Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Memo #5

Three female graduate students (the participants) came to my room this afternoon requesting me to sign their GRF forms. I took the opportunity to ask them questions regarding nagging. It began with this question. "Tell me about your experience when you were being nagged at".  These are extracts from my notes:

  • Nagging is an expression of dissatisfaction through incessant verbal remarks.
  • Nagging contains insinuations, comparisons, mocks and advice.
  • Mothers aren't the only group of people who nag. Father, son, daughter, sister also nag.
  • It may occur many times in a day.
  • It can happen in a few minutes or lasts for about an hour.
  • The participants also nag and they emulate the way the naggers (their mothers) nag.
  • One of them react verbally to the nagger if she feels she is innocent.
  • They keep silent if they feel the nagger is right about the claims.
  • Mother's nagging serve as a deterrent.
  • Compliance (doing what was nagged by the mother) is a way to keep her to cease from nagging.

5 comments:

Lonely Dissertator-No-More said...

I'm curious about where one starts.

If I recall, in Awareness of Dying, the authors investigated this area because there was a lot of mystery to it -- something to do with Strauss' mother had recently died in a hospital and there was a lot of mystery around it? (I can't remember exactly.)

When we go into a substantive area such as "nagging," what don't we know about it? You nag, I nag, we all nag. Don't we? Is there someone who doesn't nag? That would be interesting to follow.

Observation and Research Page said...

LD, after a few conversations with some participants, suddenly I have this idea that I'll never get anywhere with this "nagging" thing. I don't know why. Am I in the right substantive area? Or am I just hoping for something to emerge? Andy Lowe wanted me to proceed with this "nagging" thing but I'm worried nothing will appear. Help me!

Lonely Dissertator-No-More said...

I'll be honest with you, I wondered if "nagging" would be too broad, but I'm always open to new possibilities and so I went along.

As for substantive area, it strikes me that it would be a lot easier to go into an area that we don't have that much knowledge about. For instance, I would be so interested in studying what is the main concern for Malay government servants, because I don't know much about this "substantive area." I imagine I could more easily (with a fresher more impartial perspective) identify an underlying theory to the actions of those deep into the main concern.

If I were you, having struggled with the challenge of studying an area that I already know a lot about (and don't we know what nagging is about?), I would go with this other area of research you had mentioned about -- talking to those non-Malay government servants and learning from them what is their main concern. That would make a very interesting study and probably generate some new theory that we've not really looked at.

As for proceeding with this nagging idea, if I were you, I would ask around to see if anyone knows of someone who doesn't nag, and go interview him/her to ask their perspective. Something new might come up.

Of course, I speak as one who is very new and young in GT. I am still very much in learning mode.

Lonely Dissertator-No-More said...

p.s. All the above is NOT to say that your notes on nagging are not interesting. They are. In addition to what I said, I imagine that you can ask theoretically sensitized questions of any one of those points you've listed (e.g. what makes nagging last a few minutes, what makes it last an hour).

Observation and Research Page said...

LD,

I thought I was the only one thinking as you did. I knew this "nagging" thing was not something that I should focus on. I was more interested to study the "Lonely Minority". But my supervisor insisted that I do the "nagging" thing. She also knew of the "Lonely Minority" but she presumed that the topic was not "communication" enough.

LD... I hope you obtain your PhD ASAP so that you can help me with my situation here.

Thank you so much for your insights LD. I may need more, you know.