tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2093319320471102812024-02-06T20:02:30.649-08:00Dr. Kern's Research JournalLeesa Kernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06961280684404489657noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-209331932047110281.post-37402950087916716832022-01-15T14:01:00.002-08:002022-01-15T14:01:48.216-08:00New Year, New Students, New Projects<p> It is Spring Semester 2022 and that means I get more into my research as I try to set a good example for a new bunch of SOCL 3000 students. I can't wait to see what they are doing this semester.</p><p>When we left our hero a ridiculous number of years ago, she had just finished up her field research and other stuff. In the interim she collected more data, and presented preliminary findings at the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. I got to meet an author whose work I had quoted, and that was really great. She had lots of good advice, and we had an email conversation going, but I have not heard from her recently. I hope she is okay.</p><p>For the Neopaganism project, I am analyzing that data so I can send it out <u>finally</u> to journals for hopeful publication. Everyone keep fingers crossed.</p><p>It is that time again for sabbatical! So I have proposed a continuation of that project, including participant observation this time. There were so many things I saw during the 2018 field research but since it wasn't part of the IRB approval, it would be inappropriate to include it.</p><p>Included in that is my long standing "how do believers in UFOs and alien abduction manage that stigma" project, which will also involve participant observation. </p><p>Two things can screw this up. One, my sabbatical can be denied. That would not be terrible; I could still do the work, I would just have to weave it into my other responsibilities, like I'm doing this term. This would make it go SO much slower.<br /><br />The other is this blasted pandemic. One event I was planning to attend in February 2022 is already canceled by the organizers. I am trying not to take it VERY personally that my career goals are LITERALLY being thwarted by 40 percent of the US population's refusal to participate in "loving thy neighbor." </p><p>BUT...well, that is a good example I suppose of how research can be derailed by things outside of our control, and learning to adjust and roll with those changes. A researcher needs to be flexible, and able to think of a Plan B, or C, or more.</p>firewomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01147512149640501723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-209331932047110281.post-78017530710909122272019-03-01T09:17:00.004-08:002019-03-01T09:18:31.814-08:00Last Research Site (Kind of)Here are the rest of the pictures, and this is of my last research site. Or at least the last site at which I took pictures, as there are two after that.<br />
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<i>note: I guess I have to divide this up into two updates...</i><br />
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This was in southeastern Pennsylvania, and much like northeastern Pennsylvania, almost everything was up or down a hill. The "flat" land that was somewhat accessible to those with some limited mobility was off limits due to some storm damage. Other tenting sites had other issues with them, so I decided to take the remaining space in the "bunkhouse," which was basically a bunk bed. I didn't get pictures, but they were sort of set up in 4-person cubicles. Since I got there Monday before the actual event started, I mostly had it to myself until Friday. There was NO air movement in there, though, so I went on a somewhat lengthy trek on Wednesday spanning Pennsylvania, Maryland, and finally a Walmart in West Virginia, in search of a battery operated fan. Thankfully, I found one.<br />
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Monday through Thursday was for those folks who wanted to be involved in the 'set up' for the main event Friday through Monday. Much of it was physical labor (which, I would have been <u>all over</u> two years ago), but instead I behaved and helped harvest lemon balm in the herb garden, pull weeds in the fire/drum circle, and fold programs.<br />
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I took way more pictures of the event than at the others. I was really astounded by the emphasis on community, that all such festivals have, but that I saw in evidence in a bunch of ways. I wonder if it is just because it was the first time I had been there, and that I knew absolutely no one there.<br />
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Anyway....<br />
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So at many events there's a 'social hub' and here is the one for this event. They had a permit to sell mead they make there, in addition to coffee, tea, and other snacks when available. To the left is a seating area for conversation. To the right is a shower house with showers equipped with a token system to control the water flow. Not as big an issue at the event, but at larger ones they've had a problem with people using too much water. The toilets are dual-flush, another water saving feature (and now I want one in my house!)<br />
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I was across the road and down a small hill (of course) from this. In the shower house was the sign up sheet for volunteer work, and I was sort of amazed at first, how much it was filled in, and then also it seemed people actually showed up for what they signed up for. There was a wide range of things to do.</div>
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The highlight of the event was adding a stone to the on-going stone circle. This was done in the 'old fashioned' way, using rolling logs and straps and person-power to pull a VERY heavy stone (think 'tons') from the field where it was prepped (the first three-four days) and then to the circle. </div>
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<br />Leesa Kernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06961280684404489657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-209331932047110281.post-45542588805639296982019-01-16T09:18:00.002-08:002019-01-16T09:18:42.006-08:00Belated Updates (Site 4)I got very much into the work of pre- and post-event prep and then getting ready for Spring Semester to start that I neglected to put this up. Hopefully students were not too worried about the ax-murderer thing...<br />
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Sites 4 and 5 were both in Eastern Pennsylvania. In both cases I still brought all the camp gear (so a full car) BUT each spot also had meal plans to buy into so I only had to get snacks, and a few other things.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'll take "Signs I Have Only Ever Seen at a PA rest stop for $100, Alex". Seriously, what up, Pennsylvania?<br /></td></tr>
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Things to note about Eastern PA. With a sample size of two, I feel that I can definitely say that all campgrounds in Eastern PA are built on land at a 45 degree angle. Walking was fun (and I was glad to have the cane). At both sites I was able to secure indoors lodging (one expected, one not) so carting the glamping stuff across the state turned out to be unnecessary. That also means no additional shots of the same tent and set up in a different site. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This guy was cute, though.</td></tr>
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There was an interesting similarity about each event, and that was the extent to which intentional community was created for extended weekend. That was not the focus of this sabbatical's research, but it's growing in my head as an area for future study and research. There are some ethnographies of neo-Pagan festival life, but they are largely outdated (1990s-ish) so in an era of #metoo and opiate addiction, they should probably be revisited.<br />
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The first site was for an event that was mostly dedicated to the neo-Pagan religion of Asatru and similar designations (Northern traditionalist and Germanic/Norse/Scandinavian reconstructionist are other related terms). Even so, this even was open to all. It had a track of scholars to present their work, as this particular set of faiths places a high value on scholarship of the academic variety. There was a marketplace where venders could sell their wares (as with other festivals), including SEVERAL vendors of mead, a honey wine that is used in Asatru ritual and social gatherings. Mead is typically drunk out of a drinking horn that is shared and passed around, so there were sellers for those as well.<br />
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There was an organized children's program, as with other festivals, although as with others, children did their own thing too, running around in packs (not caring about the hilly terrain). A brief period of difficulty occurred when the pump ran out and so there was no flushing happening overnight in either the lodge where I was staying or the cabins that each had their own bathroom. There was a porto-potty in the field where the tents were, but that was way away from the lodge. Most attendants, though, were pretty nonplussed about the whole thing, and it was repaired by mid-morning.<br />
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Two things stood out, in terms of community building. First, there was an table in the merchant's area for a group called "<a href="https://www.heathensagainst.org/" target="_blank">Heathens Against Hate</a>." For reasons too complex to go into here, Asatru (who also tend to prefer "heathen" to "pagan") has had it's symbols and religion co-opted by white supremacists, (or whatever they're calling themselves today) and it's an on-going discussion inside heathenry. The presence of this group at this location <u>definitely</u> is one of taking a stand against those elements.<br />
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The other thing was that members brought their own portable shrines, called a "ve" (vay) to set up a sacred area that was the site for rituals (called "blots" and pronounced "bloats") or individual meditations. Folks had to declare their intention to bring one and if they wanted to host a blot, but basic set up, tear down, and maintenance was a community, rather than organizers, endeavor. The final bonfire was, in part, processing offerings and godposts for each ve to the main fire. These videos are me walking around the vestead (vay-stead).<br />
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I took two videos, but there are apparently too big to load :( If anyone knows how I can fix that, let me know, because I've got a really cool one from the next site.<br />
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<br />Leesa Kernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06961280684404489657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-209331932047110281.post-24506846861959470252018-10-10T08:21:00.001-07:002018-10-10T08:21:36.822-07:00Site #3 (AKA The Glamourousness of Field Research)<i>(wow, I'm all done with my travels but very far behind on updating this! Sorry to you my dozen or so of readers)</i><br />
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Site number three is in Western New York. I left Site #2 and came home to do laundry, restock some stuff, and then left again. I got to the site on Day 2 of the event which left Wednesday through Saturday for survey things.<br />
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I think this was my favorite camp set-up. I'm back to the smaller tent, since the big tent got broken at the previous event. While harder to get in and out of, there was more space under the 10x10 outside, so I could leave things out and give me a tad more floor space. There were two 10x10s and then a large tarp over them, so I was extremely dry. It was warm during the day, but night times got down to the 50s. Chilly, yes, but also a welcome relief from the prior week.<br />
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This one ran a little differently, because there was no central location like a lodge to just leave the surveys. Also, the program for the event was already printed well before the event (which is mostly unheard of for festivals to be that organized that early, kudos to them!). So, the management suggested posting signs on their various information boards, which I did, and a few other places as well....<br />
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So, yes I went on my merry way around the entire campground placing announcements in EVERY porto-pottie. I also did for the flushies, but that's not nearly as funny a picture. So all you students who think that fieldwork is so cool and stuff....<br />
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What I ended up putting on the announcement was that I would be at one of the food vendors after they closed after dinner for three hours and people could stop by then. And some did, but not nearly the throngs I had hoped. I think I got about 10 or 12 there the whole week. I also allowed I think three people to take them and they SWORE they would bring them back that week or mail them to me. Thus far from that group, only one has been mailed (which was one more than I pessimistically predicted, and I still don't like that a method of collection).<br />
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There's also this thing that happened....<br />
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<br /><br />Yes, that is my supercool camp kitchen, knocked over when the tapestry I had put up for shade, and stupidly clamped to it, became quite the sail in the really strong winds that came about on I think Friday. Miraculously nothing was broken and I just had to redo some things. The winds didn't let up, but everything stayed put. Unfortunately, the back leg of the 10x10 bore most of the brunt of the pressure from the wind and bent, making it impossible for me to take it down that Sunday. I'm going to continue to pretend it was not the brand new one I had for like three weeks. :/<br />
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On many of these festivals, the culmination is a big bonfire on the final night. Here are some pictures of that:<br />
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Management also requested I come back next year to share results and maybe organize a panel on similar research! Yay for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_sociology" target="_blank">public sociology</a>!Leesa Kernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06961280684404489657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-209331932047110281.post-48438981275979986962018-09-19T08:15:00.000-07:002018-09-19T08:15:24.303-07:00Research Site II...er, IGreetings...<br />
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I'm trying to get caught up before I leave in a few days for the next round.<br />
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This is only Research Site II in that it was at a different time, but still the same location as Research Site 1. They are coded as different events in the data set. Here's a picture of Field Office II:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG9zCiiderj0Jac9IRHpwC9hzfdt2nw8kiHWhg49m3imhIwc4LyGVhP7axOmlV6r9pk-J3UMBTwzH2apeW4T2XIYKueSj1Ri6RqKPv3V8VBOdXiq-B1j5ISYFsVf66lFIpOTQUsMHYrKc/s1600/Starwood+Field+Office.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG9zCiiderj0Jac9IRHpwC9hzfdt2nw8kiHWhg49m3imhIwc4LyGVhP7axOmlV6r9pk-J3UMBTwzH2apeW4T2XIYKueSj1Ri6RqKPv3V8VBOdXiq-B1j5ISYFsVf66lFIpOTQUsMHYrKc/s320/Starwood+Field+Office.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Of note, you can maybe tell the tent is a larger 10-person style cabin tent. It is nicer than the other one, in that I can stand up and there's room for all my things. I even put my big utility table inside to put my duffel bag on. You also can maybe see on the left the super cool Cabela's Deluxe Kitchen that was a total splurge two years ago (and can be seen in photos from there). Even though I was on the meal plan, it was so much easier to make coffee in the morning and store some stuff in the cabinets than in just a tote. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFOE5H4_q3-QGx9mLCsGwfSzr4EnMNeKgFTsblu-d8AyvAlUfy_2jpFxT6iXrJOngepDVCwhyphenhyphenkVrQaoyaDA2MJkR_XERAPwREMU3LGo-P_H1u2iUUl8iGz4uUWuxZZc0ajEGEdeHmG5D4/s1600/Kids+Village+Starwood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFOE5H4_q3-QGx9mLCsGwfSzr4EnMNeKgFTsblu-d8AyvAlUfy_2jpFxT6iXrJOngepDVCwhyphenhyphenkVrQaoyaDA2MJkR_XERAPwREMU3LGo-P_H1u2iUUl8iGz4uUWuxZZc0ajEGEdeHmG5D4/s320/Kids+Village+Starwood.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's my index finger. No I am not flipping off the kids!</td></tr>
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Although I am not specifically doing ethnography or participant observation, I did allow myself to make note of times and places to accomodate children. Both this event and the preceding one had fully developed child and teen programming, with much of the children's events taking place at the location above. There was plenty of unstructured time, as well. The area was fenced off to keep especially younger children from free-ranging, had shade from both the canopy and a number of large trees towards the back, and was well supplied with a large cooler for water. (I took this picture technically before the event started, so as to not accidentally take pictures of the children.)</div>
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I did arrive before the official start of the event, during another event that backed right up to this one. The prior event was not Neo-Pagan in origin, but instead consisted of people gathering to greet a flying saucer to rescue them. I had hoped to get there for the expected landing time (because you never know, right?) but I missed it by about 12 hours. Because the saucer didn't come, they burned their "prophet," Bob, in effigy. Lest you think this is some sort of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven%27s_Gate_(religious_group)" target="_blank">Heaven's Gate</a> off-shoot, nothing could be further from the truth. The whole thing is very much tongue-in-cheek, and I suspect developed out of the 1960s counter-culture as a reason to get together and, um, "tune in, turn on, and drop out." Something to think of for that other research project on UFO believers I keep talking about...<br /><br />Anyway, I was a bit more "out there," and went to several of the workshops, including one that was all about family issues in Neo-Paganism. Still, this garnered only 10 completed surveys. I did get to complete two interviews however, so that will save my time on that, later. Until the next adventure....</div>
Leesa Kernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06961280684404489657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-209331932047110281.post-86985711432189957782018-07-07T11:06:00.001-07:002018-07-07T11:06:39.665-07:00Field Research Again!Recall, the reason I started this blog was because certain students were concerned I would be ax-murdered while camping.<br />
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Therefore, I've started it up again, and will continue to let students know that I am not a victim of Jason, even though I will be tent-living on Friday the (July) 13th! Eek!<br />
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I have updated the survey to take into account some errors from before that made thing unclear for folks, and to update the language a bit. When asked about use of religious media, the original survey talks about radio and television. I added "blogs and podcasts" to match changes in media consumption, and to perhaps better reflect what the study population would interact with. I thought about adding "mythology" to the items that asked about reading of scripture or religious texts, but as I look at the survey, I seem to have changed my mind about that. I have no idea why. (Note for students: This is why I tell you to keep track of these decisions. Definitely a "Do as I say and not as I do moment.")<br />
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I was only able to be at this site for 3 days (not including set up and tear down), so I could be home for <a href="https://www.comfest.com/" target="_blank">Comfest</a>. That undoubtedly cut into my survey time, however it saved me from the MAJOR storm that flattened a couple of sites on Thursday. I ended up getting six usable surveys. (I had to discount a seventh that was filled out by an eleven-year-old. It went into the shredder.) Partly that is because I had to leave early, and more people were arriving as I left. But I think also it just need an extroverted minion to go around and ask people to participate. A friend of mine from Marshall University brings graduate students to events such as this for research, and I am always a little envious of that.<br />
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Anyway, here are the pictures! <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNBwWLwLsNet9ZNcPwKXnhzX6YbZn57ny_xYGxLa6xw1_ehbdFs2mI5HdsmEeE_VqVm87bb_wr4n85WYZLPjYwjd6RS9dOgckuNUMOHkcbppOnu4pgRdlxb3-OY3gE7cOGF4RoqzyhoZg/s1600/20180617_194718.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNBwWLwLsNet9ZNcPwKXnhzX6YbZn57ny_xYGxLa6xw1_ehbdFs2mI5HdsmEeE_VqVm87bb_wr4n85WYZLPjYwjd6RS9dOgckuNUMOHkcbppOnu4pgRdlxb3-OY3gE7cOGF4RoqzyhoZg/s320/20180617_194718.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The field office!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFTy-7X8fG8yeUnq_SUnZCFq1APLAve-zKxui1h6q_gTtWdOChkEGxtQpt1hxsLd-KBiy29t62zD1x1B5huU7yl8dge_8kPjKH2M30bCNaJshSJPqS7UUBvUKgNddahyphenhyphen7qDfsySOuuEdg/s1600/20180617_222145.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFTy-7X8fG8yeUnq_SUnZCFq1APLAve-zKxui1h6q_gTtWdOChkEGxtQpt1hxsLd-KBiy29t62zD1x1B5huU7yl8dge_8kPjKH2M30bCNaJshSJPqS7UUBvUKgNddahyphenhyphen7qDfsySOuuEdg/s320/20180617_222145.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was actually a First Quarter moon, but it didn't show up that way on my phone.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxQdfR6oreg_16wuqJXKL-0ogptGDRJE4e77qLpEPpPyCSRmV-BEph8U3dgPU2DdN0atvT_hhlmfBgUX1hSJwCcoO5gxjKY3ESTYrP7cbpFZZz3uFGtzTVmeTrcUc8bcouzqCowAE6SFA/s1600/20180620_072227.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxQdfR6oreg_16wuqJXKL-0ogptGDRJE4e77qLpEPpPyCSRmV-BEph8U3dgPU2DdN0atvT_hhlmfBgUX1hSJwCcoO5gxjKY3ESTYrP7cbpFZZz3uFGtzTVmeTrcUc8bcouzqCowAE6SFA/s320/20180620_072227.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The festival was in celebration of the Summer Solstice, and this was the view on Solstice morning. I'm sure the sun is there somewhere....</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrMIDTPirXnJrCDsU6JWLbsn56GGQBuFh1_dndgdIgtDTF9p8V5s0980cpDEPv8bX756dA2DMfOQrN32O-U0cDgD1VrOuOrithZtCVXjk58AGYJSD3qh9xI77iVTS_KdwHktfb6LDZn7k/s1600/20180621_073521.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrMIDTPirXnJrCDsU6JWLbsn56GGQBuFh1_dndgdIgtDTF9p8V5s0980cpDEPv8bX756dA2DMfOQrN32O-U0cDgD1VrOuOrithZtCVXjk58AGYJSD3qh9xI77iVTS_KdwHktfb6LDZn7k/s320/20180621_073521.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This beauty took up residence on my pop up. I hated to mess it up, but I made sure it was the last thing I tore down.</td></tr>
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<br />Leesa Kernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06961280684404489657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-209331932047110281.post-12145714689957954782018-07-07T10:51:00.002-07:002018-07-07T10:53:31.398-07:00Berkeley at last!<i>Very delayed getting this all up....bear with me!</i><br />
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Right before the end of the semester, I had the opportunity to present the research I've been talking about at the International Religion and Spirituality in Society conference, being held at Berkeley, CA. Students and other will probably recognizes this as being Holy Ground for me. I forgot that I had submitted my GRE scores to graduate school here, but they were apparently not up to snuff. <br />
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I have not as many pictures as I would like, but here are some.<br />
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Berkeley was basically ground zero for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Speech_Movement" target="_blank">Free Speech Movement</a> in the 1960s. We wandered around and did get to see People's Park, or what has become of it. It's overgrown and is "home" to the many homeless people around the area, so not exactly for all anymore. Those who have taken up residence there are protective of that. Still, it was cool to see. There was an iconic bookstore at THE corner near the People's Park which had changed names, and was re-closed again. Still, as seen by the bike racks, Berkeley embraces the history:<br />
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I also was able to go to the OTHER Holy Ground, Haight-Ashbury:<br />
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I think these are the original street signs, outside a Ben and Jerry's. </div>
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In a lot of ways, both Berkeley and Haight-Ashbury are kind of familiar. Telegraph Road in Berkeley reminds me a lot of OSU's High Street before Campus Partners came in and <strike>ruined it</strike> gentrified. Both of them have a lot of shops that look like <a href="https://www.comfest.com/" target="_blank">Comfest</a> if it were permanently in place. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">THE Corner.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jim and I at The Corner.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jim spent a lot of time here.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There were all these sayings on the sidewalk. I only took one picture, to avoid looking more like a tourist than I was already.</td></tr>
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We did also hit China Town, but not for as long as we would have liked. It takes forever to get anywhere, even on the BART,</div>
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Oh ... and yes there was the presentation. Here is my photo taken by the spouse on the way to said presentation. It's really fuzzy because of the bright light. Yes, that is a tie-die long vest I was wearing. Did I mention I was in Berkeley?<br />
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The conference was good, my presentation was okay. Note to students: There is a reason I tell you to triple check everything. There is nothing like noticing something is wrong when standing on front of 30 or so of your peers (even though they didn't likely notice). I also got to meet Professor Dollahite, who's survey I'm adapting for my research. We didn't get to talk very much, as I had to leave on Wednesday.<br />
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As I was leaving my presentation this little guy was just sitting in his tree, watching all the people. I had to take a picture for my dad.</div>
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Finally, we were on our way back to the airport on Wednesday. What you see in this picture is my failure to capture a SINGLE freeway sign that said 'SAN JOSE'<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Now we'll never know the way.</td></tr>
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<i><br /></i>Leesa Kernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06961280684404489657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-209331932047110281.post-14987433700779684592018-03-12T10:00:00.005-07:002018-03-12T10:00:41.395-07:00Still relevantPutting this here for later...UFO research is apparently NOT passe :)<br />
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/the-military-keeps-encountering-ufos-why-doesnt-the-pentagon-care/2018/03/09/242c125c-22ee-11e8-94da-ebf9d112159c_story.html?undefined=&utm_term=.1bde3811d9d3&wpisrc=nl_most&wpmm=1Leesa Kernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06961280684404489657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-209331932047110281.post-20313623364410759892018-03-04T09:58:00.000-08:002018-03-04T09:58:13.078-08:00Spring break plans!! <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ_q0cU3fGvkQG9dxwzgD6H5RA5q-b7QXEGDOZRac_uxw9wVfJY4PnMdB0kH0DwT-0HCpdSY-XRFyK7gihYZWbYplA1ZpiR8DOEmzEe1YGQcm1gV92P80rAEKnt_fpoS7lvNAAvSo8bQ8/s1600/28424105_10155454896247877_8040565113473794873_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ_q0cU3fGvkQG9dxwzgD6H5RA5q-b7QXEGDOZRac_uxw9wVfJY4PnMdB0kH0DwT-0HCpdSY-XRFyK7gihYZWbYplA1ZpiR8DOEmzEe1YGQcm1gV92P80rAEKnt_fpoS7lvNAAvSo8bQ8/s320/28424105_10155454896247877_8040565113473794873_o.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Let the good times roll!!!Leesa Kernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06961280684404489657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-209331932047110281.post-16230576198462091122018-02-27T12:02:00.000-08:002018-02-27T12:02:25.128-08:00Sampling<i>(Note for SOCL 3000 Spring 2018 members: I know I'm behind in posting these, and most of you will have the definitions posting already done for your next rough draft, so I'll skip that one I was planning to do, and get straight to sampling.)</i><br />
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The next task my students are going to have some experience working with is sampling, or how do we get people to participate, and how do we know that they isn't something unique about them?<br />
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In lots of cases, researchers can use what is called <a href="https://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/sampprob.php" target="_blank">probability sampling</a>, also known as <u>random sampling</u>, where everyone in the population has an equal chance of being selected. While it's easy to do in theory, it is often not that easy on carrying it out. First you need to have a list of all eligible people in the population, so you can tell how many there are and how many to select. This <i>can</i> be done, however for a lot of what sociologists study, it's not feasible.<br />
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Our students are (I think? We'll need to talk about it) studying Otterbein University students. We <i>could</i> get a list of all students, but then how are we defining students? All enrolled students? Do we include part time and full time? What about graduate and undergraduate? Students who only enrolled this semester, or do we include those taking a semester off? We could still do that, and we will see if students want to (past students will remember this and probably remember what their decision was, and why). We typically start off with "Yes, let's do that!" but then once we start down that road, students change their mind to use one of the <a href="https://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/sampnon.php" target="_blank">non-probability samples</a>, usually some combination of convenience and quota sampling.<br />
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In my own research, there is no way to use probability sampling. There is no way to get an appropriate <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_frame" target="_blank">sampling frame</a> for either Neo-Pagans or UFO believers. So I will be using convenience and purposive sampling, which means having to go where one could find some Neo-Pagans and UFO believers. Hence, my sabbatical project going to Neo-Pagan festivals, and my eye on meeting times and dates for our local <a href="http://www.mufonohio.com/mufono/index.html" target="_blank">MUFON</a> group (who takes their time updating their meeting dates on the web). In no way can either of these projects claim to be generalizable to <u>all</u> Neo-Pagans or <u>all</u> UFO believers; but that doesn't mean important information about religious socialization and impression management (the two sociological subjects of interest) can't be found.<br />
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<i><br /></i>Leesa Kernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06961280684404489657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-209331932047110281.post-74639921366933636482018-01-29T17:39:00.001-08:002018-02-02T11:22:43.247-08:00Ethics, againI previously posted ethical discussion about my projects <a href="https://kernresearchjournal.blogspot.com/2016/05/ethics.html" target="_blank">here.</a> Sorry about the font color, I don't know what that's all about.<br />
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I don't really have much to add, for student-purposes. The MUFON paper is looking more certain, as they moved their meetings to Westerville. It's like the universe is saying "Hey, research this! It's in your backyard!" I will at some point have to think about how to do all that though.<br />
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With the Religion in Society paper, I do have an update. It occurred to me that either at festivals or in the process of interviewing, I might have opportunity to observe parent/child interactions in terms of religiosity. So I contacted the chair of the IRB and we worked out an addendum to add to the original proposal for approval (which I received). As my students know, children as subjects require extra special care. To be honest, while I could have just included them later, ethics is not a situation of "beg forgiveness, not ask permission." It is always better to have another set of eyes look at the situation and see if they see anything that you don't. Remember the film <i>Quiet Rage</i>. Dr. Zimbardo was blind to the ethical quagmire he was in. Even though the IRB exists to protect the university from liability, it still serves that very important function of making sure we remain the ethical people we like to think we are.<br />
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(Although....I just did some nosing around, and he DID <a href="http://pdf.prisonexp.org/humansubjects.pdf" target="_blank">get approval from their Human Subjects Committee!</a>) <br />
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<br />Leesa Kernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06961280684404489657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-209331932047110281.post-71681271465965380012018-01-27T08:58:00.004-08:002018-02-02T11:22:35.223-08:00The Nexus of Theory and Research<i>Note: I don't know who all is following this, but lots of the next several posts are going to be those that are related to the prom</i><i>pts I am asking my students to journal. '</i><br />
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We just ended the third week of classes and normally I'd feel pretty good about the pace of the semester, however, I was derailed by a fairly bad cold at the beginning of the week. Next week should be better though, and hopefully I can get back on track for where I want to be with my classes then.<br />
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I'm also still fairly irked the the FBI has decided that keeping track of how many arrested individuals are male and how many are female is somehow not important after 86 years of record keeping...but whatever.<br />
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In research methods, we're discussing and thinking about the relationship between theory and research. (Well, I am, anyway). So, in applying that to my own projects right now, I'm seeing that talking about it in the abstract is not like doing it in the "real world" (which, likely, many of my students have already realized as well).<br />
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For "further along" project, I do not know what theory will best explain the results. I am not well-versed on the types of theories that are prevalent in the sociology of religion, although thinking of the three major paradigms, I would imagine some type of either structural-functionalism or symbolic interactionism could be useful. Although, that may be premature; the research is almost strictly exploratory and descriptive. It may be that I can use that to suggest future research of a more explanatory nature though. Right now, the focus is developing what I call "theory-with-a-small-T." Are some denominations more actively religious than are others? Are families with children more or less religiously active than are families without children? There may be other questions I decided to explore as well. Perhaps from that, then, I can come up with my own "theory-with-a-capital-T," as in grounded theory, or the patterns are observed would follow what is predicted in an already developed theory. For students, this is an example if <b>inductive research</b>.<br />
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For "new" project, I think this would best be classified as <b>deductive research</b>. Even though I started with a topic, my co-research and I immediately though of Goffman's theories of impression management and stigma (falling under the umbrella of the symbolic interactionist paradigm). That has the benefits of providing readily available concepts to look for; however it can be somewhat restrictive. What if some things are discovered in the course of the research that don't fit neatly into that theory? Do we ignore them? Slightly revision the theory itself? Toss the theory away? All can and do happen in research. It just depends upon the best way to answer the research question.Leesa Kernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06961280684404489657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-209331932047110281.post-9465869668967812682018-01-19T11:29:00.004-08:002018-02-02T11:22:25.373-08:00New year, new class, new progress...new project?The new school year started with a 2-hour delay due to weather. That first week ended approximately 2-hours early, also due to weather.<br />
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I have a new batch of SOCL 3000 students (*waves hi*) to follow along, and hopefully the alumni who inspired me to start this are still hanging in there. Because I have new students that I'm practicing the art of research with, this will be a bit more regular in the postings.<br />
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First, an update on the neo-paganism and family religiosity paper. It was accepted for presentation at the Religion in Society conference at UC Berkeley in San Francisco. I'm going to try to not wear tie-dye the whole time, but cannot promise to go without <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bch1_Ep5M1s" target="_blank">flowers in my hair</a> and be a complete hippy geek at the corner of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haight-Ashbury" target="_blank">Haight and Ashbury</a>.<br />
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On that front, I will be finished entering the surveys I have so I can do some preliminary analysis. I have started doing interviews and I will likely not have as many of those done, but that is okay. I am presenting it as a "working paper," so it doesn't have to be as final as most papers.<br />
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For the new students, as always, I am trying to work along with them, so I've chosen to resurrect the research on something related to belief in UFOs. I am not sure whether the alien abduction angle (which is where this idea started) is broad enough, so at this point, the planning stage, I'm going to broaden it out. I find it interesting that this still is something that people do believe in, but I'm not sure why they do, and if they do, do they share that information with others, especially if they think they've seen a UFO or an alien, or even been abducted.<br />
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In thinking about this, it seems that some people may be more likely to have these beliefs than others. I know women are more likely to believe in alternative spiritualities (from my other research) so may be they are more likely to believe in aliens too. I also know the stereotype of the 'drunk redneck' who sees the UFO, so I wonder if social class matters. There was also an article I found that suggested that political affiliation and religion matter too (Swami, Furnham, Haubner, Stieger, and Voracek 2009). So those might all be variables I would want to look at.<br />
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If I had to make a prediction right now, I would probably guess that women, members of lower socioeconomic classes, politically liberal, and people who not religious would all be more likely to believe in aliens than would those who are not in these group.<br />
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REFERENCES<br />
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Swami, Viren, Adrian Furnham, Tanja Haubner, Stefan Stieger, and Martin Voracek. 2009. "The Truth Is Out There: The Structure of Beliefs About Extraterrestrial Life Among Austrian and British Respondents." <i>Journal of Social Psychology </i>149:29-43.Leesa Kernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06961280684404489657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-209331932047110281.post-23507355159861905372017-05-16T14:48:00.005-07:002017-05-16T14:48:59.441-07:00Mistakes...I can make 'emI guess we will just call last summer's data gathering a pre-test. I found not one, but TWO mistakes.<br />
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Students from this past year's research methods class will recall that I adhered to the wording on the FAITH scale, in order to make it more comparable with the original authors, even though it was assuming a monotheist perspective. This was okay except for <u>one</u> item which asked respondents if they used religious media (e.g. television, radio, magazines). Or something like that. Given that it is 2017 (2016 when I first distributed it), this is even less relevant for Neo-Pagans. There are no Neo-Pagan religion channels (like there are Christian networks); the major pagan magazines are mostly out of print. <br />
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What I <u>should</u> have done was included or substituted blogs, podcasts, and websites. Not only does this reflect the changing technology, but also something more germane to Neo-Pagan lifestyles. When I was present, if people asked what I meant, I made those kinds of suggestions, but that may bias the results. <br />
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So, in later printings, I will change that. And obviously indicate which responses were in version 1 and version 2 of the survey. It may be that there won't be a significant difference. But you don't know unless you find out.<br />
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The <u>second</u> mistake was in the Intrinsic/Extrinsic Religiosity scale. Basically <i>extrinsic religiosity</i> is participating in the religion because of what you can get from it, using religion as a 'tool.' <i>Intrinsic</i> <i>religiosity</i> is about integrating religion into your entire personality and being; it is an end in and of itself, rather than a means to an end.<br />
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Anyway, there's a whole line of research in development of a scale to measure this, or more correctly two sub-scales. The problem though, is that for some reason I can't even fathom, I only asked 12 of the 20 questions....I can't recall at all why I would have left off at least 7 of them (one makes sense, since it asks about weekly attendance, which isn't germane for most Neo-Pagan religions). <br />
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Duh.<br />
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So, in my first article I'll attempt to publish, I won't probably be focusing on that. I'll fix it for Version 2 as well, but the Version 1 surveys just won't count in any research on that topic.<br />
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Oh well.....Leesa Kernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06961280684404489657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-209331932047110281.post-28515148948274666232017-01-13T08:40:00.000-08:002017-07-07T09:09:40.194-07:00SourcesI had all this checked out in June. The red thingy on the top is my Kindle (old school, I know); I saved all my journal articles by PDF so I could take it with me to various events. Worked out pretty well too.<br />
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I checked all of them out at once, because I knew I'd have free time to read them quickly. Now that I'm back in the swing of things, with classes and the like, I won't be able to do that. So, instead, I'm checking them out one a time. I'll start with the Otterbein books first, and then the Ohio-Link ones...or alternate, who knows :) </div>
Leesa Kernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06961280684404489657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-209331932047110281.post-33589387597447955312017-01-10T13:33:00.000-08:002017-01-12T12:32:52.761-08:00The Best Laid Plans . . . <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When I last updated this blog, I had wrapped up one festival and was preparing for another. I attended Wisteria's Summer Solstice celebration (Sunday through Thursday) and then came home to go to Comfest.<br />
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Soon after Comfest however, I was hospitalized under suspicion of Multiple Sclerosis. It was a very scary time and a very long recovery with lots of rehabilitation (and new insight to the inner workings of our health insurance system). Be that as it may, my sabbatical was suspended until Fall 2018. Research delayed, not research denied!<br />
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I did get some surveys completed, but I don't know how many. I am starting the process of seeing where I am and if I can get a publishable result out of it. I did not do so well getting responses because it was a much larger event where I am not a well-known person. There were also scant opportunities to "pimp" my research. I got responses at Comfest (again I am not sure how many). <br />
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At Wisteria, I volunteered as a fire tender/builder and at first aid. I'm attaching pictures below, so that you all can see.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB8ij-rhDM5i707MxcSaM7-CJszMlGmEXhPcRAdWYYhj6FjpWOPZxOT-03I0hOrIeAQmpeRyWqYen5J9svJo5M82gsrrJgvS3ELZL6b2RmeAdU4CSDRiCAsxicp_VJ4_Bq3ZlA6A5QIW0/w681-h384-no/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was the 'hearth' fire. I got it started every night. Ideally people in the community keep it going the whole time, but I always had to re-light it.</td></tr>
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<a aria-label="Photo - Landscape - Jun 19, 2016, 9:26:50 PM" class="p137Zd" href="https://photos.google.com/search/_tra_/photo/AF1QipML7eI-8XEKxR7jtDh9b9YE-nJWm1-WQ7pFu9E" jsaction="click:eQuaEb;focus:AHmuwe; blur:O22p3e;" tabindex="0"></a><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Communal campsite. I don't have a shot of my tent, but that is my awesome deluxe kitchen.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Giant Jenga. It took a while but eventually whenever anyone walked past, they removed and replaced a block. They even set it back up when there was no one there to see them knock it over!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bonfire Build -- "Ladies Night" when all fire tenders scheduled were women. Although the men helped with the build, and did some tending that night as well. (Can't keep firetenders away from a good fire!)</td></tr>
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Leesa Kernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06961280684404489657noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-209331932047110281.post-86810202847382894722016-06-01T12:45:00.000-07:002016-06-01T12:45:47.900-07:00One Fest Down....For those students concerned, I have successfully avoided being ax-murdered thus far :)<br />
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Trying to decide how to convey the research experience. It really isn't as interesting or exciting as Indiana Jones movies make it. I placed around 30 surveys in a water-proof box in a common area of the event grounds, and then announced it at every opportunity. In doing so, I got 26 surveys completed. A couple of people sent me messages asking about them via Facebook after I left (I had to leave before the event was over), so I will be sending those out. One woman offered to take them to her group members that were unable to be there, so I sent her the PDF.<br />
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Every evening, I'd grab the surveys to take back to my tent, take out the completed ones, and replace them with new ones. There's some drinking that takes place at night, so I didn't want anything to happen to them accidentally (or on purpose, but I wasn't too worried about that). I had the benefit at this event of knowing people well, and so asking for people to fill them out was fairly easy. This will not be the case at future events though, so we shall see. <br />
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Here's what my home sweet home for the long weekend looked like:<br /><br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVCYXcD5O9V9YAUzhNs46oQlto-zmG22BwYig8jGZJQuR-tKrTWH_y1T1PYMvuGZLNxtuT_fOwp2Szk2hfd6Du4hf6PPd2QnP-Pg49cEg_h9NS40RDNx_VwGkBkIGJQG7sGW5cgxmveyk/s1600/Wellspring+Camp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVCYXcD5O9V9YAUzhNs46oQlto-zmG22BwYig8jGZJQuR-tKrTWH_y1T1PYMvuGZLNxtuT_fOwp2Szk2hfd6Du4hf6PPd2QnP-Pg49cEg_h9NS40RDNx_VwGkBkIGJQG7sGW5cgxmveyk/s320/Wellspring+Camp.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Please note the bow-legged-ness of the pop up. That's because it's a very old one and is on it's last legs, somewhat literally. It was pretty hot the whole weekend, but given that usually this particular event is very cold, no one was allowed to complain about the heat. Of course, what happens when it gets really hot? It thunderstorms...and thus illuminated that not only should the pop up be replaced, but so too should the tent behind it. I got a bit of water in the tent (the laptop and the surveys were safe though), and had to re-engineer the which goes over the whole thing (that you can't see from this angle). I figured at that point, I needed to replace the tent OR the pop up (or possibly both), before something truly tragic happened and all sorts of water became a problem. Fortunately, the re-engineer worked and a later rainstorm did not make anything worse inside.<br />
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Before I left, I rolled a bunch of pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters and bought this:<br /><br /><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2uYiOnMKnDS2m_lE0Tl2n7Zjwu1jD-Nxbiw7jjJ1rMRED1LZJ0ZZg4dC0ezofg_khMyznVhCWsJg-YTJqWDgkZ2Wx_vh2jSmrYQk0_vyTG9Rzl80JX6EcolzGjhUn94xby85IGnworyA/s1600/Wellspring+Camp+Cool+Kitchen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2uYiOnMKnDS2m_lE0Tl2n7Zjwu1jD-Nxbiw7jjJ1rMRED1LZJ0ZZg4dC0ezofg_khMyznVhCWsJg-YTJqWDgkZ2Wx_vh2jSmrYQk0_vyTG9Rzl80JX6EcolzGjhUn94xby85IGnworyA/s320/Wellspring+Camp+Cool+Kitchen.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This piece of awesomeness is the Cabela's Deluxe Camp Kitchen. That bit in the middle has an actual sink in it. It definitely made life easier, despite taking up more of the trunk than I had anticipated.<br />
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One thing that I don't think I ever talked about in class was what to do if unexpected guests stop by:<br /><br /><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Rkql7dFiBwD3Lcd4gRfNNFjvtQeaWrPN8jUPFdkwaUIFo6SD3X_Kc__d3uh5WQ15yRkFSfIntBoV6dHocjdK9v3qhm0JQxJkf0Kx0Qdpi5mAt-ZCYI-D61GkRS4td-Jkdwfu3wobtTo/s1600/Bee+in+my+Tent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Rkql7dFiBwD3Lcd4gRfNNFjvtQeaWrPN8jUPFdkwaUIFo6SD3X_Kc__d3uh5WQ15yRkFSfIntBoV6dHocjdK9v3qhm0JQxJkf0Kx0Qdpi5mAt-ZCYI-D61GkRS4td-Jkdwfu3wobtTo/s320/Bee+in+my+Tent.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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That is some sort of bee. It could have been a hornet or yellow jacket. I'm not allergic, but that doesn't mean I needed to get stung. (The massive amount of mosquito bites I got was plenty....they laughed at all manner of insect repellent). I don't think I've ever covered this particular research problem in class, but maybe I will next year :)<br />
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I have a new hand-me-down tent from a friend, so that's handled. I have 26 surveys to code and enter, and then see if any of them wanted to be contacted for more indepth interviews. But there are still other ongoing tasks. The literature review persists, and I just ordered about 25 more articles and maybe 10 books. The next event is June 18 to 26ish (or whatever that Sunday is).Leesa Kernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06961280684404489657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-209331932047110281.post-22650583145115055982016-05-13T11:45:00.001-07:002016-05-22T10:38:23.150-07:00Welcome!First, welcome to my research journal!<br />
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It is kind of a weird place to put the "Welcome" message, as there are three to four posts before this one! Those come from the research journal I've been keeping along with the ones I require of my students in Research Methods class. I've been more successful some semesters than others. The first few entries below this one are just copied and pasted from that journal. <br />
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Because I was doing a lot of foundational work for my sabbatical research, I talked about that process in my Research Methods class. One day, a few of my students became concerned about my safety. Maybe. Maybe they were just having a bit of fun at their professor's expense. Maybe they were just trying to avoid talking about course content for a few minutes. Either way, as a part of that discussion, I agreed to keep a research blog so I could check in and they can be assured that I was NOT at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_the_13th_(franchise)" target="_blank">Camp Crystal Lake</a>, and would not be suffering the same fate as those folks. <br />
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You can click on the links to the side to get caught up with where I'm at. (I am not sure why the font is messed up on those. I'll try to fix it so you can actually read it without highlighting it.)<br />
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Hopefully there will be funny stories along the way..<br />
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Right now, I'm finishing up getting ready for the first event at which I will be handing out surveys. I am hoping to finalize the formatting, and then get them printed tomorrow, and then we'll be all set. I'm still waiting for formal permission from the events themselves; I've sent requests to about half, and gotten mildly favorable responses from about half of those, but nothing formal from anyone. <br />
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I also need to set about purchasing the voice recorder for the interviews, and maybe get something waterproof to put everything in. If I don't get one, it will rain buckets the entire time. If I do, maybe that will keep it from raining so much. In fact, I have a long running list of "Things I need," some of which have to do with the research itself, and some just are about general living supplies. I just recalled my rain boots had holes in them at the end of last year, and I had thrown them out. Those are not covered in sabbatical funding, however.<br />
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<br />Leesa Kernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06961280684404489657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-209331932047110281.post-76965878208012447342016-05-13T11:34:00.001-07:002016-05-13T11:34:28.414-07:00Ready to get started<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; margin-bottom: 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<i>Originally posted in the SOAN 3000 Research Methods blog on Blackboard on April 4, 2016</i></div>
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I have been remiss in updating this, but that's because not much has been happening. Juggling teaching, research, and service responsibilities is a lot like you guys juggling coursework, organizations, employment, etc. Add family and other obligations in and...whew!</div>
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However, PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE. Since I last posted I have: </div>
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<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Written the interview</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Done the consent forms for both</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Written the letter requesting permission from events to conduct the research</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Written the IRB.</li>
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In the immortal words of Ric Flair...<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">WOOOOOOoooooo</span>!! (Bonus points if you respond in the comments with who that is :) )</div>
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Now is the time of getting a little nervous. I have to send this letter out to 7-8 events and hope they say yes. I also kind of asked for advertising in their event programs, which is a cost I hadn't thought of when I submitted my proposal. I don't know if it will cost money or not, and if it does how much. I'm not <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline;">sure</span> if I can submit the amount (if there is one) with my expenses once I am back, either, since they weren't on the original budget. <br /><br />(I am also tangentially wondering if I can include the costs of laundry, since I'll be gone two-three weeks at one point...)</div>
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This little thing should serve to advise you that even if you plan very carefully, things come up. Some of them might be incidental, and some of them might be larger than that, but one must be flexible. Otherwise, research can just stall (especially if it is big) and then you don't get anywhere. And when you have a report on why your university gave you half a year off, you do kind of have to tell them something. :) </div>
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Leesa Kernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06961280684404489657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-209331932047110281.post-22536036007791873242016-05-13T11:32:00.002-07:002016-05-13T11:32:43.433-07:00Ethics<div class="entryText clearfix" style="color: #111111; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; margin: 3px 12px 12px; overflow-x: auto; padding: 9px 0px 18px;">
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<i>Originally posted in the SOAN 3000: Research Methods blog on Blackboard on February 12, 2016</i></div>
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I'm a little behind...so I will try to get caught up.</div>
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The next topic I need to address is 'ethics.' As a person and a sociologist and an instructor who wants to lead by example, I need to work on my own IRB for my project. </div>
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The MUFON project is tricky, and as I'm still in the musing about stage for this, I won't be going forward on that just yet. What I've learned from watching Hangar 1 is there's a significant amount of paranoia among people who believe they've seen things or been abducted, so I don't even know whether I should identify myself as a researcher. </div>
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The religion project is a little less dicey, but still not without its difficulties. There will be way less paranoia...I think :) but other problems may surface. One thing I've been able to glean from earlier, informal interviews, is that within this community there's a concern that religion may play a roll in employment and custody issues, among other things. There have been tales of people being fired and losing children in custody battles because of their religion. Not just urban legend-type friend-of-a-friend tales either. They could name names and locations and everything. Therefore, I definitely have a special responsibility to make sure that I maintain the anonymity and confidentiality of my respondents. Even if they say I can use their names, I don't believe I will. What if someone could be connected via association with a known name, and loses a job or children because of THAT? </div>
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The other ethical situation, which I did not talk about much, is making sure my own biases (from my political and spiritual slants) do not influence the writing of my questions, the manner in which I address respondents, or interpret results. We'll probably talk/read more about this when we discuss qualitative research, but it is a concern...the interviewer does not want to lead their respondents. Think about how lawyers aren't allowed to lead the witness. Neither should researchers.</div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Please feel free to pose questions, make comments and suggestions whatever :) </span></div>
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Leesa Kernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06961280684404489657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-209331932047110281.post-41678961413713978152016-05-13T11:30:00.002-07:002016-05-22T10:31:06.264-07:00Things I'm thinking about<div class="entryText clearfix" style="color: #111111; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; margin: 3px 12px 12px; overflow-x: auto; padding: 9px 0px 18px;">
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<i>This was originally posted in the SOAN 3000: Research Methods blog on Blackboard on February 3, 2016</i></div>
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Still haven't found time to actually read...</div>
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Did you know UFOs come from under water in addition to outer space?</div>
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<i>(I discovered that there was an entire series on-line on the History channel that was allegedly from the files of MUFON, which is another potential research topic of mine...)</i></div>
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Okay, seriously. Given the project I'm talking about, on <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">neo</span>-Pagan religious transmission, it probably falls in line with Inductive theorizing. I don't know of any existing theory that could be used to explain things, and I don't really know what kinds of things I'll find. I have a guide from some of the things I've read, but they seem, in retrospect, fairly <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">atheoretical</span>. Meaning, there's a lot of "here's what's happening" but a lack of "here is why it is happening."</div>
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It's possible this means that what I'll actually be doing is something called "grounded theory." It's a sub-set of inductive reasoning where, instead of making observations and seeing if there's an existing theory to explain them, you use the observations and relationships to create a new theory. I think ideally then, others test that theory (deductively)... but, to be honest, I don't know if that actually happens. Maybe it does? One thing we'll talk about is that while replication is one of the goals of scientific research, we are only human, and like to do something new.</div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">I'm a little </span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">nervous about the whole thing, because it's been a while since I've done <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">ANYthing</span></span> like qualitative research, and it was on a much smaller scale. But, it's fun to learn new things.</span></div>
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Leesa Kernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06961280684404489657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-209331932047110281.post-18329232062168389882016-05-13T11:28:00.001-07:002016-05-22T10:31:56.378-07:00Getting Started<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; margin-bottom: 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<i>This was originally posted to the SOAN 3000: Research Methods Blackboard site on January 24, 2016</i></div>
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Usually every year I go through my litany of ideas and research projects. But there really is just one this year. I am interested in studying how families transmit 'doing religion' to their children, when they have no structural supports. What the heck does that mean, Dr. Kern?</div>
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What that means... if people are Christian (as 77% of our society claims to be), and they have children, there's a ready made establishment for them to socialize their children into their faith. There are physical buildings and churches, staffed by people in the role of spiritual teacher. There's a common scripture and more or less common interpretation of that scripture. There's Sunday school, and Vacation Bible School in the summer, and basically an entire industry devoted to producing resources to facilitate this. In addition, it is the dominant religion of the culture, so talking about one's efforts to raise children in the faith is normal as well. For other religions, this can still be the case (for example, Judaism). However, a number of alternative faiths do not have either the cultural support or the institutional structure in place to support parents. Many of these religions fall under the umbrella of "<span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">neo</span>-Paganism," a set of fiercely decentralized religions that have no central structure, no governing body, and very little in the way of what we would call structural resources. Misunderstandings about the religions also remove cultural support. So, how do parents who want to raise their children in the faith, accomplish this?</div>
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What I hope to do at first, is to find out exactly how much <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">neo</span>-pagans practice their faith in the their day to day life. That is the point behind using the FAITH scale that I showed you. My sabbatical will be administering the FAITH scale and some other survey questions, and then asking those who want to talk more in-depth about it to sit for a longer, and more in-depth interview. (This is my sabbatical project!)</div>
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So I am a bit ahead of you all with your projects, but I sort of feel I have miles to go. I have a stack of journal articles (I mentioned) and a paralyzing fear that I'll miss some HUGE chunk of theory or something, but won't know until it is too late ;)</div>
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I need to do my IRB, write my survey, and do all the things you guys are doing too.</div>
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I'll be sharing my drafts with you all as well. It's only fair :)</div>
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Also you can ask questions or make suggestions in the comments :) </div>
Leesa Kernhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06961280684404489657noreply@blogger.com0