Jesus, You're beautiful to me

Jesus, bright as the morning star
Jesus, how can I tell You
How beautiful You are to me
Jesus, song that the angels sing
Jesus, dearer to my heart
Than anything
Sweeter than springtime
Purer than sunshine
Ever my song will be
Jesus, You’re beautiful to me

Jesus, bright as the morning star
Jesus, how can I tell You
How beautiful You are to me
My Jesus, song that the angels sing
Jesus, dearer to my heart
Than anything
Sweeter than spring time
Purer than sunshine
Ever my song will be
Jesus, You’re beautiful to me

Oh, You are so beautiful
Oh Beautiful
So beautiful
So beautiful
Jesus, You’re beautiful to me
Beautiful
Beautiful
Beautiful, Jesus, You’re beautiful to me
Beautiful, wonderful, everything
Beautiful, Jesus, You’re beautiful to me
Wonderful, morning star, Lord You are beautiful
Jesus, You’re beautiful to me
Oh, so beautiful

Sweeter than springtime
Purer than sunshine
Ever my song will be
Jesus, You’re beautiful to me

What should I do?

It seems like the qualitative data could even consist of interviews and observations, and documents, films or videotapes, and even data that have been quantified for other purposes such as census data.

The purpose is to discovering concepts and relationships in raw data and then organizing these into a theoretical explanatory scheme. But how? How to do these?

Qualitative Basic Consideration

The importance of setting out a research on Hikikomori, or Suicide or Church Ministry in Japan would be the VISION. Where it is that the researcher wants to go with the researach. How are we going to see beyond the ordinary and to arrive at new understandings.

In the case of Hikikomori, do I aim to build theory, or classifying and eleborating? How should I build my case?

In Qualitative Research, Strauss and Glaser had made tremendous contribution in developing its concept and methodology.

For Strauss, the motivations are listed below:
(a) the need to get out into the field to discover what is really going on;
(b) the releveance of theory, grounded in data, to the development of a discipline and as a basis for social action;
(c) the complexity and variability of phenomena and of human actio;
(d) the belief that persons are actors who take an active role in responding to problematic situations;
(e) the realization that persons act on the basis of meaning;
(f) the understanding that meaning is defined and redefined through interaction;
(g) a sensitivity to the evolving and unfolding nature of events;
(h) an awareness of the interrelationships among conditions, action, and consequences.

Glaser saw the need for making comparison between data to identify, develop, and relate concepts.

A qualitative research could be extend to:
a person's lives, lived experiences, behaviors, emotions, and feelings as well as about organizaitonal functioning, social movements, cultural phenomena, and interactions between nations.

And now, as for Hikikomori, what is it about? It is about behaviors, emotions, feelings at individual level, in relation to organizational functioning when it is about Ijime, cultural phenomena. And in this study of mine, would probably involve interactions between nations.

How do we go about? This needs to be carefully examine and structure before I start the research.

Characteristics of a Grounded Theorist

These are the requisite skills for becoming a grounded theorist:

1. The ability to step back and critically analyze situations.
2. The ability to recognize the tendency towards bias.
3. The ability to think abstractly.
4. The ability to be fleible and open to helpful criticism.
5. Sensitivity to the words and actions of respondents.
6. A sense of absorption and devotion to the work process.

Let's pray that the Lord will preserve me in these ways! May the Lord bless the job in His hand!


Reference: Basics of Qualitative Research. 2nd. Ed. Strauss&Corbin. Basic Considerations, Introduction

threads...

Cheung thinks that Hikikomori is a term that we should not overuse. He rather terms his clients as "Net Addicts" rather than "Hikikomori". He also does agree on multiplying the data to get a projection on the numbers.

Throughout the sharing, I could identify a few cases that are definite "Hikikomori" to me. Same as David, Cheung does not agree that "Hikikomori" in Hong Kong is an influence of Japan's culture. Judging from his experience, it is the "hope" to gain control, self-confidence through the Internet.

Isabelle thinks that people shut themselves up avoid commuication, and basically that happens when people have fear to fit in.

In either case, I find a thin line of "failure", "fear" and "death".

Joshua thinks that people shut themselves in when they have no sense of reality. To him, these people are spoilt rather than sick. These child of 80's cannot withstand stress, so when they have trouble to fit in, they choose to isolate themselves.

Yip peng thinks that people in his days do not have this fear of Hikikomori, it seems to him these are the symptoms of the 80's or 90's.

Confounding factors on Hikikomori

David thinks that Hikikomori is just a term where the Japanese had recognized the disease, and had gave it a name. Hikikomori happens in place, and it could possibly connect to the word "hermit". He does not agree that Hikikomori is an influence of Japan. In each society, there would have their own unique situation to cause hermits, there are some confounding factors that we should not discount.

A choice: Blind or Die?

Can you imagine one day when you wake up, and you become totally blind. You can't see a single thing. What would you do?

Then, you are given a chance to cure, an intervention, but you need to decide. Now, the chance to recover from blindness is 100%, but you have 0% chance to survive. What is your choice?

The class was given this question last Tuesday. If course there were possibilities for us to choose. Some tolerated with 20% chance of survival, some would never not take that chance until the possibility of survival reach 80%. I didn't choose.

How do we Christians interprete this? We can say, if it is a "spiritual blindness", we prefer to have our sight back, and we know to "die", is to die with our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, and that happens when we accept Jesus Christ. Pretty easy, isn't it? We rather see the TRUTH! Aren't we always talking about that?

Think! One who does not know God, he or she has no idea what we are talking about. In a close knit society, to accept Jesus is putting them to death sentence, or a choice to be expelled, as an outcast. That happens in India, among Islams, Japan and many other countries. So now, what do think his or her choice will be?

Think! It is the same to physical blindness. Would you prefer to see or you prefer to live? It is the same measure before we can measure others. And remember it is the same measure that we are going to be measured as we measure others.

Put ourselves into the others' shoes, but do not lost hope!

Knowing that when we choose to die with Jesus Christ, there is going to be a resurrection! He promised us, we are going to have a new life! Which is call "born again", at present. So the real fact is we are going to die, but we are going to have a new life! The amazing thing is, you will never know it until you accept it!

But then... coming back to our fellow Christians, are we aware? are we convinced? if we are, how should we tell people about this GOOD NEWS?

THINK!

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. Mat 16:25

Grounded Theory

What does it mean by Grounded theory? Checklist of understanding.

1. It is developed by Glaser and Strauss (1967).
2. It is to address issues raised within sociology about the understanding of human behavior (Hikikomori) based on the quantitative paradigm and statistically average behavior.
3. The theorical base is symbolic interactionism.
4. Meaning: human behavior (Hikikomori) is develped through interaction with others, through continuous processes of negotiation and renegotiation.
5. People construct their own realities from the symbols around them through interaction rather than through a static reaction to symbols.
6. Therefore, individuals are active participants in creating meaning in a situation (isolating oneself).
7. The primary purpose is to generate explanatory theories of human behavior (hikikomori).
8. Theory is discovered, developed, and then verified through systematic data collection and analysis of data related to an identified phenomenon (isolation of teens).
9. Data collection, sampling, and analysis all occur simultaneously as the study progresses, and sampling and further data collection are based on the emerging theory.
10. Participants are selected based on their knowledge of the topic(hikikomori) and on the needs of the developing theory, a process called theoretical sampling.
11. Data are generally collected through unstructured interviews, observations, and other fieldwork techniques.
12. Analysis techniques include constant comparison in which all pieces of data are compared with other data(stories/incidents).
13. Process oriented and allows for change over time, describing stages and phases inherent in a particular experience.


Re: Qualitative Research Methods for Health Professionals, Second Edition. Authors: Janice M. Morse, Peggy Anne Field. Chapman & Hall, 1995.

Qualitative Research

If I want to do a study on Hikikomori, it will be very much as a qualitative research at the moment. The issue is too new, too naive, and too little research or reports had been done. Even if there is any, it is commonly contain only one voice, and heavily influenced by the authors perspective and background.

Hikikomori is a phenomenon of youth that isolated themselves for more than six months. Now, issues aroused with this phenomenon: First, is this a typical Japanese phenomenon? Second, is this only a problem of youth? Third, is there any other definitions for Hikikomori? Forth, are there any stages towards Hikikomori? Fifth, how do we identify one Hikikomori? Sixth, what are the symptoms, what are they doing? Seventh, what is the background to it? Eighth, what is/are the trigger factor/factors? Ninth, what is the impact to the society? Tenth, what are these people experiencing is it what others in the society experiencing as well?

When we count and think carefully about this questions, we can go on for more and more. Exploring is the key!

In qualitative research, there are certain things that we need to look at. First, the developed theory may serve several important functions within a discipline. Question now is which discipline is directly involved or concern with this issue? Psychiatric? Social Workers? Clinical Psychologist? Schools? Somehow, I think church needs to get into this! If what the report had been true in Japan, one percent of the population were shutting themselves up in a room, that is a tremendous figure! One million, at least. It is ridiculous if the church is just going to sit there, and do nothing of it!

In Hong Kong, a similar report had made a projection of Hikikomori in Hong Kong increased from 6,000 to 18,000 within six months. We need to be very careful in this area. Same questions needed to be ask, and validity of the claim needed to be carefully examined. Isolation as a total social withdrawal demonstrated a "sick" society, it might not be the person who is doing this is sick, but it could be a action of complaining through living as a hermit.

"What is happening here?" is a question.

The findings should open a window into the worlds of others, providing empathic understanding of the world. The theory thus enables the readers to make sense of otherwise incomprehensible situations and behaviors. How groups of people live? how people cope with their daily lives?

The theory should be used in quantitative research later, as a conceptual framework, a provide explanation for other unexpected quantitative results.


Reference: Qualitative Research Methods for Health Professionals, Second Edition. Janice M. Morse, Peggy Anne Field. Chapman & Hall, 1995.