"Methodologies & Critical Analysis"
Richard Miles
Methodologies
Methods
- How the information you have found is sourced, collected, collated and presented
- How are you going to get about getting the information and collecting and organising the information
- This is about you taking control of your research- clearly evidence why you selected these methods and why they are most appropriate
Methodologies
- A set or system of methods, principles and rules for regulating a given discipline
- Philosophy- the analysis or study of such methods and their strengths and weaknesses
- Picking a side and knowing why you've picked that side
Theories
- These can help you decide upon the methods you use. Alternatively the material you find may suggest the appropriate theories
- A coherent group of tested general propositions, commonly regarded as correct, that can be used as principles of explanation and prediction
Examples of theories used by students:
- Psychological: Freud, Jung
- Social History / Marxist
- Communication Theory: Shannon-Weaver Model
- Post Colonialism
- Feminist
There are different branches of theories that will lead onto different stand-points within the theories.
Each particular theory or standpoint will have its own answers or bias.
Which theories are going to maximise the research that you are going to undertake?
Make your studio practice your methodology?
The list is endless but choose the theories and methods most appropriate to your subject
1. Make decisions about how to collect and order information
2. Choose a relevant theoretical stand point
3. Apply these to your study
4. Explicitly outline this in the introduction. Address suggested failings in the conclusion
5. Have a number of chapters for different sections of your essay- this should be outlined within the introduction so that it shows that you have an outlined methodological strategy.
Critical Analysis
Weighing up different sides of an argument, evaluating it and summing it up by providing your own opinion from your research
Skeptical approach- distrusting and trying to disprove an idea by weighing up a number of different options
Reasoned Thinking- 'Stepping away' and using evidence and logic to come to your conclusions
Awareness of Perspectives- different takes on things which are both equally correct and neither wrong
Try to consider different points of view- Has this theory been challenged or accepted by others?
Where am I coming from? How is my topic influenced by my emotions, aspirations and context?
CONTEXT IS EVERYTHING
Consider the influence of one or more of the following:
- Time
- Place
- Society
- Economical
- Technological
- Philosophical
- Scientific Thought
Evidence
Where is the evidence for what you are saying?
How can you support what you are saying in your essay?
- Quotes/ Experiments/ Observations that back up what you have said
- You need to passionately argue your position and have research to back it up
- Could you find more evidence to support your conclusions?
EVIDENCE + REASON + LOGIC + ARGUMENT = DISSERTATION CONTENT
Argument
- What do I want to say?
- Have I got the evidence to back it up?
- Where else do I need to look in order to find more evidence?
Triangulation
- Pitting alternative theories against the same body of data
- Comparing different theories for and against something
AM I EXPRESSING MYSELF CLEARLY AND LOGICALLY?
A Clear Logical Plan
- Keep it simple and focus on a few key issues
- Look at the key issues in depth
- Discuss your issues and the evidence you have found
- Move from the general to the specific
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