Chapter 16: Journalling as a research tool

Test your understanding of each chapter by taking the quiz below. Click anywhere on the question to reveal the answer. Good luck!

1. When thinking about journalling as a research tool, what is meant by a ‘journal’?

  1. A reflective document, which you hand in at the end of your research project to show the development of your ideas
  2. A private document in which you document your thoughts and feelings – extracts of which may be used as data
  3. Something that is only used in case study research
  4. A source of academic articles on a given topic

Ans: B

2.  What is meant by the term ‘autoethnography’

  1. Research which is done automatically
  2. Ethnographic research
  3. Positivist research involving testing a hypothesis
  4. Research which places the self of the researcher firmly within the narrative

Ans: D

3. Why might a researcher use journalling as a research tool?

  1. As an aide-memoire
  2. Documenting thoughts and feelings
  3. As data
  4. All of these

Ans: D

4. What is a ‘critical incident’ (according to Tripp, 1993)?

  1. An issue relating to child protection
  2. An issue identified as ‘critical’ which is subject to intense reflection by an individual
  3. Analysis of an incident which has happened in the nursery, e.g. an accident
  4. Critical analysis of interview data

Ans: B

5. What are the limitations of journalling as a research tool?

  1. Just because someone writes in a journal it may not be reflective
  2. It creates additional work for students
  3. Interviews provide better quality data
  4. Reflection is not needed in any research project

Ans: A

6. What (if any) are the ethical issues associated with using extracts from a journal as data?

  1. It creates additional work for the tutor in reading journal extracts
  2. There are no ethical issues: a journal is a private document and the researcher is in control of what s/he is writing so s/he can choose what to include and what to exclude
  3. Inevitably the stories of others are interwoven with that of the researcher keeping a journal. The journal may refer to individuals, so there are ethical issues relating to consent and anonymity to consider
  4. Researchers should never use a journal as research data as it is fraught with ethical issues

Ans: C