Research research and you guessed it! More research. The topic of my blog posts may make me out to be some master of research, but in reality I’m flying by the seat of my pants.
From Blogspot
I’m no expert on research by any means, but I’m always open to learning how I can improve.
For class we recently read an article by Michael Klein on his research process. The article explained a specific distinction that can be extremely important in research.
The distinction between Hunters and Gatherers
Now, I know when I think of those words I think of some cavemen smashing rocks together and eating raw meat. In reality, it’s actually an academic term used to describe two distinct methods of research.
Hunters, according to Klein, go into their research with a strong purpose. They know what they want to find and if a source doesn’t fit their purpose then they ignore it.
on the other hand…
Gatherers, according to Klein, go into the research process with a broad idea of what they want to find. If something doesn’t fit,then they question why that is and look at the broader research picture.
A good example of this would be vacationing. When a Hunter goes on vacation they know exactly what they plan to find on the trip. Let’s say they’re going to Paris, Hunter’s would immediately head to the Eiffel Tower and if they stumbled upon something else really cool on the way then they would ignore it because it wasn’t in the itinerary. Gatherer’s are more of wanderers who may go to Paris with a vague idea of what they want to do, but their goal is to wander and find all the cool things they can find.
We all would like to think we are a good mix of Hunters and Gatherers but, as I think about myself in the context of this argument, I’m definitely a Hunter. I pick out sources that fit and disregard the rest. This is something I need to improve on because often I end up missing the bigger picture.
By being aware of these two perspectives, and going into the research process knowing I end to be more of a Hunter, I can intentionally fight my instincts in an attempt to become more of a mix of both. I can broaden my sources and take into account many perspectives on my research topic, while, at the same time, using sources that complement my purpose.