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Continue reading →: Telling Practice Stories
What is a practice story? I like to think that the work of social science is to tell practice stories about an event or phenomenon. Practice stories explain something by describing how it develops over time as norms, rules, and organizational arrangements are acted on and adapted by people as…
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Continue reading →: The Ikeaisation of society and one day in the life of an academic
Ikea: choose your own items, fill in your own forms, collect the items yourself, put them in your own car, drive them home and fit them yourself = low overheads and staffing costs, and maximum profit for the store (also see the McDonaldization of Society). 31st October 2012. I arrived…
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Continue reading →: Interview with an Expat
Interview with an expat The blogger ‘tropical expat’ has done an interview with an expat and pasted the interview on his blog. You can read the interview here: tropicalexpat He is planning on doing some more, so I shall be keeping a lookout for them. It’s an interesting phenomenon – the…
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Continue reading →: The Up Television Series
I am showing my students the Up films as part of my module Sociological Practice. In 1964, Granada Television interviewed, and spent some time with, a group of 7 year olds from diverse class backgrounds about their aspirations, attitudes to love and marriage, what sort of schooling they were getting,…
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Continue reading →: Busy, busy, busy
Term will start again soon, so I am now preparing lectures, module guides, and reading lists, checking room bookings and equipment, and trying to get my timetable under control so that I can fit in all the other stuff I’ll be doing as well. We’ve got PhD student progress panels…
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Continue reading →: Back in the UK
I’m home and getting over jet lag slowly. People were incredibly helpful. I managed to do far more interviews than expected and have even got people willing to talk to my by Skype now. I can’t begin to think about the themes that have arisen from the research yet, but…
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Continue reading →: Fresh milk in China
I am still in Penang and someone there emailed me these photos they took in China. How fresh do you get your milk? I am studying lifestyle migration and I think this says something about the style of life westerners enjoy (or seek) when they go to some Asian destinations.…
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Continue reading →: Is Sociology like journalism?
People often ask me what a sociologist is and over the years I have tried out all sorts of different responses. I have said it is like psychology but instead of focusing on individuals we recognise everyone is always part of a society or group. I have also said sociology…
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Continue reading →: Penang contd
Still in Penang. Have done several interviews now and met some really lovely people. We have also got chatting to some Malaysians in hawker stalls. One octogenarian who learnt English at school here before independence said he was really excited to talk to us! I particularly enjoyed his old-fashioned English…
Hello,
I’m Karen
Welcome to my site where I will share updates about my work and insights and tips about qualitative research methods. Click on my name at the top of the page to see all my blog posts. I have over 30 years experience teaching and using qualitative methods so I have lots to share with you. Please leave comments so I know you are there.
Karen O'Reilly 