Methods 27/28

 One of the measurements given to students in my Methods course. I am blown away by the brilliance of students always.      

     Videos of any nature may be analyzed in the lens of the following measurements.

1/  Identify theories involved. They may not be expressed, so think about the ideas being presented. Journalism, making documentary, is not science as it does not have the organizing principles of paradigms, so identify appropriate theories of a paradigm. Remember, -“In the absence of a paradigm ….all of the facts that could possibly pertain to the development of a given science are likely to seem equally relevant. As a result, early fact-gathering is a far more nearly random activity than the one that subsequent scientific development makes familiar”. –Kuhn, p.15.

2/ Discuss the effectiveness of the work in meeting its purpose (think “variables:). Please refer to my wheel schema.  From Walter Benjamin “fragments of messianic time scattered in the profane” in thinking of the epistemological and methodological questions in doing research. Now that is creative critical thinking!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9Wxn1L9Er0&feature=relmfu

You can use videos from my bibliography:
video on my Mom:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQppEXGoSOk

This was submitted November 2013. 

Qualitative research attempts to explain the reasons for certain behaviors, attitudes, and motivations, Qualitative research uses unsystematic data collection methods such as, observations or documents that give meaning to our understanding of things. This ethnographic study gave insight into the life of Rita Ann Bernadette Harding Wright. Through visual sociology the use of photos told a story without words. It fulfills needs of the participants to express to others their gratitude and profound affections for their mother.   Pictures from her early childhood until her demise delivered a good description to the eyes of a person who might not have known her. With the exception of one (the funeral photos) all other images portrayed happy times which included celebration of her participation as an advocacy on mental health issues. The texture of the black and white photos captured and symbolized her important roles and lifestyle. For the researcher visual information is a very natural and reliable source of evidence, because the event(s) are moments which are frozen. Furthermore these photographs can be repeatedly reviewed. The letter she wrote to her Aunt Agnes and Uncle Ed sparked me to look up typewriters in the era of 1932. I managed to find this Vintage 1932 Remington Portable Standard Manual Typewriter:  [Inline image 1]
Death of a loved one is never a happy occasion. However through the amazing art of film the Wright family will always be able to keep Mrs. Wright’s memory alive with images to recall forever.

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thoughts on how research happens

Paradigm and paradigm change are integral in research. In my Methods of Research bibliography is an Open Society Institute video on their drug policy advocacy around the world. 

http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/what-world-can-learn-switzerlands-drug-policy-shift

As ever one's  personal experience is just that, one's personal experience.  Most of my interest in drug policy has been in terms of clinical social work since 1982 with clients having substance abuse concerns. Caregiving as presented in the work of Ann Burack-Weiss has so informed my practice. I routinely refer to mindfulness as per Buddhist thought.

Policy is another lens. In my experience, luck has had it that I have known several drug policy advocates who are also tied to the Open Society. The first is a Swiss legislator who I visited in Zurich in the early 1990s and was then involved in the work presented in the Open Society video. I also observed the experiment to allow drug use in a Zurich park. My trips were in the time of my doctoral study in cross-national social policy, and I visited social work programs in Berlin and Rotterdam. 

Secondly, I have known the strategic planner for Open Society programs throughout the world and heard about initiatives since the 1990s. Third, I have done recent consulting with a drug policy organizer in San Francisco whose program is funded by the Open Society.

The work of these advocates as well as my lens as a social worker qua researcher are examples of how research can and does happen, and is utilized. The Zurich project initiated as action research  for real life social welfare activity and is presented as a case study video (case study is a method of intense focus on a case, group, community,  program or policy).  My friend at Open Society has put together resources around the world about drug policy, i.e, meta=research. The San Francisco activity is  case study and action research: the process of needs assessment and implementing solutions with real time evaluation feedback.

Thinking from the lens of Kuhn, paradigm shifts. Drug policy is changing as data analysis shows best practices from real life activity. There are many ways of knowing.