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womblingfree
Joined: 04 Mar 2006
Posts: 826
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 Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 11:15 pm Post subject: Eikaiwa - a study |
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Hello everyone.
No, no, this thread isn't a giant flame war thread of complaint, I'm doing a little research for my MA dissertation. What I'm looking for is your considered and honest appraisals of the time you spent working for an eikaiwa. Good & bad.
I'd like to keep it as open as possible, I am however particularly interested in:
Why you went to Japan in the first place & the interview process. What were your expectations? Were they met? Did it lead to a career in ELT?
Your initial training and whether you felt it was adequate. Also what was taught at follow up training and any other trainings.
Sales training workshops (self-study workshops)
The link between the business side and the teaching side and how these co-existed at your school.
Did you build up a relationship with your students?
Did you find the lessons effective?
I'm happy to just hear about anything whatsoever that you have to say, so ignore all of the above if you like.
If you would prefer not to make your comments public you can PM me or email me with what you've got to say.
Let the ethnography begin!
Last edited by womblingfree on Wed Jun 28, 2006 2:22 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Gordon
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 5309
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 11:47 pm Post subject: |
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| What kind of dissertation is this? Is there any form of measurement? I've never heard of a thesis based solely on experiences. |
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womblingfree
Joined: 04 Mar 2006
Posts: 826
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| Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 12:01 am Post subject: |
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| Gordon wrote: |
| What kind of dissertation is this? Is there any form of measurement? I've never heard of a thesis based solely on experiences. |
Qulitative research.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualitative_research |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 12:12 am Post subject: |
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I'm sorry, this is not qualitative research. Qualitative research is conducting surveys, phone interviews and observation. What is your research question and what do you aim to find out from this study? How are you collecting verifiable data?
How will you triangulate your study (i.e verify the truth of the statements by other means e.g. oral interviews or observation)
What you are doing is collecting war stories and anecdotes from anonymous people off the Internet ( FWIW Gordon has a massters from an Australian university and im doing a qualitative study with a british university)
You need to pilot your questions, know who is responding to your questionnaire, make sure responses are valid and reliable (trustworthy).This is the equivalent of putting a notice on a notice board and expecting every Tom Di-ck and Harry to respond to you.
You can probably use them as quotes or citations but as part of a qualitative study they would be almost worthless. |
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womblingfree
Joined: 04 Mar 2006
Posts: 826
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| Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 12:22 am Post subject: |
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| PAULH wrote: |
I'm sorry, this is not qualitative research. Qualitative research is conducting surveys, phone interviews and observation. What is your research question and what do you aim to find out from this study? How are you collecting verifiable data? |
Ha, ha off topic already.
I was pointing out to Gordon that a thesis can be entirely based on experience. Mine isn't. It's perfectly feasible that an MA can be completed with absolutely no knowledge of Qualt or Quant whatsoever.
Your definition of qualititve method is far to narrow. Collecting peoples opinions and using content analysis is perfectly justifiable and can yield fascinating results. Putting a notice on a notice board is a perfectly acceptable method of research if that is the dynamic you are analysing. Triangulation of data is only one way of analysing data, and not what I'm after.
I'd agree with you if this thread was all I was doing, it isn't.
This thread already contains rich data on how ELT teachers interact on forums 
As I'm now an active participant I will view this as a particularly emic study 
Now then...anyone worked in an eikaiwa? |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 12:49 am Post subject: |
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[quote="womblingfree"]
I suggest you read Research Methods in Education by Cohen and Manion rather than justifying Qualitative methods off Wikipedia.
if I dont ask you your supervisor will, and if he doesnt hes not doing his job.
I collect opinions too and have used email responses. i will use them to support something Im saying and ill say where i got it from but as a method of enquiry or analysis it falls very short. What you are basically doing is going on hearsay.
I would like to know where you are doing your Masters with, because I get the feeling it ones of these paper diploma mill degrees. A research degree with no qualitiative or quantitative data is not worth very much. Quali and quantitative are basically two sides of the same coin. Qualitative deals with experiences, observation, recording what you see and feel and what you learn from interviews etc. Quantitative deals with statistics and numbers. averages frequencies and distributions. Saying you can do a degree with none of these raises very serious questions about whether you actually know what you are doing.
A masters dissertation based on anecdotes is not worth very much (how will you analyse the information and make conclusions, may i ask?)
You may find this link useful too
http://www.eltnews.com/features/special/015a.shtml |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 1:00 am Post subject: |
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| womblingfree wrote: |
[Ha, ha off topic already.
I was pointing out to Gordon that a thesis can be entirely based on experience. Mine isn't. It's perfectly feasible that an MA can be completed with absolutely no knowledge of Qualt or Quant whatsoever.
? |
A thesis is based on analysis of qualitative and or quantitative data. Anything less and all it becomes is an extended fictional novel based on nothing but opinions. that is not what the supervisor is looking for. You must be able to back up what you say with solid data.
Collecting teachers stories has its place, but what you would be better doing is setting up a survey template, pilot your questions and then ask teachers to respond to a survey, it then becomes easier to collate and analyse responses
One I used for a similar purpose was on http://www.surveymonkey.com
The software will set up a survey page for you and calculate and sort individual responses, anything up to 1000 responses. may be worth taking a look. |
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womblingfree
Joined: 04 Mar 2006
Posts: 826
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| Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 1:06 am Post subject: |
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| PAULH wrote: |
A thesis is based on analysis of qualitative and or quantitative data. Anything less and all it becomes is an extended fictional novel based on nothing but opinions. that is not what the supervisor is looking for. You must be able to back up what you say with solid data.
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Hang about there are plenty of MA dissertations with little to no qualt or quant whatsoever. Sometimes a purely literature based study is possible. Phd thesis is, of course, not like this. Even if one receives a first for an MA dissertation this would probably comprise less than one chapter of a decent Phd thesis.
| PAULH wrote: |
| (how will you analyse the information and make conclusions, may i ask?) |
Content & discourse analysis, possibly textual analysis.
And yes, I am at an internet university and using Wikipedia for my literature review.
As I said this is not the only piece of research I'm doing. In fact it's now not even that but a discussion on what is and isn't qualitative research. The too-ing and fro-ing of internet debate is a rich source of discourse analysis!
I'm not looking to support any points. What I am interested in is content. Bonnie Norton gives very good examples on this.
Actually analysing any of the thousands of other threads will do, this one is more suited to the Applied Linguistics debate now.
Now what I'm doing may be not what you are doing, it may not even be what your supervisor would approve of. But there are a whole host of researchers out there who would disagree.
I'd say that internet forums are of particular interest when it comes to ethnographic study. In fact my mate's doing one entirely on that. Like I said before the way we are interacting right now is a huge source of material and could constitute a major study in and of itself.
Last edited by womblingfree on Wed Jun 21, 2006 1:18 am; edited 1 time in total |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 1:18 am Post subject: |
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| womblingfree wrote: |
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And yes, I am at an internet university and using Wikipedia for my literature review. . |
I think that right there explains everything.
Wikipedia is an open-source, non-referential websource which can be edited by absolutely anyone. Even I can go on Wikipedia and add my two cents worth and it would end up in your thesis.
Relying on Wikipedia for your information when you dont even know if your source is true or reliable doesnt make for a very strong or reliable study. |
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womblingfree
Joined: 04 Mar 2006
Posts: 826
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| Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 1:22 am Post subject: |
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| PAULH wrote: |
| womblingfree wrote: |
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And yes, I am at an internet university and using Wikipedia for my literature review. . |
I think that right there explains everything.
Wikipedia is an open-source, non-referential websource which can be edited by absolutely anyone. Even I can go on Wikipedia and add my two cents worth and it would end up in your thesis.
Relying on Wikipedia for your information when you dont even know if your source is true or reliable doesnt make for a very strong or reliable study. |
Hey that was a joke! Seriously, there isn't a smiley big enough. 
You have PM (in a minute). |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 1:26 am Post subject: |
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| womblingfree wrote: |
Hey that was a joke! Seriously, there isn't a smiley big enough.
You have PM (in a minute). |
Just my opinion but I think you need to look at some books on how to write dissertations and theses properly, unless you are buying one of these $300 masters degrees from degrees dot.com , in which case you can use it as wallpaper in your bathroom.
Your supervisors opinion, in the final analysis, is the only one that matters. Im just giving you my opinion as someone who has worked on a dissertation. |
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Gordon
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 5309
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 1:33 am Post subject: |
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Wow you two are busy. I teach one class and come back to a big discussion.
Sorry, wikipedia is not a reliable source. My university would not accept it nor would I have even thought about using it.
Anecdotes are anecdotes, they can't be used to prove anything or have any sort of reliability. |
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Chris21
Joined: 30 Apr 2006
Posts: 366
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 1:50 am Post subject: |
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This is absolutely a legitimate form of qualitative research. Qualitative research is not limited to surveys, and is not concerned with reliability or generalizability. For any that doubt this is legitimate qualitative research, please check out the many ethnographic or case studies done in our field. Introspective and diary studies are also legitimate forms of qualitative research that don't require surveys.
Having said that, I don't think soliciting opinions from an internet discussion forum is the best way to conduct your research. It may be ok to form some initial focus, but after that you really need to collect copious amounts of data (more than what could possibly be provided in this discussion forum).
Last edited by Chris21 on Wed Jun 21, 2006 1:58 am; edited 1 time in total |
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womblingfree
Joined: 04 Mar 2006
Posts: 826
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| Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 1:53 am Post subject: |
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| Gordon wrote: |
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Sorry, wikipedia is not a reliable source. My university would not accept it nor would I have even thought about using it. |
You'd be amazed at how many BA students actually refernce it in their bibliography 
| Gordon wrote: |
| Anecdotes are anecdotes, they can't be used to prove anything or have any sort of reliability. |
But with that taken into account they can be very interesting subjects. |
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womblingfree
Joined: 04 Mar 2006
Posts: 826
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| Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 1:55 am Post subject: |
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| Chris21 wrote: |
| This is absolutely a legitimate form of qualitative research. Qualitative research is not limited to surveys, and is not concerned with reliability or generalizability. For any that doubt this is legitimate qualitative research, please check out the many ethnographic or case studies done in our field. Introspective and diary studies are also a legitimate form of qualitative research that doesn't require surveys. |
You are my new favourite person.
| Chris21 wrote: |
| Having said that, I don't think soliciting opinions from an internet discussion forum is the best way to conduct your research. It may be ok to form some initial focus, but after that you really need to collect copious amounts of data (more than what could possibly be provided in this discussion forum). |
Yes, this was only ever sending out a few feelers to see what recurrent themes emerged. Like I said before there are actually thousands of other threads which would suffice. This one has been off topiced into an interesting place though.
The fact that not a single person has actually responded to the initial request is very interesting in itself. |
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