It’s been another chip away at the PhD weekend, and I’m finally feeling settled back into my research after moving interstate and starting new roles.
I opted for a checklist today. I don’t often (or consistently) ‘resort’ to checklists, as it’s usually a duplication of effort (for me).
It often feels like every task, email, project, and deadline manages to stick to my brain. While it means I rarely need reminders from other people or checklists, it sometimes feels like my brain is an Outlook calendar with pop-up reminders that no one knows how to turn off. Checklists don’t usually help, and I’ve found the best thing (for me) is to get things done in order to close as many mental tabs as possible before more open.
Every so often, a checklist and a new whiteboard are needed, though!
One of our cats – Missy – has been ‘helping’ me too. She’s been jumping between compliance monitoring my checklist and taking naps in the sun on my behalf.
I revisited the first chapter of my thesis (again), specifically some sections on thesis structure, positionality, and reflexivity. It took me away from my transcripts and printing frustrations.
I thought it would be relatively straightforward, but it became quite contemplative. What I didn’t expect, though perhaps should have, was to find myself down a (somewhat) unnecessary rabbit hole reading about Husserl’s and Heidegger’s different positions on subjectivity and interpretation.
I started by reading some literature on reflexivity in research, which led me to read about bracketing. In short, bracketing is an approach to suspend or neutralise the influence of prior assumptions or biases.
Reflexivity, on the other hand, is focused on examining how positionality shapes the research process. Rather than setting experiences or assumptions aside (suspending them), reflexive practices help to examine how these shape interpretation.
While a little out of scope, I then ended this literature foray with the paper: ‘How phenomenology can help us learn from the experiences of others.’ When I returned to my writing on positionality and reflexivity, I was thinking about the situatedness of knowledge and choices in research processes.
Having previously been in roles focused on evidence based library and information practice, I see the relevance of these concepts outside my research too (and I had to stop myself going off on a complete tangent).
I keep returning to Haraway’s quote (1988, p.590) on situated knowledge being about communities. My thesis looks at knowledge production and open knowledge (which already sparks relevance), though there’s also the community element. I need to be reflexive about my connection to professional communities and my roles related to my research topic.
Thankfully, while writing this blog post and reading, I’ve already clarified a few thoughts, and it’s given me some new directions too. I also have a few new questions to follow up on, and I hope these questions stay in ‘curiosity’ territory rather than ‘unnecessarily doubt everything’ territory.
Now that I’m finishing writing for the day, there’s no sun left outside. I think it’s time to tick a few things off my whiteboard checklist and join Missy on the couch.