koiture: koi in koi pond at the innovation centre (Default)
koiture ([personal profile] koiture) wrote2016-04-01 09:35 pm
Entry tags:

Coding and Writing

When people say that it's all a matter of doing in order to get to the stage of planning, well, anything in a thesis, it really is the case. I suppose I never really believed it. But now i'm actually trying to code my interview transcripts - not all of it, entirely, and I'm not doing a grounded coding, but a thematic coding.

On my attempt to pull out data on the 'theme' of technology, since my vague idea of chapters was

1. Production of knowledge
2. technological & scientific knowledge/practices
3. social interactions

it sort of never really came together. I kept getting data on technology from all over the place in one interview, and looking at it in 'technological practices' didn't actually work.

But when i thought about koi, in the sense of a life-cycle. Using the construct of koi aquaculture and the impressions of particular stages of aquaculture i found within the data, I realised I could better formulate my thesis chapters in a more biological cycle.

1. Spawning/breeding practices
2. Culling
3. Growth
4. Biosecurity and Waters

When put under these broad chapters, it became less a thing about technology being answered for each part in a haphazard manner, but instead i could actually do a sort of chronology for each aspect, I believe.

I could actually see the possibility of tracing the development of biosecurity, for example. Or the development of culling techniques or reasons in one particular farm (Or with hobbyists). I would be able to trace these points in a much better way than in the more haphazard fashion.

Now I just have to pull in my data with theory to make a decent chapter on spawning. I have some scientific data on this, and some oral histories as well as other books that people have used before on Spawning techniques and behaviours. I should be able to do SOMEHTING analytical with this now! I feel actually confident about it.

So, people in the humanities - it really is a matter of doing. No one else can code for you - the coding is not the first level of analysis per se, but it's a way of looking at your data in a different way (maybe it's just a way of looking at it sideways) and when you do that, mayeb that allows you to get it coded in a different way so you can actually write somethng about it.

and writing about it? Really does help. I didn't realise it, but writing small amounts on a daily basis meant I was thinking about said data in a different way, a different light. Putting the thoughts and data down actually makes it easier to see.

Therefore if i actually put it in this way, I have at least four major technologies or practices that I can look at, and will allow me to trace various things out of .

Now it's just a matter of trying to get the damn theory in.