Project Design
I have designed a research project to explore the concept of significance in as much depth as I can manage. This project is a self-study, meaning that I am the only participant and the primary source of data is myself (Arnold, 2011). So, the knowledge that I generate through this kind of study cannot be considered authoritative, but it is meaningful to me (which is the whole point). There is also a recognition that reporting on the results of a self study may resonate with others, prompting reflection and self-understanding for a broader audience (Koster & van den Berg, 2014). That's the purpose of this website.
A self-study also makes use of critical friends, or peers (friends, colleagues, co-conspirators) that provide both support and challenge to the person embarking on a self-study. The point of recruiting critical friends into self-study research is to generate provocative questions, examine self-generated data from a different perspective, and to share dialogue that might lead to deeper reflection (Williams & Todd, 2016). I plan to get feedback from a number of critical friends, and I will document my thinking about our conversations as part of the blog on this site. This is one more form of data for me to reflect on at the end of my project.
Purpose
Any well-designed research project is clear in its' purpose, which includes a narrowed topic, specific research questions, and a description of why the research is important (this is also called significance!). In my academic career, I often drew this formula for research purpose as a triangle; this is because if any of the three points are missing, you don't have a triangle (or a well-designed research purpose). The overarching purpose of my self-study is to better understand the meaning of significance and how I can apply it effectively in my own life. Specifically, the elements of purpose in the study are:
Topic: The concept of significance, defined for now as, "The quality of being worthy of attention; importance, consequence" (OED, significance); especially as it applies to my own priorities and actions.
Questions:
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How do I re-purpose my life; that is, how do I use the foundational pieces of my identity to create a life of consequence for myself and other?
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How might I foster a sense of significance in my day to day life and activities?
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In what ways can I generate and sustain the passion to enact a significant life, given the challenges and obstacles I face?
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Does the notion of significance apply differently to my personal and professional lives? If so, how? How can I balance the two?
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What are some practical strategies for moving forward with significance when I feel stuck?
Significance: Why is this self study worthy of attention? Well, first and foremost, it's all about me. My goal is to learn more about myself and how the concept of significance applies to me. As a colleague once put it, I need to know what blows my hair back, and how I can do those things in a way that matter to me and to others. I also think that other people might benefit from reading the emergent results of my self-study. My experience tells me that many people ask similar questions at middle age, or at least suffer from a nagging suspicion that things aren't quite right. What I learn may help others to re-define significance in their own lives.
Context
The purpose of an inquiry project is always embedded within a particular context. In this case, there are three aspects of context that are important: (1) my personal experiences, (2) the scholarship, or literature, about the concept of significance, and (3) social trends relating to significance. My personal experiences are, obviously, internal to me, and will require my own reflection and contemplation to make sense of. Scholarship and literature refers to any academic traditions that focus on the concept of significance, and a consideration of this part of the context will answer questions like, "Have other people studied significance? What the concept mean to them? How did they come to better understand significance in their lives?" Finally, my idea to study significance is located within broader social trends. Conduct any Google search about purpose, meaning, or happiness in life and you will get millions of hits. These things are all related to significance, and could potentially help me understand the different aspects of significance.
Method
Method refers to the strategies a researcher uses to collect information about the questions they've asked. As I've mentioned, my approach is a self-study. But, I can say more about the specific tools I'll use to gather data during my self-study.
Literature Review:
The literature review will help me learn what others are saying about the concept of significance, and will help me to flesh out all the aspects of context that I mentioned earlier. Basically, I'll read a bunch of books, articles, websites, and blogs that are related in some way to significance, and then I'll summarize them and analyze them. I'll likely watch some video and look at other kinds of arts-based images too, and add my interpretation of those into the mix. I'll publish the results of this process on my blog, and after a while I'll start to look for patterns within what I've read.
Critical Friends:
I will invite the critical friends that I recruit during this project to respond to my questions, ask their own questions, provide me with their impressions and critiques of blog posts, and refer me to their own sources of wisdom on the topic of significance. We will correspond by email, phone, and through mutual consumption of lots of coffee. I will keep the identity of my critical friends anonymous, unless they provide written consent otherwise. I'll report on our conversations, and my interpretations of our conversations, in my blog posts.