It is my conviction and my personal belief that after having revised multiple different methodological approaches that could be applicable in my research, I came to an initial conclusion that methodology itself is subjective and is based on the path I am taking. As a follower of Sufism, I cannot offer one single path though; in fact, as stated in the Quran, there are many paths as the whole of mankind (Chittick, 1989). Sufi scholars act on the premise that one path is inapplicable to all seekers. The road I am embarking on is the resultant of an interwoven web of intricacies that helped shape my being. Social setting, history, family background and upbringing as well as personal habits and whole other factors led to the uniqueness of my path; …show more content…
Many researchers identify Kurt Lewin as the founding father of action research. He is credited with his saying: "Nothing is as practical as a good theory" (1951, p.169). I believe that Action Research as a methodology will make my learning through this DBA possible. I am inspired by how Reason and Bradbury's (2001) presentation of action research was inspired by participatory worldview and particularly how they positon action research within a broader purpose of contributing to people and communities in issues related to economy, politics, psychology, spiritual well-being; all with one aim to sustain better equilibrium with this planet. Such a concept is very closely attached with my Sufi path of development, let alone its clear implication to my leadership style. In fact, I am attracted by the liberation nature of a participatory action research, which leads not only to new practical knowledge but also to new capacities to create knowledge. Having said that, I am equally aware of a contradictory position I am in, being as part of a power elite group in my firm. Such a stance creates potential contradictory positon for me especially in participatory action …show more content…
I am sure that going about this process, I will find myself reappraising the quality of the feedback given to me; I will certainly consider power issues associated to my role in the organization. I am aware that action research is iterative, very much my Sufi practice - something that happens now and is characterized by
I continue to build my visual art skills and excel in my academics. Activism has been my mission since middle school. I have stood for things such a black pride and taken a stand against things such as poverty, bullying, and police brutality. Though the walks, the marches, plays, and workshops that I have done influenced my community but I want to invoke change. Through First Wave, I want to find more creative ways to grab the attention of the vast majority and bring awareness to a social issue. As future leaders of tomorrow, we are responsible in finding a resolution to the reoccurring problems that society has.
...ly available to hear staff needs and concerns. I think this is truly an outstanding thing to do and I wish that more administrators/ leaders would apply this practice. In relating the interview to the text I found remarkable similarities. The talk of change, empowerment, organization decision making, autonomy, Magnet, authority, over all leadership practice, and its importance were all covered during the interview process. Although intimidated by this project at first I found it very insightful and valuable. It was interesting to obtain a perspective of these various topics from an upper level administrator within the institution. Furthermore this exercise has made me think more about my personal leadership style. It has allowed me to identify my strengths and weakness in which I must focus on to become a more effective and desirable leader with in the organization.
Tayob, A & Jeppie, S & Shaikh, S. eds. 2006. “To Love Every Life as Your Own: An Introduction to Engaged Sufism” in Journal for Islamic Studies: Thematic Issue: Engaged Sufism. 26. Cape Town: University of Cape Town. pp 1-11.
has to build upon the work that has already been done before. The leadership action council
These assessment results fit well with the culture of my company. I have found that my past performance has been commended and rewarded, but there is always pressure to do more the next year. I do need to be careful to increase my performance within the published ethical standards my organization and not be swayed to increase my performance in ways that are unethical and detrimental to my organization (McShane & Von Glinow, 2016, p. 408). The assessment also showed me that I like working in a culture that responsive, however although my companies does value innovation and strive to be competitive internally I get frustrated because it seems to me that people get stuck in their own ways and are not willing to think out of the box, which suppress any superior new opportunities. I need to keep in check any frustration that are caused between my internal desire to see new opportunities and the company’s failure to capitalize on opportunities (Hedges, 2014, “Lack of Progress”). I also have realized from this assessment that I do not like to work in a control culture, however I do work in one so I will remember that the Apostle Peter commands Christians to submit to “every human authority” (I Peter, 2:13) and as long as the company does not ask me to do anything unscriptural will submit to their control (Peterson, n.d., “Being Under
requires self-assessment and analysis of actions and calls for a change in order to improve
Methodology Action Research According to Bassey (as cited in Koshy, 2005), action research is basically an examination that is used for interpretation, assessment and bringing changes accordingly to enhance educational practice. According to Reason & Bradbury (as cited in Koshy, 2005), action research focuses on bringing real results and also helps in generating new forms of understanding, in the absence of understanding action is sightless and useless (Koshy, 2005). The results gathered by action research approach are implemented directly with the purpose of bringing change (Somekh, 1995). Participatory action research and practical action research are the two types of action research used for solving the problems.
Routledge advocates that researchers should let their emotions fuel and drive their research in order to create change. Routledge uses anarchist thinking and participatory methods to achieve a good outcome from his research.
Appreciative inquiry is a new theory which takes a positive approach to organizational development. It aims to identify good practice, design effective development plans, and ensure implementation. It focuses the research process around what works, rather than trying to fix what does not. AI therefore presents an alternative to the problem-solving approach underpinning action research and offers an affirmative approach for evaluating and envisioning future initiatives based on best practice (Shuayb, Sharp, Judkins, Hetherington, 2009).
Throughout my life, I have been fortunate to have many opportunities to take on leadership roles, and to use these roles to influence others in very positive ways. After taking the leadership quizzes or survey, I was able to determine that my personal leadership style is Participative. Participative style is the leadership style where a leader gives team the opportunity to wholly take part in
...em or concern, collect data, evaluate data, and create action strategies, share results with other participants and reflect-ing. Action research may use both quantitative and qualitative research to assist the researcher in analyzing their research, as well as providing a variety of ways to work differently in the school setting.
Action research proceeds through a process of planning, action and reflection upon action. This can be thought of as an action-reflection ‘cycle’.
Research philosophy, refers to the development of knowledge adopted by the researchers in their research (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009). In other words, it is the theory that used to direct the researcher for conducting the procedure of research design, research strategy, questionnaire design and sampling (Malhotra, 2009). It is very important to have a clear understanding of the research philosophy so that we could examine the assumptions about the way we view the world, which are contained in the research philosophy we choose, knowing that whether they are appropriate or not (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009). According to Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2009), three major ways of thinking about research philosophy are examined: ontology, epistemology and axiology. Each of them carries significant differences which will have an impact on the way we consider the research procedures. Ontology, “is concerned with nature of reality”, while epistemology “concerns what constitutes acceptable knowledge in a field of study and axiology “studies judgements about value” (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009, p110, p112, p116). This study is intent on creating some “facts” from objective evaluations which are made by the subjects. Therefore, epistemology will be chosen for this study as the way of thinking about the research philosophy.
Practitioners who engage in action research inevitably find it to be an empowering experience. Action research has this positive effect for many reasons. Obviously, the most important is that action research is always relevant to the participants. Relevance is guaranteed because the focus of each research project is determined by the researchers, who are also the primary consumers of the findings.
The Importance and Appropriateness of Utilizing Different Methodologies for Research. Introduction The process of research entails the logical as well as systematic search for useful data and information with regard to a specific topic (Jha, 2008). It is also comprised of the investigation of the best, most cost effective and appropriate solutions to both social and scientific issues, following an objective and logical analysis. Jha, (2008) defines research as the search for knowledge and the discovery of the truth. During this process, the data can be gathered from a wide pool of sources among them interviews, books, nature among others.The data can then be analyzed with the appropriate data analysis tools, so as to report the findings