Also= I will get back to you on your first blog posts before class Thursday.
Observation: Yes, this is a very long blog.
Analysis.
Today's class focused on analysis. We started by observing that everyone knows how to do analysis - that we do it automatically (and successfully) every day. One of the important things we will do in this class is learn to slow down, write about, and reflect on what we do when we do analysis.
Everyday language for talking about analysis. We made a list on the board of some of the words and phrases you use to talk about analysis. This language included:
review
thorough breakdown
picking apart into pieces and making meaning
interpreting deeper
detailed summary
pose theories that connect what we are analyzing to something we already know about (I added that one)
Specialized language for talking about analytic process.
We spent the rest of class doing a logic problem as a way to "watch" what we do when we analyze it. My idea is that we need at least one experience where we have observed (with great attention!) what we do when we analyze, before naming the different steps will mean anything.
So you worked on the logic problem - and noticed what you did. What I have listed below is a composite overview of analytic process. In fact, these steps did not exactly take place in order. Rather they were jumbled and repeated. Still, this gives you the NAMES used by researchers for the moves you made.
1. DEFINE the problem/question you are solving (identify the problem/question)
This step included deciding what your task was (what you had to do) and ORIENTING to the data (deciding the perspective or focus for your analysis). In this case - looking at the picture with the question right side up, and reading right to left, and down the page, was the easiest orientation.
2. Name/identify FEATURES within data = deciding which FEATURES in your data are significant to your problem
You noticed that there were different shapes,
That some of the shapes were oriented differently
That the shapes were different colors
Before you could talk in your group about patterns or how the problem worked you needed to NAME the features of your data. You then could have a discussion about whether or not those features were relevant to the puzzle's solution. In this case, shape and orientation were important within the global pattern, but color was only important in that it was fixed for particular shapes.
3. CATEGORIZE= put ELEMENTS with similar FEATURES into groups
Categories = groups of things with shared features
This was a beginning step for looking for patterns
Looking at a LOCAL group (just part of the problem) is called BRACKETING = like putting [around part of the problem] so you can concentrate on a smaller, more manageable piece of data. I think every group made important progress through looking at small, local groupings as a way to predict what other local groupings would be.
4. Look for patterns
In this step you looked at the features, categories and local groups you identified as ways to talk about repetitions, cycles and larger sequences.
You identified lots of different local patterns = which shapes ALWAYS went together, or the order in which shapes followed one another.
To develop different patterns - your looked at the puzzle from different ORIENTATIONS, and you also BRACKETED off sections so you could just look at part of the puzzle at a time
5. Pose local theories (drawn from patterns that are "out there" in the world).
Once you noticed a pattern in color, or sequence, or grouping - you formed an idea of what that pattern might look like if it were true for the whole puzzle. The idea of what a pattern would look like when it applies to ALL your data is a theory.
Others noticed that there was a black shape in every row but the last one, and guessed the club (which is the right answer) => but the wrong reason. There is also a diamond in every row but the last one => the REAL answer is about the sequence of the shapes (a GLOBAL theory). Some of you theorized that the club occurred next because of the sequence (which shapes were always on either side of the upside down club)=> this was the right LOCAL theory, but it was not a GLOBAL theory (one that could account for all the data - and predict what would happen with additional data.
6. Test your theories!
Once you had a local theory (about two shapes always following each other, or being above each other, or about the color distribution, or about symmetry) you tested your theory by checking to see if the pattern you identified applied to the WHOLE puzzle.
If the theory didn't FIT (explain what you could see) and WORK (allow you to generate or extend the data further by predicting the pattern) - you decided the theory was wrong - and cycled back through the steps - re-thinking the names and groupings and patterns that you had already tried. You might even need to go back and re-define the problem.
7. Use local theory to pose GLOBAL theory (to explain the whole system)
Once you found a theory that seemed to fit and work for part of the puzzle - the next step is to see if you can use your theory to predict what would happen in new situations. For this puzzle - the correct answer allows you to name the right "shape" at any point in the series.
Reflections on our work together: In addition to observing these steps (and writing them down -good work!), we noticed that this process was not linear. As we pointed out at the beginning of the exercise - thinking is messy, it doesn't go in a straight line. You cycled through these processes, sometimes jumping from one to another. For example, you might have posed a local theory, found that it didn't "work" and then gone back to identifying features to figure out why the theory didn't work. This new consideration of features then might lead you to different categories. And so on.
The purpose of doing this exercise was for us to analyze(!) analytic process => and you certainly did that. You now have language (and a process)
- to identify and name the "features" of analytic process,
- to put those features into categories,
- and to pose a theory about relationships among those categories that can "explain" how analysis works.
So that's what we did.
WHY SLOWING DOWN AND NAMING ANALYTIC PROCESS IS IMPORTANT.
1. Researchers need names and categories to communicate about analysis so that they can share their thinking/analyses to others. This is important both in talking and in writing. This exercise drew your attention to some of the names researchers use as they talk about analysis (DATA, NAMING, ELEMENT, FEATURES, CATEGORIZING, LOCAL THEORY, FIT & WORK, etc).
2. Awareness of research process allows us to "prove" our answers. Without conscious awareness of how to do analysis, we tend to fall back on "intuitive" patterns for thinking. These ways of thinking are generally "quick & dirty" = meaning they give you a rapid insight with a usable answer. This thinking takes place rapidly - and you often don't know how you got your answer - so you won't be able to "prove" it.
3. Complex research problems/questions can feel overwhelming if you do not consciously "know the moves" to work through analysis. Because our analytic process is mostly "automatic" - when we are faced with a problem we aren't familiar with, or a question that has many, many different ways to think about answers - our automatic approaches don't have something familiar (from our experience) to latch onto.
Some further observations:
- people do analysis differently - they bring different backgrounds and talents to the problem and have different experiences to draw from
- much of problem solving is working backward
- doing something and reflecting on it at the same time is hard
- group members have different takes - and in that way group work allows for more powerful problem solving.
If we focus on the effects of working with a group, we notice that it was probably more interesting, less frustrating, and easier to work on the problem for a longer period of time because you were working with a team. So = we are going to be a team this semester. It is the BEST way to do research.
For next class:
Read: Data Set 1: Shaggy Dog Stories
Blog 2: (and please label this post as Blog 2)
List (name and give an example)
1. some of the language features or "moves" you notice in the shaggy dog storie
2. some of the knowledge or beliefs a listener would need to be aware of to "get" the joke.
3. ways which shaggy dog stories connect to other spoken or written forms
4. patterns in the way these stories are told - either in terms of word choices, the organization of the stories, or relationships between the joke-teller & the audience
Great class today! See you Thursday.
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