This week, we continued reading articles for our literature review. I was in charge of searching the keywords related to qualitative data and enrichment, and I was able to find some useful articles. We've reached the point in our research where articles are starting to become repetitive. What I've noticed is that there is somewhat of a consensus on how educational policy is shaped, or at least how academics believe it to be shaped: some cherry-picking of research evidence because of the policy-first approach of many governments, with heavy consultancy influence. Because of this, we've had to adjust our approach to searching for new articles by adjusting our keywords. We've decided to shift our focus from how policy is shaped to how qualitative data is received. By doing this, we'll have a more nuanced answer to our research question, rather than repeating the same thing over and over.
Last week, our research supervisor suggested making an Excel sheet to keep better track of our research. This has been incredibly useful, since it means that we have a bird's eye view of what we've read so far as a team. As we research, we've found that we're starting to find duplicates of articles we've already read, so it's useful to have the sheet to make sure we're not needlessly reading the same things. Also, it means that we have a better view of what research areas we've already sufficiently read about and we know what areas we need to cover next. For the next week, we're finishing off our final readings to fill in any remaining gaps, and then writing up our final report.
Other than our independent work, we had a session this week about inclusive leadership. We had quite an interesting discussion on the most important qualities that one needs to have in order to be an inclusive leader. One needs both humility and perceptiveness. This is because one both has to be able to meaningfully listen to people and sometimes read between the lines to see if they're expressing everything they want to, and one also has to be humble enough to want to see other people in the team succeed.
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Wiktoria,
This is another valuable reflection that demonstrates your growing confidence as a researcher. I particularly liked your discussion of how your literature review evolved as patterns began to emerge. Recognising when the literature is becoming repetitive, and responding by refining your search strategy rather than simply reading more of the same material, is an important research skill.
I also thought your reflections on using an Excel spreadsheet to organise the literature were valuable. Although it may seem like a small practical step, developing systems that allow a team to work efficiently and build collectively on one another's work is an important part of collaborative research. Good organisation often enables better analysis.
Your observation that many discussions of educational policy point towards a policy-first approach, with research sometimes being used selectively, also demonstrates an emerging critical engagement with the literature. Rather than simply summarising what authors say, you are beginning to identify broader patterns across multiple sources, which is an important step in producing a strong literature review.
I also enjoyed your reflections on inclusive leadership. Your observation that humility and perceptiveness work together was particularly insightful. Recognising that leaders need not only to listen carefully, but also to notice when people may be reluctant to share their perspectives, highlights the relational nature of effective leadership.
One question I'd encourage you to reflect on further is whether the consensus you identified in the literature genuinely reflects reality, or whether it may partly be a consequence of the particular academic traditions represented in the papers you have been reading. Asking whose voices are missing from the literature can sometimes be just as revealing as identifying the dominant arguments.