timescale question

From: Ben Kirshner (kirshner@stanford.edu)
Date: Thu Oct 16 2003 - 11:01:44 PDT


Dear xmca,

I have a theoretical question about timescales, and wondering if anyone
could refer me to articles on the subject, or offer some thoughts...

As I analyze 2 years of data from a youth organization that is part of my
dissertation research, I'm trying to make sense of two distinct, but
ultimately complementary, analytic lenses:

*On one hand, I can observe and find evidence for significant change over
time in the social organization of the group (i.e., the distribution of
roles, levels of responsibility taken by youth, etc.). This I take to be a
diachronic, developmental view.

*On the other hand, I see recurring patterns that are not reducible to a
linear, diachronic view. For example, certain non-time related variables
(e.g., the subject being discussed, the people involved) influence social
interactions in systematic, predictable ways across time. Would this
second analytic frame be accurately called "synchronic?" Could you suggest
theoretically-oriented articles that offer clarity on how to weave these
two analytic lenses together?

Note: I feel some familiarity with distinctions that are drawn among levels
of time--microgenetic, ontogenetic, mesogenetic, phylogenetic--but wonder
if all of these still refer to variations on change over time, whereas my
question is really about patterns that are cyclical or recurring or stable
over time.

Thanks for any thoughts on the subject,

Ben

____________________________________
Ben Kirshner
Doctoral Candidate
Child and Adolescent Development
Stanford University School of Education



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