AnaLysis

Article Analysis:

What am I going to do with my life?

David McCullough: February 11th, 2010

Summary:

The history of XX century has proved that education is not only a right choice for a young person, but also it is an essential part of success in life and career.That education is not only a right choice for a young person, but also it is an essential part of success in life and career. I believe that going to college is an important step for growing as an individual. Some High school graduates assume that college is only about scientific and academic achievements, and therefore they find it boring and useless. The distinguished features in the American education system is that, unlike in any other country of the world, it promotes and encourages creative and independent thinking among its students by means of interactive projects and activities. Education in college does not stop at the classroom, but rather continues through internships and extracurricular activities. This chance opens many interesting roads, but there is only one to chose. Commitment to another five years of studying is not an easy choice and it is perfectly fair to question the meaning and sense of going to college.

Response/Comments on the article:

This article is an attempt to explain naturalistic inquiry, as it relates to positive inquiry, as a viable epistemological alternative to research in the educational sciences. Much of the article is spent contrasting in some detail the philosophy, methods, and procedures of the two research paradigms. Furthermore, the author attempts to justify the use of naturalistic inquiry, as if he is speaking to a pro-positivist paradigm audience. In my view, he is trying to make the case for naturalistic inquiry.

The author in the article does a very good job in laying out the premises, procedures and rational for using naturalistic inquiry. He also explains positivist inquiry quite well and is balanced in his reporting of the two methodologies. He highlights the need for both, and the fact that they do not have to necessarily be mutually exclusive. They have different goals and should be applied according to the research questions being posed. The strength of his article lies in his discussion as to why naturalistic inquiry is important, and applying it to educational research, why it is important to incorporate within this field due to the heavy reliance of “context” in educational settings. Thus, he indirectly makes a case for naturalistic inquiry.

Another strength of this article is his layout of the characteristics of naturalistic research. Perhaps this is one of the best overviews I have read on the subject. He explains it in a clear and concise format, while covering all the major points thoroughly. He concludes the article by stressing the importance for proponents of naturalistic inquiry to make the case as to why naturalistic is necessary, and that naturalistic inquiry must have trustworthiness in order to be taken seriously by the research community. This, according to the author, can only occur through high-quality naturalistic research that includes a wealth of thick description and insight for the reader. Thus, he lays out the methods and some useful tips for doing this.