Today's PgCert. class was again very useful, today we discussed Kolb's theory of Experimental learning, and moved on to an analysis of figure 1 to the left. This figure represents a possible structure for a research study, and for me it is very clear that any research has to be grounded in existing knowledge, however when I applied the model to my past research project it became clear that the model did not work exactly as planed for me.
As such I propose that the model worked a little differently in my dissertation (figure 2) and will work a little differently in my PhD. In my research project I passed through the first four stages 3 separate times (the section highlighted in red in figure 2) This occurred because once I had formulated a hypothesis and began to design a way to test it, it became clear from that design that another bank of existing knowledge would have to be drawn on and the understanding of this branch of existing knowledge would influence the research area, questions and hypothesis.
My first attempt (the green line) wanted to know if there was an explanation in Jungian theory for the development of expressionist aesthetics in cinema, this stalled in the design stage as it became clear that expressionism was part of the wider movement of Modernism, and as such the study would have to go to this body of knowledge and follow the steps again incorporating the new knowledge( the blue line). Again however this failed at the design stage as it became clear that cinematic expressionism was the product of a particular cultural climate in Germany in the early 20th century - so it was back to existing knowledge to create the final hypothesis (the brown line) which successfully made it through the design phase and ran smoothly to the conclusion.
Figure 2.
And this is exactly how my PhD study has began, I've already done a few mini revolutions of the red section, and fully expect that in a year or so's time when I get to designing my project I'll probably have to revolve again.
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