Skype meeting March 20, 2019
On March 20, 2019, there was a scheduled Skype meeting for the Module 2, and 3 participants of the MAPP program which was centred around the idea of shifting inquiries due to unforeseen circumstances that could have been foreshadowed by the action of filling out the MORE form in Module 2.
Some of the discussion that arose was around the idea of responses and gender because one of the participants had received much more responses from female participants than from male participants in their study which led to her concluding that female participants are ten times more likely to respond than male participants in this particular case. There was an ethical issue mentioned as well around this idea, by bringing up another idea of how the information could be different if whatever study had been done had not disclosed the gender of the participants. I felt as though this particular topic of the Skype session ended mostly with more questions, not really any concrete solutions or conclusions, but solutions that I felt as though could be individual and based upon our own perspectives derived from our own inquiries, and previous experience.
Other issues that arose are the lack of participants responding to questionnaires and surveys, and what this could mean to the inquiries, as well as how the data could be considered to be lost, but discussion and input from the module leaders lead to the idea that there being no responses to the data gathering methods could also be used as data within the inquiry.
The next topic I believe was that there was also some input from participants in Module 2 about frustrations that they are experiencing within their own development of their inquiry, that could be arising from pre-conceived ideas and concepts of what is and isn’t. One of the things that I feel seem to be stressed throughout the MAPP is that the goal isn’t to find out why or how something happens, but more to find out what is happening - I remember Adesola mentioning this many times throughout the MAPP.
Talking about shifts in the inquiry and how the data collection may have not have been as productive as initially thought, or not ended up being able to follow the direction of the initial inquiry. I feel as though my inquiry is about the same idea as it was originally, the methods of data collection have to be more heavily based upon the literature instead of the participant's responses to the questionnaires, and that I should probably talk to Adesola about if I need to re-contact the ethics committee if there are any concerns about using my own reflective learning Journals as data within this inquiry.
I have been observing that the smaller the groups are in the MAPP Skype Discussions that the less rich I am feeling the discussion get, and I have a feeling that it is due to the there being less energy when there are fewer people communicating amongst others. I also noticed that I myself wasn’t really certain much of the time on what angle the various speakers were coming from, so at times when there are awkward silences, I would speak and try to test and see if I was able to understand the concepts that were being spoken about. I find it very interesting that still in module three there is so much working out various forms of communication between one and another even though I feel as though I am finding myself to be more easily understood when I am writing.
