1. Qualitative Argues that meaning is situated in a particular perspective or context. Different people have different perspectives and contexts. There are many meanings in the world, none of which is necessarily more valid or true than another.

2. Qualitative Tends not to state hypotheses or research procedures before data is collected. Research problems and methods evolve as understanding of the research context deepens.

3. Qualitative Context is not controlled. Number of participants tends to be small because of time intensive methods like interviews. Researchers often act with participants during a study

4. Qualitative and Quantitative Should not be considered oppositional. Together - represent the full range of educational research methods. Both may be administered in some studies. –E.g. administration of a questionaire (quantitative) may be followed up by a small number of detailed interviews (qualitative).

5. Qualitative Research Methods Historical Research Methods

6. Involves interpreting past events. Most focus on individuals, important social issues, links between old and new, and reinterpretations of prior historical work.

7. Historical Research Methods Historians work with data already available in a variety of forms. *Primary sources - provided by first person eyewitnesses or authors. Secondary Sources - non first person accounts –*preferred by historians.

8. Historical Research Methods Historians use external criticism to access the authenticity of their data and use internal criticism to assess the truthfulness of their data.

9. Historical Research Methods Examples Factors leading to the development and growth of cooperative learning. Trends in elementary school reading instruction, 1940-1995.

10. Qualitative Research Methods Focus is on deep description of aspects of people’s everyday perspectives and context. Provide filed-focused, interpretive, detailed descriptions and interpretations of participants and their settings.

11. Qualitative Research Methods Usually involves long term immersion in setting. Common methods of data collection include: –observation, interviewing, tape and video recording, examining artifacts, and participant observation (researcher becomes part of the group being studied)

12. Qualitative Research Methods Data analysis –based on categorizing and interpreting the observations, conversations with participants, documents, tape recordings, and interviews collected to provide a description and explanation

13. Qualitative Research Methods Qualitative researcher writes from the perspective of the participants, not from the researcher’s own perspective.

14. Qualitative Research Methods Examples: The problems, successes, and understandings of Jack, during his first year of teaching. Study of the Hispanic culture in an urban community college.

15. Guidelines for Classification Type of method needed depends on the problem being studied. Same general problem can be investigated using many types of research.

16. Guidelines for Classification Knowing the type of research applied helps one identify the important aspects to examine in evaluating the study.

17. Guidelines for Classification The more information available, the easier it is to classify.

18. Guidelines for Classification Method for classifying –determine whether qualitative or quantitative. –If quantitative, identify purpose to determine whether it is description, correlational, causal comparative, or experimental.

19. Guidelines for Classification If qualitative, determine whether it is historical or qualitative –look for key words in the title of the study: survey, description, relationship, historical, culture, and the like.