Nespor's Used Cabbage 967

I'm stealing this from my qual professor - because I absolutely adore him and his biting and crass ways of teaching qualitative methods.  But this isn't so biting or crass.  Just a wonderful lens.  A different lens.  A lens we never are exposed to in The School of Communication at OSU.

Analysis considered as a Canoe Trip in the Open Sea without a Compass

Gladwin (1964), as summarized by Berreman (1966) (in an interesting essay in which he's using the contrast to characterize different forms of research -- I'm borrowing not just the quote but  the analogy), describes the practices of Micronesian navigators who can sail out of sight of land without a compass: [Gladwin] points out that the European navigator begins with a plan – a course – which he has charted according to certain universal principles, and he carries out his voyage by relating his every move to that plan. His effort throughout his voyage is directed to remaining “on course.” If unexpected events occur, he must first alter the plan, then respond accordingly. The Trukese navigator begins with an objective rather than a plan. He sets off toward the objective and responds to conditions as they arise in an ad hoc fashion. He utilizes information provided by the wind, the waves, the tide and current, the fauna, the stars, the clouds, the sound of the water on the side of the boat, and he steers accordingly. His effort is directed to doing whatever is necessary to reach the objective. If asked, he can point to his objective at any moment, but he cannot describe his course. (Berreman, 1966, p. 347; Gladwin’s account is now known to be wrong in some ways, but not in ways that reduce the value of the analogy; see Lewis’s We, the Navigators) Berreman gave yet another example of the European navigator's (1) ... Once the European navigator has developed his operating plan and has available the appropriate technical resources, the implementation and monitoring of his navigation can be accomplished with a minimum of thought. He has simply to perform almost mechanically the steps dictated by his training and by his initial planning synthesis (Gladwin 1964:175). The analogy, if not clear, is this:  the researcher using an experimental or population-analytic type of research design works from an operating plan, like the European navigator.  The qualitative researcher, by contrast, operates more like the Chuuk navigator