Final Reflection

Course reflection

This is my reflection on the course. I have posted all my comments to other blogs in a separate blog-post.

I think this course have been a really interesting one. Mostly because it’s been stimulating the entire time due to the different parts of the course (i.e. starting off with philosophy, then continuing with different kinds methods).

The first week, during the philosophy theme, I was thrown off that a course named Research and Methods in Media Technology had a section about just that. In one way, I struggled a lot with it. I’m not used to the level that Kant was writing on and I also am not used to this philosophical and complex way of thinking. But on the other hand, challenging yourself is always useful and fun. At first I had a hard time seeing how this theme was relevant and had anything to do with research-methods in general. In retrospect, I can see how the first and second theme really built a foundation for me to the other themes and helped me to reflect on another level and also gave me another perspective that I didn’t have before.

The first theme really got me thinking about knowledge and what knowledge is. It also changed how I look at knowledge to some extent. Before I’ve never really thought about that knowledge is something that we classify and that it could differ from person to person. Knowledge to me has always been there as a concept that I’ve never questioned. After the seminar, where we mainly talked about Kant, I tried to be more open to these kinds of thoughts but I still struggle. One thing I remember is the discussion about that you can’t describe knowledge to someone who doesn’t have it. Can you really describe it without examples? There are no right or wrong answers here and it can be hard to cope with for someone that isn’t used to that.

Moving on to the second theme, I think it connected the philosophical thoughts to a more social-perspective. One part that really got stuck with me was the concept of nominalism, and more specifically that we need something more than nominalism – we can’t just change the world by looking at it, we need to use our perception as a tool. Really interesting and once again it was something that I never really thought about before. As more of a scientific person and as a soon-to-be engineer I often think that the scientific knowledge is the correct one, but after the second week I understand that we need also to listen to ideas and rationalism to get a vision of a tolerant and just society (with theories such as human rights and equality between gender). 

The third theme sort of gave an introduction to the subsequent themes and also connected them to the previous ones. It was really good to discuss the different meanings of expressions that we would use the following weeks, such as theory, statements, hypothesis etc. It’s interesting how hard it could be to put into word the meaning of a specific word. Before that week seminar, I really thought I had a good understanding of all the terms but as soon as we started discussing I realized that we all had some sort of different perspective and personal meaning to the words. This is not good if you are suppose to do a research, everyone in the team need to be clear with what you mean with what. Another important thing that came up was the importance of defending the problem. Haibo told us that a correct defined problem will make the problem solving a lot easier. If you haste through this stage of the research you might end up with even more question and the real problem, that you where meant so investigate, might just have been a part of the first problem you came to think of.

The last month (theme 4-6), I’ve got a deeper understanding and a lot of more knowledge about different research methods (more specific qualitative, quantitative and case study). To being able to do so I’ve read quite a large amount papers. One thing that crossed my mind more than once during this month was how hard it was to distinguish what methods had been used in the papers. Often the paper I had chosen for the week had a combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods. I found it especially hard to interpret if a paper had conducted a case study or not since if often wasn’t explicit said in the paper.

Since many papers seemed to use a combination of methods I started to think of why. When reading different ones it appeared that those who had used a combination of methods got a much broader understanding of the problem that they conducted the research on. So many times it’s not enough to just use one method, you have to combine methods to improve the analytic power and get a deeper understanding. When combining method you could complement the weaknesses and strengths of the complementary method, you also get each method’s perspective at the problem. This might sound a bit self-explanatory now but every method has its pros and cons and it’s very important to know what they are so you could compensate or at least have it in mind when conducting a study. For example, when using a qualitative method, you normally don’t get any data to make a comparison between different studies. But when you use a survey in the same study, you get comparable data and therefore compliment the qualitative method’s weakness.

One thing I find really interesting is if you are doing a research in one area it will most likely have been previous research in the same area. Since you often don’t want to investigate the same thing, you could change the combination of methods and therefore get a different perspective on the problem. So combining different methods you could answer more complex questions and the area you research will be more explored and understood at a multidimensional level.

So there is a lot of useful and good things coming with combining methods, you get a more comprehensive understanding, it could explain causality and you as a researcher could customize the method (a strength in qualitative research is the opportunity to customize interviews or other qualitative methods). But the more I read I also understood that when combining methods, the research design could be very complex. I think it’s therefore I had a hard time distinguishing what methods that had been used in some papers.

As a final thought I think when combining method, such as qualitative and quantitative in a case study, the different methods are all linked to each other at some level. So it might be wrong to see them as separate methods. Instead it might be easier if you see them as a set of tools that you can combined in different ways so solve a specific problem, a problem that are in need of just that combination of tools.

Blog Comments

This is just all my comments collected in one blog-post. I will post a reflection-post in a separate blog-post.


Theme 1 Pre-reflections
Malin Bokström:
Hi Malin, I'm really impressed of what you manage to get out of Kant's text before the lecture and seminar. For me, his text was very confusing.
You wrote "...looking at objects from different perspectives to truly know something", do you think we humans have the possibility to change perspective when looking at things or is the perspectives inherent in us humans?

Anton Lundström
Hi Anton,
Great answers! Do you agree with that there is no self-existing truth and that answers we find through empiricism are not absolute?
I had a hard time accepting this (being a "natural scientist") but the more I think about it the more is makes sense that empiricism is a way that we perceive the world.

Andreas Patriksson
Hi Andreas,
I think you did a great job in this blog! It's a interesting question how we see and percept time and room. I really like the example of Copernicus and how different perspective can change the way we think and see things.  

Emelie Ekman
Hi Emelie,
I really liked your blog, especially the second part about Socrates. So if we hear with our ears but listens trough them, is it then possible to make a objective interpretation of the world? Or do you feel like the senses always adapt the objects to out previous experiences?

Samuel Lindberg
Hi Samuel,
I liked you answers to Kant's text and I think you did a great job having in mind how hard the text were and that this was written before the seminar and lecture.
A comment on the second text, do you agree with Socrates that seeing is not the same as perceiving? In a way, it makes sense, but at the same time it could be hard for a "scientist" to agree due to most of empirical evidences are based on visual observations, and if Socrates is right, they can be different depending on who's watching.
Keep up the great work!
Sofia


Theme 1 After-reflections
Ilona Khammatova

Hi Ilona,

I had the same problem as you with Kant. My interpretation of the text was wrong and Johan though me a lot during the seminar. After the seminar I made the same conclusion as you regarding the 12 ways of understanding and the faculties of knowledge.

What do you think of Kant's text? Do you agree with him? For me his way of discussion how we see the world really put a new dimension in my life. Never thought about it in his way and sort of makes sense that the world conforms to our cognition.

Keep up the good work!

Mikael Knutsson
Hi Mikael,
I really liked you reflections and just like you (and probably most of us), I had a hard time understanding Kant. Also, I didn't understand Kant's text before the seminar.
I liked your example with the newborn baby. Do you think that they have a clue what's going on? We sort of discussed this in my seminar too and I sort of feel like that we are born with basic instincts (or knowledge, is it the same?), such as hunger. But I don't know what to make out of the crying part. Is that coherent in hunger or does the baby learn that hunger + crying = parents get me and I get some food.
Anyhow, keep up the good work!
Sofia 

Stephanie Flodman
Hi Stephanie,
Haha, I really recognize my self in your text when you say that you have a very naturalistic and scientistic way of seeing the world. Do you think that it might be a disadvantage form time to time? I personally feel like it's good to have some knowledge of the "metaphysic way of thinking" but at the same time I have a hard time agreeing with some of it that we discussed at the seminar (such as babies don't feel hunger).
I also agree with you with you saying that metaphysics or philosophy is better to discuss with people. I had a really hard time comprehend Kant and after the seminar I felt a lot more confident in talking about what he is trying to say.
Keep up the good work!
Sofia

Cecilia Friström
Hi Cecilia,
I agree with you when saying that the seminar clarified so much for us when it comes to understanding Kant. The example with a melody really helped me grasp the structure part (with time).
For me though it was really hard to to agree with Johan when he starts talking about colors. It might be because I am a "scientific" person but I know that red is the same for everyone (if their eyes work properly). Do you agree with him that red for me might be black for you?
Overall I think its great to challenge our selfs and how we think and this seminar really contribute to that.
Great work, keep it up!
Sofia 

Johan Kasperi
Hi Kasperi,
I also struggled a lot with Kant's text (I think that goes for most of us). Just like you I really tried to read it a couple of times but for me it didn't work.
Something we didn't go into that much on our seminar was Plato's text. Therefore I found you discussion about knowledge and what knowledge is really interesting. "You have to have knowledge to know what knowledge is" really put my mind into work. Like you said, it kind of makes sense but at the same time id doesn't. Hard to explain why I don't think it makes sense but I think I like the thought of being able to spread knowledge to others (if that makes sense).
Anyhow, keep up the good work!
Sofia

Theme 2 Pre-reflections 
Sofie Nilsson
Hi Sofie,
Great answers to the question. I think the question about nominalism is extra interesting because if makes sense, at lest for me, and it a new concept to me. One thing I reacted on is the term "universal phrases", what does that refer to? Is it words that we humans have made up to "describe" stuff, i.e. dog? Universal phrases a new term in my vocabulary and it would be great to know!
Keep up the good work!
Sofia

Åsa Linder

Hi Åsa,

You have great answers to the questions. One I found especially interesting is 1d because I thought that myth is term that tries to explain unknown phenomena’s with illusions that are often supernatural ones. This is totally different from your answer (that myth is all forms of knowledge that existed before enlightenment).
Keep up the good work!

Sofia

Daniel Lindström

Hi Daniel,
Great blog-post! I answered all question pretty similar to you. One term that I think is really interesting is myth and I like the way you described it “...unknown phenomena’s made up by humans because of the fear of not knowing (even if it is a lie, it is better than nothing)”. I think most humans have a huge need of knowing things, even though there are no answers. So we make something up to believe in instead, such as religion answers many philosophical/life-meaning questions (meaning of life, why are we here, etc.).

Anyway, keep up the good work!
Sofia

Gabriella Sanchez Karlsson

Hi Gabbi,

Great answers to the question, I have very similar ones. One question I have to your answer on 2d (regarding auras). Do you think a negative (the raw-foty of a photograph) have an aura? Yes, you can make copies and therefore reproduce the negative but you can make copies of paintings as well. The photocopy would probably be more similar to the original than the painting would be, but still.
I feel like Benjamin’s definition is a bit weak..

Keep up the good work!
Sofia

August Ejnarsson

Hi August,
Great job with the questions! Your answers are very much alike mine. One thing I came to think of when reading your blogpost is the question about auras (1d). You wrote that myths help people feel safer by replacing an unknown thing with something. Do you think all myths make people feel safer? I agree with you that myths are something we make up to replace the unknown with but I’m not sure that they all make people feel safer. For example the myth that you get eyes shaped like a square if you watch to much TV just scare people, not making them feel safer.
Anyway, keep up the good work!
Sofia

Replies:
Hi Stephanie,
Very interesting question. I'm not sure if I believe in auras but I agree with you, nothing is eternal when it comes to objects. But atoms are eternal and maybe they have a inherent aura that appears different deepening on the object they form and therefore every objects aura changes over time.
Sofia 

Theme 2 After-reflections  

Elma Maksumic

Hi Elma,

I’m just like you when preparing the text. I have had some troubles understanding the text (especially to the first seminar) and therefore I Google them and try to read summaries and other peoples reflections.

It is an interesting reflection that in order to understand a text fully it’s better to read it in the same context as it is written. But at the same time, this could be very hard to carry out. A lot of book doesn’t state what the author is trying to mediate. But anyhow, I’m going to try to keep this in mind when reading the remaining text (and in the future to).

Keep up the good work!
Sofia

Isaac Rondon

Hi Isaac,

I really like your reflections about understanding the context and the cultural situation in which the text is written in.  This could be quite hard to do before reading a text (most authors do not publish personal information and you actively have to go and Google them) but I think it is of great importance and one goal I have is to trying doing this before reading a text.

It is also very interesting to read about your home country Venezuela and by the censure. Is this something you notice in you every-day life or how do you discover the censure and the “real” reality?

Keep up the good work!
Sofia

Simon Fransson

Hi Simon,

Great reflections on the second theme, I am really impressed! We had a similar discussion in our group about that both the enlightenment and the culture industry promise us freedom but them both fail to deliver. So like you wrote in this post, people stop thinking and submit to the culture when the enlightenment becomes myth in that people see the success presented to them through culture as their own success. The culture can have the effect that it makes us believe in different things, it can be science, religion or whatever (depending on what area we live in) and therefore we need to be criticise and explore, just like you wrote.
For me, this is a new way of thinking and I feel like it’s very important to remember.

Keep up the good work!
Sofia

Johan Huusmann

Hi Johan,

I agree with you that that the text on this theme was a lot easier to grasp than the pervious one. But they still demand some thinking and reflections afterward. 

I think it’s very good that Håkan did a connection to the previous week texts, he didn’t do that in my seminar and I feel like it would have been interesting to hear what connection he did between the two themes. Do you by any chance remember?

Anyhow, keep up the good work!
Sofia

Jenny Bern

Hi Jenny,

I feel just like you, the text are sometimes very hard to grasp and therefore the seminars are so important because it clarifies a lot for me. I think it’s great that you reread the text as well. We also talked a lot about placing the texts we read in a historical context, which I think is really interesting and important.

Glad you feel like you improved your philosophical way of thinking, I’m still struggling with that!

Sofia

Theme 3 Pre-reflections

Andreas Almqvist Gref

Hi Andreas,

I think your article sounds very interesting but just like with my article one of the conclusions is that further investigations are necessary. It’s too bad when you read a article and they states that in the end.
I had a hard time categorize which of Sutton’s theories mine where to be categorized, it seemed to me that they kind of overlap and I think you had kind of the same problem. Do the results have to be generalizable to fall under the prediction category or is it enough that they have testable proportions?

Anyhow, keep up the good work!
Sofia

Magnus Westlund

Hi Magnus,

Just a question on your article, you wrote that there is a lack of empirical studies if search engines may favor a certain type of website, does that include your article as well? I feel like investing this kind of subject on only nanotechnology-websites might be a bit to narrow to generalize the results. Just like you wrote, the study has testable proportions but no casual explanation so why do you think this article should be classified as predicting instead of explaining?

Keep up the good work!

Sofia

Johanna Sjöberg

Hi Johanna,

I had chosen the same article as you, what a coincident considering how many papers there are on the Internet.

One thing we discussed in my seminar where that social capital also is a theory, do you agree with that?

I also categorized the theories in the paper as prediction. I also think is might be some explanations is the paper as well even tough the survey they use were not very well developed. Is hard do draw the line, must the results be generalized to fall under the explanations theory?

Anyhow, keep up the good work!
Sofia 

Annie Andersson

Hi Annie,

I agree with you, there must some gray zones between the different groups in your article.  Do you think the result are generalized in the paper or do they, like Leif wrote, that they need to use several theories instead of just Brandtzaeg’s?
Keep up the good work!
Sofia

Jerry Fan

Hi Jerry,

Great explanation of what theory is and what it’s not. Just like you I missed some theories in my paper. I think is so easy to overlook theories such as copyright and mainly focus on the “scientific” theories. For me the seminar kind of opened my eyes to all the other theories we have (like human equality and feminism), they were more like concept to me before.
Did you before the lecture and seminar think of copyright and property as a theory?
Keep up the good work!
Sofia

Theme 3 After-reflections

Andreas Patriksson

Hi Andreas,

I agree with you, theme 3 was easier to grasp than the other teams but the seminar kind of made it all confusing to me. I think it’s a great question you have, what turns a hypothesis into a theory? My understanding on what a hypothesis is, are after the seminar that it could be tested as true/false or irrelevant. Is then a true hypothesis a theory? And how many times to you have to test the hypothesis as true to be an acceptable theory?

I think this is really hard and there is probably no right or wrong answers to this.

Happy weekend!

Sofia

Panagiotis Kallioras

Hi,

Haha, I agree with you that it is kind of nice to move from philosophical discussions to a subject that is easier to grasp, at lest for me.

Just a question, what do you mean with that there is different meanings of theory? You write that you can see theory from a philosophical perspective and from a logic and mathematic perspective and for me this is a bit unclear. Is it really two meaning of theory or just two completely different theories?

In my seminar we talked about that there are the theories that we are more used to as “scientists” and there is other theories, such as democracy and human rights, but they are both theories.

Anyway, keep up the good work!
Sofia

Ayesha Ahsan

Hi Ayesha,

I had chosen the same article as you to this theme, what a coincident!
Under my seminar we talked a lot about that social capital is one form of theory, did you think of that before the seminar? I haven’t thought about it before and I think (because I’m more of a science person) that I forget that democracy and human rights also are theories. We didn’t talk about that there is a scientific and psychological perspective to theory so therefore is was really interesting to read about that in you blog!

Keep up the good work!
Sofia

Zulfiia Tarazova

Hi,

It’s very interesting to read about your comparison between knowledge and theory, we didn’t discuss that much in my seminar. You write that knowledge is a “unit of measurement of theory. Do you think that knowledge only is facts, evidence and conclusions or that knowledge can be more abstract and non-measurable? We talked about that there are different kinds of theories and for example that human rights or feminism are theories, to you think human rights also is some kind of knowledge?

Happy weekend!
Sofia

Xuxiao Ma

Hi,

I had the same difficulties as you understanding the differences between theory and other concepts. We also talked about the difference between theory and hypothesis and came to the same conclusion. But what I came to think of is that a hypothesis could be tested as true, false or irrelevant and so can a theory. Does a hypothesis become a theory when you prove them? Did you talk anything about that?
Keep up the good work!
Sofia  

Theme 4 Pre-reflections

Kristina Roman

Hi Kristina,

Great reflections you have done on your article. I think it’s wired that they have such a broad question and only used a survey on the insurance industry. I also find I t weird that they collected the data in different ways, but maybe that a common way to do it?

You wrote that it might be good giving participants a reward for participating in the study. But don’t you think that it might compromise the results? I’m thinking that people just fill out your questionnaire to get the reward and therefore not really reflecting on the question.

Keep up the good work!
Sofia

Martin Söderberg

Hi Martin,

I find it very interesting that only 391 out of 2000 people that responded used a SNS. I agree with you that it might not be enough to categorize the dropouts after age, gender and education. I think that the geographical factor and their income are relevant to look at as well. I also think that a online survey might not be suitable to represent a whole population. But like you say, these are very tricky problems and probably hard to solve.

Keep up the good work!
Sofia

Oscar Aldrin

Hi Oscar,

Great reflections on qualitative and quantitative methods! I also agree with you that they might miss why this phenomenon is occurring in the paper. I find it a bit odd that they only did a survey in Örebro. I feel like the results might not be generalizable for the whole youth in Sweden when they only did the survey in one city (or is it a town?).

Anyhow, keep up the good work!
Sofia 

Hannah Bylund

Hi Hannah,

Haha, I think your article is quite interesting but I feel like it could be hard to investigate how addicted someone is. Where do you draw the line between using Internet a lot and being addicted? You write that they used two variables to come to a conclusion, is that really enough? It’s a very broad and complex subject and it might have been better to use a qualitative method instead (just like you suggested). I also am a bit concerned that they for are relying on self awareness and also that the respondent are honest in their answers. I feel like this a sensitive subject to many people and therefore it might compromise the result.

Anyhow, great job on the blog!
Sofia

Noa Julin

Hi Noa,

I had chosen this article for another theme in this course and I think it’s quite interesting. But I agree with you, it might be hard to investigate this kind of subject only by using a quantitative method. I think they could have benefit by doing some sort of qualitative method as well (i.e. a interview of some kind).
I also found it wired that they compensated the participants by giving them $5, I think that it might compromise the result and answers in the questionnaires.
Keep up the good work!
Sofia

 

Theme 4 After-reflection
Charlotte Åbyhammar

Hi Charlotte,

I also learned this week that a questionnaire is supposed to have an uneven number of options. I always thought that an uneven number is not preferable due to the fact that a lot of people will choose the middle one and therefore not “have an opinion”. But in a way it makes sense that that will upset a lot of people that don’t really have a opinion in the matter. But on the other hand it might be difficult to draw conclusions if the majority of the respondents choose the middle one.
Keep up the good work!
Sofia

 Alexander Arozin 

Hi Alexander,

Great reflections. I also enjoyed the workshop with Olle a lot and I think it’s a great way to get people relaxed and more comfortable talking to each other.
We didn’t talk about making a matrix over the different respondent groups so I found reading about it in your blog very interesting. It also makes sense, if you don’t evaluate the respondent group, how are you then to interpret the date and to adapt the questionnaire for them.

Anyhow, keep up the great work!
Sofia

Malin Bokström

Hi Malin,

Haha, funny reflections over what Olle’s favorite research are, quantitative or qualitative.

I learned similar things like you on the workshop, but I think is wired that the majority of us think that is supposed to be a even number of options on a survey. I still a bit shattered if I agree with Olle or not. I feel like the result and date might be hard (and boring) to interpret if the majority of people end up picking the middle option but on the other hand you don’t want to upset people by not giving them a option that suits them.

Anyhow, keep up the good work (again)!
Sofia

Åsa Linder

Hi Åsa,

I also did a survey in my bachelor and I wished I had taken this course before that. I also, just like you, learned a lot from Olle this week.

Concerning the last part of your blog, it so easy to be blind to flaws due to the fact that you know your study and survey so well form working with it. Therefore is so important to test the questionnaire before and also to see if the questions you ask are the right one for your study. But I guess it also said easier than doing.

Keep up the great blogging!
Sofia

Stephanie Flodman

Hi Stephanie,

I’m impressed that you manage to write down so many of the pros and cons from the seminar. Most of them I knew before the seminar but I still find it very interesting that they qualitative and quantitative are very different on so many levels. One thing I came to think of was if you are supposed to tell the “think-aloud”-respondent what the questionnaire is about? I can’t recall Olle talk anything about that. It probably isn’t necessary since often the respondent don’t know what the study is about (I think at least?) but on the other hand it might be good for the evaluation of the survey.

Great blogging btw!
Sofia

Theme 5 Pre-reflection  
Christian Virtala

Hi Christian,

I liked your blog post. I think it’s interesting that you discuss the negative parts of using a prototype in a research. I think I came to think of is that I could be good if the test persons give feedback on the aesthetic parts of the proptypes as well. Even if it’s not in their main interest it might result in valuable thoughts on the design aspect, which is an important part too.

Keep up the good work!
Sofia   

Johan Kasperi

Hi Johan,

Great blog post! I like your thoughts about the consequence of that researchers could be emotionally attached to their prototype. I haven’t thought about it and I think it is an important aspect when deciding if using a prototype or not. But I’m also thinking that you want to make a prototype that is as good as possible to test on respondent and therefore a good develop prototype is necessary. It feels like an important consideration to decide how advance your prototype will be and how many functions that is needed.

Sofia

Simon Fransson

Hi Simon,
Great reflections! As mention above the emotional attachment to a prototype can play a significant roll and I think it’s so important to be a bit distant when developing one.  Keep up the good work!
Sofia

Mikael Knutsson

Hi Mikael,

I liked your answer to how media technologies can be evaluated. I think it’s so important to think of what the technology is used for before deciding how to evaluate it. One risk that you didn’t mention with prototypes is that the developer can get very attached when developing it. It could lead to that features that might need to be removed doesn’t because the developer is so found of it, and so on.

Anyhow, great work!
Sofia

Cecilia Friström

Hi Cecilia,

Great blog post and reflections! I’m just wondering if you think there are some more methods you can use when evaluating media technologies? One way is definitely by doing a usability test but I’m thinking that depending on the technology different methods might suit better.

Keep up the blogging
Sofia

Theme 5 After-reflection   

Viktor Leandersson

Hi Viktor,
I had the same problem with you during this theme. Not really sure what I was suppose to learn during the lecture/seminar with Salnäs other than was in her papers.
But on the other hand it's interesting to hear what people work with, even though haptic is not my favorite subject.
Anyway, I liked you recap :)
Sofia

Hannah Bylund

Hi Hannah,

I had the same problem as you during the lecture with Eva-Lotta. Of course it is interesting in a way to hear about her research but I already read the papers so it was more of a recap of that.
I don’t recall the expression flaming being used so I enjoyed reading about that in your blog (and actually learning something new).

Anyhow, keep up the good work!
Sofia

Andreas Patriksson

Hi Andreas,

Haha, I had the same problem with this theme and lecture as you. I also picked up the term white spot, but I think that’s about it. But on the other hand it’s quite interesting to hear what she works with, even though I probably won’t end up there my self.

Samuel Lindberg

Hi Samuel,

Some good news to you, I think it was a great week to be ill. Eva-Lott mostly talked about her research and the lecture was basically a recap of her papers. What I did learn was the term white spot, it’s a area that you don’t know much about. When you doing a research of a white spot, it’s often better to use a qualitative method. But that about it.
Hope you feel better J.

Sofia

Replies:Hi Johan,
Yes I agree with you on this. I did a think aloud once and is was really awkward in the beginning. Normally I don't really reflect on what I'm thinking when using a product or new technology. But when doing a think aloud with a friend, I think it would be way easier and more laid-back.
Sofia

Theme 6 Pre-reflection    

Emelie Ekman

Hi Emelie,

I liked your definition of a case study and I think it’s very understandable what it is and I think it’s great that you used several sources.
It seems to me that many papers that use a qualitative method often use a quantitative method as well to ground their research on. Not sure if you agree but when I searched on Google Schoolar on qualitative method, most of the papers that showed up had a quantitative method as well.
Btw, had no idea that you used you used to live in Florida, that’s great! Keep up the good work!
Sofia

Stephanie Flodman

Hi Stephanie,

It seems to me that many papers that use a qualitative method often use a quantitative method as well to ground their research on. Not sure if you agree but when I searched on Google Scholar on qualitative method, most of the papers that showed up had a quantitative method as well.

I’m a bit surprised that they used 25 participants for the qualitative method, it’s quite a lot of data to interpret. But I agree with you, maybe only a couple of them posted something online.

Anyway, great job as always!
Sofia

Erik Rosberg

Hi Erik,

It seems to me that many papers that use a qualitative method often use a quantitative method as well to ground their research on. Not sure if you agree but when I searched on Google Scholar on qualitative method, most of the papers that showed up had a quantitative method as well. Even though your paper didn’t have a quantitative method in it, it’s still based on one. Anyway, great reflections on your paper! I also had trouble finding limitations in my paper. I think that in order to get publish your research has to be quite spot on and very well worked trough. And for some reason I find it harder to find limitations with a qualitative method than a quantitative. Do you agree? 

Sofia

Noa Julin

Hi Noa,

Great reflections on your chosen article! I think a $25 gift card is quite a lot of money to receive for participating in a study. I don’t know if it could effect the result or not, maybe people just answer the question but on the other hand it’s hard do not say what you feel in an interview. Also, interviews do take up a lot of time so maybe it’s needed to reimburse people in order to get them to participate.
Anyway, I had a hard time finding an article that only used a qualitative method. Most of the papers I found had both a qualitative and a quantitative method, so I enjoyed your blog post.

Sofia



Isaac Rondon
Hi Isaac,
I enjoyed reading your blog post very much. I’ve never heard about a “twenty statement test” before, so that was interesting to read about. I also liked you analysis of the methodological problems of the study. It really an important aspect that the research can’t determine why or how the results are obtained. Or maybe you can answer why in your paper but definitely not why.
Anyway, great work!
Sofia 

Theme 6 After-reflection 
Illona 
Hi Ilona,
I agree with both you and August. A case study is very complex and in a way is a method that combines both qualitative and quantitative methods.
I had a hard time grasping that a case study is something that isn't created but rather is already there and just needs an explanation.
Anyhow, great reflections.
Sofia 

Kristina Roman
Hi Kristina,
The seminar also brought a clearer understanding for me what a case study is. Just like Hannah wrote, a case study is something that is already there. I think the example with ADHD is really good and explains in a good way what a case study is.
Great reflecations!
Sofia

Ayesha
Hi Ayesha,
Great reflections on the seminar. I think it's very interesting that a case study is something that is already there. Like the example with ADHD. 20 years ago we didn't know what ADHD was, than we conducted case studies on it and today we have a much clearer understanding of the symptoms, based on the existing knowledge.
Sofia 
 
Reply:
Hi Erik,
Haha, yes to clarify, I just know less about case studies than qualitative studies. Of course I have a lot to learn about qualitative studies but from what came up on the seminar, that wasn't anything new to me.
I think you question on what creates a case is both very interesting and very difficult to answer. I don't think I have a answer to it. Maybe that when you feel the need to explain why something happens is when a case study is created?
Thanks for you comment!
Sofia

Hi Hannah,
Great example with ADHD. I think I still have a hard time grasping the difference though. But it makes sense when applying case study to a real problem, you get a much clearer answer on that it really is.
Thanks for your comment!
Sofia