Researcher as an Instrument

One of the most important lessons I've learned about being a scholar, learning a new field, or academic writing is a concept I picked up from qualitative research that is used to describe the nature or status or workings of the researcher in the methodological section.

The researcher in qualitative research is seen as an "instrument". What does that mean? When we talk about research instruments, we think about survey forms or maybe some kind of machine set up for experiments. What they have in common is that they have to be described in the methodological section because how they are designed, how they are positioned or created, has an influence on the results. Their very nature influences the quality and rigor of the findings.

We describe them so that we understand why the findings look the way they are, why they may have a certain angle to them.

And so is the researcher whose very nature - what he or she believes, the background he or she came from, the training and experiences - all influences how the data is eventually analysed and how the paper is written.

I take this a step further - knowing this, I deliberately take time to educate myself and to take care of myself. How much I understand of the world - not just my narrow scope of work - influences how well I can analyse and write my papers.

I take the time to understand something, many things, other people, the world, politics, experiences, what concerns the everyday man, and what concerns the policymakers.

I bring my very own unique take to the table.

Be brave. :)

Learning a new field

One field is closely related to another. When I was in the field of citizenship education, it was closely related to political science. I found that I had to read up on politics to study patriotism. Other related fields include history and psychology.

Today, I am in the field of lifelong learning and it is closely related to economics. It's fascinating to me that I have to be well-versed in these fields that I never had much exposure to. It is challenging because I have a lot of learn. But fulfilling because I find myself transversing the knowledge world in ways that I never thought I would.

Who would have known that I would be reading up on Economics now. And interested in things like Human Resource. Fascinating...