An academic research metaphor

Have you ever thought about the metaphors used to describe academic research? I ran across a great one last year which I have been considering for some time:

"Imagine higher education research as an open, grassy field where objects of various shapes and materials scatter in isolation or in groups. Each object or group of objects is being examined by a group of researchers who use different tools. These objects can be freely assembled to create new objects; a researcher can move from one object to another, using their own tools, borrowing from other groups, or devising new ones by combining different tools. A tool is often ready-made and brought in this field from its original disciplinary factory, whether it is political science, sociology, psychology, or history. Each tool can be adjusted to fit the examination of objects in the field" (Le, 2022, p. 5).

For me, this imagery conjures a vast fecund rolling meadow in summer. I picture it full of tall grass and flowers whispering past us as we roam to each successive grove of glorious trees, each an arbour containing flora and fauna of a particular place and time. We gather elements from various groves, and return to our own grove with our collection, to examine under the dappled light of our grounding school of thought. We consider the tools we have collected for fit within our home environment, determining whether and how we can adapt this 'new' tool to suit our particular grove.

While Le considers the chosen "tool" - singular - to be "the most important thing" needed for researchers to be effective (Le, 2022, p. 5), I take a pluralised approach to 'tools', which Le indirectly alludes to: that the "objects can be freely assembled to create new objects" (p. 5, emphasis added to plurals). 

Providing we remember that using such a range of "topics and conceptual tools [may require an] epistemic leap to cross the disciplinary boundaries and connect with other researchers" (Le, 2022, p. 5), our individual research ontologies, epistemologies and axiologies can be carefully curated from both within our own grove, and from without. The collective fit of a more eclectic selection is all about the care and thought which we apply - and clearly write up - to guide those who later follow our published and peer-reviewed work.

After all, research should be “a systematic, careful inquiry or examination to discover new information or relationships and to expand/verify existing knowledge for some specified purpose” (Bennett, 1991, p. 68).

Let's be careful out there. And thoughtful. And try new things. 

Sam

References:

Bennett, R. (1991). Chapter 5: What is Management Research? in N. Smith & P. Dainty (Eds.), The Management Research Handbook (pp. 67-78). Routledge.

Le, P. A. T. (2022). The academic profession from the perspectives of aspiring academics. [Doctoral thesis: University of Melbourne]. https://rest.neptune-prod.its.unimelb.edu.au/server/api/core/bitstreams/3981b6f3-8c08-4608-a4e4-54dbce1b96a6/content