The final papers for my writing and thinking class are starting to arrive. I don’t know whose bright idea it was for the due date for the papers to be two weeks after the last class because I am already feeling the summer schedule. Oh, yeah. That was me. Well, it seemed like a good idea in December.
Anyhoo, I’ve been using the word “aspirational” when I think about this class. Aspirational is usually used in the context of Pinterest. It suggests a lifestyle that is inspirational to us and that we aspire to (e.g., a clean house, organic cleaning products, densely growing organic garden, yummy food, crafts, knitting projects, and chickens). Or maybe those are just my boards on Pinterest.
This class is aspirational because we’ve spent the entire semester stressing the importance of in depth thinking and creativity in regards to our research. We’ve critiqued and supported each other’s research. We’ve plumbed the depths of the meanings of their constructs and played with all sorts of thought analyses of their research problems. The students have been validated in the importance of their approach to their research. We’ve read editors from top journals discuss the importance of developmental reviews and why 13 pages of single space comments from a journal editor and three reviewers is a Good Thing. I feel like every student has expanded their capacity to Think About Research. That’s pretty cool, and it goes way, way, way beyond looking for ways to “fill a gap in the research” when making a research contribution.
That’s the good part. The reason I worry that what I’ve taught them is aspirational and not always “real life” is that sometimes the pressure to get a publication out the door interferes with thinking. Sometimes it’s easier to just claim you’re filling in a hole in the research instead of re-conceptualizing previously problematic constructs (affective organizational commitment, I am looking at you). Sometimes reviewers don’t take a developmental approach and just say “this paper needs more theorizing” in a one paragraph journal submission review.
But that’s ok. To continue the Pinterest analogy, if they have pinned to their Good Research Board ways to think, conceptualize, critique, and review research that is better than they would have done otherwise, how is that bad? The thing about Pinterest (for me) is that occasionally, I do go back and pick out a craft or recipe I’d like to try or a chicken hint I’d forgotten about and I do it. Maybe there will be a ripple effect for these students and for other academics who read these articles, so that eventually it becomes the norm and not the cutting edge. Crafts and foods show up in my life that I’ve seen get passed around on Pinterest. I think the more attention we pay to creativity and clarity in thinking and research, the more likely we will to see projects we recognize as reflecting this principles start showing up to review or read in journals, too.
I hope.
But right now I have to go grade those (brilliantly written and conceptualized!) papers. And then summer can start.