This paper discusses the PhD research process from my perspective as an Aboriginal man. The paper illuminates how I navigated my way through a Western academic system using an Aboriginal framework. I give insights into the dynamics at play in both academic and traditional ways of knowing, being and doing. As an Aboriginal researcher, I was intent,…

Roland S. Persson (2012a) has made a significant contribution to the literature in pointing out the potential for cultural bias in the body of research related to gifted and talented. He encourages a distinction between emic research, where the results are limited to a particular culture and etic research, where the results can be generalised to…

It is late at night, after working all day on her postdoctoral research Laura Colombo is trying to wind down while drawing and jotting down thoughts in her notebook. She is in the living room/office of her apartment in Buenos Aires, the city where she was born and left when she was 26 years old to pursue her graduate studies in the United States…

The globalized nature of modern society has generated a number of pressures that impact internationally on countries' policies and practices of science education. Among these pressures are key issues of health and environment confronting global science, global economic control through multi-national capitalism, comparative and competitive…

Research in education and the training of education researchers are often said to require attention to "epistemological diversity": Researchers ought to be familiar with different ways of knowing and diverse epistemological perspectives. But the notion is unclear. What is "epistemological diversity"? What exactly is "epistemological" about it?…

Culturally appropriate means of conducting language research among American Indians is critical for maintaining cooperation and for increasing the depth of data collected. The apprentice-elder and fictive kinship models used in research with two Siouan-speaking tribes are discussed, as well as their practical applications, the importance of…

A Chicana ethnographer working in a Latino community describes her multiple identities and ways that she as a "native" researcher was co-opted by the dominant culture. She challenges researchers from dominant, as well as marginalized cultures, to recognize their own complicity and form new identities as citizens-scholars-activists rooted…

This author introduces a framework to guide researchers into a process of racial and cultural awareness, consciousness, and positionality as they conduct education research. The premise of the argument is that dangers seen, unseen, and unforeseen can emerge for researchers when they do not pay careful attention to their own and others' racialized…

Examines problems that can occur when research is conducted in culturally diverse communities. The commentary comes from experiences conducting research in a particular African American community. The paper argues that understanding the nuances of appropriate cultural interaction, public discourse, and private meaning are all vital components in…

Novice researchers often face more peril than pleasures in the researching process, which can become even more perilous as bicultural backgrounds locate them in ambiguous and fluid positions in relation to the "native" and the research community. Such ambiguity problematizes the techniques of participant observation, revealing it as a…

Examines several problems posed for empirical and theoretical research by the achievement of hegemony by one culture or system of thought over others. Discusses minority underrepresentation and its impact on knowledge production in education and the social sciences. Questions the universal utility of some highly respected tenets of science. (JS)

Researchers working in foreign settings are often influenced by a number of factors which are quite different from factors which influence research activities in one's own culture. The hypothesis is that these cultural differences can influence research in a positive or negative way depending, at least partially, on the degree of sensitivity shown…

This case study presents a first-hand account of learning to teach, occasioned by an educational researcher's consultation visit to Thailand. The visit entailed the teaching skills of lecturing, and conducting workshops and consultation meetings. The difficulties of this task were exacerbated by the consultant's lack of prior formal teaching…

A brief review of the papers presented at the Symposium on Research and Evaluation Methodology highlights some of the major issues of research in Indian Country. There is a need to translate research results into terms that are meaningful at the local level, yet the act of doing this reveals tensions between scientific objectivity and advocacy.…

Explores the future of African-American studies. African-American studies should be the home of free inquiry into the complexity of being of African descent in the world, rather than a closed-shop or a resurrected version of thought police. A true proliferation of ideologies and methodologies is required. (SLD)