This week Dr Duna Sabri shared her own experience about researching in own institution with her own experience in her PhD study and working experience at the University.
In the workshop, it explained the reasons for institutional research. It could be rich of insight by collecting the data from own institution. In the break-out group discussions about the listed six situations when carried out the study, it identified the difficulties about how to deal with the bias or unexpected if the students are more vulnerable. The more methods the more tension could have between the roles of researcher and worker. It might affect how you communicate and influence the relationship between staffs and students. This is one of the against perspective raised in the break-out group discussion-how you could be neutrality and managing relationships in the end of the project.
I agreed with the perspective about the lack of degree on reflexivity and the obvious of conflict of interest may occur. However, if no one carried out the research in own institution, it would be lack of one of the ways to improve and raise for our own institutions. We have benefits to do the research as insider because it is much easier to get permissions from other students or staffs. Also, we could obtain the existing statistics data from the institution, and we have prior experience and knowledge about our own institution.
It is critical to be an insider of the institution also as an outsider to observe, approaching to the stakeholders. As an insider, we could construct a hypothesis or an assumption to test in the beginning of the research. In the workshop, it introduced two types of the projects one with distance and one with a close-up structure to collect data to test hypothesis. Comparing between distance introduced project and close-up project.
To conduct the research within own institution could receive criticises from the colleagues but it is a way to review and change the institution. Sarah (2021) indicates when and where we heard the complaints are important and complain is the way that others approach to us. It reminds me as a unit leader and lecturer in the institution, how could I hear any complaints from others and how I could deal with the complaints. Should the complains can construct a hypothesis and carry out the unbiased own institutional research.
Reference:
Sarah Ahmed (2021). Complaint! Duke: Duke University Press