“I READ BOOKS AND THEN I WRITE ABOUT THEM”

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY IN LITERATURE STUDIES.

Rob O’Connor – PhD Literature Studies, Faculty of Arts

FOUR QUESTIONS – LITERATURE STUDIES RESEARCH

Quantitative or Qualitative research? What role does the literature review

play in my research? What form does methodology take in

literature studies research? What are the methods that I use in

literature studies research?

QUANTITATIVE OR QUALITATIVE?

Quantitative research: -No generation of data-Little interest in causalities and direct

correlations. -Nothing to count.

Qualitative research: - Association with literary theory. - Freedom of interpretation.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Important to all research projects: literature studies is no exception.

Primary and Secondary literature. Makes a contribution to every stage of my

methodology:- helps frame initial formation of research question.- provides a counterpoint or support for my

research as it develops.

“Brings clarity and focus to your research problem, improves your research methodology and broadens your knowledge base” (Kumar, 2014).

METHODOLOGY

“The philosophy or the general principle which will guide your research. It is the overall approach to studying your topic and includes issues you need to think about such as the constraints, dilemmas and ethical choices within your research”(Dawson, 2009).

READ PROCESS WRITE

THEORY

METHODS OF RESEARCH IN LITERATURE STUDIES

“Research methods are the tools you use to collect your data” (Dawson, 2009, 27)

-What is ‘data’ in literature studies? Theory becomes method. Fairly limited use of familiar research

methods. “Acts of reading” which interact and

engage with one another critically.

READER RESPONSE THEORY

READER RESPONSE

Reader as an ‘active agent’ upon a text.

AUTHOR’S TEXT -

ARTISTIC

READER’S INTERPRETATI

ON - AESTHETIC

THE VIRTUAL TEXT

SOCIAL, POLITICAL, ETHICAL STIMULI

SOCIAL, POLITICAL, ETHICAL STIMULI

HISTORICISM

Focuses upon the importance of historical context.

“Texts, literary or otherwise, only have meaning within an economy of other texts, which both limits their possibilities and facilitates the distinctiveness of their utterances.” (Hamilton, 2001, 3)

Historical context can provide information regarding the motivation of the author.

Vital to establishing the artistic pole stimuli in reader response model.

MY METHODOLOGY IN PRACTICE: A CHAPTER OVERVIEW

WHAT DO I WANT TO WRITE ABOUT?

PSYCHOGEOGRAPHY

WHICH OF MIEVILLE’S TEXTS

WOULD BE INTERESTING TO

DISCUSS?THE CITY & THE

CITYLONDON

OVERTHROW

CORE TEXT INITIAL READING:

NOTE TAKING AND FORMULATION OF RESEARCH IDEAS

CORE TEXT 2ND READING:

IN LIGHT OF THEORETICAL

READING.

PROCESS: ESTABLISHING

‘VIRTUAL’ INTERPRETATION OF CORE

TEXTS

WRITE

LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL READING

READER RESPONSE

READER RESPONSE

HISTORICISM

REFERENCES

Bradford, Richard (1996) Introducing Literary Studies, Hemel Hempstead, UK, Prentice Hall.

Dawson, Catherine (2009) Introduction to Research Methods, Oxford, UK, How To Books.

Eagleton, Terry (1996) Literary Theory: An Introduction, Oxford, UK, Blackwell Publishing.

Flick, Uwe (2011) Introducing Research Methodology: A Beginners Guide to Doing a Research Project, London, UK, SAGE publications.

Hamilton, Paul (2001) Historicism: The New Critical Idiom, London, UK, Routledge.

Iser, Wolfgang (1978) The Act of Reading, London, UK, Routledge. Iser, Wolfgang (1980) “The Interaction Between Text and Reader”, in:

Bennett, Andrew (ed.) (1995) Readers and Reading, Harlow, UK, Longman.

Kumar, Ranjit (2014) Research Methodology: a Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners, London, UK, SAGE publications.