This article distinguishes between "using qualitative methods" and "doing qualitative research." It highlights the qualitative approaches of the authors of five articles in this issue and considers the challenges of this type of qualitative research manuscript for the editorial process. (DB)

The review of some recent studies on use of microcomputers in early childhood special education highlights methodological issues including the qualitative quantitative distinction and the interdependence of research design and interpretation. Imbedding qualitative methods into quasi- or true-experimental designs can provide more information than…

Focus group interviewing is presented as an interactive method of conducting qualitative research with potential applications in early intervention. A six-component process to guide focus group research involves formulate research questions, select participants, develop protocol, conduct focus groups, analyze data, and report the findings.…

Three teachers describe how parents of deaf, severely disabled, and bilingual children participated in their children's learning. Qualitative research methods were used to help parents share their knowledge with teachers. (SK)

This paper examines the nature and extent of friendships between disabled and nondisabled people through a study of several pairs of such friends. Indepth interviews examined such questions as how the individuals met, the history of their relationship, how each individual perceives the friendship, and how this friendship compares to other…

The article examines the philosophical bases of scientific quantitative research methods as applied to special education research and concludes that such methods may have distorted rather than aided understanding. Establishment of a body of knowledge derived from qualitative research is recommended. (Author/(DB)

This paper reviews how sociocultural theory conceptualizes teaching and learning, fundamental constructs of the theory and methodology, and basic guidelines for discourse analysis. It applies these concepts to three research areas: the social construction of disability, contingent instruction between adults and learners, and miscommunication…

This article reviews the theoretical assumptions and methodological orientations of phenomenology and contrasts it with the logical positivist model used in the natural sciences. It applies these concepts to research in special education. (DB)

Effects of qualitative researchers' competing self-identities on decision making in the research process are addressed and illustrated with examples from the author's research with African American/Latino, low- to middle-income families of children with disabilities. (Author/DB)

This article explores two issues in conducting qualitative research: (1) the essentials of data collection, and (2) the unique role of the researcher in the data collection process. The author's own research study on use of health and medical information by various members of a classroom team for special education students is used to illustrate…

The authors of EC 610 841 comment on problems encountered in their research, such as difficulties in analyzing interview data, and discuss their ongoing three-year study of personal and environmental influences affecting attrition of special education teachers. (DB)

This commentary on the previous article on an interpretive research approach discusses the journey of a researcher from radical behaviorism, to interpretive social science, to an emerging viewpoint in which art more than science is used as a way of seeing issues related to disability, education, and change. (Contains 10 references.) (CR)

This article discusses qualitative (or interpretivist) research as both a set of methods and a worldview about the nature of knowledge and inquiry. It emphasizes that special education researchers need to discover "who they are as researchers" early in their careers, and comments on what it means to become initially competent and increasingly…

Comments on researchers' efforts to develop and refine a methodology to use in a study that investigated patterns in general education teachers' integration practices (EC 618 917). The need to combine qualitative and quantitative methods in more creative ways to investigate actual practice in special education is discussed. (CR)

This paper describes collegial model approaches to the interactions between rehabilitation researchers and individuals with disabilities or their family members. The approaches, called participatory research and participatory action research, grew out of a 1989 conference sponsored by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation…