tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8455468843833525066.post6605837656448520001..comments2023-08-17T10:18:24.628-04:00Comments on Multilitteratus Incognitus: RhizoResearch - some thoughts brought on by Sunlight and Shade.Apostolos K. ("AK")http://www.blogger.com/profile/02198465120131968928noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8455468843833525066.post-38980077457529214362015-03-10T10:58:51.830-04:002015-03-10T10:58:51.830-04:00I agree particularly with the issue about giving e...I agree particularly with the issue about giving equal weight to both size without quantifying it. In many ways this is how researchers show their bias. I think it is good to hear both sides, just that equal space doesn't mean equal effect, but in this particular article it comes across as such.Apostolos K. ("AK")https://www.blogger.com/profile/02198465120131968928noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8455468843833525066.post-13508142123662345282015-03-10T10:54:19.846-04:002015-03-10T10:54:19.846-04:00Maha I agree with what you write, to some extent :...Maha I agree with what you write, to some extent :) I agree that it makes no sense to ask me if what you were quoted as saying or feeling is correct. I have no way to know what's in another participant's head. <br /><br /><br />Relating to this, when it comes to communication, we see that people don't necessarily get other people because we try to disambiguate when we have discussions with other interlocutors, in the coding/decoding process our messages can get garbled. <br /><br /><br />However, I disagree that validity, as a whole article can't be measured in some way. Perhaps the way I wrote things near the end (felt a bit rushed to get this out before homework started again :) ), but there ought to be some way of checking the result against some rubric. I think, with the access to data, I was thinking that other researchers could provide their interpretations and in this way provide some level of inter-rater reliability. In thinking about the smallish sample size, it's not necessarily a problem if other explanations are provided - as you wrote - X out of Y has this sort of sentiment. This way, you are not minimizing the effect that a course had on someone, but at least you know some proportion. At the moment it reads (to me) like there was a 50-50 proportion of positive and negative views of the mooc, and in the mooc.<br /><br /><br />As far as Open Data goes - I am conflicted - truly am. Part of me wants to conduct an analysis of this data; similar one might argue to the coursera data that coursera probably collected in the #massiveteaching MOOC - I think POD had mentioned my curiosity on his blog, and how it seemed incongruous with the other things I said on my blog about privacy, experimentation, and such (fair critique btw). On the other hand, yes this type of data has a lifecycle and should be destroyed at some time, but how is that determined and by whom? I think that in a strictly qualitative ("natural sciences") experiment it's easier to replicate and experiment until some generalization can be proven. In educational research generalization isn't always possible (for one thing), and even if we wanted to re-tread some experiment we can't. Learner populations aren't static, and as such this was a sample in a moment of time. That is to say, how does one gauge the accuracy of representation of a research article in such a case? I don't ask as a member of Rhizo14 - regardless of this paper we will continue to MOOC along as fellow MOOC learners; I ask as an EdD student who will have to defend his research design in a year's time - and as such want to make my own learning impactful. This real world case, with people I "know" makes it a good place to have this discussion on method, reliability, validity, and ethics.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />just some thoughts :)Apostolos K. ("AK")https://www.blogger.com/profile/02198465120131968928noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8455468843833525066.post-3517888837526663682015-03-10T10:31:05.729-04:002015-03-10T10:31:05.729-04:00Thank you for posting Heli :)
I am not sure I wo...Thank you for posting Heli :)<br /><br /><br />I am not sure I would classify the discussion that happened on the Rhizo group as attacks, but text-based media are not perfect for communication. A lot of nuance and meaning is lost in text, and that leaves a lot of room for interpretation, so I don't doubt that some of what was said could be interpreted as an attack.<br /><br /><br />Validity is not a clear-cut thing. From my perspective, it is potentially possible in qualitative and quantitative research to have a smaller sample size if the data collection sampling accounts for it (one of my textbook's chapters goes into eye-bleeding detail about this). I think that the sample used in this research paper was a convenience sample (or maybe started as convenience and went into snowball sample) which doesn't necessarily catch all views. This has the potential for painting an image that may not in fact be true. Small part of it may be, but not necessarily as a whole.<br /><br /><br />As I said, to be asked to write only 5000 words on a qualitative paper that explores learner experiences has the potential to really gut the substance of the paper and only leave a small husk left. It is possible that there was something there to provide for a thicker (as Maha wrote above) account of people's experiences but in its current, published, version it's not there, and as a reader this article left more questions than it answered.Apostolos K. ("AK")https://www.blogger.com/profile/02198465120131968928noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8455468843833525066.post-31310380403942609232015-03-10T09:33:06.928-04:002015-03-10T09:33:06.928-04:00Well- written, AK. I don't agree with all you ...Well- written, AK. I don't agree with all you write, but agree w most of it. Is it ok if i focus on what i don't agree with? Keep in mind i did not follow the facebook discussion at the time so i don't know what ppl said to Frances and what she said back.<br /><br />Re: validity, there are many ways of doing it. Member checking is done, but usually only for the parts you are citing or quoting a person. It makes absolutely no sense for someone to ask me if i agree about what YOU said. Does that make sense? <br /><br />I have also asked the questn of numbers but agree with Heli it is not necessary for qualitative research. It would be helpful to have a rough idea, e.g. If they are closer to 4 people or 20. I would be totally comfortable with a paper that said, "even though only 4 ppl had negative experiences, we would like to highlight them because many ppl who have negative experiences would never even respond to a survey like this."<br /><br />Re: open data, i don't think there is any obligation on their part to share the anonymized data. I think IRB would require them not to, actually, and to destroy that data in a few years, time, even.Apostolos K. ("AK")https://www.blogger.com/profile/02198465120131968928noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8455468843833525066.post-83738552317821004882015-03-10T07:03:30.979-04:002015-03-10T07:03:30.979-04:00I just linked this blog to my blogroll and after t...I just linked this blog to my blogroll and after that I noticed that you<br /> are dialing with the same theme as I did. I linked you because I <br />consider you are a research-oriented guy and I am following MOOC <br />research or online learning generally.<br /><br />I wonder why the number of<br /> participants is so much assessed, because the results are qualitative. <br />Not every research is statistically based. <br /><br />Another comment about<br /> Frances Not being interested in discussing in the FB group. In my eyes <br />she did it very patiently but the level of attacks against this research<br /> was do inferior quality that I was very astonished. For instance <br />someone claimed that J and F tell lies. It is a question of law in my <br />country.<br /><br />It is not possible to discuss about research with people who don't know what research is but are sure being against it. <br /><br />I hope my English can be understood, pls tell if u can't read itApostolos K. ("AK")https://www.blogger.com/profile/02198465120131968928noreply@blogger.com