Unlike the structured borders we build into our quantitative designs that facilitate an orderly analytical process, qualitative research is built on the belief that there are real people beyond and that rich learning comes from meaningful conversations. In particular, “The Messy Inconvenience of Qualitative Analysis” underscores the idea that There are several articles in Research Design Review that touch on the messiness of qualitative analysis. Problem solving is a “messy process” and no less so when carrying out an analysis of qualitative data. In a sense, problem-solving is bringing order to chaos. You must usually wallow in misleading and ill-fitting data, hazy and difficult-to-test concepts, opinions, values, and other such untidy quantities. Rigorous and logical techniques are often necessary, but not sufficient. The solution of a complex problem is a messy process. One of these is the inability or unwillingness to think through “chaotic situations.” Adams contends that a path to complex problem solving is bringing order to chaos yet some people have “an excessive fondness for order in all things” leaving them with an “inability to tolerate ambiguity.” In other words, they have “no appetite for chaos.” Adams puts it this way – As far as barriers, he discusses four “blocks” that interfere with conceptual thinking – perceptual, emotional, cultural and environmental, and intellectual and expressive – as well as ways to modify thinking to overcome these blocks – e.g., a questioning attitude, looking for the core problem, list-making, and soliciting ideas from other people.Īdams’ chapter on emotional blocks discusses ways that the thinking process builds barriers to problem solving. Specifically, Adams emphasizes the idea that to solve complex problems, it is necessary to identify the barriers and then learn to think differently. Damon and their friends disregarded this objective and instead invited other players aboard their virtual pirate ship for drinking, dancing and general merriment.In Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas, James Adams offers readers a varied and ingenious collection of approaches to overcoming the barriers to effective problem solving. In this game, players are expected to play the role of a cutthroat pirate in competition with other marauding bands of pirates. They regaled me with an anecdote about Sea of Thieves (2018). In a conversation I once had with Adelaide-based narrative designer and game developer Damon Reece, I asked Damon what game they were enjoying lately. Minecraft teaches kids about tech, but there’s a gender imbalance at play Users have manipulated and circumvented the rules of this world in order to fulfil any number of parallel – or even opposing – purposes based on their own needs and desires. (Strangely, if the player is a member of the opposing team this same gesture is offensive and sexually suggestive.) In the absence of any ability to have their online avatar literally wave hello, players have circumvented the limits of the virtual space to do it anyway. In Call of Duty, crouching down and standing up again is the equivalent of waving hello.
A quick crouch down/stand up response is the equivalent of waving hello back. In the virtual worlds of first person shooter video games (think Call of Duty or Halo) gamers know an allied player crouching down and then standing up repeatedly is trying to say hello. If a developer offers more freedom to their users, they offer more ways for users to interact with each other and the world according to users’ own goals and objectives. In games, interactivity exists on a scale of what a virtual world’s developer will allow. Circumventing the goals of game developers can also be a powerful act of community building and collaboration. The invitation to interact is also an invitation to corrupt.īut this corruption isn’t always a negative tribalism. This type of factional warfare is somewhat endemic to online spaces that invite interactivity. While loyalty forms these factions, a sense of community and belonging sustains them. If a user pressed the button during a specific ten second interval, they were assigned a coloured “flair” next to their username, feeding into a manufactured hierarchy of factions within the community.