Today our topic of discussion is – Politics of methodology
Politics of methodology
Methodological paradigms have always been a part of scholarly endeavors. The dominant discourses of social scientific inquiry identify methodology to have an objective perspective that is an independent and value free enterprise (Anderson, 2004). Accordingly, methodology might dictate a specific way of doing research if it is as a discursive construction.
Researchers choose their preferred methodologies all the time based on the kind of their research inquiries and theoretical framework of knowledge. In many instances, the qualitative approach to finding research answers also helps to foster a relationship of com monality with research participants.
Inquiry into child meaning acquisition is a sort of field research which allows the researcher to go into the field and observe the participants in their natural state. Researchers make extensive notes based on the observations.
The notes and data that are gathered can be then analyzed according to a variety of different criteria. Before discussing the method, it would be nice to present a brief discussion of qualitative research.
A few years ago, when my son started to talk for the first time, I was amazed once again by the innate power almighty has given to all the children of the world. I watched his language growth in every stage and kept thinking of the process of his sense making.
How magnificently a child shifts from the babbling stage to the utterances of indefinite sentences impressed me totally. The innocence and simplicity of a child and the enormous curiosity that life holds for him at all the stages of language acquisition made me wonder about the process of meaning acquisition.
How do the children acquire meaning out of their environments? All the time it cannot be imitation that helps them mean what they want to! The starting point of this wonderful journey interested me more, especially the acquisition of meaning.
It has inventiveness, and I feel it is in the core of a beginner’s language development process. As I continue with my doctoral degree now, I think of a qualitative study to investigate child meaning acquisition process as an inseparable part of their overall language development course.
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