I started to begin to develop the case study protocols based on the project overview I referred to yesterday, and you know what? It’s a really helpful exercise, especially creating  table data shell – essentially thats a matrix of questions, and likely sources for answering them (along with some blank spaces for the answers. I felt that the whole thing is beginning to come together although I really do need to get a better sense of the theory that’s informing the whole research. Essentially it’s that Educational Development is actually hindered by the target culture that has been embraced by the public sector. (Actually, the impression I picked up from the web sites of my potential case study sites is that it isn’t – but there again, a web site is by definition, a political document that is intended to present a particular face to the world. My experience of working in such a unit tells me that it is.)

Well, I now have a first draft of my first chapter, a  (somewhat crude) research instrument, and a basic case study protocol. I think it’s time to stop faffing about, and discuss these with my supervisor(s), and then actually contact the research sites. While I’m sorting that out and waiting for responses I can give some thought to the methodology chapter. I need to develop a clear philosophy with what I regard to be true and why, and how my research is going to unearth that truth as it relates to the Educational Development Unit.