Wednesday

On learning about autoethnography and my end of semester exercise

Two of my FLC colleagues introduced the topic of autoethnography as a qualitative research method.  I learned that this method is used in the occupational therapy program to create a capstone project for all master's students.  Although articles were distributed, I could not locate abstracts for these documents on the SSU library database system, thus the lack of links.  My understanding is that this method is used to assist students in tracking where they have come from, where they are now, and where they hope to go in their profession - with some focus on how they may use research in the future as occupational therapists. 
The idea of this reflective exercise makes sense to me.  However, our discussions of autoethnography itself (spanning 2 of our sessions) leaves me with many questions about this method. 

I do not "buy" this as a valid social science research method.  Therefore, I realized that I would not teach this method (we have a hard enough time gaining acceptance for pure qualitative research with an N of 20-30, for example) but would consider this type of approach to having students reflect on past, present and future re: views about research.  In some ways, this informed one of the questions on my final reflective exercize, which is planned to be something like this:

INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS:  Please write your answers to these questions before coming into class.  We will share our thoughts with the group one question at a time.

What have you learned this semester?

What have you re-learned this semester?

What do you wish you had learned this semester?

What were you surprised you had learned this semester?

How will you approach "managing" your own social location in research/evaluation in social work settings?

How do your views about research and social work practice NOW differ from the start of the semester?

What do you envision the challenges of implementing evidence-based practice will be once "in the field?"

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