Qualitative Research January 19, 2012

Selecting A Topic Trying to be original while balancing need to be realistic—so you can master a reasonable amount of information. Thinking about practical feasibility of doing study. Contributing to the existing knowledge base. Gaining new insights sometimes in different contexts.

Selecting A Topic Advancing knowledge or understanding of a practice or phenomenon. Thinking about value of topic—What is the wider significance of focusing on this topic? Will it be helpful, useful, or meaningful to others (administrators or school leaders, teachers, students)

Selecting A Topic Ideally clear and concise. Identifying context of issue or problem. Remember topic is focused on usually a current issue or problem. Topic is not gathering standard information— such as how many teachers work in a school district or how many years have teachers worked in the current position.

Selecting A Topic Represents an area of interest that you are passionate about. You are familiar with the literature from work in EDDC 804 related to your topic. This literature base will help you with the course this semester.

Choosing A Qualitative Research Approach Qualitative research promotes a deeper understanding of a particular issue or problem as well as the context according to the perceptions of the participants. Approach emphasizes exploration, description, and discovery.

Choosing A Qualitative Research Approach By contrast, quantitative research investigates relationships, correlations, potential cause and effect, or determines if significant differences exist between different groups of individuals. Both types of approaches require collecting data, analyzing and interpreting it, and reporting the main results.

Choosing A Qualitative Research Approach Ideally the research approach matches the overall purpose of the research study and directly aligns or links with the stated research questions. The purpose of study and research questions come first and then influence the type of design.

Knowledge Claims Knowledge claim implies certain assumptions about what the researcher will learn during the inquiry. Also called research paradigms— – 1. Postmodernism: The scientific method, quantitative or empirical research. All knowledge can be gained from direct observation and logical inferences.

Knowledge Claims – 1. Postmodernism: There are laws or theories that govern the world and these can be tested and verified. Research often begins with a theory and a set of hypotheses, and then test ideas. Concerned with causal relationships. Being objective is crucial. Determining reliability and validity are very important.

Knowledge Claims – 2. Social Constructivism or Naturalistic Inquiry: Reality is socially, culturally, and historically constructed. Research attempts to understand social phenomenon from a context-specific perspective. The process of inquiry is influenced by the researcher and the context under study. Individuals develop subjective meanings of their own personal experiences and this leads to multiple meanings.

Knowledge Claims – 2. Social Constructivism or Naturalistic Inquiry: Researcher’s role is to understand the multiple realities that participants experiences and to interpret meaning. – 3. Critical Theory/Advocacy: Clear focus on social justice. Unfair laws and theories did not fit marginalized groups. Other research paradigms do not adequately call for action to address injustices.

Knowledge Claims – 3. Critical Theory/Advocacy: Research is closely intertwined with politics. Goal of research is to create political debate and discussion to bring about changes. Participants often become co- researchers and aid in collecting data, analyzing it, and writing up results. This is not typically done in dissertation research.

Knowledge Claims – 4. Pragmatism: Knowledge claims arise out of situations, actions, and consequences. Focus on practical applications and workable solutions to issues or problems. Often utilizes both quantitative and qualitative methods to understand the problem. Use multiple data collections strategies and data analysis methods as well.

Traditions of Inquiry: Case Study --A detailed description of settings and participants, including a detailed analysis of the data for themes, patterns, and issues. Often more than one case study is conducted. --Cross site analysis becomes possible when there are two or more case studies. --This is most commonly used in educational research studies in qualitative work --What constitutes a case?

Traditions of Inquiry: Ethnography --Researcher studies a group in its natural setting, by examining customs and their daily life with the intent of describing and interpreting cultural patterns of behavior, values, and practices. --Researcher becomes immersed in culture, attending regular meetings and other events or activities, conducting numerous observations --Due to time limitations, this is not common for dissertations

Traditions of Inquiry: Grounded Theory --Researcher attempts to generate or discover a theory of a process, action, or interaction grounded in views of research participants --Research involves multiple stages of data collection and refinement of categorization of information—gets at changing experiences over time and describing various dimensions of experience

Traditions of Inquiry: Grounded Theory --Goal is to generate theory from data or extend existing theory. --Other traditions mentioned in book, I have never seen used in dissertation research including biography nor hermeneutics

Thinking About and Using Words --There are more debates within qualitative research than in quantitative studies. Often these debates are value driven or even political. --Some faculty think all qualitative work should be described using first person. BUT all agree that passive voice is not appropriate. --Some faculty think the word “data” should never be used. Why? Others think in qualitative study, you should only use the word “information”.

Thinking About and Using Words --Think carefully about your word choice and whether its meaning is what you intended. --For example, The researcher harvested the literature to gain insights about the topics that should be explored in the interview protocol. --Could change to, The researcher reviewed and analyzed the literature to…….

A Political Dimension: Important Caution --When researchers conduct their studies, they report all of the information including both the positive aspects and the weaknesses. If you conduct a study in your own school or community college, there can be real pressure from your boss or senior administrators to suppress what they perceive as negative information. But for research and dissertation work, both strengths and weaknesses need to be openly reported.