What BGT can teach us about subjectivity?

Watching the trio of Piers, Amanda and Simon gives you a good lesson how exploring one's own subjectivity is important in qualitative research. This particular clip (click on pic) is taken from the first semi-final of BGT 09 involving the performance of Julia Naidenko. See how they reacted throughout her performance and when they gave comments in the end.

Looking at Piers giggling and overly excited, I wonder what he really meant by "stunning performance" and "I am very grateful that you brought all your frieds with you". :D I see Amanda's interjection as a good prompt for Piers to check on his subjectivity. And Amanda cannot agreed with Simon on whether the Queen would like to see belly dancing underscores how gender too impact on one's subjectivity. It's like have three qualitative researchers looking at a phenomenon and all three come up with three different stories to describe it.

It was only during qualitative class that I learnt to explore and appreciate how important it is to establish my subjectivity. Well, not all subjectivities can be addressed but it is important to be aware of them and how they mediates how you generate and interpret your data. I see subjectivity as a lens for readers to understand where you coming from and appreciate how you see your research. Another thing I learn about subjectivity is that it is not a one-off process where in one sitting you can pen down all your subjectivities. It is a process of discovery. So far I have gone through two rounds of subjectivity writing and in the process learn more about assumptions and biases I have - in short, I learn more about myself. I will do the exercise again when I during the stage of simulataneous data collection and analysis.

Well, I don't think that the judges in BGT will be ask to write their subjectivity statement in any foreseenable future. But it would be great if we can have a peek into their mind through their subjectivity writing. While I agree there will be benefits, I also think the controvesy this will invite outweighs its benefits. Just sharing my thoughts.

The attractions of Granado Espada

I found a number of websites here, here, here and here featuring interviews with key players in Granado Espada - Hak Kyu Kim (imcGames CEO), Grantley Day (Vice President of Product Development at K2 Network) and Peter Cesario (Operations Producer also at K2 Network). K2 Network is the publisher and distributor of Granado Espada in North America and Europe under the name Sword of the New World. In MMOBase, Granado Espada setting is described as (brackets added):

" ...it takes place, as the title indicate (Sword of The New World), during the time when European explorers, adventurers and colonists braved the lengthy, perilous Atlantic crossing in small, sailing ships. Some did so in search of riches, whether by establishing new, profitable trade routes or by taking them through force of arms. For others, the vital motivation was to build a better life in a land where they could escape tyrannical oppression and openly practice their beliefs. However, the game’s primary focus is not historical accuracy. Rather than trying to simulate the harsh and frequently unappealing realities of the period, it transports players to a romanticized version that seems likely to provide a suitably sweeping yet somehow familiar backdrop. "

Interesting excerpts of the interview are below.

On what are the attractions of Granado Espada...I wordled excerpts of the interviews related to GE attractions and this came out.

" It has a really unique feel and position in the marketplace, both in terms of the game play and feature sets, and in terms of the consumer model

a huge quest system, trading houses, diversity of classes, and depth in game play

a huge PvP system that will offer something to every type of player. What we do not have from the Korean side is the dreaded grind, that Korean titles are often associated with

the level progression is similar to other MMO’s released over the past few years in the American market.

a few that really stand out such as the game’s unique setting, stunning graphics, and its one of a kind multi character control scheme

there is room for a highly unique and exciting MMO such as Sword of the New World Vis. The fact that no other title in the genre offer’s the player the ability to control up to three character’s at once is almost enough in itself! But add in the distinctive setting, highly detailed and striking visuals, and almost unlimited character skill combinations, and Sword of the New World Vis is a title that no MMO fan should miss out on!

you are given the option to create a party of three characters to explore and conquer the world

Granado Espada was the winner of the 2006 Grand Award for Best Game in Korea. Gamers highly valued the creative game system and appreciated the beautiful graphics, the dynamic action, the fast-paced gameplay, multiple character control system, the NPC creation, etc.

some of the most amazing visuals I have seen in an MMO - and not just another clone of a current MMO, but rather something that looks new and different.

The art-style of the game caught the eye of many MMOG veterans, who saw something familiarly fantastic yet altered just enough to make the game feel new. Gun-slinging was just as prevalent a combat style as swordplay, and the multi-character control system stands as a brilliant gameplay adjustment on a tired old formula.

At first, we were definitely attracted to the setting and the graphics...On top of that, we really enjoyed the unique player characters. There’s really nothing that Sword of the New World compares to in the Western market. The Baroque style is unique, the UPCs certainly are a draw, and the setting is fantastic.

Set in an original world with a story modeled after Europe’s exploration of America, the developer of the title, IMC Games, looked for a period where there was little exploration and development in the game world, and settled on the 17th century. Not to mention the access to such great content including architecture that is used in the game.

Sword of the New World’s Multi-Character Control (MCC) enables players to control up to three characters at once. No longer limited to playing just one character at a time, with MCC players can access their favorite classes immediately and combine them for fast-paced, dynamic action.

The multiple stances per character class that allow for diversity in play styles without the downside of having to create or go through some elaborate process to change you characters skills will also be of huge benefit to players. Not enough healers for your RAID, simple, move your scouts from Assassin style back into Healing style (when the combat has died down) and proceed. The level of flexibility will be a refreshing change to players.

On why change the title to Sword of the New World...

The title is being changed for the West to remove the steep entrance curve that exists in the game currently, and to change the flavor of the name to be more interesting to the western marketplace

On what changes to be made to the game for Western markets...

The primary changes to the title are in character creation. We are offering many more options to the North American players when they start the game. Each character class is going to have many costumes and outfits available for selection. We are also making subtle changes to the control scheme so that players who have been playing other MMOs will be able to slip into SNW vis’s control scheme and feel “at home”. Additionally, we are adding a significant storyline to the title and revamping the whole quest structure. I believe that the snw vis players of 2007 expect great stories and interesting quests when they play their games.

On whether MCC will encourage less socialization...

Sword of the New World still contains many dungeons, bosses, quests and PVP instances where parties are essential; the bonus that players can achieve by forming social groups and fighting for prizes will be of great boon to most. On the positive side, you want have to spend hours trying to find a healer for your party, since most groups have the ability to have their own!

On why less buzz now...

One of the things that hurt us concerning release was the fact that we launched the same day as E3. And E3 this year garnered even more interest because it was in a new venue and the focus of the expo had changed. When E3 hits, people shift their focus on to what’s new and what’s upcoming, not so much what’s just released.

Larsen's thoughts on virtual ethnography field notes

I found Larsen's posting interesting (click on pic). Larsen reported on her online observations and experiences with several Danish social networking websites that formed part of her virtual ethnography. She found that by keeping the perimeter of her report solely around her online observations and experiences of the websites, she was not getting enough what Geertz calls "thick descriptions". She felt that she need to extend the perimeter to encompass her larger observations and learning experiences beyond the websites.

I believe she is likely to do grounded theory because her supervisor had asked her to explore the work of Adele Clark on Situational Analysis. The folklore theory is that everything is situated and to better address the complexities of social life, Clarke (2003) argues that we need to "situate research individually, collectively, social organizationally and institutionally, temporally, geographically, materially, culturally, symbolically, visually and discursively" (p. 554) to produce "thick descriptions" data. Clark's situational analysis is an adaptation to some aspects of Glazer and Strauss' classic grounded theory analysis, and which according to her can bring to light "the usually invisible and inchoate social features of a situation more visible: all the key elements in the situation and their interrelations; the social worlds and arenas in which the phenomena interest are embedded" (p. 572).

Putting Clark's Situational Analysis aside, I would like to reflect on the fundamental differences between traditional ethnography of qualitative research (Rock, 2001; Mohan, 2004) and grounded theory ethnography (Dey, 1999; Charmaz, 2006) based on Larsen's posting above, course readings and additional readings I had, and my writing of my methodology chapter.

What I realise immediately about comparative method analysis of grounded theory is that whatever you do in ethnography (taking down fieldnotes, intensive interviewing and textual analysis of elicited and extant text), everything is guided by theoretical concerns. The comparative method begets continuous comparing of new data with all prior data collected to draw out, if any, emerging conceptual categories. These categories are used to identify theoretical concerns and the theoretical sampling is then enlarged to address these theoretical concerns. The comparative analysis is then repeated with new data and data collection concludes when category saturation is reached. Category saturation is where no new conceptual category emerges from new data collected. As such, decisions on what kind of evidences, how they will be used, how data gathering will be designed and how the evidences will be collected, are continuously shaped throughout the process of simultaneous data collection and analysis.

Even if we have supplementary data sources, like in Larsen's case, data from these sources should be subjected to the same comparative analysis method with our ethnography data so that they can also be used to draw conceptual categories and theoretical concerns to direct where our research should go. You cannot find all these in traditional ethnography. That is why many researchers are attracted to include comparative analysis of grounded theory into their ethnography.

Traditional ethnography is focused on describing a setting. That is why you can afford to wait for a "fairy godmother (informant)" to come by "to help the forlorn ethnography" (Rock, 2001, p. 34) in traditional ethnography. There is also a danger in traditional ethnography that you will end up having a lot of data (more than you could probably digest) and it is not so much for the sake of "thick descriptions" but because you do not know when to stop collecting.

Grounded theory ethnography is concerned with a phenomenon or a process. Grounded theory ethnographer looks into what is happening in a setting, makes "a conceptual rendering of these actions" (Charmaz, 2006, p. 22), and creates connections between events to understand the studied process. He or she is willing to cover more grounds and expand access within a setting, in anticipating a possibility of more understanding of the studied process. So the direction is clear with grounded theory ethnography. Even at the start of the data collection stage, the ethnographer will find relevant information before coming up with an initial sampling. Theoretical concerns drawn from the initial sampling will guide in drawing up a theoretical sampling, and the comparative analysis method follows to shape the direction of the research.

Epistemological belief

One of the required readings on Grounded Theory Steve gave us was one by Dey (1999) entitled, Grounding grounded theory: Guidelines for qualitative inquiry. A section in that paper mentions briefly how Glazer and Strauss took different directions in developing grounded theory further after introducing grounded theory to the world back in 1967. My first impression was that both Glazer and Strauss had a fight and decided to go their separate ways. While Glazer chose to remain alone, Strauss found a new ally in Corbin. Hmm...how silly can I be!

Charmaz's (2006) book Constructing Grounded Theory and Locke's (2001) book Grounded Theory in Management Research enlighten what actually happened. What happened was that both remained true to their own epistemological belief.

Glazer had history of quantitative training under the tutelage of Paul Lazarfield at Columbia University. Glazer was very much influence by Lazarfield's work on quantitative research that he saw the possibility of codifying qualitative research methods as how Lazarfield had codified quantitative research. So Glazer brought into grounded theory "dispassionate empiricism, rigorous codified methods, emphasis on emergent discoveries, and its somewhat ambiguous specialized language that echoes quantitative methods" (Charmaz, 2006, p. 7) and is responsible for the objectivist face of grounded theory.

Strauss, on the other hand, did his doctorate in University of Chicago and he was exposed to the humanistic branch of symbolic interactionism through the works of Blumer and Mead. Humanistic branch of symbolic interactionism is a theoretical perspective that assumes self, society and reality are constructed through interaction (how people create, enact and change meanings and actions), where language and communication play an important role. So Strauss brought into grounded theory both symbolic interactionism and ethnographic research, and gave a constructivist face to grounded theory.

Being new to research, the importance of surfacing what my epistemological belief is and staying true to it is something I have not learn to appreciate. I guess young researchers like me (or it could only be me alone) tend to settle on what is most convenient for research. I mean, any epistemological belief will do as long as it fits nicely with a research approach that is easy and fits nicely into our schedule. It was so important for Glazer and Strauss to show commitment to their epistemological belief because they see themselves as lens through which their audiences see their research with. With that lens, the audiences can see "what kind of knowledge is possible and how [they] can ensure that [the knowledge] are adequate and legitimate" (Maynard, 1990, as cited in Crotty, 998, p. 8)

Research design

I finally finish my Final Research Proposal paper for Steve's class. The last section that touches on research design really forces me to confront what methodology I would like to consider for my study. I am glad that this assignment comes very early in my study because I see it is important to set the path clear from the very beginning. What comes ahead now look very clear and comprehensible and I really can't wait till next Jan 2010 to collect my data. : )

I know more now about grounded theory and methods I can adopt for my study. I feel I am confident enough to defend orally my choice of methodology and methods. This assignment has also made me relook at my subjectivity. I realise that I have not include some aspects. Steve is right. Subejctivity is not a "once and for all" exercie but more like discovering bit and pieces, one at a time, and picking them up as you move along your study. Good reflecting exercise indeed.

Anyway, I bump into a useful guide on APA5 formatting. If you like to take a peek at it, it is here.
What's next? Dr M's final assignment and I have only a week to complete it! How I wish I have more time. : /

Constructing Grounded Theory by Charmaz

I bought this book during lunch today at NIE bookshop. This book is the first of a few more book on grounded theory that will be my close companions as I continue my journey pursuing a doctoral degree.

Why Charmaz's book is important? Charmaz criticises Glazer's and Strauss' classic grounded theory for not committing to any epistemological assumption. The classic grounded theory expects researchers to be free from taking any philosophical approach and theoretical perspective when beginning their inquiry, to the point that literature review should be conducted only after data has been collected and an independent analysis has been developed by the researcher. Charmaz proposes a social constructivist approach to grounded theory to show that researcher can make a commitment to a theoretical perspective and an epistemological assumption. According to Charmaz, her contructivist approach to grounded theory "takes implicit meanings, experiential views, and grounded theory analyses as constructions of reality" and it complements well with symbolic interactionism (which is the theoretical perspective I take for my study) because "both perspectives emphasize the study of how action and meaning are constructed" (Charmaz, 2003, p. 314).

Anyway, on a seprate note, I didn't have much time to blog these days because most of my free time was spent on reading, writing and rewriting. Well, I have no complaint because I enjoy doing just that. How I wish I can lock myself up in my room every weekend and just write. Hmm...my wife and kids wouldn't like that. Ahh...the struggle to strike a balance.