I admit I felt unsettled after reading the sample SSHRC proposal, which is intimidatingly organized and focused compared to my half-hearted attempt. My two passions are Islamic and information studies (my private fantasy is to achieve the impossible and become the first female librarian of Al Azhar's library, revolutionizing the entire collection to include liberal, revisionist views of Islam, and thus paving the way for reform in the Islamic world). Hey, I can dream!
The problem I am facing is developing a research question. The connection between interpretations of Islam and the dissemination of information, the monopolies of knowledge and intellectual freedom (or lack thereof) and censorship, Muslims' limited exposure to books versus their primary exposure to oral forms of communication (Friday prayer sermons, speeches and lectures by clerics) and the ensuing and corresponding mentalities / mindsets...these are all areas, not questions. And how do you study something so vast? Focus groups, one-on-one interviews, participatory research??
It's true that conducting research without a question is like groping in the dark; I have a lot of interests, but what am I really asking?
I am not worrying too much on your research methods yet. Once your question comes up, you will have a clear idea on what kind of research methods that fit into your research.
ReplyDeleteFor the research question, I also have the same issue here. I am still trying to filter out my question from my research interest, but I found Lucker's daisy really helpful. You might want to try to draw your daisy and try to find the comment core. Besides, the brainstorming software might help as well.
Finally, your research interest is fascinating to me. If you want to apply for SSHRC for real, however, I am thinking if it is necessary for you to link Islamic information system with current Canadian ones. Or, will it be easier to make it broader and more abstract to a rule that can apply to general bureaucratic information controlling system? Or, to make your "dream" an ideal model for the world to follow.