Am I really into qualitative research? Why am I here?

      Qualitative methods have been utilized to identify intangible factors such as culture, gender, ethnicity, and religion. Better understanding of complex reality has been possible through this method by implication in specific situation. Our research topic, “What explains the persistent survival of Jeepneys in the Philippines and do Filipino people still perceive jeepneys as a cultural symbol?”, mainly contains the cultural aspect of jeepney in post-colonial period. 

      In order for us to solve our research question and understand the phenomena why jeepneys are prevalent in Philippine society which quantitative method would not explain well, three main qualitative methods, participant observation, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussion, will be mainly and inevitably used. These methods would allow us to understand the cultural embeddedness of jeepney in the Philippines after WWII. Furthermore, since the topic is about the cultural heritage and symbol, there is no specific or one answer for our research which indeed would lead us to finish the research with open-ended.   

      Jeepneys, even with its well-known drawbacks such as main source of air pollution and traffic jam, are prevalent and well embedded in the Philippine society. As a result, it has been survived more than half a century. Moreover, as consequences of several jeepney strikes indicate, the effect of its existence as been essential to Filipinos. Furthermore, even with an introduction of alternative transportation such as Light Rail Transit(LRT), the number of jeepneys has been grown. 

       Curious of prevalent of jeepney has stimulated us to go deeper in qualitative research in order to identify the factors. Our research with qualitative method would explain the cultural factors in post-colonial period which led to endless existence of jeepney in a nation. 

REFERENCE

Qualitative Research Method Overview. Retrieved from http://www.fhi360.org/NR/rdonlyres/etl7vogszehu5s4stpzb3tyqlpp7rojv4waq37elpbyei3tgmc4ty6dunbccfzxtaj2rvbaubzmz4f/overview1.pdf

In the end, what kind of political animal am I in the context of what I want to know?

Contemporary model of political animal?

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     The term 'political animal' refers to a person who acts in the arena of politics or has political role. This concept, on the contrary, is not consistent since it depends on the each background of history. For instance, Aristotle stated that 'Man is by nature political animal' where Platon under the concept that limited class with virtue becomes politician asserted the 'rule of philosophers'. In contemporary time, what kind of political animal am I in then?

     In order for us to understand our inquiry and set the standard position for our research topic, review of related literature was inevitable. Throughout this process, we found out that our research topic “What explains the persistent survival of Jeepneys in the Philippines and do Filipino people still perceive jeepneys as a cultural symbol?” primarily concerns the post-colonialism. In our belief, the symbol of jeepneys has been created as nationalism after long period of colonization in the Philippines; a nationalist product. In this vein, we argue that the decolonization after WWII and withdrawal of Americans have attributed to create new type of culture and prosper jeepneys around the country.

A jeepney became a substitute public transportation after WWII.
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     According to Munoz(1995), the colonization period explains the ‘mongrel culture’ in the Philippines. The experience under this period created a new form of culture(damaged and mongrel culture) thus required nationalist culture to be restored for its indigenous culture. Since jeepney is the product of decolonization process, study on the common form of vehicles for commoners during colonization and precolonial period became significant. By comparing both periods, we would easily define the importance of independence along the way to create the indigenous culture, which in our research is jeepney. This would also strengthen the significance of post-colonial era in the Philippines in terms of creating its own culture.

     The post-colonialism would not only guide us for deep and diverse understanding of current situation in the Philippines but also explain the reason why the jeepney is embedded in Philippine culture. Other approach could be utilized in order to explain the prevalence of jeepneys such as class division of drivers and commuters through Marxist approach. Our research topic, on the contrary, mainly focuses on the hermeneutics due to embedded nationalism among Filipinos since 1946. The decolonization process would best explain our inquiry thorough post-colonial approach.

REFERENCES

Constantino, Renato. (1978). Neocolonial identity and counter-consciousness. London, Merlin Press.

Feliciano, Ma. Laurdes.(1987). The cultural symbolism of the jeepney as evident in its decor and design.

Munoz, Mauro Jr. (1995). A layman’s reflection on “culture of nationalism”  

What is new in what I want to do?

Jeepney has been the most well-known public transportation for Filipinos since the end of the WWII. With its advantages; cheap and convenient, a jeepney has been prevalent around the country. The embeddedness of the jeepney on Filipinos significantly affected the way of life and the institutions. Despite the significance of jeepney in the Philippines, only few researches were conducted. Most of them were about the relationship between its design and Filipino culture and the drawbacks of jeepney. Some researches assert that the jeepney drivers expressed their thoughts and feelings through its décor and design. The research conducted by Feliciano(1987) states that the jeepney is a product of Filipino cultural aspect through its appearance. Chua et al.(1992) in their research, Eksena sa Dyipni, also asserted that the jeepneys became an institution and thus became a symbol of Filipino ingenuity. Other research conducted by Mercado and Teo(2000) and Axalan and Landicho(2008), however, indicate that the operation of jeepney caused the air pollution and the traffic jam around the country. As the related literatures introduced, the researches on the cultural aspect of jeepneys and the side effects of operating jeepney have been actively conducted and studied. Our research, on the other hand, has its own uniqueness and reasons to be conducted which is distinguishable from the researches that have been conducted already.

Our research primarily questions the existence of jeepney despite of its well-known drawbacks. The reviewed literatures that we have gathered only and simply state the process on how jeepneys became the symbol of the Filipino and the Philippines and the side effects of jeepney on drivers, commuters, and the society. However, no research was conducted to indicate the cultural aspect of jeepneys that barricades the abolishment of them. Historically, the strikes of jeepney drivers remarkably affected the economy and the society in the Philippines, since most public commute through jeepney. The importance and the gaining power of the jeepney became a significant phenomenon that should be examined. Through the research, we would find out the reasons why the jeepneys have been prevalent and the role of cultural aspect and embeddedness in explaining the existence of the jeepneys until current period of time without the abolishment.

We would also research and analyze Filipino arts that contain the theme about the jeepney to present the evidence of jeepney's cultural embeddedness on Filipino. The song titled 'jeepney love story' best exemplifies the cultural embeddedness of jeepney for most Filipinos.

The conducted researches about the jeepney would guide us to set a standard throughout the research. The research that we will conduct, on the other hand, would address the relationship between the cultural aspect and embeddedness of jeepney in Filipino society and its existence in current time without any abolishment.

References 

Feliciano, Ma. Laurdes.(1987). The cultural symbolism of the jeepney as evident in its decor and design.

Leonardo et al.(1987). A case study of the socio political relationships of Highway 54-Pateros Jeepney Drivers and their Association as an interest group.

Mercado et al.(2000). Aphidicolin sensitivity test in evaluating susceptibility among Filipino jeepney drivers.