Week 7: Research & Theory

How do you approach research methodologies for your academic journey?

This weeks topic revolved around research methodologies and methods.

Our workshop challenge was to pick an item that we are interested in and to use different research methodologies to expand our knowledge of that item, and then write a 300 word non-ficitional text that summarises our findings.

Overall, my first impression of this weeks topic/ workshop challenge was fairly positive. I love researching and finding out more about things/ events/ topics that I am already interested in.

However, initially I thought this challenge was going to be fairly easy, but when it came to researching to my item of choice; it definitely proved to be quite the challenge.

However, before I could get to researching, I wanted to look more into the research methodologies and methods I could use and develop on my understanding of how I could academically approach/ explore my area of interest

Research Methodologies & Methods

This weeks lecture was led by Martin Hosken, a lecturer in critical theory at Falmouth University.

In general, I really enjoyed this lecture because initially I wasn't that confident with my understanding of the differences between methods and methodologies, and also the different types of methodologies that we can use.

Part 1: Curiosity

At the beginning of the lecture, Martin Hosken asked us to write down our own definition of the word 'Research'- here is what I came up with:

Research is a process one takes to explore, learn, and investigate into a particular topic- in which will then help them to expand and develop upon their knowledge.

Research can be anything- it can be a science, an art, a craft- all depending on what you personally get out of it.

But most important of all, it is a continuous activity of life.

In order to do effective research, it is important to approach life with a sense of excitement, curiosity and imagination. To truly see and observe what you hadn't seen before, and open your mind to the possibility that there is more than meets the eye.

Part 2: Philosophy

Overall philosophy by definition, is the academic study or discipline that investigated the the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality and existence. 'Human knowledge relies upon the dynamic that exists between experience and the questioning of that experience through a reflective process'

The Nature of Knowledge- Rationalists vs Empiricists

What came first, our senses or our reason?

Rationalists

Rationalists believe that the ultimate starting point for our knowledge is through reason. They believe that without prior categories and principals supplied by reason, we

couldn’t organise and interpret our sense experience in any way. Human knowledge consists first in principles and innate concepts then they are certified by reason along with anything logically deduced from these first principles.

Empiricists

In opposition, Empiricists believe that sense experience is the ultimate starting point for all our knowledge. The senses give us all raw data about the world and without this raw material, there would be no knowledge at all.

In my mind, both ways are completely applicable. I believe that all creatures (including humans) are born with an instinct for survival (an innate sense of reason). A baby cries for its mother when it is hungry, baby turtles know to move towards the ocean when they have hatched in order to survive etc.

But then it is through our senses/ sense experiences of the world that allow us to build upon our knowledge. Over time, these senses experiences allow us the ability to form words and to eventually link those words to their meanings.

Four Key Philosophical Concerns:

Metaphysics- questions the nature of being- our ultimate sense of reality. Man. God. Can there ever be an objective truth?

Aesthetics- questions the nature of beauty, judgement, perception, order and proportion.

Ethics- questions how we should conduct ourselves, explored the ideas of morality, judgement and the desired/ appropriate relationship between the individual and the state.

Epistemology- the theory of knowledge itself- in regards to its origin, methods, validity, limits and scope. The distinction between justified belief and opinion.

Part 3: Methodologies

Method vs Methodologies

Methodology- a branch of knowledge that deals with general principles or axioms of the generation of knowledge. Refers to the rationale and the philosophical assumptions that underlie any natural, social, or human science study.

To put it in simpler terms, the methodology describes the overall justification or epistemological approach that you are taking towards your studies/ the particular technique you use to conduct your research.

Method- the process used to collect info and data for the purpose of analysis, enquiry or decision making. It is basically the techniques that the researcher empales in order to construct data and interrogate the sources.

The methods of academic research are split into two distinct arenas:

Qualitative

Discourse, language, senses

Quantitative

Numbers, measurements, facts

What makes a good research question

1. Relevance- it must arise from issues raised in literature/ or practice- of academic/ intellectual interest.

2. Manageable- must be able to access your sources of date- to give a full and nuanced answer.

3. Substantial- should showcase you imaginative abilities.

4. Fit for Assessment- the opening question must be clear and simple- start with an uncluttered question.

5. Interesting- avoid questions which are too convenient or flashy.

Types of Sources

Primary

Direct/ first hand evidence about an event, object, person or work of art (interviews, videos, audio clips etc).

Secondary

Sources of information created later by someone that did not experience first-hand, nor participate in the events or conditions being researched (scholarly articles, books etc).

Reflection

Overall, I thought that the lecture was incredibly interesting but also very helpful. It gave me a good idea as to how I could approach my own research topic for this weeks challenge, what method I should use and the kind of sources I should be looking in to.

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Workshop Challenge

For this challenge, I had a few ideas as to what item I could research into- but there was one in particular that I kept coming back to.

Tarot Cards

I became interested in tarot cards and the practice of divination since the age of 12 or 13.

At that time, I was both fascinated and engrossed by the strange, magical and the occult but had initially fallen into the illusion that it was something evil and taboo topic that heavily related to wicked practices.

I grew up initially believing in a Christian god and felt like using tarot cards was a huge sin.

However, as my spirituality and values have changed, I grew to understand that tarot cards can be used as a way to gain and give clarity, guidance and support.

I was actually gifted my first tarot card deck by a friend, and ever since, the practice of tarot has become a vital part of who I am. It has become a symbol of my spirituality.

What are Tarot Cards

At a glance, tarot cards look just like regular playing cards- yet there are a few differences. Unlike a regular playing card deck, the tarot card deck has 78 cards in total (rather than 52).

Tarot cards contain both the Minor Arcana and the Major Arcana.

Minor Arcana

Consists of 56 cards that are separated into 4 suits: cups, pentacles, swords and wands. All of them start with Ace and go up to Ten, and then include four extra cards; the Page, Knight, Queen and King.

These cards reflect upon the trials, tribulations, situations etc that we experience on a more daily basis and can refer to more minor or temporary issues.

Major Arcana

Consists of 22 cards and represents the spiritual and more major lessons we learn on our path to achieving our highest self. Unlike the minor arcana, these delve deeper into your purpose- the journey you will take and the lessons you will learn.

When you put the Major Arcana in order, they actually depict a journey. The Fool is the main character (as they represent new beginnings, innocence etc) and makes his journey through each of the cards; through this journey he meets new people, new teachers and continues to learn life lessons that help him to achieve completion.

Overall, each tarot card is illustrated in a specific way- the reader will interpret the symbolism behind these illustrations which they can use to inform them or what they/another should do or be aware of. It is used commonly as a form of guidance and is now a days seen as a form of self-improvement

My Question

Although I know a good amount about how to use and interpret the cards, my knowledge on where the cards even came from/ how they became what they are today, is very limited. It is something that I have continuously wondered about but hadn't ever looked into in depth.

And so I decided to take this opportunity to research into the origin of tarot cards, and try and pinpoint the moment in history where they became more than just a regular card game.

My Methodology

I knew that because I was looking into the history of the tarot cards, that the information I want would predominately come from secondary sources such as scholarly articles and books.

Initially I was unsure as to whether I wanted to use a quantitative or qualitative approach to my research- because although I wanted to try and find a definite date/ time period, I also knew that I would be looking into a lot of speculative answers.

Either way, I decided to start my research by using google scholar to see if there were any books or articles on the subject- as a result, I was both delighted and apprehensive with the amount of information, articles and books I had found.

Development

To say I was surprised at the amount of information I had found would definitely be an understatement.

As I had thought before, however, there were a lot of speculative ideas and opinions as to the exact date/ country of origin of the tarot cards, and so there was a lot of cross referencing, comparing, and in general, a lot of back and forth.

To stop myself from diving in too deep, I tried to limit my references and pick out the relevant bits of information that I thought I could include in my short 300 word summary.

And for the sake of this blog, I decided that I would talk about one of my key sources.

Cynthia Giles

Fig. 1- The Tarot: History, Mystery, and Lore, Cynthia Giles https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=BomDnbugzTwC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=Cynthia+giles&ots=26stbyudr6&sig=2PWRayQrqloBFbjMsXnI3BUb_Iw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Cynthia%20giles&f=false

As I was looking through the sources on Google Scholar, a name that kept popping was Cynthia Giles, and so I decided to research into her and the type of work that she does.

Cynthia Giles is an M.A. graduate from the Institute of Philosophic Studies at the University of Dallas. She also has a Ph.D. in Humanities from the University of Texas at Dallas, and has been creating scholarly articles and books on the topic of tarot cards for the last twenty to thirty years.

I managed to find an online version of one of her published books; 'The Tarot: History, Mystery, and Lore, which had very quickly become one of my key sources for this weeks challenge. This book, along with her insightful article 'The Esoteric Tarot: Backgrounds', gave me a very good basis, but I decided to look into a few others than would help to strengthen her claims/ fortify my summary.

My Final Summary

The Arcane Tarot Cards

Many have speculated the origin of tarot cards, and yet to this day it remains a mystery.

Those who have investigated into its origin have even gone as far as trying to pinpoint the birthplace of their cousins, the ’playing cards’, yet all have come up with various possible locations and times; from China, to Egypt, to various parts of Europe- all throughout the 13th century.

However, the earliest viable record and ‘factual knowledge of the existence of tarot goes back only to 1442’(Giles, 1994) where a reference to “trump cards” was made in the accounts in Ferrara, northern Italy. During that time, the ‘Visconti di Modrone’ trump deck was created by the painter Bonifacio Bembo, and would depict beautiful illustrations of the noble lords and ladies from the Visconti and Sforza families.

Even at that time “Trump” decks were viewed in a very different light to that of the ordinary playing cards; in fact, a sermon dated around 1500 had preached that the game was created by the Devil. But at this time, the game had become all the rage in Italy and had started to spread across the rest of Europe.

It has been suggested that the belief of the Tarot being an occult instrument began at a Parisian card party in 1775; in attendance was Antoine Courte de Gébelin, a student of mythology, archaeology, and linguistics. An altered version of the trump cards was brought to that party and not only did he become enthralled by them, he was convinced that the deck was an ancient Egyptian “book” created by ‘the god/magus Thoth to preserve in symbolic form the knowledge of an entire civilization’ (Giles, 2020)

Although his approach was proven to be incorrect some time later, his intuitive grasp of the Tarot images, and his acknowledgement of their symbolism, had sparked the beginning- the beginning where these cards became more than just ordinary trump cards, but instruments of the arcane.

Final Piece

I decided that with the rest of the time I had for this weeks challenge, I would format the summary in a more creative way.

Whenever you open a pack of tarot cards, you usually have a few information cards included- these information cards can be about the pack, the illustrator, a little bit of history etc.

So I decided to create my own little information card:

Reflection

Initially I was thinking of taking a more qualitative approach to this task- by interviewing tarot card users and getting more insight into the different reasons why they use them. It proved to be quite hard as a lot of tarot users are quite private about their practice. And so, for the sake of time, I decided to take a quantitative approach and try and find some more concrete facts in regards to the origin.

Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this week and found it quite enlightening. Beforehand, I never really considered the different methodologies and methods within research- and how it can be generally quite important to decide on the methodology and methods beforehand in order to achieve the desired results.

This can be especially important for design as it essentially makes you consider all of the different routes and perspectives behind your work- research helps to add fuel to our curiosity and our imagination, which in turn, allows us to create unique, interesting and thought-provoking design pieces.

References

Farley, H. (2019) A Cultural History of Tarot: From Entertainment to Esotericism. London, UK: Bloomsbury Academic. [Online] Google Books. Available from: https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=LRJbEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=info:8tl9-bSxB3MJ:scholar.google.com/&ots=dcHjM4NaEE&sig=wncY9mwDxYIGofO_4tu1C2QpwFs&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false .( Accessed: 7th March 2023).

Giles, C. (1994) The Tarot: History, Mystery and Lore. 1st edn. New York, New York: Fireside. [Online] Google Books. Available from: https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=BomDnbugzTwC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=tarot+&ots=26rA7AwapZ&sig=blYk2sjrT5RWaj-w3Xj3W9Rheqo&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=tarot&f=false . (Accessed: March 7, 2023).

Giles, C. (2020) The Esoteric Tarot: Backgrounds, Medium. Perspectives on Tarot. [Online] Available at: https://medium.com/tarot-a-textual-project/the-esoteric-tarot-transformation-3cb8acf9a364 (Accessed: March 9, 2023).

Hosken, M. (2023) Lecture; Research Methodologies. Falmouth Flexible. [Online] Available at: https://flex.falmouth.ac.uk/courses/1165/pages/week-7-guest-lecture?module_item_id=63423 (Accessed: March 7, 2023).

Huson, P. (2004) Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage. Rochester, Vermont: Destiny Books. [Online] Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=dVne-

RK9UVYC&oi=fnd&pg=PR10&dq=when+were+tarot+cards+first+used&ots=iVkQVqVFvp&sig=3bt-T4rhktZS6p53qok9N7QSV8w&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=when%20were%20tarot%20cards%20first%20used&f=false . (Accessed: March 7, 2023).

Perspectives on tarot (2017) The World of Playing Cards. [Online] Available at: https://www.wopc.co.uk/tarot/index (Accessed: March 9, 2023).