To all who have managed to get this far:
In writing my previous response to Dmb it dawned to me that many of you may not have ever done any formal research dealing with "Data". Not to over simplify the process but you generally start out with a research question. (What are the intellectual and social differences of values of pre and post Soviet liberated generations?) Then you need to validate the significance of the research question. Then you need to establish methodology including how data will be collected analyzed and interpreted in a reliable manner. Then you collect the data analyze it interpret it and then draw conclusions from the data. Now this process is one of the many blessings of SOM. What the problem is with SOM is that for dealing with, let's say cultural studies, how do you objectively approach some cultural phenomenon that you would like to research that might shed some new and deeper meaning or understanding. Though I totally made up this Estonian research problem out of thin air, however it could provide some valuable insight to the next generation's perspective and how that could conceivably impact the future of a country. I realize this is a super generalization, but research, at its heart, is about providing a greater understanding and meaning about the world around us. I am guessing that is why Pirsig wanted to study Indians, so as to share an understanding of them that provided as much meaning to him. The downside to SOM is that it is limited in its capacity to understand the world around us. MOQ jacks us up a little higher up the mountain and gives a better view and understanding. That being said there is also a mountain of work to pull this off in any one of our lifetimes. And to show you how messy it can get here is an example of what I mean. Ok we are still working with the same research question I made up. Let's say we will now interview Estonians from both groups and do a thematic analysis of the data. (Note this is the preverbal scalpel, that is going to dissect the reality of the data) We want to now take an interview (data) and tease out the social and intellectual themes that exist for later comparison and contrast. For this exercise I have created the following interview with a made up person. This will be messy and in a recent post Bodvar suggested that social and intellectual levels are so intertwined that it is extremely difficult to separate them, he is more right than he knows. Then again it was Leonardo Di Vinci that managed to tease out the circulatory system out of a cadaver and gave us greater understanding of the world inside us. For those of you who think I am a bit nutty, let me remind you we are all hanging from the same walnut tree and let me also share a research question that should be more familiar to you. Does Lila have Quality? Pirsig gave us Lila who had all the values except she was lacking intellect by his standards set by MOQ. Now let me introduce you to Reet. Reet, 26 year old, female, single, lives in Tallian the Capital of Estonia, Employed by BAL Financial Group, college educated - University of Tartu Question: "Describe how you see your future and the future of Estonia." Transcript of Reet's response (Data): "My boyfriend Karl and I have talked about that a lot lately. Karl has a good job working installing basic medical equipment and in the evening plays in band, "Ratsu Nellie" (War Horse 5). I finally got an entry level position at a BAL Bank. Though economically Estonia has many challenges, we see a lot of opportunities as well. So we talk about what do and what we want to do with our lives. We love each other and hope to get married in the next two years but there is some uncertainty of what our future will bring in terms careers and our lives. We are still looking for an apartment and I am still living with my parents. You know I finally have appreciated my parents pushing us in our education and though there is uncertainly, we think we should be ok. It is like we are our parents future as much as ours. Oh my, my mother was asking me the other day about if Karl had thought about starting a family, I had to laugh, "Mother we are not even married!" We have both worked hard to get a good start in life but it is slow however we feel good about the future, cautious but good. (Interviewer redirects the question to ask how she see the future of Estonia) You know that is an interesting question, both Karl and I have had to get our training outside of Estionia, I had two months in Sweden and Karl regularly has to be trained in different in counties. So we have seen how other people live and economically and Karl could work, let's say Germany and earn 30% more than what he makes here. When Estonia joined the EU, people were a bit nervous about it, but if the world goes to economic hell we won't be alone. (Reet Laughs) There still is a lot of corruption in the government that I believe is left over from the Soviet days and the older generation that is struggling in new Estonia but I am hopeful that over time we as a democratic state will be able to overcome that. Time will tell. No I don't think we will leave Estonia, though several of our friends have. We both love Estonia, there are strong traditional and cultural values such as music that is so much of who we are. Our language is also unique, like Finish, but more beautiful to the ear, at least to my ears. So Karl and I have agreed our future is here. As to Estonia's future, we are a country that has been occupied throughout our history, Danes, Swedes, Russia. and yet it has survived over and over. We are really the first generation in a long time that can make Estonia, our Estonia. My Grandmother was a very young girl when Soviets invaded our country. She used to tell me so many wonderful stories of her youth and how it was. I believe we can recapture some that, but more importantly we can build on that and make it better. At least for my mother grandchildren." (Reet laughs). (End of Question and the Interviewer thanks Reet for her participation) Scalpels ready, if you think you know the difference between the intellectual and the social level, have at it. If you think there is no intellect in Reet's response, then where is it? If you believe intellect and social values cannot be delineated than we run the risk that MOQ might be some pie in the sky house of metaphysical cards on a shaky table. This all being said I will say this, I sincerely and respectfully don't think this is the way Pirsig intended for MOQ to be used, remember in MOQ the scalpel first cut, SQ/DQ. The fallout is the four levels of values that are distinctive and discrete. DQ can't be defined, so SQ has to be. I have hung my hat on the point that if SOM mother of all scientific research and much of what we know about our world, then MOQ, stands to reason, should have the same or greater capacity. This will be my last post until get my new email account sometime next week. Respectfully submitted, Mati Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
