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Teacher Feature...
Direction for Teachers of Creative Writing
(continued from page 3)
by Dan Lukiv
(Condensed from Lived School Experiences That Encouraged one Person to Become a Creative Writer, a 2002 research study completed as part of the MEd requirements at The University of Northern British Columbia)
Copyright © 2002 by Dan Lukiv. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted in any form or through any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, without written consent from the author.
Analysis enabled me to find themes in the data, whereas interpretation, which I discuss at length later, enabled me to define themes as essential or incidental. Analysis began soon after each interview, based on the transcribed interview data (Patton, 1987), on the "field notes" (p. 92), and on the "contact summary" (Miles & Huberman, 1994, p. 51).
The analysis included memos that I had written to myself (Miles & Huberman, 1994); ongoing participant review of data, synthesis of the data, and emerging themes (McMillan & Schumacher, 1997); and peer debriefing (McMillan and Schumacher, 1997). Any available member of my Supervisory Committee logically made an appropriate peer debriefer. Not only did participant review and peer debriefing help me analyse data, but they also helped me "minimize researcher bias" (p. 409).
In my attempts to minimize my bias, I employed yet another method: bracketing out bias (van Manen, 1990).
Bracketing out bias. Many experiences in school encouraged me to become a creative writer. These experiences define highlights in my education (Lukiv, 2001b, Chapter Seven; Lukiv, 2001c; Lukiv, 2002b), but, simply put, they could have influenced me to ask biased questions. Through my use of "free imaginative variation" (van Manen, 1990, p. 107), I have expressed those experiences in terms of one essential, broad theme: Events in school that promoted my looking at the world through "different" eyes, through other points of view; that promoted the wonder of creativity; that promoted the joy of my ideas being appreciated; that promoted the excitement of entertaining, or emotionally moving, others; that promoted the excitement of focussed thinking; and that promoted the joy of understanding how to write have encouraged me to become an adult creative writer (Lukiv, 2002b). That said, my peer debriefers looked for biases in my questions, in my analysis, and in my interpretations that spoke of me rather than of Arthur.
Interpretation of data. Interpretation relates to the word hermeneutics, derived from the Greek god, Hermes, whose task it was "to communicate messages from Zeus and other gods to the ordinary mortals" (van Manen, 1990, p. 179). Patton (1987) says interpretation "involves attaching meaning and significance to the analysis, explaining descriptive patterns, and looking for relationships" (p. 144). In this interpretive sense, "phenomenology...offers us the possibility of plausible insights" (van Manen, 1990, p. 9) through an "attempt to determine the meaning embodied in" (p. 38) lived experience. The researcher "looks for the emerging themes after one has gathered the material" (p. 69).
I conducted the suspended literature review (although the review did not locate any hermeneutic phenomenological studies that relate to my research question) after essential themes looked apparent (van Manen, 1990). I employed objective and subjective analysing of data, bracketing, participant review, and peer debriefing. I was able, in the most unbiased manner possible, to focus on interpreting the data at hand.
The researcher as interpreter must be "sensitive to the subtle undertones of language" (van Manen, 1990, p. 111) and be "a true listener" (p. 111). The depth and accuracy of the interpretation, then, "requires a high level of reflectivity, an attunement to lived experience, and a certain patience or time commitment" (p. 114). While analysis crudely suggests what themes might exist, interpretation determines what essential themes indeed exist.
The term interpretation, or hermeneutics, however, makes one wonder about validity. Although my use of free imaginative variation, peer debriefing, participant review, field notes, contact summaries, and memos addressed validity issues, a few other considerations remain.
Other considerations. McMillan and Schumacher (1997) discuss validity in terms of "the degree to which the explanations of phenomena match the realities of the world" (p. 404), or, in the case of my study, match the realities of Arthur's lived experience. To enhance this match, I conducted the conversational interviews in the comfort and familiarity of a place of Arthur's choosing. He chose his office, his "working place." This avoided the scientific sense of any sort of "contrived or laboratory settings" (p. 405).
To further enhance this match, I spoke "in the participant['s] "language" (McMillan & Schumacher, 1997, p. 405) and avoided the "use of...abstract social science language" (p. 406). This was a simple matter. The participant is a poet. I am a poet. Therefore, the use of "low-inference descriptors" (McMillan & Schumacher, 1997, p. 406) during the interviews and participant review sessions was a simple matter.
How did I ensure the validity of the interviews, of their verbatim accounts? Tape recorders notably "enhance validity by providing an accurate and relatively complete record" (McMillan & Schumacher, 1997, p. 406). I added to that validity by taking note of Arthur's facial and body gestures. I entered description of noteworthy gestures in the transcribed data at appropriate places (e.g., [tape counter: 127; participant nods profusely]).
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