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Activity 1: Introduction to Meeting Three
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Purpose: |
To
provide an overview of the agenda and explain how major blocks of time
will be used.
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Time: |
15 min
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Materials: |
Agenda for Meeting Three
Ground rules from Meeting Two (posted in the room)
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Group Process:
Welcome participants. Review the agenda
for Meeting Three. Explain briefly the focus and purpose of activities
planned for the next two days and how major blocks of time will be
used. The meeting objectives, which have been posted in the room, are
for the participants to:
- Understand the
nature of data analysis;
- Understand the
basic steps in the data analysis process;
- Learn specific
strategies for making sense of research data;
- Become familiar
with the data collected;
- Begin to sort and
organize the data;
- Draft a plan to
complete the data analysis process at home.
Post the ground rules that participants
created at the initial research meeting and have been using to guide
subsequent meetings. (Ground rules generally include: arrive on time,
don’t interrupt, speak-up when someone says something personally
offensive, limit side conversations, no question is too silly, etc.)
Ask participants if any rules need to be added or changed. Remind
participants to reference these throughout the retreat.
Top of page
Activity 2:
Categorically Speaking
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Purpose: |
To learn about the group’s research experiences
and for participants to consider their own research experiences
in relation to the others and to introduce some beginning steps
in the data analysis process.
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Time: |
1 1/2 hrs
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Materials: |
Easel, flip chart paper, tape, and markers |
Group Process:
Introduce the activity to participants.
It provides participants with an opportunity to share something about
the research work they’ve accomplished so far, and how they feel about
the current phase of research and the process in general. By now, most
or all of the participants have finished collecting the data they need
and are ready to turn to data analysis. This activity also sets the
stage for introducing the beginning steps in data analysis: sorting
and organizing.
Identify an imaginary continuum in the meeting
room. Explain to participants that one end of the continuum is
“positive ” and the other is “negative.” Ask them to get up from their
chairs and place themselves at a point on the continuum that most
closely corresponds with how they feel about their research work - in
its current phase.
Individuals place themselves on the continuum.
Through this process they will sort and divide themselves into a
number of small groups from one end of the continuum to the other.
Facilitator(s) stand back and watch; make some small brief general
comments about how the groups have formed along the continuum. Tell
participants to leave the continuum but to remain in their small
groups. It is in these groups that they will share and discuss their
research experiences and what they think about them. (10 minutes)
Post the instructions for the small group
discussions. In the groups, participants will share:
1.the various reasons they placed themselves
where they did on the continuum, and
2.what their “spot” or placement on the continuum
means to them. Give the groups sufficient time for the discussion.
The groups’ next task is to name their
collective experiences. In a word, phrase, or sentence -- what do
the groups think their particular position on the continuum means?
Suggest, as the groups consider their discussion, that they pay
attention to the similarities and differences in everyone’s comments.
As they compare what people said, they can periodically ask
themselves, “What was that about?” As they go through this process,
participants should begin to notice some emerging ideas or themes –
patterns that stand out and capture the essence of their experiences.
Tell participants to write their group’s name on a piece of poster
paper. Tell them also to identify a person who will report back,
including the name they arrived at and two or three main points of
discussion. About ten minutes before the end of the discussion period,
remind each group to focus on their report and to synthesize the
discussion. (45 minutes)
Bring the groups back together. Post all
the names and have each group’s representative report out (a couple of
minutes for each). Record the main points of discussion on flip chart
paper. Stand back, review the names that groups selected and summarize
their reports. End the comments on a note about the process people
used to select their groups and name their experiences in order to
turn to the final purpose of this activity: to introduce the focus of
Meeting Three, data analysis. (15 minutes)
Have the whole group deconstruct their entire
activity, beginning at the point when people chose a place on the
continuum through to the small group work in which participants had to
capture and name their shared experience. Have participants call out
the various steps that they followed from beginning to end. List the
steps on flip chart paper.
Examine the list with participants. Next
point out how the steps they took in this activity relate to those the
participants might take when they first begin to analyze their
research data. The steps may include: participants becoming familiar
with all the information they collected, sorting and organizing data,
determining what their data is “about,” capturing the essence,
identifying themes or ideas that stand out, looking for patterns, and
naming what the data is about.
Facilitators may raise some other points about
data analysis as appropriate - especially if it’s revealed that small
groups took different approaches to naming their experiences,
including:
- Data analysis is a
highly subjective, intuitive, and personal process;
- There are
guidelines that researchers use to make sense of data but there is
no “one way or right way” to go about it;
- Data analysis is
non-linear and back and forth;
- You can use a
deductive or inductive approach; and
- We all have biases
that affect how we view the world…and interpret our research data.
Ask what people learned from doing this activity.
Conclude with a brief review of the main points. Address any major
concerns or questions participants have about where they are in the
research process. (30 minutes) Top of page
Activity 3:
Taking Stock of our Data
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Purpose: |
To find out what kinds of data the participants
have collected, and how much.
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Time: |
This depends on the size of the group. Allow
five minutes per researcher for individual reports plus ten
minutes for general discussion.
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Materials: |
Flip chart paper, easel, tape, and markers |
Group Process:
Reconvene participants to take an inventory of
the group’s data. For this meeting, participants were asked to
prepare an inventory listing the types and amount of data they
collected in-between Meeting Two and Meeting Three, and what other
data they still plan to collect. Participants have also prepared a
statement of one thing they’ve learned, so far, in conducting
research. For example, a participant in the 1999-2000 Virginia
Research Network shared this:
"One thing I’ve learned so far in this
practitioner research process is there will be ups and downs,
insecurities and enlightenments, moments of clarity and moments of
fog, best laid plans and unexpected road blocks. You just have to wait
it all out, keep pushing forward as conscientiously as possible, and
see how it all falls out in the end."
Monitor the process to help participants stay
within the time allotted. Have each person give their data inventory
plus the one thing they’ve learned by going around the room without
interruption. Save any discussion or comments until the end.
Create a large wall chart to capture all the data
inventories in one place. Ask someone in the group to be the recorder
and to keep track of what’s been collected in the appropriate
categories on the chart. Possible categories include:
1.Individual interviews
2.Group interviews
3.Observation notes
4.Program and classroom documentation/reports
5.Student work, and
6.Researcher logs
After completing the chart/reports, spend about
ten minutes discussing and marveling at the inventoried data
and the good work it represents. Top of page
Activity 4:
Individual Data Analysis - The Archeology Dig*
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Purpose: |
To help participants understand
the basic process of coding and categorizing data.
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Time: |
1 ¼ hrs
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Materials: |
Assortment of objects people commonly carry
with them in their pockets, pocketbooks, knapsacks, and
briefcases (for example, cell phones, hair brushes, keys,
calculators, pens, calendars, etc.) |
Group Process:
Set up a table in full view
of everyone in the room. Explain to participants that this activity is
a fun, hands-on way to introduce the basic process of categorizing and
coding data. Ask participants to take out two objects (or three
depending on the group’s size) that they always carry or have in their
possession (pockets, purses, knapsacks, briefcases, etc.).
Place the objects on the
table. It's helpful to hold the objects up
for everyone to see, name them and then place them on the table. Tell
participants to imagine that they are archaeologists on a dig and the
things on the table are a treasure trove they’ve discovered from an
earlier century. Their job is to place each of these objects into a
category and to title that category. An object can only go into one
category but participants can create as many or as few categories as
they like. Give participants about ten minutes to arrange the objects
and name categories, working it out privately in their minds or on
paper at their seats.
Ask a volunteer to come up
to the table and arrange all the objects into her/ his groups, or
categories -- without revealing the names of the categories. Next ask
the other participants to guess the titles of the volunteer’s
categories. As the group guesses and the volunteer reveals the
categories, facilitate discussion about the reasoning for grouping
particular objects together.
Repeat the steps
with another volunteer.
Find out how some of the other
participants in the room organized the objects and labeled the
categories.
Use the following questions to
process the activity:
1.
What was it like to do this activity?
2.
What did you learn from doing this
activity?
3.
Why might people have different ways of
categorizing the objects, or different labels for the categories?
4.
What’s the difference between having two
categories and twenty categories?
Cover the following points in
the discussion:
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Organizing the objects into different categories and
labeling those categories is called coding. Coding is the first step
in data analysis.
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The process can be tricky because an object could fit
into more than one category.
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Sorting and categorizing depends on the individual.
It’s a subjective operation. There are many different ways to sort
the same data and all ways are valid – so long as the researcher is
accounting for and being true to the data. Others need to understand
the researcher’s reasoning, or the logic applied, in order for the
research to be valid.
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The number of categories a researcher has makes the
categories inclusive or exclusive. For example, if participants only
have two categories they might be sorting too generally, obscuring
certain distinctions in the data. They might have a pile of objects
that have one or two similarities but also many differences. Having
twenty categories would be like looking at each object separately or
presenting a laundry list. It might be hard to tell a coherent story
about the data if there are that many different categories. Many
categories might also mean that some are overlapping and can be
merged together.
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A participant may need to try several alternatives
and different ways to categorize data before hitting on a scheme
that works.
The final step in this
activity involves taking the categories and saying something about
each one. One category that often emerges
during this activity is that of health and beauty aids. What, for
example, can participants say about the culture of people who carry
these objects? A possible response might be, “People use health and
beauty aids because physical appearances is important for getting
along in this society.” Encourage a group discussion about the meaning
of certain categories.
In closing help participants connect this
activity to their research projects. Point out that this process
is essentially what they will be doing with their own data. Finally,
review the initial steps in the data analysis process.
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*The Archeology Dig: The
Inquiry Facilitators Handbook, Pennsylvania Adult Literacy
Practitioner Inquiry Network, 1998.
Conclusion of session
Session 11: Working with Our Data
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