Words don’t make qualitative data: Conducting qualitative inquiry scientifically Kakali Bhattacharya

Travel around the qualitative world Look through the representative samples of qualitative work. Write any questions you might have on the associated index cards.

Epistemology, Theory, Methodology, Methods Iterative process of qualitative inquiry Representation Methodology Analysis Epistemology, Theory, Methodology, Methods

Terrain of Qualitative Research Understand Emancipate Deconstruct Interpretive Naturalistic Constructivist Phenomenological Hermeneutic Critical Feminist Praxis-oriented Educative Freirian participatory action research Gay & Lesbian Theories Poststructural Postmodern Post- paradigmatic Diaspora Postcolonial Terrain of Qualitative Research Portions modified from Lather, P. (1991), Getting Smart. Routledge: NY

Understanding Various Paradigms Positivist Interpretivist Critical Theory Deconstructivist Reality is object and “found” Truth is one. Discourse is structured and transparent, reflecting reality. What is true? What can we know? Knowing the world Communicaton as transmission Reality is subjective and constructed Truth is many Discourse is dialogic and creates reality What is heuristic? What can we understand? Understanding the world. Communication as transaction Reality is subjective and constructed on the basis of issues of power Truth is many, and constitutes a system of socio-political power Discourse is embedded in (and controlled by) rhetorical and political purpose What is just? What can we do? Changing the world. Communication as decision-making Reality is ultimately unknowable; attempts to understand reality subvert themselves “Truths” are socially constructed systems of signs which contain the seeds of their contradiction. Discourse is by nature inseparable from its subject, and is radically contingent and vulnerable Is there a truth? What constitutes truth? Critiquing the world. Communication as challenging the nature of communication

Alignment How do I view the world? Reality? Truth? Knowledge? Rationality? What matters to me most? Why does it matter? The purpose of my research study is Research questions Theoretical framework Research design Data collection methods Data analysis Data representation EDPR 7/8561 EDPR 8562

What do you want to know? Suppose you want to study disenfranchisement of millions of African American people during and before the civil rights movement. Suppose you want to know the essence of people’s suffering, including what they had to endure, how they empowered themselves and organized personal and public resistance forces.

What do you want to know? Suppose you are interested in studying educational policies. You have a feeling that there are certain levels of systematic discrimination in the current educational system that affect curriculum and instructional design, the quality of education, and the ways students perceive history, social sciences, culture, from mainstream dominant perspective. You are primarily interested in raising questions about issues of social justice and power in education by exploring the experiences of minority students to reveal the effects of maintaining status quo in their everyday lives.

What do you want to know? You are a teacher. You want to employ several interactive techniques in the classroom and see how your students learn. You want to go beyond evaluating students’ learning based on test scores. You want to be able to explore the students’ experiences are based on your interactive techniques, what they are taking away from each of the techniques, and the ways the students respond to higher level learning tasks based on the competencies you have designed for the class.

Methods of data collection Interviews Conversations Observations Documents Artifacts Elicitations

Scientific rigor in qualitative research Alignment Trustworthiness Prolonged engagement Persistent observation Triangulation Peer debriefing Negative case analysis Referential accuracy Member checks Transferability Thick description Adequate information Confirmability Reflexive journaling Audit trail Triangulation

Rocking Activity Sort these rocks into any way you like. Once done create detailed hierarchical categories of your sorting. Go beyond shapes, color, size, and type of rock. Attach more meaning to the rocks, be creative, and have fun with it. There is no right or wrong answer here. People have seen celebrity figures on the face of these rocks. People attached emotions to the rocks as rocks that are popular, happy rocks, angry rocks etc. Be prepared to share your categorization with the rest of the class when done.

Answering Your Questions