The sixth and final post in an epic, six-part series of lectures from my intro to graduate studies lecture course, which Iâm posting online in the hope that others will find them useful. [Part 1 Here, Part 2 Here, Part 3 Here, Part 4 Here, Part 5 Here; the lectures are unedited — hence, you might be a bit confused by a few inexplicable notes and slides about administrative issues]. We started off by describing the premise of the class; then discussed how students could find their own position within the program and the field; then helped students map that field, appreciate its breadth and the various intellectual and create traditions it draws from; then talked about practical methods for maintaining oneâs orientation within the field and within oneâs own work; then discussed the various forms oneâs scholarship can take, ranging from traditional academic writing to more experimental writing forms, to âmultimodalâ scholarship and theoretically informed, research-based media production. Finally, we talk about the tools and methods we have access to to help us execute research projects in various forms.
6:00: Fabiola Berdiel re: GPIAâs International Field Programs
6:15: Peter Asaro, Principal Faculty Member, Media Studies
Readings for This Week:
- âTools & Material Consciousness,â Words In Space
- Jane Stokes, âThink About Theory,â âChoosing the Right Method,â âRules of Evidence,â âParadigms of Research,â âCombining Research Methodsâ & âPhrasing Your Research Questionâ In How to Do Media and Cultural Studies (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2003): 11-24.
- Skim âCritical Approaches,â Words In Space [This is an archived lesson from one of my old research methods courses. Read up through âHow is This Research?â then skim the rest to get a sense of the variety of approaches.]
- Skim âQualitative Methods,â Words In Space [Same as above. Read the first section, then skim from âCase Studiesâ through the end to acquaint/remind yourself with the variety of available qualitative methods.]
- Carole Gray & Julian Malins, âCrossing the Terrain: Establishing Appropriate Research Methodologiesâ In Visualizing Research: A Guide to the Research Process in Art and Design (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2004): 93-128.
- Stephen A. R. Scrivener, âThe Roles of Art and Design Process and Object In Researchâ In Nithikul Nimkulrat & Tim OâRiley, Eds., Reflections and Connections: On the Relationship Between Creative Production and Academic Research (Helsinki: University of Art and Design, 2009): 69-79.
[SLIDE 2] Agenda
[SLIDE 4] We have to consider: What are the TOOLS â both technological and methodological â that I need to do that work?
In creating our âshopping listâ of tools, we need to think back on all the different scales at which weâve worked throughout the semester.
- Weâve considered our researcher identities: where we can draw inspiration for research
- âIdentifying Your Interestsâ guide you read for 2nd class
- Weâre looked at the various traditions our field has historically drawn from, and what kinds of questions practitioners in those various traditions have asked, and what tools theyâve used to answer their questions
- Weâve considered the different forms our work can take.
- Youâre exploring different theoretical frameworks in your Ideas classes and different design principles and skills in Concepts.
- How do we bring all that to bear on our selection of tools, so that weâre practicing âmaterial consciousnessâ?
[SLIDE 5] Work from both ends: Selection of ends and means, allegiance with particular methods and epistemologies, should mutually inform one another!
METHODOLOGY VS. METHODS
[SLIDE 6]
- Methods: the techniques or procedures used to gather and analyze data related to some research question or hypotheses
- Methodology: the strategy, plan of action, process or design lying behind the choice and use of particular methods and linking the choice and use of methods to the desired outcomes
- Theoretical perspective: the philosophical stance informing the methodology and thus providing a context for the process and grounding its logic and criteria
- Epistemology: the theory of knowledge embedded in the theoretical perspective and thereby in the methodology (Crotty 3)
Whatâs out there to know? (Ontology) ==> What and how can we know about it? (Epistemology) ==> How can we go about acquiring knowledge? (Methodology) ==> What procedures can we use to acquire it? (Methods) ==> Sources (Which data can we collect?) (Hay 2002, p. 64)
[SLIDE 7] Epistemologies: Objectivism | Subjectivism | Constructivism
- Objectivism: âmeaning, and therefore meaningful reality, exists as such apart from the operation of any consciousnessâ (p. eight)
- Subjectivism: âmeaning does not come out of an interplay between subject and object but is imposed on the object by the subjectâ (p. nine)
- Constructivism: âthere is no objective truth waiting for us to discover it. Truth, or meaning, comes into existence in and out of our engagement with the realities in our worldâ (p. eight)
You neednât align yourself with one or the other â in fact, we could argue that this list is far from sufficient â What is âsignificant for graduate students to know about epistemology is that [CLICK] people claim different theories of what gets to count as knowledge and / that these differences have implications for inquiryâŚ. [Crotty] differentiates among them by defining the ways in which [CLICK] each epistemology conceptualizes the relation between the knowing subject and the object of knowledge.â (Gunzenhauser & Gerst-Pepin 332-3)
[SLIDE 8] âEpistemological diversity may lead to fragmentation, frustration, and confusion for graduate students, but appreciation for epistemological diversity greatly facilitates an understanding of why various forms of research seem so different from each other.â (Gunzenhauser & Gerstl-Pepin 333)
[SLIDE 9] Theoretical Perspectives
- Positivism | Post-Positivism (absolute knowledge isnât positive; can only reject the null hypothesis) | Pragmatism | Interpretivism | Participatory | Postmodern
- Again, we could argue that this list doesn’t represent the diversity of approaches w/in Media Studies. Whatâs important is that we understand that: âThe theoretical perspectiveâŚis a way of looking at the world and making sense of it. It involvesâŚhow we know what we know.â (Crotty eight)
[SLIDE 10] Stated in âBackwardâ Direction â from Method to Theoretical Perspective: âInevitably, we bring a number of assumptions to our chosen methodology. We need, as best we can, to state what those assumptions are⌠How, then, do we take account of these assumptions and justify them? By expounding our theoretical perspective, that is, our view of the human world and social life within that world, wherein such assumptions are grounded.â (Crotty 7)
[SLIDE 11] Methodology: âWhat is called for here is not only a description of the methodology but also an account of the rationale it provides for the choice of methods and the particular forms in which the methods are employed.â (Crotty 7)
- Previously had a one-size-fits-all methods course
- Explain how Research Methods in Media Studies was folded into UMS
- Important for you to consider these issues EARLY, so you can choose your tools and methods wisely!
How many of you have taken a full-semester qualitative methods course? Quantitative?
EXAMPLES
[SLIDE 12] constructionism (knowledge constructed by learner, rather than merely transmitted) ==> symbolic interactionism (human interaction mediated by use of symbols) ==> ethnography (a âconstellationâ of methods â participant observation, interviews, etc., used to describe a people) => participant observation
âEthnographyâŚis a methodology. It is one of many particular research designs that guide a researcher in choosing methods and shape the use of the methods chosen. Symbolic interactionism…is a theoretical perspective that informs a range of methodologies, including some forms of ethnography. As a theoretical perspective, it is an approach to understanding and explaining society and the human world, and grounds a set of assumptions that symbolic interactionist researchers typically bring to their methodology of choice. Constructionism is an epistemology embodied in many theoretical perspectives, including symbolic interactionismâŚ. An epistemologyâŚis a way of understanding and explaining how we know what we know. What all this suggests is that symbolic interactionism, ethnography and constructionism need to be related to one another rather than merely set side by side as comparable.â (Crotty 3)
objectivism (belief that reality is mind-dependent) ==> positivism => survey research Ă statistical analysis
Students often donât recognize methodological implications of making positivist claims!
âEngaging with the epistemology of objectivism, for instance, enables students to understand the grounding of positivism,⌠important for students to understand that the use of probability statistics rests on the theory of falsification, the goal of which is not to prove a hypothesis but rather to reject the null hypothesis, with the logical implication that results may be correct, not that they are correct.â (Gunzenhauser & Gerstl-Pepin 333)
[SLIDE 13] Constructivism: âSignificant for students to understand what it may mean to claim that âknowledge is socially constructedâ⌠For example, [CLICK] constructionist researchers vary in how they consider the role of culture in the construction of meaning, and these variations oftenâŚlead to distinct methodological differences, with those interested in how meaning is constructed in social settings more often selecting [CLICK] ethnography, and those more interested in how individuals construct meaning (without the context of a setting or in multiple settings) more exclusively relying upon an [CLICK] open-ended interview design.â (Gunzenhauser & Gerstl-Pepin 334)
- NO ONE-TO-ONE CORRELATION between Theoretical Perspective + Methodologies: ââŚjust because a researcher uses statistical research does not mean assuming that knowledge is objectively knowable. âŚ[I]it opens the possibility that researchers who utilize statistical research methodologies are not necessarily objectivistsâ (Gunzenhauser & Gerstl-Pepin 335)
[SLIDE 14] LOOK MORE CLOSELY AT METHODS
Probably a good deal of redundancy â and even contradiction â in the texts you read (or skimmed!) for today. Thatâs because there are no good, comprehensive texts that address the diversity of methods that a praxis-based media studies addresses.
As we discovered on Day 2, Media Studies draws on a variety of fields, and thus a variety of methodological approaches â [SLIDE 15 + 16] Fletcherâs âProcedureâ Charts
[SLIDE 17] CRITICAL APPROACHES
- Introduced in Ideas + Seminar classes
- Analysis of Texts â Depends on how you define âtextâ
- You canât look at everything all at once â Rose: â[E]ngaging with the debates in [media] culture means deciding which site and which modalities you think are most important in explaining the effect” of a textâ
- Narrative Analysis, Generic Analysis, Semiotics, Formal Analysis, Medium Theory, etc.
QUANTIATITVE METHODS
[SLIDE 18] SPSS
[SLIDE 19] QUALITATIVE METHODS
From Lesson (Jensen): Distinctions of Qualitative Research
- Study should take place, if possible, in naturalistic contexts
- Researcher plays role of interpretive subject (236)
- Conceptualization + Operationalization
- Iterative; rsch design is emergent
- Sampling (maximum variation, snowball, convenience, case studies)
- Interviewing (âhermeneutics of suspicionâ; p. 240)
- Observation (thick description, participant observation, field notes!)
- Documents, Artefacts, Unobtrusive Measures
- Data Analysis (coding)
- Discourse Analysis (discourse as âstructureâ or as âevidenceâ; p. 251)
- SPECIFICITY: â..we will not just talk about âcarrying out interviewsâ but will indicate in very detailed fashion what kind of interviews they are, what interviewing techniques are employed, and in what sort of setting the interviews are conducted.â (Crotty 6)
[SLIDE 20] A PRAXIS-BASED PROGRAM ALSO RECOGNIZES, IN ADDITION TO TRADITIONAL METHODS, ART/DESIGN METHODS
[SLIDE 21] Gray & Malins: Different ways of conceiving of âpracticeâ
- âpractice as individual creative activity, perhaps the most obvious interpretation â âmakingâ in its broadest senseâ
- âpractice as facilitation and dissemination â activities related to visual arts/design/ craft/ new media, for example education, administration, and activities such as curating, commissioning, critical writing, and so on;
- âpractice as collaborative activity, involving other practitioners, participants and professionals from other disciplines, and/or external bodies, for example industry, commerce, voluntary sectors, and so on. This approach could involve making, facilitating, disseminating, as well as negotiating, fundraising, and so onâ (Gray & Malins 104)
Practice: disadvantage: âopen to criticisms of indulgence and over-subjectivity if not placed securely within the formal framework, and if lacking in methodological transparencyâ (105)
[SLIDE 22] Scrivener: What distinguishes âcreative projectâ from âpraxis-based researchâ or âmultimodal scholarshipâ â i.e., when âusing videoâ or âfield recordingsâ arenât just production techniques, but actually research methods?
- âways in which creative production can be understood as contributing to the fulfillment of the conditions of research, which are here defined as intention, subject, method, justification, communication, and goalâ (69)
- creative production as a âmode of knowledge acquisitionâ (69)
Frayling/Scrivenerâs 3 Modes of Practice-Based Research:
Various ways of conceiving relationship btw theory and practice!!
- [SLIDE 23] Research Into Art and Design (A/D as research subject)
- âpractice is seen as interesting in itself: the research subjects are, âthe theory-infused analyses, routines, methods and habits of the field, different ways of seeing, cultural forms and structuresâ (quoted on 73)
- e.g., film studies / design studies
- [SLIDE 24] Research For Art and Design
- Gathering reference materials for creative production; âResearch where the end product is an artifact â where the thinking is, so to speak, embodied in the artifactâ (71)
- âconcerned with gaining knowledge and understanding that directly contributes to the design practice of the designer/researcherâ (73)
- [SLIDE 25] âcan be argued that novel creative production that is new to the world of creative production extends the knowledge and understanding of that worldâ (77) â yet that knowledge is tacit; âin order to quality [creative production] as research, it is one which must be coupled with a methodology for making explicit what is otherwise tacitâ (78)
- [SLIDE 26] Managers/Consultant adopt design research methods
- IDEO Design Methods [8:13]
- [SLIDE 27] Research Through Art and Design(creative production as research method)
- Weak claim: we design something to then analyze and evaluate; Stronger claim: creative production as method (75-6) â
- ââŚactivity that yields both new scholarship and new creativityâ (72)
- must justify art/design âas a means of knowledge acquisitionâ (76)
- RECALL MULTIMODAL SCHOLARSHIP
- Weak claim: we design something to then analyze and evaluate; Stronger claim: creative production as method (75-6) â
- [SLIDE 28] Practice / Production is research âif and only if it is (1) a systematic investigation, (2) conducted intentionally, (3) to acquire new knowledge, understanding, insights, etc, (4) justified, and (5) communicated, (6) about a subjectâ (71) â [CLICK] research is âpurposive, inquisitive (seeking to acquire new knowledge), informed, methodical, and communicableâ (71)
- [SLIDE 29] âthe method or methodology must always include an explicit understanding of how the practice contributes to the inquiryand research is distinguished from other forms of practice by that explicit understandingâ (quoted on 74)
- âWhen a production becomes an intervention into an established scholarly debate, dialogue or discourse, or when it initiates or seeks to initiate a debate. Any performance-as-research must make explicit its relation with that debate, and communicate the ways in which the terms of the debate have been changed by the research subjectâ (quoted on 72)
- Importance of Lit Review
- All Production Theses have to explain how theyâre responding to debates germane to the field of media studies
- [SLIDE 30] Work is made public, open for critique â Journal for Artistic Research: http://www.jar-online.net/
- âThe aim of the program is to develop new knowledge, or to preserve or critically assess it. It is also the case that works of visual art and design are available for critical assessment by peers, and are available to the wider intellectual community, as expected of well-defined researchâ (quoted on 72)
- âWhen a production becomes an intervention into an established scholarly debate, dialogue or discourse, or when it initiates or seeks to initiate a debate. Any performance-as-research must make explicit its relation with that debate, and communicate the ways in which the terms of the debate have been changed by the research subjectâ (quoted on 72)
[SLIDE 31] Gray & Malins speak of Leonardoâs âthinkingâ through sketches, his âappropriate use of mediaâ (94) â Choice of method reflects material consciousness
[SLIDE 32] Artists & Designers can benefit from applying more traditional qualitative (and even quantitative) research methods â but must also develop new methods that take advantage of âcurrent cultural contexts and technologiesâ (96), revamp/adapt existing methods for new uses (101)
- Observation: use drawing, mapping, diagramming, video, photography (106)
- Visualization: drawings, concept maps, flow charts, storyboards (107)
- Photography (108-9): âan acquisition method (and to aid later analysis) annotation is essentialâ (109)
- Video (110)
- Sketchbook
- 3D Models / Maquettes
- Audio
[SLIDE 33] Using Media as Research Tools
- Related to our discussion last week about Multimodal Scholarship, matching form to content â requires Material Consciousness
- Consider each toolâs affordances and limitations
[SLIDE 34] Tools as âknowledge objectifiedâ â tools as an embodiment of, or shaper of, consciousness
[SLIDE 35] Without thinking critically about the relationship between our chosen tools â cameras, recorders, software, etc. â and our methodologies and epistemologies, we might as well equate writing with âpushing pencil.â
- Anti cyber-triumphalism and techno-fetishism
- Should have a justification for choosing the tools, formats youâve chosen
[SLIDE 36] âThe enlightened way to use a machine is to judge its powers, fashion its uses, in light of our own limits rather than the machineâs potential. We should not compete against the machineâŚ. Against the claim of perfection we can assert our own individualityâ (Sennett 105).
[SLIDE 37] Recall what we said last week about the goals of Multimodal Scholarship: ââŚnot only to seek to understand and interrogate the cultural and social impact of new technologies, but to be engaged in driving the creation of new technologies, methodologies, and information systems, as well as in their dĂŠtournement (turnabout, derailment), reinvention, repurposing, via research questions grounded in the Arts and Humanities: questions of meaning, interpretation, history, subjectivity, and cultureâ (6)
No need to work with âoff-the-shelfâ methods!
[SLIDE 38] Weâve moved through todayâs class from the macro- to the hyper-micro â right down to the thoughtful choice of specific models of equipment that suit your methodological purpose
- See how consciousness has to tie together the various levels of this framework
[SLIDE 39] Why bother studying methodology? Why not âjust sit down and work out for ourselves how we go about it?
In the end, that is precisely what we have to do. Yet a study of how other people have gone about the task of human inquiry serves us well and is surely indispensable. Attending to recognized research designs and their various theoretical underpinnings exercises a formative influence upon us. It awakens us to ways of research we would never otherwise have conceived of. It makes us much more aware of what is possible in research. [SLIDE 40] Even so, it is by no means a matter of plucking a methodology off the shelf. We acquaint ourselves with the various methodologies. We evaluate their presuppositions. We weight their strengths and weaknesses. Having done all that and more besides, we still have to forge a methodology that will meet our particular purposes in this research. One of the established methodologies may suit the task that confronts us. Or perhaps none of them do and we find ourselves drawing on several methodologies, molding them into a way of proceeding that achieves the outcomes we look to. Perhaps we need to be more inventive still and create a methodology that in many respects is quite new.â (Crotty 14)
âIn light of this epistemological and theoretical diversity, which expands with the proliferation of theory and method, graduate students have multiple options for positioning their own work. Students need facility with theoretical perspectives to engage prior research, synthesize it for their own understanding, and create methodological plans that serve their own projects.â (Gunzenhauser & Gerstl-Pepin 336)
Yet just as we aim not to fetishize our tools, we aim not to fetishize method
[SLIDE 41] âThe end of all method is to seem to have no method.â
        Just as we are against âgee-wizardry,â we have to resist âmethodolatryâ
[SLIDE 42] Mary Dalyâs (philosopher/theologian) Websterâs First Intergalactic Wickedary of the English Language:
Methodolatry (n): common form of academic idolatry; glorification of the god Method; boxing knowledge into prefabricated fields, thereby hiding threads of connectedness, hindering New Discoveries, preventing the raising of New Questions, erasing ideas that do not fit into Respectable Categories of Questions and Answers (Daly 1987).
Sandra Bicknell, a researcher in museum studies, espouses methodological “pluralism”:
I have a feeling that there is a lot of this (methodolatry) about. There have been a number of attempts to categorize…methodology. This âboxingâ of methods is, in my view, isolationist. It suggests either/or scenarios.
[SLIDE 43] I use multiple methods to give greater rigor, reliability and depth to the work I do. Each element is designed both to test and to complement the findings of other elements. The different methods add layers of information but also provide a means of identifying inconsistencies and weaknesses. (Sarah Bicknell, âHere to Help: Evaluation and Effectivenessâ In Eilean Hooper-Greenhill, Ed., Museum, Media, Message (Museum Meanings) (Routledge, 1999): 283-4).
So, in short: you needn’t be a methodological purist. The challenge is to find a complementary combination of methods — all appropriate for your research problem or project — that, together, provide for greater “rigor, reliability, and depth.”
PREVIEW METHODS CLASSES
[SLIDE 44] Clip from Course Guide re: when to take methods courses
- Methods courses intended to be taken later in the program, to support a particular project
- Weâll simply preview your options â may be different from year to year, semester to semester
- Consult w/ advisors re: appropriate methods for proposed project
- Consider options in other programs + INDEPENDENT STUDIES!
[SLIDES 45-52]: Media Studies Methods
[SLIDES 53-54] Other Programsâ Methods Courses
ABOUT TO MOVE INTO NEW PHASE OF CLASS
REMEMBER WHAT WEâVE DONE THUS FAR
RECALL FROM FIRST LECTUREâŚ
Found an inspiring article published in 2003 by a group of graduate students; it appeared in Pedagogy, a journal distributed by Duke University Press â echoed requests from our OWN studentsâŚ
- They called for an introductory graduate course that [SLIDE 55] âprepare[s] graduate students for taking an active role in shaping the future of the disciplineâ (Crisco et al. 372). This course would [CLICK] (1) âsurvey the historical development of the fieldâ; [CLICK] (2) âcritically examine some of the key terms presently at the center of debates concerning the defining goals and purposes of the workâ in the field; [SLIDE 56] (3) âcreate a collaborative, explicitly intradisciplinary space within the department to explore the often competing commitments of our discipline and to articulate the stakes (individual, fieldwide, institutional, cultural) of the various approaches to reformingâ the field; and [CLICK] (4) âprovide students with opportunities to locate themselves and their professional commitments in relationship to the fieldâ (ibid. 369)
- [SLIDE 57] These proposed course objectives map well onto those for UMS.
- We started off next week by reviewing the history of the field and some of its defining goals
- Then we introduce you to many of the research resources in our field, and prepared you to seek out on your own more of the fieldâs historical and contemporary debates.
- In the second half of the semester, through our guestsâ presentations, weâll address some of the key terms, defining goals, and stakes of their work, and the competing (or complimentary) commitments they represent. â WEâLL TALK ABOUT THIS IN A MINUTE
- And through the assignments, you have an opportunity to âlocate [yourself] and [your] professional commitments in relationship to the field.â
[SLIDE 58] NEED TO SURVEY THE FIELD BEFORE YOU KNOW HOW TO OPERATE WITHIN IT. AND THE STANDARD MEANS BY WHICH YOU PROCESS THAT SURVEY IS THE LITERATURE REVIEW / MEDIAGRAPHY
Youâve been building up to this â with Abstracts, which you then gather into an Annotated Bibliography â [SLIDE 59] The Literature Review is essentially a âprocessingâ of all the material you will have reviewed for the previous assignments. Youâre processing it for a purpose: to get a sense of what exists in your area of interest, to know whatâs already been done and what you can build upon.
Lit Review essentially âsets the stageâ for the work that you plan to do
[SLIDE 60] Serves Multiple Functions:
- Personal Function: As we discussed last week, we often have to dig into the writing process in order to know what we think about something. We have to write in order to work through our arguments
- Lit Review helps you work through what youâre discovered in your research â helps you find patterns, gaps, inconsistencies, contradictions, etc.
- External Functions: essential for seminar papers, thesis proposals, grant proposals, business plans, etc.
[SLIDE 61] Assignment on Ning
[SLIDE 62] REVIEW LIT REVIEW GUIDE (In Assignments section on NING)
[SLIDES 63-65] INTRODUCE FOCUS AREAS
- Discuss purpose of Focus Areas
- Not REQUIRED to choose a focus area
- Not ALL will appeal to you â but might introduce you to areas of study you never wouldâve imaged youâd be interested in
- At the very least, youâll be familiar with the breadth of the field.
Guest speakers have been asked to address the following:
[SLIDE 66]
- Do you consider your work to be part of a particular academic, creative, or professional tradition? What, or who, has inspired you?
- How do you develop ideas for new projects, and how do you hone those initial ideas into feasible tasks?
- Discuss any methods you use in your research or creative or professional work. We hope to impress upon students that research is not exclusive to academic pursuits, and that work in all sectors requires reflection on appropriate methods. Do you conduct interviews as part of your professional work? Focus groups? Discourse analyses? Mixed methods for market research? If the MA program offers methods courses that match your preferred methods, please reference these courses.
- Discuss any grants, fellowships, prizes, or other accolades or forms of support you may have received, and share with students how you applied, or were nominated, for these honors.
- Mention any professional organizations or interest groups you belong to, and address the benefits of membership.
- List some of the professional resources â magazines, journals, publishers, listservâs, etc. â and local venues or institutions â archives, screening series, galleries, lecture series, etc. â you find most useful.
- Refer students to New School courses â either your own or those taught within our program or in other grad programs â that would allow students to explore in greater depth the topics you address in your presentation.
[SLIDE 67] Must READ in order to be prepared to ask questions!
Should attend to all, even if theyâre not within your immediate realm of interest
- External Motivation: obligation to familiarize yourself with the field â implication of a Masters degree
- Internal Motivation: students are often surprised to discover new interests â will become apparent next week when Ambassadors visit your discussion sections.
2 replies on “IYLSSIF 6: Tools Methods”
Shannon … once again you have amazed me. I find great value in this series. More and more please.
I’m glad to hear this, James! Thanks so much for your comment. I wasn’t sure if unedited lecture notes would make much sense outside of my live “performance” of them. And as I mentioned in the post that inspired this series, I’ve been facing some (unusual) student resistance to this material this term, so it’s helpful to be able to gauge whether or not others find this material useful.