It has been very interesting to take this course since I’ve been able to draw parallels and see correlations in which, I think, I never would have seen otherwise. I’ve never been a big fan on philosophy so I had a hard time reading and grasp what Kant and Platos were writing. However when I got the opportunity to discuss the themes and reflect on my own, my view of philosophy switched. I still find it very difficult and sometimes time wasting but I have a different understanding and respect for the subject. I think this can be seen when reading my blog reflections where I draw parallels to my everyday life as well as merge the themes together. For example, I write and reflect on what Kant means with his ‘How can we ever tell something about the world a priori?’ i.e. (according to me) is anything really objective? This sentence has been returning throughout my reflections.
Another interesting part of the course has been the merging of the philosophical and hands-on parts. Because of the theory and knowledge base, I thought of various stuff I wouldn’t have when reading about the different methods. If we were to read about quantitative methods the first week, I would have liked the seminar and I would have found it interesting and useful. However, now when I had gained knowledge about knowledge (haha) and theory I managed to both learn the hands-on things as well as deepening my reflections on a more abstract level. To me this was useful in order to remember the things we learnt but also to connect them to my everyday life. Of course specific knowledge on how to analyze different theory types is hard to relate to your life in general but some things got me thinking about stuff I haven’t thought of before.
This in combination with reading others’ blog post have increased my philosophical thinking. I’ve been in discussions such as:
- how we know if the world is objective
- why the Hollywood productions are directed the way they are
- if the world isn’t defined how space ever can be
- how we interpret and understand various things in different ways
- why we should be careful when grouping (nominalism) people/stuff together instead of look at them on an individual basis
- the possible correlation between nominalism and prejudices
- the future of social network sites
- the Big Brother society we’re living in, reflecting on and fearing for the future
I liked the method of writing blog posts and commenting on others. I think this in combination with lectures, seminars and articles lead to different point of views regarding the subjects we were studying. Perhaps that was the whole point; to expose us in various ways for the different themes. This is after all what I’ve understood the best way to write a rich and valid essay.
The purpose for this reflection is to ‘reflect about different ways of combining different methods in order to answer complex research questions’. Based on what I’ve learnt during the course I think you should be careful to group (nominalism) essays together and define the perfect way of writing an essay. Eva-Lotta Sallnäs mentioned in her lecture that the outcome of the study depends on which methods you choose to use and how you use them.
In general I think you should take your time with defining the problem, like Haibo Li suggested. This as well as read up alot on the subject. When my friend and I was writing our essay (kexjobb) last spring we divided the reading between us with the sneaky aim to be able to read many more articles. This was a sneaky idea at the time, however I think we would have gained a lot and the essay would have been improved if we read all articles and then discuss them. What my friend reflected on when reading the article could be something I found irrelevant but after discussing it I might switch attitude. However I also realize that you can’t read everything but you can read more. And my conclusion after the essay (kexjobbet) is that we could have read more and give time to reflect and discuss the topic.
So far I’ve been addressing theory and defining the problem to be essential when writing an essay. Furthermore I would say that you should approach the study area with an open mind (inductive) and try to not have any prejudices. I felt when writing the essay (kexjobb) that I wanted to find the problem and start to solve it as soon as possible. I think my partner and I were pretty clear already from the beginning what we wanted to write and what we wanted to conclude. This is time efficient and perhaps a good strategy when learning how to write an essay. However I think it is good to have some meltdowns and frustrating periods where you just want to give up and slam your head in the wall. This will force you to pause and perhaps attack the problem from another angle which I think would be beneficial. Just make sure to wear a helmet when slamming your head in the wall…
My last advice is to, if not already pre-defined, define your problem and conduct case studies. Or at least use the methods that case studies provides such as qualitative and quantitative methods, perhaps field studies and data collection if that suits your research and your purpose with the research. Just remember that your research is unique - collect inspiration from others’ work but figure out your own strategy to conduct as good research as possible.
In my next blog post I will write and link my comments to my fellow students’ blogs.
Even if a minion or a research looks similar to some other, remember that it is still unique and should therefore be treated that way.
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