Emergence

I may be somewhat disappointed with the quantity of data I have to deal with, but not with the quality of it, nor the variety of ways it can be analysed. I do of course hope that time remains to gather more, and for those who have already participated, you can be sure I will be contacting you again, and will hope to interview some of you in more depth.

What is interesting is what is beginning to emerge from the first sights of the data. I cannot be sure of course, since I need to apply statistical analyses of variance, but I think there may be some interesting effects there.

What is also interesting in the 'Chinese' sense of that, is that when I submitted two sample chapters of my eventual write up, one of the criticisms, or some might say back handed complements depending upon your perspective, is that I was called upon for being too positivist, too empirical.

Well that is the consequence of standing midway between science and the humanities in my "epistemology"

The qualitative data that I can cull from this, as someone embedded in the phenomenon, with my own "verstehen" will be second to none, thanks to you, my participants. You might not realise it from the task that you given me such invaluable information regarding not only the cognitive realities of autism, but the social construction of the situation we all find ourselves in and the way society attempts to remedy this educationally.

Half way

I am approximately half way through my research. That is to say I am in the latter half of my third year. (unlike undergrad and taught degrees, research degrees run from September to September)

I believe that I am on track and where I ought to be at this stage, the data will soon be ready for analysis, which will be the next step, after I have got through a summer of presenting on ethics. The ethical dimension of research and the problems within the science, are what could be called a subsidiary finding of this research, which is always cognisant of the sociological dimension and reflective with regard to the position of the researcher being a part of the group he researches, and therefore having a position within that with regard to the wider ethical implications of such research. It will be a major achievement to present a humanities biased poster at an important scientific conference at Cambridge in September

The next stage

The next stage of my research is taking place this month with a live video showing and questionnaire to compare with the online results.

This is taking place over the following days
Tuesday 8th June 10.00 - 12.00
Friday 18th June 2.00 - 4.00

In room 410 (4th floor) School of Education,
University of Birmingham,
Edgebaston, Birmingham