Working in the methodological ‘outfield’: the case of Bourdieu and occupational therapy
Working in the methodological ‘outfield’: the case of Bourdieu and occupational therapy
The article reports on a study of methodological innovation involving Occupational Therapy (OT) students in higher education. It is based on an original project which examined the experiences and outcomes of non-traditional entrants to pre-registration OT education.
A feature of the original project was the application of the epistemological and methodological approach of the French social theorist Pierre Bourdieu, most noticeably in exploring the way that social back ground (habitus) interacted with the educational (field) context in terms of experience and educational outcome.
Bourdieu used a ranged of techniques – both qualitative and quantitative - in collecting and analysing data. In particular, he used Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA), a type of geometric data analysis recognised as a powerful tool enabling the representation of social space and the situating of individuals within it with respect to a number of variables.
The article considers methodological principles in comparing ethnographic, traditional statistics and MCA. We show how the original data were re-analysed according to MCA. The article compares the original analyses and findings with those based on MCA in order to explore its strength over the previous approach and the potential it has to cast light on various issues in higher education.
Bourdieu, methodology, multiple correspondence analysis, higher educational research, occupational therapy
151-169
Watson, Jo
933e2e9a-e3e9-4a05-9f86-f7bdafd8827c
Grenfell, Michael
3f1954ca-ee82-46df-bd31-0b6c9c390ab1
2016
Watson, Jo
933e2e9a-e3e9-4a05-9f86-f7bdafd8827c
Grenfell, Michael
3f1954ca-ee82-46df-bd31-0b6c9c390ab1
Watson, Jo and Grenfell, Michael
(2016)
Working in the methodological ‘outfield’: the case of Bourdieu and occupational therapy.
International Journal of Research and Method in Education, 39 (2), .
(doi:10.1080/1743727X.2014.980802).
Abstract
The article reports on a study of methodological innovation involving Occupational Therapy (OT) students in higher education. It is based on an original project which examined the experiences and outcomes of non-traditional entrants to pre-registration OT education.
A feature of the original project was the application of the epistemological and methodological approach of the French social theorist Pierre Bourdieu, most noticeably in exploring the way that social back ground (habitus) interacted with the educational (field) context in terms of experience and educational outcome.
Bourdieu used a ranged of techniques – both qualitative and quantitative - in collecting and analysing data. In particular, he used Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA), a type of geometric data analysis recognised as a powerful tool enabling the representation of social space and the situating of individuals within it with respect to a number of variables.
The article considers methodological principles in comparing ethnographic, traditional statistics and MCA. We show how the original data were re-analysed according to MCA. The article compares the original analyses and findings with those based on MCA in order to explore its strength over the previous approach and the potential it has to cast light on various issues in higher education.
Text
__userfiles.soton.ac.uk_Users_slb1_mydocuments_Watson Grenfell Outfield REVISED 19Aug14 FINAL.pdf
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 13 August 2014
e-pub ahead of print date: 14 November 2014
Published date: 2016
Keywords:
Bourdieu, methodology, multiple correspondence analysis, higher educational research, occupational therapy
Organisations:
Faculty of Health Sciences
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 368768
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/368768
ISSN: 1743-727X
PURE UUID: 1f0b721d-362b-4290-9865-00956b144dae
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Date deposited: 22 Sep 2014 13:45
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 02:42
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Contributors
Author:
Jo Watson
Author:
Michael Grenfell
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