Dear Claudia, Gerard, and Mike,

> empirically, observation is far from
> passive: we are, to begin with, the ones making
> the decisions about what data to collect ...

This e-mail group was a little passive, empirically
speaking. Now, observations are being made. Of
course, quite like Claudia says, I have "decided" to
observe only the above extract, not her whole message,
not all her ideas/feelings. The situation can be seen
as my inability to see the whole or some essential but
hidden element; but it can also be seen as my ability to
pick out something. The drift of my model (model for
talking about research) was to focus on abilities (rather
than inabilities). What are we, as participants in a process
we want to call research, able to do? I had made a few
suggestions, such as ability to "tune" oneself along
some contiuum, ability to observe/interpret, recognise
if a "lock-in" has happened, be different, "facilitate," etc.
Correspondingly, one might focus on the inabilities. One
inability was glaring in my model, although I did not
articulate it: Research is not able to give us a final
resting place.

> What I miss in DP's model is an indication
> what research is about.

Using the model to talk about this "about" question:
In the model, research is a striving: something participants
do to check if previous efforts have resulted in the desired
value or have been in vain. In either case, there are things
to do in research. Either to maintain and extend the achieved
value, or define new efforts. A seemingly unending trek,
marked by temporary halts at crystallisation, lock-in,
coordination, self-organisation, etc.

> The end result of all the different justified
> perspectives is not something to be averaged
> for the ideal ...

If the focus is on what is "different," then it is clearly not
on what is "average," and vice versa. Again following the
model, it seems when some type of average is the
desired value, then difficulties arise from what is different
--especially if the differences get asserted, accentuated.
The focus shifts to how we can be (and live) together
despite the differences. We may just live our differences
(farmers remain farmers and navigators remain navigators)
--locked into our perspectives. However, when contexts
change and interactions become necessary, new questions
arise for research.

DP
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