Lecture: Methodologies & Critical Analysis

Methodology

meth·od·ol·o·gy
noun, plural -gies.

1. a set or system of methods, principles, and rules for regulating a given discipline, as in the arts or sciences.
2. Philosophy.
   a. the underlying principles and rules of organisation of a philosophical system or inquiry procedure.
   b. the study of the principles underlying the organisation of the various sciences and the conduct of scientific inquiry.
3. Education.
   a branch of pedagogics dealing with analysis and evaluation of subjects to be taught and of the methods of teaching them.

Analysis
Evidence the ability to use logic reasoning and critical judgement to analyse ideas from a range of primary and secondary resources and employ critical and theoretical methodologies to evaluate examples from the relevant subject discipline.

Research
Evidence the capacity for undertaking a wide range of independent practical and theoretical research that demonstrates an informed application of critical effective and testable process.


Methodology

• Every Research Project needs to have a methodology.
• Every Research Project will have some sort of methodology, even if it is ill thought out, or you don’t recognise it as such.
• Methodology is a scientific word, with intimidating connotations, but is actually pretty straightforward.
• Simply put, a methodology is:
   - A logical, systematic, and structured way of organising a research project and gathering necessary information.
   - Evidence that you have reflected critically on various research methods and chosen the ones that are most appropriate for your particular research project.
• Therefore, a methodology is unique to each project.

Helpful Books:
The Postgraduate Research Handbook
Doing Your Research Project

To describe and analyse… methods, throwing light on their limitations and resources, clarifying their suppositions and consequences, relating their potentialities to the twilight zone at the frontiers of knowledge… (Kaplan, 1973:93)

It is not that we must somehow ‘please’ our critical colleague audiences; the deeper issue is to avoid self delusion. After that we can turn to the task about how we did study, and what worried us about its quality. Without such methodological frankness, we run the risk of reporting ‘knowledge that ain’t so’. (Miles & Huberman, 1994:294) 

• What kind of research methods are you going to use?
   - Are they mostly:Quantitative, or qualitative, or a mixture of both?
• What do you think your methods will enable you to discover?
• What might they prevent you from discovering?
• What kinds of research methods would be best suited to the kind of research you are undertaking and the research questions you are pursuing?
• What sort of problems do you envisage in setting up these methods?
• What are their benefits?
• What will you need to do to ensure they gather useful data?

Your Methodology May Include:

• Literature Review
  - Libraries, Journals, Internet
• A particular theoretical approach.
• Questionnaires
  - Sample size, Reliability and Validity.
• Interviews
  - Structured or unstructured? Bias?
• Sketchbooks / Critical Diaries / Reflective Logs

Outline your methodology at the start of the Dissertation.

Critical Analysis

Being Critical

• ‘Critical’
   - From the Greek word Kreinein, meaning ‘to separate’ or ‘to choose’
• Skepticism
• Reasoned Thinking
   - ‘Stepping away’ and using evidence and logic to come to your conclusions

Where was the author/artist/designer/photographer situated?
Try to consider different points of view:...where the creator was coming from intellectually; emotionally; philosophical; politically…

Where am I coming from?
How is my choice of topic influenced by my emotions; aspirations; context?

‘Context is everything’
Consider the influence of one or more of the following: the time; place; society; politics; economics; technology; philosophy; scientific thought....

Some ‘perspectives ‘ that you might adopt or encounter...

• Marxist
• Neoliberal
• Sociological
• Psychological
• Postmodernist
• Technological
• Fundamentalist
• Positivist

Argument

 - What do I want to say?
 - Have I got the evidence to back
 - Could you find more evidence to support your conclusions?
 - Where else do I need to look in order to find more evidence?
 - Am I expressing myself clearly and logically?

Triangulation: Pitting alternative theories against the same body of data

According to Barnes (2005: 150) a bad argument includes statements which…

• Contradict themselves
• Have no relationship with previous statements
• Do not have any logical sequence
• Are based on assumptions that were never questioned
• Appeal to authorities that are known to be limited or suspect (dictionaries, historical traditions long since discredited, research now challenged, famous people, writers of fiction)
• Present opinion as argument unsupported by evidence
• Take no account of exceptions or counter claims
• Try to claim absolute instead of qualified truths.
  
  Barnes, R. (2005) ‘Successful Study for Degrees’, 3rd ed. London and New York, Routledge

A Clear Logical Plan
 - Keep it simple- refine what you want to say and focus on a few key issue
 - Look into your key issues in depth and bring in the maximum evidence in to support your views
 - Discuss your issues and the evidence you have found in a clear and logical manner
 - Move from the general to the specific

Evaluation
 - You need to show the reader that you are evaluating the evidence for its relevance and reliability
 - Evaluation= Looking at and coming to conclusions about the value of your evidence

Critical Analysis of a text
Step-by-step

Step One
 - Identify an aspect of your specialist subject that you would like to explore.

Step Two
 - Select a writer or theorist and a particular piece of writing about your specialist subject.

Step Three
 - Make notes that identify the key points in the writing.

Step Four
 - What evidence is used to support or 'prove' the key points'.

Step Five
 - Is it convincing?
 - What else needs to be said in order to 'prove' the key points?

Step Six
 - Write a response to the piece of writing and comment on: the implications for your work; do you agree/ disagree with what has been said? Does it help to support your views/ argument? The thoughts you have had as the result of reading this piece; on the evidence used by the writer.

Visual Analysis
Step-by-step

The following prompts could be used when analysing a piece of visual work
 - Look at and comment upon the significance of the use of...Line; Colour; Tone; Texture; Form; Composition; etc.
 - How are these related to the function of, or ‘message’ communicated by, the piece?
 - How are they related to context; media and materials available ;technology; attitudes prevalent at the time the work was made?
 - What evidence do you have to support your conclusions?