Feeling a little disconnected: PhD Journal Month 3
With the distractions of the Christmas break and another national lockdown announcement, writing a December recap almost slipped by me. While it feels like a long time ago now, it's actually been useful to look back at my calendar and notes from last month and reflect on what I got done.
December was the first month in our new house - exciting, but with one major downside of barely usable internet until we could get broadband installed several weeks in. This meant a period of feeling even more disconnected from the academic community than usual, unable to join in things like virtual catchups and writing retreats. It definitely made me realise how important these online get-togethers have become for maintaining some sense of normalcy. With fewer options for taking part in virtual activities, I mainly spent the month focusing on finishing the first draft of my RF1 (approval of research programme) and reflecting on feedback received from my supervisors, ahead of the submission deadline next month.
In preparing my RF1, I did some reading around QuantCrit and found this article by Claire Crawford (2018) "The one-in-ten: quantitative Critical Race Theory and the education of the ‘new (white) oppressed’" particularly useful and relevant to my project. I'm acutely aware of the potential pitfalls of researching the experiences of a 'White working-class' group of young people and I don't want my research to contribute to an analysis of inequalities in education that positions working-class White students as racial victims. At the same time, I hope that my learning more about Critial Race Theory, including critical approaches to quantitative analysis, I can be sensitive to these risks while still drawing attention to the experiences of a group of girls that I believe is marginalised within efforts to widen participation to higher education.
Elsewhere on the methodology side of things, I found this paper by Sadie Parr (2013) about the ethical and analytical dilemmas she has faced in integrating critical realist and feminist methodologies particularly thought-provoking. My feeling is that I will draw upon a CR research philosophy in my project but, given that a large aspect of my study will focus on the experiences of girls and women in education, I am also exploring feminist research methodologies and theories of educational inequalities. At this early stage, the challenges or contradictions that might arise from combining these approaches hadn't occurred to me, so coming across this article was incredibly fortuitous. I'm still getting my head around critical realism and I think I'll probably keep coming back to this nicely accessible (and illustrated!) guide by Tom Freyer for a refresher.
December development
General doctoral skills
- Nothing this month! I blame the lack of broadband and the Christmas break.
Subject related events
- Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes (SPDO) event: Social Mobility
- Big idea, Small idea: Black Perspectives on WP
- HEPI Balloon Debate on 'What is the right age to begin academic selection?'"
Photo by Zdeněk Macháček