Wednesday 1st May 2019 – C3RI METHOD Postgraduate Research Conference

C3RI’s METHOD 2019 conference will take place on Wednesday 1st May 2019. This year we move our focus away from ‘data collection’ and invite research students to explore their methods of data analysis. The audience for the conference is Sheffield Hallam University postgraduate research students and staff.

The conference programme can now be viewed here: METHOD 2019 conference programme.

Across the University disciplines there are enormous differences of practice and culture that can be seen in the way we understand, collect and analyse data, including: our differing relationships to objectivity and subjectivity; the ways we use text and written voice; the way we work with participants and the ways we frame the researcher- amongst many, many other differences. These sit within the often unsaid and unacknowledged histories, codes, beliefs and styles of our specific disciplines.

Sometimes we assume that our methods of analysis are obvious to the reader or that they are simply the methods our discipline always uses, without thinking critically about the consequences of the process, the difficulties it generates, and the way it might affect the results of the study. When we try to use a planned analysis method, sometimes the process isn’t simple. Tried and tested processes initially thought useful, can become redundant, or ineffective. Sometimes we innovate, borrowing some part from one data analysis method and combining it with another, or we allow ourselves to reflect on the problems of applying our analysis process, just in case there’s something unexpected to be discovered. We may identify something we need that comes from a different academic world altogether. Problems should be identified before research begins, but sometimes the unexpected happens and we must think on our feet, wondering how we might get round the problem whilst maintaining the integrity of our research. These decisions demand ingenuity and criticality, and occur in research across all fields.

METHOD(analysis) is not without risks- perhaps we won’t understand each other and we will struggle to find adequate vocabulary within and beyond known disciplinary languages. Perhaps there will be uncomfortable silences as we grapple to understand a discipline that doesn’t abide by the same rules as our own. This type of risk is essential if we are to grow our unusual multi-disciplinary research environment to its full potential. Risk is also unavoidable if we are to garner new understanding, and foster a spirit of inquiry.

Tickets for attendance are bookable via Eventbrite. If you are prompted for a password before you can access the Eventbrite page, or if you have any questions about the conference, please contact us .