Are we talking about the same thing?
I’ve lived in a lot of international environments. Sometimes, I’m speaking in my second or third tongue with others who are speaking in their second or third tongue. It makes for interesting conversation and notably draws a lot of attention to the importance of language and definitions. The simpler, the better in foreign languages, but it also holds true when working on evaluation projects.
How many times have I gathered people together from different areas of a project and realized after 30mins of conversation that there was a misunderstanding a) of what the term meant and b) how this misunderstanding may have influenced the results of a project.
I love how Creswell (2018) emphasizes the need to define terms, (p. 74) and how the identification of terms may come at different times in the study depending on the theory being applied or the design of the research (ie. qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods.) It should go without saying that definitions should be written in a way for the reader to understand. I note that definitions on research proposals and in academic settings may require language that is different than what you might find on a survey, for instance among new mothers.
Evaluating complexity requires explanation but communicating complexity requires brevity. How to find a compromise? My solution has been in the footnotes, but others prefer brackets, italics, captions – assuming there’s a consensus on what the definition is…Regardless, the aim is the same: to enable the reader to interpret the term in the way as intending. This communication also helps to garner consistency in how terms are used, which is significant in communicating change.
My upcoming research will look at individuals acting as Education Technology Specialists. One of the goals of the study is to understand whether this is the right term for a nascent profession or whether there are other labels that exist to describe the same role. How do we discern one from the next? My aim is to find the common denominator so we’re all speaking the same language to start the next conversation.
Creswell, J. (2022). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, Mixed Methods (6th ed.). SAGE Publications. https://studylib.net/doc/27594409/research-design–qualitative-quantitative-and-mixed-metho…