Describes biographical/life story methods used to explore the underrepresentation of women in computing courses in the United Kingdom. Explains how interviews were structured and conducted and illustrates the method of transcription used. (SK)

Five issues that emerge in institutional research when studying diversity on campus are identified: (1) the researcher is part of the change process; (2) in framing research questions, focus on the institution; (3) combining qualitative and quantitative methods can provide greater insight; (4) diversity touches all institutional elements and…

Extends the discussion of an article by J. Myers published in an earlier issue of this journal. Suggests that Myers's response to earlier critiques failed to address major criticisms. Readdresses 12 criticisms regarding research methodology, the role of the researcher, researcher-subject relationship, standards for researchers, and the notion of…

Develops a metaphor of qualitative research as jazz to illuminate qualities that are embedded in the processes of qualitative inquiry. The jazz metaphor is said to create a pathway for making explicit the tacit understandings that permit qualitative research to flow and to be guided by the new findings and emerging understandings it uncovers. (GLR)

In considering an ethnographic perspective on creativity research, this article briefly discusses and reviews sample studies on (1) the cultural context of creativity, (2) creativity and cultural transmission and transformation, and (3) creativity in the context of cultural anthropology. (DB)

Notes that the contextualized, interpretive methods of qualitative research can help researchers generate rich theory. Discusses a social theory of business genres developed from a qualitative research study of organizational genres of communication. (RS)

Discusses two studies conducted in the same classroom at overlapping times that contain apparent contradictions about the teacher's effectiveness and the nature of discussions in his classroom. Concludes that the forms and mechanisms for conducting this type of research are inadequate and that the inherent issues of subjectivity and objectivity…

Gathering qualitative data on ethnic elders through different kinds of interviews (conversational, guided, and standardized open ended) raises certain questions about using native-speaking interviewers, translators, or bilingual researchers and ensuring that interviewers understand the cultural context. (SK)

Considers, in a special issue on the topic, criteria for the admissibility of evidence in communication research and how methodology affects what is considered to be evidence. Suggests four principles of rigor which should be used to judge the admissibility of "textual" (i.e., qualitative) evidence. (SR)

Discusses (in a special issue on the topic of criteria for the admissibility of evidence) conversation analysis (CA): its basic concerns and commitments, its impatience with discussions about evidence rather than inspecting actual data, and selected notable impacts and debatable issues engendered by CA. (SR)

Critically analyzes some of the ways in which human subjectivity and agency are constructed in the contemporary discourse of environmental-education research. Suggests that methods of constructivist science-education research are not applicable to either subjects or subject matters of environmental education, and poststructuralist methodologies…

The authors, five junior scholars at the University of North Texas' College of Education, describe their collaborative efforts to develop their skills in one method of qualitative research: in-depth, oral history interviewing. Outcomes included understanding the importance of rapport between interviewer and interviewee, of ensuring that the…

Cooperative education, in the form or practicums, forms an essential part of teacher training and is the means by which academic content or professional knowledge gains value. A more holistic approach to teacher education would include cooperative education. Research into cooperative education likewise needs to be developed via a holistic approach…

Although the use of action research has made its way into various faculties of education as a means of applying theory to practice, there remains a disconnect between the teacher as an educator and the teacher as a researcher. Research must be empirically based; therefore, it has traditionally been seen to reside in the domain of the theorist or…

For the past five years, the author has participated with several youthworkers in a study of youthwork as an interpersonal process of interaction. Their inquiry includes four general steps. First, they try to be in their work fully so they can know and experience it. Second, they reflect on an experience. Third, they write a story about it. And…