wealth of knowledge in the households. One quote from a teacher, “…I just don’t think about parents as not knowing things. I think about them as being very knowledgeable and having amazing skills.” She goes to say that in the homes, she went from doing less talking and more listening and was amazed at how much she learned.
The key concept I gained from this chapter of the book is that the Funds of Knowledge Project challenged teachers to learn new things about their students and families. This in turn helps them be more compassionate, understanding teachers who are less judgmental about their students and the families.
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