Qualitative Inquiry
Privacy Fundamentalism 2.0
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Alistair Duff, Alistair Duff
Personal privacy is by most accounts under unprecedented threat; indeed, it has already suffered serious setbacks. The social context, of course, is the so-called "information age," the rapid, technology-driven transition to a post-industrial world of instant, ubiquitous data. As computerisation and "informatisation" proceed relentlessly, and time-honoured boundaries between the private and the public collapse, personal information becomes increasingly vulnerable, its sanctity disputed. Thus privacy is stationed as a prime site of the normative crisis of the information society. In reaction, alongside sporadic, inadequate political and technical solutions, there has emerged a growing body of profound conceptual work devoted to the defence of privacy. Anchored in a range of disciplines, including philosophy, law, sociology, and communications, and often helpfully crossing disciplinary lines, this corpus is already doing much both to clarify the issues at hand and to point to potential answers. For example, in sociology the work of David Lyon has considerable explanatory power for the analysis of the social impact of information technology. In philosophy and law, Helen Nissenbaum has not only explicated the nature of post-industrial privacy, but endorsed, in a way Kant might not have approved, obfuscation as an ethical response to dubious demands for personal data. Privacy fundamentalism 2.0 is the name for a new theory of privacy that builds upon the work of such contemporary pioneers. It also seeks to ground the human right to privacy more deeply, by reappropriating the neglected philosophical tradition of British idealism associated with thinkers such as T.H. Green, Bernard Bosanquet, and Edward Caird. And it will do so in full light of the world-historical socio-technical transformation of web 2.0 and the unfolding global network society.
Transcending Disciplinary Thinking through Short Stories
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Christiaan Prinsloo
Disciplines could broadly be categorized as hard pure/applied and soft pure/applied; however, short stories seem to enable students to transcend conventional disciplinary boundaries. This study determines how four disciplinary groups of students responded to short stories when no apparent pedagogic purpose was explicitly assigned to the stories as supplementary reading. Data were collected through a qualitative survey, and a content analysis method determined and quantified data patterns among a total population sample of natural science, engineering, art, and music students (N = 55). A heterogeneous pattern across disciplines was associated with general critical thinking because no explicit connection to disciplinary literacy could be established. The entire sample demonstrated homogenous thinking patterns when positive critical evaluations were made. Crossdisciplinary homogenous coupling occurred when students conducted negative critical evaluations. The thinking patterns call into question the typology of hard or soft disciplinary families, as unexpected crossdisciplinary associations were identified. The results propose a theoretical shift regarding disciplinary boundaries and a different approach to literacy and critical thinking in higher education.
Philosophical Hermeneutic Principles That Enhance Qualitative Meta-synthesis Research
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Catharina A Prinsloo
In the humanities, qualitative meta-synthesis studies are increasingly used to combine the findings of primary qualitative research. Noblit and Hare (1988) initially developed meta-ethnography as an interpretative synthesis approach. Subsequent qualitative synthesis approaches hold varying assumptions about the intent of syntheses (aggregative or interpretative) and their necessary methods. Contemporary approaches increasingly emphasize sophisticated methods to the detriment of the interpretive function. Although clear research steps could enhance rigor, overemphasis of such steps may inadvertently obscure the roles of researchers as interpretative agents. A close reading of Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics revealed a position that researchers could assume to enhance the quality of qualitative meta-synthesis. As a philosophy of understanding, philosophical hermeneutics offers no method; however, it shares with meta-synthesis research the aspiration of new and deeper understanding. Philosophical hermeneutics considers understanding as interpretative, a dialogue between researcher and text. This dialogue plays with questions and answers in the metaphorical hermeneutic circle. It urges researchers to pay heed to their existing understandings and traditions that are conditions of and potential hindrances in interpretative understanding. This study proposes a combination of philosophical hermeneutic principles of understanding and rigorous methods that do not silence researchers as interpretative agents, to improve qualitative meta-synthesis studies.
