[Theme Issue Refereed Articles]
Invade Your Own Privacy: Self-truth as the First Step Towards Discovering 'Other' Truth in Educational Research
John Hurley
pp. 5-13
The identity of self is understood as a plurality, seeking integration to allow a fluidity of informed,
responsible choice to guide our behaviours. With an increasing emphasis on reducing human identity to cognitive
styles and pre-packaged personality trait clusters, emotions and spirituality can fade from awareness when
engaging with our own identity, or that of others. This paper discusses the concepts of identity in the context of
an accepted research proposal for a study on mental health nurses delivering psychological therapies. While the study
is just commencing, the literature review offers discussion points on identity and the use of self with the research
process. Through a focus upon constructs of existential psychology, emotional intelligence and spirituality, all
grounded in self-awareness and self-conduct, the idea that both critical thinking and feeling on self are required
steps in the research process is offered.
Searching for Gems in the Mud: An Example of Critical Reflection on Research in Education
Warren Midgley
pp. 14-24
This paper presents a critical autoethnographic reflection upon a study that I had previously conducted. The
original study reports on research conducted in two classes at a Japanese university on the students' attitudes
towards different forms of addressing a foreign teacher in a conversational English class. The research incorporated
a visualisation exercise with a free writing response in an attempt to investigate indirectly student attitudes to
various forms of address. The results were inconclusive with respect to the original research objectives, because
none of the proposed forms of address was found to be universally acceptable in either class. A report on the research
was written, but never published. Two years later, I reflexively interrogated the text of the original report in an
attempt to explore the values and beliefs that influenced the design, implementation and reporting of the original
research. Thus the original research report became the data for the current study. This paper demonstrates the process
that I undertook in critically reflecting upon my own research by presenting the original report (written two years ago),
providing notes on my critical reflection upon that research and then discussing the implications of this approach.
The paper highlights the mutability of researcher values and beliefs.
A Journey of Deceptions and Leaps of Faith: Personal Reflections about Undertaking a Doctor of Philosophy Research Project
Dinah R. Dovona-Ope
pp. 25-30
In my reflections on undertaking my Doctor of Philosophy research project, I describe it as an emotional,
intellectual and spiritual adventure. Marked by deceptions, it has demanded personal commitment, endurance and
persistence to manoeuvre past these deceptions. However, with leaps of faith it has been one of the most valuable
and enriching experiences, with opportunities for many life changing encounters and personal growth. I also
acknowledge a lot of valuable support that has also been sourced from both informal and formal exchanges of ideas,
experiences and interactions with a community of researchers involving supervisors, colleagues undertaking the same
journey, early career researchers and past students met online. I draw on motivational constructs consisting of
achievement motivation by Ames and Archer (1988), Ames (1992), Elliot and Dweck (1988) and Meece, Blumenfeld and
Hayle (1988), self-efficacy by Bandura (1994) and intrinsic motivation by Deci and Ryan (1985) for theoretical
support. Motivational writers have also boosted my morale when parts of the journey became a challenge.
"Me" as the Research Instrument: Subject Positions, Feminist Values and Multiple "Mes"
Teresa Moore
pp. 31-41
Researchers are an integral part of the research process; for many qualitative researchers they become the
research instrument. Through being that research instrument the researcher becomes intimately involved with the
participants, their stories and their lives. Data are processed through the researcher, who makes decisions
about what is regarded as data, how those data are collected and finally how the data are used. With this in mind
the feminist researcher wears many hats and assumes many roles, in effect becoming what I term multiple "mes".
This term refers to the multiple subject positions that the researcher occupies. Therefore in this paper I explore
the researcher as a research instrument from a feminist poststructural positioning and what this meant for
designing data collection methods in my Doctor of Philosophy thesis. This exploration is done through the
epistemological and ontological positioning of the feminist researcher and examines the corresponding
methodological framework. From this framework many "mes" or other subject positions are constructed through
the research journey. I argue that it is through the negotiation of multiple "mes" that the researcher
demonstrates both personal values and institutional expectations. This paper concludes by elaborating
the notion of doing no harm in the ‘field’ and reconciling feminist values.
Dilemma-of-Dilemmas: The Position of Conscience in Research
Jennifer Parker
pp. 42-57
Research has the potential of surfacing not only new and groundbreaking findings but also moral
dilemmas that have been hidden deeply within the layers of the research process and even more deeply
within the very fabric of the basic theorem from which the research is conceived. As moral dilemmas surface,
they have an even greater potential for challenging the individual conscience of the researcher to
the degree of questioning moral obligations that sanction premises, even laws, that the researcher
may discover that she or he holds as utterly wrong. Such was the dilemma-of-dilemmas of one doctoral
researcher when interpretations of her data appeared incongruous with accepted thought and threatened the
original theoretics, epistemological position, ontological argument and axiological foundation of her research.
In the process of coming to methodological crossroads, hidden realities embedded within the very fabric of
everything that this researcher once sanctioned created a breakaway or drift from the popular views held by
mainstream educational, medical and psychological associations. The stance of the epistemorph and other
associated concepts are adapted by the researcher to describe her experience with research findings that
contained discordant elements. Whilst facing possible marginalisation, the researcher takes up her right
to ethical disagreement and chooses a reflexive role to bring out values held deeply within the research.
Situated Ethics in Investigating Non-Government Organisations and Showgrounds: Issues in Researching Japanese
Environmental Politics and Australian Traveller Education
Mike Danaher and P. A. Danaher
pp. 58-70
Situated ethics (Piper & Simons, 2005; Simons & Usher, 2000) provides a potentially powerful conceptual lens for reflecting
on the research significance and researcher subjectivities entailed in contemporary educational research projects. This is the
idea that research ethics is most appropriately understood and enacted in the specific contexts of such projects, rather than
by reference to timeless and universal codes. This proposition is helpful in drawing attention to the crucial networks of
aspirations and interests that bind and separate stakeholders in those projects. The authors illustrate this argument through
a reflexive interrogation of their respective empirical doctoral studies (Danaher, 2003; Danaher, 2001). One study focused on
multiple and conflicting constructions of wildlife preservation as a site of Japanese environmental politics and policy-making;
the other examined educational provision for mobile show communities as a case of Australian Traveller Education. Both projects
required the researchers to negotiate tentative and sometimes uneasy relations with research participants that veered between
impartial and disinterested observers and partial and interested advocates. In engaging in those negotiations, the researchers
enacted situated and provisional ethical positions derived from increasingly explicit assumptions about both the significance of
their particular research and the importance of acknowledging their own subjectivities in making claims about that significance.
Thus situated ethics is a vital element of evaluating the value as much as the values of conducting research with non-government
organisations and on showgrounds.
[Non-Theme Issue Refereed Article]
Towards a Sociocultural Perspective on Korean English Villages: A Reply to Stephen Krashen
Michel N. Trottier
pp. 71-91
The increased education-related migration of Korean school-aged children has prompted
educational policy makers to develop alternative sources of English as a foreign language
(EFL) instruction. In response, so-called 'English villages' have been developed as a
novel, though controversial, alternative to overseas English immersion. But reaction to
the English village phenomenon has been mixed, with some questioning the ability of
such programs to deliver on their ambitious mandates. The controversy has drawn the
attention of prominent stakeholders both within and outside Korean EFL education.
Among these, Stephen Krashen – a major figure in second language acquisition (SLA)
theory and bilingual education policy – criticises English villages on several fronts. In
doing so, however, not only does Krashen contradict his own theories (Krashen 1982,
1985; Krashen & Terrell 1983) but also he disregards the novel ways that English
villages are attempting to reconstruct Korean EFL radically to meet the challenges of
increasing globalisation (Kellner, 2004). This paper addresses each of Krashen's
criticisms, and argues for a more holistic, sociocultural perspective (Lantolf, 2002) about
English villages. Future research directions are also suggested.
