Monday 6 May 2013

Where I am now is not where I started!

In the midst of developing and designing my research inquiry I realised that I have been holding on to some old assumptions through fear and rigidity and a sense that I was pretty sure about (or so I thought) and knew what I wanted to find out.  One of a number of assumptions was the idea that my idea could drop neatly into a template and come out the other end with the answer having  the right formula and  process of data collection methods and theoretical stances would become a synergistic blend.  This has not been my experience and where I am now is learning how to let go and give myself permission to look at what it is I wish to know with a different frame of reference or paradigm shift and not worry myself too much into the ground of what I will discover.  I suppose I had a fear that what I may end up discovering is not perhaps what I had intended and how would I deal with that? By sticking closely to my pre-conceived template and feeding it with the right data methods I thought would bring me back on track to my knowing in research terms - I now realise that there is no right or wrong way to approach my investigation.  Perhaps I was visiting an old fear of not doing this inquiry correctly and used to an earlier model of following an acceptable template that exists or not as I am finding out.  After all I am at the heart of the research and where I am now is in a place of acceptance of the change process that I will embark upon as I design the inquiry and be okay with where I end up!

1 comment:

  1. Hopal this is lovely to read..you are so right, what is exciting and engaging about research and it being YOUR research inquiry is the not knowing exactly where it will take you but being open to and accepting of the journey and whatever it may bring. So pleased that this is happening for you and that you are strolling through with an open mind to the experience.

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