Victoria 2 Research Guide
A brief history of emigration & immigration in Scotland: research guide 2. Download a pdf of this guide. Emigration & Scottish society. Poverty has always been noted as the main reason for Scottish emigration.
Beginners' guide to action researchAbeginner's guide to action researchThis is a resourcefile which supports the regular public program 'areol' (actionresearch and evaluation on line) offered twice a year beginningin mid-February and mid-July. For details email BobDickor.in which action research is briefly described, and thesimultaneous achievement of action (that is, change) andresearch (that is, understanding) is discussedContents. '.Action research consistsof a family of research methodologies which pursue action andresearch outcomes at the same time. It therefore has somecomponents which resemble consultancy or change agency, and somewhich resemble field research.Conventionalexperimental research, for good reason, has developed certainprinciples to guide its conduct. These principles areappropriate for certain types of research; but they can actuallyinhibit effective change. Action research has had to developa different set of principles. It also has somecharacteristic differences from most other qualitativemethods.Action research tends tobe.
cyclic - similarsteps tend to recur, in a similarsequence;. participative - theclients and informants are involved as partners, or at leastactive participants, in the researchprocess;. qualitative - itdeals more often with language than with numbers;and. reflective -critical reflection upon the process and outcomes are importantparts of each cycle.In fact, some writersinsist on those characteristics.To achieve action,action research is responsive. It has to be able torespond to the emerging needs of the situation. It must beflexible in a way that some research methods cannot be.Action research isemergent. The process takes place gradually.Its cyclic nature helps responsiveness.
It also aidsrigour. The early cycles are used to help decide how toconduct the later cycles. In the later cycles, theinterpretations developed in the early cycles can be tested andchallenged and refined.In most instances theuse of qualitative information increases responsiveness. Itis possible to work in natural language, which is easier forinformants.
There is no need to develop a metric (which mayhave to be abandoned later if it doesn't fit the emergingsituation).The use of language alsomakes the whole process more accessible to participants.They can develop enough understanding to become co-researchers inmany situations.One crucial step in eachcycle consists of critical reflection. The researcherand others involved first recollect and then critique what hasalready happened. The increased understanding which emergesfrom the critical reflection is then put to good use in designingthe later steps.The cycle best known inAustralia is probably that of Stephen Kemmis and his colleagues atDeakin University. The steps are: plan - act- observe - reflect (and then - planetc.)The reflection leads onto the next stage of planning. The 'planning' isn't aseparate and prior step; it is embedded in the action andreflection.
Short, multiple cycles allow greater rigour tobe achieved.As change is intended toresult, effective action research depends upon the agreement andcommitment of those affected by it. This is usuallygenerated by involving them directly in the researchprocess. In many instances, researchers try to involve themas equal partners.Actionresearch in more detailI regard action researchas a methodology which is intended to have both action outcomesand research outcomes. I recognise, too, that in some actionresearch the research component mostly takes the form ofunderstanding on the part of those involved. The action isprimary. In distinction, there are some forms of actionresearch where research is the main emphasis and the action isalmost a fringe benefit.I regard all of these asaction research.
This definition is capable of encompassinga variety of research and intervention methods. It is broadenough to include, as examples, the critical action researchapproach of Carr and Kemmis (1986), the soft systems methodologyof Checkland (1981), and perhaps even the evaluation of Guba andLincoln (1989), to name just a few.The responsiveness ofaction research allows it to be used to develop hypotheses fromthe data, 'on the run' as it were. It can therefore also beused as a research tool for investigative or pilot research, andgenerally for diagnosis orevaluation.Cyclic,participative, qualitativeMost writers on thetopic state or assume that action research is cyclic, or at leastspiral in structure. To put this differently, certainmore-or-less similar steps tend to recur, in more-or-less similarorder, at different phases of an action research study.
Atthe same time (so the action researcher hopes) progress is madetowards appropriate action and research outcomes.A commonly known cycleis that of the influential model of Kemmis and McTaggart (1988)mentioned earlier - plan, act, observe, reflect; then, in thelight of this, plan for the next cycle.It is also generallyheld that action research is participative, though writers differon how participative it is. My own preference is to useparticipative methods. On the other hand I don't see whyaction research must be limited to this.So, the extent ofparticipation may vary. In some instances there may be agenuine partnership between researcher and others. Thedistinction between researcher and others maydisappear.On other occasions theresearcher may choose for whatever reason to maintain a separaterole.
Participation may be limited to being involved as aninformant. The participants, too, may choose something lessthan full partnership for themselves under somecircumstances.Most action research isqualitative. Some is a mix of qualitative andquantitative.
All else being equal, numbers do offeradvantages. In field settings, though, one often has to makeother sacrifices to be able to use them.
Victoria 2 Strategy Guide Pdf
Most importantly,sometimes numbers are not easily applied to some features of astudy. If these include features of particular interest orimportance, the choice is between qualitative research or omittingimportant features.In addition, developinga suitable quantitative measure is often difficult andtime-consuming. It may be more time-efficient to usequalitative data. As I mentioned before, it is also easierto be flexible and responsive to the situation if you are usingqualitative methods.In short, it is my viewthat action research more often than not exhibits certainfeatures. It tends to be, in some sense of the terms,cyclic, participative, qualitative and reflective.I see all of thesefeatures except the last as choices to be made by the researcherand the other participants. In my view, good action research(and good research of any variety) is research where, among otherfeatures, appropriate choices are made.
Perhaps evencritical reflection might be abandoned for sufficientreason.' Good'action researchWhatever action researchis, I suspect it is mostly or always emergent andresponsive. In fact, I think that the choices made about itscyclic and qualitative nature are mostly to be justified in termsof the responsiveness which they allow.
This may be true ofdecisions about participationtoo.In many field settingsit is not possible to use more traditional quasi-experimentalresearch methods.They can't readily be adjusted to the demands of thesituation. If you do alter them in midstream you may have toabandon the data collected up to that point. (This isbecause you have probably altered the odds under the nullhypothesis.)But to achieve bothaction and research outcomes requires responsiveness - to thesituation, and the people, and the growing understanding on thepart of those involved. Using a cyclic process in mostcircumstances enhances responsiveness. It makes sense todesign the later stages of an action research activity in such away that you capitalise on the understanding developed in theearly stages.It is the cyclic natureof action research which allows responsiveness. It is oftendifficult to know just where a field intervention will end.Precise research questions at the beginning of a project maymislead researcher and clients.Imprecise questions andmethods can be expected to yield imprecise answersinitially.
But if those imprecise answers can help to refinequestions and methods, then each cycle can be a step in thedirection of better action and research.In other words, thereare times when the initial use of fuzzy methods to answer fuzzyquestions is the only appropriate choice. Action researchprovides enough flexibility to allow fuzzy beginnings whileprogressing towards appropriate endings.To my mind, a cyclicprocess is important.
It gives more chances to learn fromexperience provided that there is real reflection on the processand on the outcomes, intended and unintended. Qualitativeinformation is less constraining of the process.Participation is asomewhat different issue, more to do with action thanresearch. Action outcomes can usually be achieved only withsome commitment from those most affected.
One of the mostimportant ways of securing that commitment is through involvingthose affected.There may well be otherreasons, too. For instance, for some researchers it is moreethical to use participative methods (in general, this is myposition in the action research I do). On some occasions theeventual interpretation of information is richer if involvement isgreater.So far, I have taken theview that action research can take many forms.
Victoria 2 Research Guide List
There aresome conditions, however, that I believe are more important.As a starting assumption I assume that good action research isempirical: responsive to the evidence. I also think it isimportant that the evidence is used critically rather thanuncritically.Again, a cyclic processallows this to happen more easily. If each step is precededby planning and followed by review, learning by researcher andclient is greater.The quality of evidencecan also be increased by the use of multiple sources of evidencewithin all or most cycles. Differences between data sources,used critically, can then lead the researchers and theparticipants towards a deeper and more accurateunderstanding. Literature can be such an alternative datasource.I would sum up myrecommendations for good action research in this way:. Use multiple cycles,with planning before action and critical analysis afterit. Within each cycle-.
use multiple datasources;. and try todisprove the interpretations arising from earliercycles.Action research is afamily of research processes whose flexibility allows learning andresponsiveness. Vague beginnings can move towards betterunderstanding and practical improvement through the criticalanalysis of the information, the interpretation of it, and themethods used.Good action researchers,I think, critique what they do and how they do it, the better tolearn from the experience. Free high school summer programs. It is the balance betweencritical reflection and flexibility which allows adequate rigourto be achieved even in confused field settings. In summary, Iassume that action research is true to label: it pursues actionand research outcomes. It is most effective when the endresult emerges from the data. The conclusions drawn aredata-based, preferably drawing the data from multiplesources.
The conclusions emerge slowly over the course ofthe study. At each cycle the researchers challenge theemerging conclusions by vigorously pursuing disconfirmingevidence.I think that the majorjustification for action research methods is that they can beresponsive to the situation in a way that many other researchmethods can not be, at least in the short term. On thesegrounds I think action research will usually, though perhaps notalways, be cyclic in nature.
In the interests of rigour,each cycle will include critical reflection. In mostinstances it will also be qualitative and participative to someextent.Notes.
Modified from ArcsNewsletter, Vol 1. 1, May 1993, pages5-9. I am pleased to acknowledge the help of RonPassfield and Paul Wildman with the earlier version of thisdocument. I invite you tochoose some simple quasi-experimental field study, and studyhow well it meets the threats to the validity of itsresults. Then compare how easily action research mightfare in the same setting. Some quasi-experimentalresearch is superb.
But I think sometimes thedifficulties of field research are used to justify poorquasi-experimental designs. This appears to be becausethey are traditional, because the same liberty is less oftenextended to other researchparadigms.
ReferencesCarr, W. AndKemmis, S. (1986) Becoming critical: education knowledgeand action research. London: Falmer Press.Checkland, P.(1981) Systems thinking, systems practice.Chichester: Wiley.Guba, E.G. AndLincoln, Y.S.
(1989) Fourth generationevaluation. Newbury Park, Ca.: Sage.Kemmis, S. AndMcTaggart, R., eds. (1988) The action researchplanner, third edition.
Victoria: DeakinUniversity. Copyright (c) Bob Dick,Ron Passfield, Paul Wildman 1995-2000. This document may becopied if it is not included in documents sold at a profit, andthis and the following notice are included.This document can becited as follows:Dick, B. (2000)A beginner's guide to action research Online.
Available atby;this version 1.08w last revised 20000429Atext version is available at URLftp://ftp.scu.edu.au/www/arr/guide.txt.
Cemetery records can refer to either monumental inscriptions or burial registers. Monumental inscriptions include memorial plaques, grave markers or monuments to the deceased, whilst burial registers or records are listing of burials for individual cemeteries. Cemetery records can be particulary useful for helping you identify full names, birthplace, dates and relationships. They may also provide a significant historical detail i.e. A soldier's rank and regiment.A list of the cemeteries for which burial registers and monumental inscriptions are available can be found in the publication.Many cemeteries have indexed their burial records or records of monumental inscriptions.
Further down this page you will find a list on online indexes to such records. The following PDF document lists many of the cemeteries in Victoria and indicates whether their indexes are available online or can be accessed here in the library. Available in the libraryAncestry Library Edition includes access to the following collections. The Australia Cemetery Index, 1808-2007 It includes transcriptions from several, but not all Australian cemeteries.The information included varies for each cemetery. Australia and New Zealand, Find A Grave Index, 1800s- onwards. Contains an index to cemetery and burial details posted on the Find A Grave website.Burial registers and monumental inscriptions for individual Victorian cemeteries are also available in the on a range of formats - print, microfilm, microfiche and CD-ROM. Many registers are also available online.
Open the attached document to display a comprehensive list of Victorian cemetery records.Available from home. The website provides an alphabetical list of most of the cemeteries in Australia. Use this find cemetery information and links to transcriptions, online data, headstone photographs, location maps, available look up services and contact details.
The Find A Grave contains an index to nearly 4000 Australian cemeteries. You can search by name.
Not all cemeteries or burials have been indexed. The website indexes a huge range of records and images from many of the world's cemeteries, all tagged with GPS locations. A cumulative index to the monumental inscriptions in approximately 90 Victorian cemeteries is available on Workstation 175 in the Family History and Newspaper Room. It is also available on. Cemeteries include:AmherstAmphitheatreAnderson’s CreekAntwerpAntwerp-Ebenezer MissionAvocaAxedaleBallanBealibaBeaufortBeechworthBenallaBungareeBuninyongCape ClearClarendonClunesCofhills CreekCreswickDaylesfordEganstownEl DoradoFlinders Naval BaseFranklinfordGordonGreendaleKoondrookLearmouthLextonLincolnMajorcaMalmsburyMaryboroughMildura (Methodist)MorrisonsMt ColeMt EgertonMt ProspectMurchisonNavarreNewsteadPaynesvilleRokewoodRunnymedeTowaninnieTyldenWaterlooWaubraWoodendWesburnYarra Glen.