Question 1 (units 1 and 2)
Explain, with appropriate examples, how the following quotation by C Wright Mills (2000:224)
relates to Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s research methodology.
Be a good craftsman: Avoid any rigid set of procedures. Above all, seek to develop and to use
the sociological imagination. Avoid the fetishism of method and technique. Urge the
rehabilitation of the unpretentious intellectual craftsman, and try to become such a craftsman
yourself. Let every man be his own methodologist; let every man be his own theorist; let theory
and method again become part of the practice of a craft. Stand for the primacy of the individual
scholar stand opposed to the ascendancy of research teams of technicians. Be one mind that is
on its own confronting the problems of man and society.
• To participate in the generation of knowledge.
• Involves not only the skillful use of existing knowledge, but also innovations and
experimentations.
• To contribute towards educational knowledge
• Gaining new knowledge through research.
• Journey. (Grade 12, tertiary is a journey), Research is presented as a journey, where the
destination cannot be predetermined.
• To learn about certain aspects in more depth.
• Not only employ methods, but can also use theories to make sense of complex situations.
• To reflect on how knowledge is generated through these methods and whether such
knowledge is of any value.
• Avoid worship of an inanimate object considered to be inhabited spirit.
• Avoid domination.
• Through an engagement with the personal journey of Linda Tuhiwai Smith, a Maori
indigenous researcher. The journey is driven by curiosity about ourselves, our practices,
traditions and institutions. It is driven by the desire to understand and transform.
• a curious mind, to gain a deeper understanding of the world in its complexity,
• To investigate the nature of research in relation to the interaction between theorising
about and practising education. (Theory and practice are often seen as very different
when theories are viewed as irrelevant and divorced from practice, while practice is seen
as devoid of theory. Theories are instruments to help us to think about reality, knowledge
and the good. This is not the kind of thinking in search of foundations or security, but
rather the search for new insights.)
• Characterised by the pursuit of the good of education.
• Research responds to and intervenes in a particular place and at a particular time, the
researcher has to be aware of these contexts.
• Aims to promote consciousness and practices that contribute constructively to a future
that is different from the present.
Explain, with appropriate examples, how the following quotation by C Wright Mills (2000:224)
relates to Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s research methodology.
Be a good craftsman: Avoid any rigid set of procedures. Above all, seek to develop and to use
the sociological imagination. Avoid the fetishism of method and technique. Urge the
rehabilitation of the unpretentious intellectual craftsman, and try to become such a craftsman
yourself. Let every man be his own methodologist; let every man be his own theorist; let theory
and method again become part of the practice of a craft. Stand for the primacy of the individual
scholar stand opposed to the ascendancy of research teams of technicians. Be one mind that is
on its own confronting the problems of man and society.
• To participate in the generation of knowledge.
• Involves not only the skillful use of existing knowledge, but also innovations and
experimentations.
• To contribute towards educational knowledge
• Gaining new knowledge through research.
• Journey. (Grade 12, tertiary is a journey), Research is presented as a journey, where the
destination cannot be predetermined.
• To learn about certain aspects in more depth.
• Not only employ methods, but can also use theories to make sense of complex situations.
• To reflect on how knowledge is generated through these methods and whether such
knowledge is of any value.
• Avoid worship of an inanimate object considered to be inhabited spirit.
• Avoid domination.
• Through an engagement with the personal journey of Linda Tuhiwai Smith, a Maori
indigenous researcher. The journey is driven by curiosity about ourselves, our practices,
traditions and institutions. It is driven by the desire to understand and transform.
• a curious mind, to gain a deeper understanding of the world in its complexity,
• To investigate the nature of research in relation to the interaction between theorising
about and practising education. (Theory and practice are often seen as very different
when theories are viewed as irrelevant and divorced from practice, while practice is seen
as devoid of theory. Theories are instruments to help us to think about reality, knowledge
and the good. This is not the kind of thinking in search of foundations or security, but
rather the search for new insights.)
• Characterised by the pursuit of the good of education.
• Research responds to and intervenes in a particular place and at a particular time, the
researcher has to be aware of these contexts.
• Aims to promote consciousness and practices that contribute constructively to a future
that is different from the present.
