Draft of Methodological Writing
Writing is a central part of research methods; it is a method of knowledge exchange and a political process. As we discussed throughout the course thus far, there is a politics to how we choose our research methods and approaches to acquiring and analyzing knowledge. What knowledge we desire to know, how we approach our arguments, the ways we build them, what formats we want to express ourselves in, and why all of this work is important to us (and the world) all inform which research methods we will embrace, utilize, and support. The course thus far has engaged with some of the larger questions, debates, critiques, and histories of research methods as frameworks for “how we get to know what we know” (the relationship between epistemology and ontology) and “who gets to reproduce knowledge” to make meaning.
Research methods are the struggle over the power to know. Importantly, Crime and Justice Studies’ research methods are focused on how we can be anti-oppressive researchers doing anti-oppressive research through anti-oppressive methods.
For this draft of a methodological writing, you are to make an argument about anti-oppressive research methods based on the materials thus far and guided by the following questions.
What is your growing understanding and relationship to research methods?
What are anti-oppressive methods and how do the course materials discuss their approach and meaning?
Thus far, what anti-oppressive research methods and/or their approaches are you most interested in? How does such an approach help you in becoming an accountable and anti-oppressive researcher? Be sure to provide examples.
Why are anti-oppressive research methods important to field of Crime and Justice Studies? Why is an anti-oppressive approach to research important to you?
The methodological writing is your exploration and beginning building of a methodological framework that enables you to do anti-oppressive research and be an anti-oppressive researcher. It is a draft and you will rework it later, so be less concerned with doing it “right” and focus on putting down on paper what is making sense right now. We have engaged with different questions and strategies for how to do anti-oppressive research and how to be an anti-oppressive researcher. We have also engaged with a few different methods for how to create anti-oppressive questions: collecting and reading data, reading practices and argument building, analyze beliefs and meaning changes over time, narratives and stories, and historical knowledge formations to name a few: be sure to draw from these and cite the materials.
This draft:
Should be “roughly 4-8 pages” double spaced;
Should have proper Chicago Manual of Style citations “Author-Date in-text citations” (be sure to cite ideas as well as quotes) and a works cited page (utilize citation links in MyCourses);
Must be grounded in the course readings and include a diversity of citations from the readings done up to this point—the citation of films, group work, and lecture/discussion are encouraged (this is not an outside research paper, the sources should come directly from the course readings);
What do you understand about anti-oppressive research methods —this is the WHAT: what is your initial main argument about anti-oppressive research methods? Name a couple of the main ideas and concepts of research methods and anti-oppressive research (and the authors) that you feel are most important to discuss;
How did you “get to” your understanding in question “4” above—this is the HOW: how do you approach knowledge and research? Name explicitly the approaches discussed in the materials that helped you understand the politics of research methods. Name and discuss the materials you engage with, how they make you think, how authors make their arguments; and
Why is this understanding about anti-oppressive research methods (question “4” above) and process of how you understand it (question “5” above) important to you and Crime & Justice Studies— this is the WHY: why is it important to think about and approach research methods in this way? Name the political stakes (be explicit about power relationships), why they are necessary to be attentive to, what would happen if you didn’t, what new possibilities open up because you are.
