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Qualitative Methods in Educational Research (2006-2007)
Autumn Quarter Schedule Note: * next to a reading indicates a qualitative research study. Class #1 This session will provide an introduction to the goals and purposes of this course. In this class we will:
This course will employ a broad and inclusive conception of "qualitative research." Various traditions can and do lay claim to that label, and the differences among them are substantial: However, most share the following characteristics: in some degree they employ the researcher as the measuring instrument; they try to capture aspects or qualities of phenomena that cannot be (or are not easily) quantified; they tend to interpret human behavior, beliefs, and social action in a social and cultural context; they tend to focus on processes more then discrete outcomes discernable at a fixed point in time; and they tend to concentrate on a relatively small number of sites, subjects, or cases. In this class we will explore these and other characteristics, and examine them in relation to other forms of social science inquiry. Required Readings:
Assignments Due:
Class #2 This class will explore various traditions of qualitative inquiry. We will focus on several of these traditions in this course: ethnography, cognitive/sociocultural research on teaching and learning, and organizational/policy case study research. [Other qualitative traditions - e.g., historiography, oral history, narrative research, phenomenology - will not be our focus, though many of the issues we explore will pertain to them as well.] In this class, we will concentrate on the following issues:
Required Readings:
Assignments Due:
Class #3 The act of finding a researchable problem - a problem that can be illuminated by inquiry - is no small order. We agree with Einstein and Infeld, who wrote that: "The formulation of a problem is often more essential than its solution . . . To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old questions from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science." Project design begins by locating a question worthy of study and continues through proposal development and into the research process itself. We will discuss how to "find problems," how to develop research or study questions, how to ground projects in a theoretical tradition, and how to develop research plans. We will address how formulating a theoretical or conceptual framework for a research study involves locating oneself in a set of assumptions, and how theory provides a lens through which to investigate the phenomenon under observation. We will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of light and intensive project design prior to beginning data collection and will contrast design decisions that characterize different qualitative traditions. We will examine how the following issues are dealt with at the design stage: the specification of research questions, sampling, the design of instruments and data collection procedures, ethical and political considerations, cost and labor, and plans for data analysis. Required Readings:
Assignments Due:
Class #4 In this class, we will provide an introduction to the panoply of methods that constitute qualitative inquiry. All too frequently, qualitative research is equated with ethnography. This is unfortunate since qualitative reserach is richer and more varied than ethnography alone. What methods are available to the qualitative researcher? When is it appropriate - if ever - to combine qualitative and quantitative approaches? Should one combine various qualitative methods in the same study, and, if yes, what are the advantages of doing so? Finally, we will begin to discuss issues of gaining access to research sites. Required Readings:
Assignments Due:
Class #5 In this class session we will focus on observation issues and techniques. We will explore the who, what, when, and where observation. We will also distinguish between participant observation (traditionally used in ethnography or sociocultural approaches), transitory observation (often used in organizational/policy case studies), and non-participant observation. Our discussion will focus on the following kinds of issues:
Required Readings:
Assignments Due:
Class #6 Interviewing in qualitative research covers a broad range, from open-ended conversational interactions to more formal, face-to-face interviews regulated by standardized topics or questions. The degree of structure depends on the nature of the study, the stage of data collection, and the types of respondents interviewed. We will discuss various features of interviewing. We will also discuss the level of structure or training we give respondents before they engage in a task we have designed. In this course, we will concentrate on what are generally referred to as "semi-structured" or "unstructured" approaches to interviewing, a mainstay of ethnographic and many other forms of qualitative research. Discussion issues will include:
Required Readings:
Recommended Readings (for Additional Resource Material):
Assignments Due:
Class #7 This session will continue the discussion on interviewing. We will explore techniques involved in "think-alouds" and clinical interviews, common techniques in cognitive/psychological research. Half of the class will be devoted to the question of Human Subjects clearance. We will go through the rationale, process, and steps to enable you to proceed smoothly through the Human Subjects process. A member of the Human Subjects Division staff will come to class to discuss this process. [This introduction will prepare you to draft a Human Subjects application due in the next class.] Required Readings:
Assignments Due:
Class #8 This class will revisit matters of overall design to explore further questions of sampling (choices of settings, informants, time periods, etc.), conceptualization, data collection strategies, data recording strategies, etc. We will also address questions of recording data. It is impossible, and usually unnecessary, to record everything that goes on in a social setting. Note taking, tape recording, and videotaping are typically used to record data. We will discuss the relative merits of each approach, given the types of research questions asked by the investigator. Issues to be discussed include:
Class time will also be devoted to discussing strategies for facilitating access to a field site; students will have the chance to share and examine each others' strategies. Required Readings:
Assignments Due:
Class #9 One of the most frequent products of qualitative work is the case study, or, in many qualitative research designs, multiple cases of a phenomenon under study. Cases take many different forms, including case studies of students, teachers, classrooms, "effective schools," policies, educational practices, and so on. Strictly speaking, "case study research" is not a single tradition of qualitative inquiry, but rather a broad category of inquiry activity that falls in various traditions. In this class we will examine these questions:
We will discuss the craft of writing a cogent research proposal. Required Readings:
Assignments Due:
Class #10 Ethics are a concern to all social scientists; no one wants their research to cause harm. No matter how careful researchers are, however, they often face ethical dilemmas. For example, a sponsoring agency may want all of the data collected in the project even though it contains sensitive information. One may also discover that findings are used for unintended purposes. One may negotiate access on certain conditions and later feel compelled to violate those conditions, particularly when unethical or harmful behavior is observed. At the root of these issues are questions of competing goods, power, the rights of those studied (versus the rights of others), and the researcher's responsibilities to others. We will discuss the following issues:
Required Readings:
Assignments Due:
Class #11 The process of conceptualizing, reflecting, and re-conceptualizing typically results in the need to fine tune one's research before accessing sites and beginning one's study. During the final class session, students will act as "critical friends" to one another by anticipating challenges and issues and offering collegial support and guidance. Assignments Due:
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amandao@u.washington.edu Last modified: 4/11/2007 6:58 PM |