what kind of researcher am I?

I came across this today. It has a downloadable log book which helped me to define my first thoughts into which paradigm and which methodology I would want to use. I found there seems to be quite an overlap as to how to see the differences and am starting to see this comes from the way in which schools of thought have evolved in the last 100 years.
Getting started as a researcher

So where am I going?

Research question

has adjusted from A. How can we define measure the effectiveness of reflective writing for a practical course by students?

to B. How is students’ reflective writing effective for a practical (food producing) course?

Methodology:

Questions and answers, find the evidence, reflect on that and draw conclusions.

I am liking the idea

a  Appreciative enquiry

Joe Hall & Sue Hammond; Lessons from the Field 

Paradigm:

I quite like the Post Structural paradigm:

collaborative – the researcher is as much involved as the researched, not just an observer and recorder – I can add in my own reasoning and experiences – this could bring about a faster result/conclusion if  I am working in it rather than on it. Uses historical  as the base on which to explore how the relationships of the researched validates the subject of the research.

from Grant & Giddings' Making Sense of Methodologies 2002.

That was quite a heavy read and I needed to get back to it a few times in bits to see if I got it, and to see how my thinking changed - careful reading helped me focus where my own paradigm would fit.

It makes me think of Piggott’s Problem Resolving Action Research model (with its emphasis on change), but now it is people, not concepts, so it might end up being too big a concept to use in this case. Better start off little and see how it develops – brings me back to the positive  paradigm (in which I could remain objective with anonymous subjects), or radical paradigm (which is about effecting a social change - and that is what would happen with successful reflective writing in a course teaching food production). I still prefer the collaborative idea in a Post Structural paradigm though as I can use my own experiences too.

Special Topic

How can we encourage deeper learning by students when their time for learning is getting more compressed?

a quick Google reveals a lot of literature on this subject with surprising findings. Google Scholar has some work, but not specific to this subject, and what I found interesting was not available to me unless I sign up to something else. Then I came across Interleaving as a method of teaching and learning in everyday Google:

Interleaving

I do this instinctively with my course work, but had not connected that to our new Baking programmes at L3 and L4 which actually also interleaf, come to thin of it. So a part of my original question may already have some answers

spacing-and-interleaving

 This is what we are now delivering across all levels. The proof will be in a year's  time when we have had 2 years of teaching and have feedback from industry as to the ability of our 'new' graduates.

It is good to know I am not making stuff up, but that this subject has the potential to be researched well, and supported by others in education.

GOALS: So over the next week I need to start constructing more questions to guide my study, set some timeline goals and continue to identify what literature will support my writing.