Mapping. Mapping is similar to brainstorming, except that you look for and make connections among the ideas. Start with a word or phrase, add related words, and draw lines to show connections.
Observations. You see something that interests you and try to describe it. Your observations may be about things to celebrate, activities or approaches you want to try out, things that challenge you or things you want to change.
Questions. You form and record questions about what you see and wonder about. Questions may be a prompt to seek information or for further learning.
Wonderings. What would happen if? Why is this? I wonder....
Self-awareness. You may be more aware of yourself in your practitioner role. You may celebrate, be challenged, note things to try or things to change.
Synthesis. You may pull together ideas from observations, discussions and previous reflections.
Critical reflection. This involves reflecting on your practices in relation to your own and others' beliefs and worldviews, in light of your research.
Reflective writing or written records of your reflections can also be a source of data for your research. Fay Holt Begg (2004) kept a journal during her research about how spending time, herself, on art, craft, music, meditation and exercise might help her teach students who had difficulty learning because of experiences of violence. Fay used her journal to document her observations, and used it as well to process emotions and memories that came up through reading or engaging in drawing and craft-making. (See Chapter 8 for other examples of using journals for data collection).
Although Fay found that journaling was a way to process emotions, emotional response to daily events made journal writing difficult for some BC researchers. Diana Twiss (2004), one of the researchers, reported that they found it extremely difficult to write [in their journals]. The recent changes in government policy in BC affected many of our students in negative ways and the practitioner researchers simply couldn't relive in writing the despair they were experiencing daily. (p. 27)
Return to note 6 Prompted / adapted from a source that could not be located.