This is REALLY long post = but think of it this way: I haven't assigned you readings in a text book!
Analysis: Slowing it down + naming what we do as we think.
In today's class we worked on analysis. We started out by making a list of some of the words you used to describe what you do when you do analysis. These were all good general descriptions for analysis - but most of them like "researching" or "thinking" were complex proceses with lots of steps. Our work this today was to pay close attention to our thinking processes so we could name the different steps we took as we engaged in analytic process.
You worked in groups to solve a particular "brain teaser." I asked you to pay attention to, and to name the different moves you made as you tried to solve the puzzle = and you did (and you were awesome). After each group had worked their way through to an answer (which was pretty amazing) you made a list of the steps you took & we wrote them on the board. The list below is a generalized summary of what you noticed yourselves doing. As you read through = pay attention to the language.
Analytic process for solving the puzzle.
1. DEFINE the problem/question you are solving (identify the problem/question)
This step included 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.
Idenfityand name what counts as DATA (information relevant to your problem/question) = in this problem relevant data were features of the shapes, as well as information about their sequence. This is part of the next step.
2. Name = noticing the FEATURES in your data that are significant to your problem
You notice 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
3. CATEGORIZE= put data with similar FEATURES into groups
Categories
= groups of things with shared features
This was a beginning step for looking for a patterns
This step sometimes included counting the members of a category (how many of each kind of shape/color/orientation) and it sometimes included noticing local groups or clusters (like the groups of two symbols of the same kind).
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 used the names and 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
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 BIG 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) 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 BIG/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.
As explained in class, 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, 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.
We spent some time at the very end of class applying the analytic process to a question about communication dynamics in class. By naming what we remembered as happening in class (Naming) and observing patterns (noticing what happens when teachers and students talk in certain ways) - we were on our way to pose theories about how teachers might improve (or at least do something different) talk in the classroom.
As a final step in this process, we reflected - as a group - on the effects of doing analysis as a team.
You noticed that:
- 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 take
This is all true. And 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)
1)
in your own words => boil down all that writing from this long post and define analysis.
What is it? How does it work?
2) Describe how you might use analysis in one
of the research projects you described for your first blog (or a different project if you don't like any of the ideas you came up with for the first post).
These are some useful questions to think about when planning how to analyze a project. Your blog post doesn't need to answer all of them = they are hear to give you something to write into.
What kinds of questions might you ask?
What might you notice/look for?
What kinds of surrounding circumstances, actions, actors,
interactions, outcomes etc might it be useful to name?
GREAT CLASS - and I am looking forward to seeing you on Tuesday!
