Discusses ways that researchers in higher education may gain access to and collect quality data about teacher thinking and practice, proposing roles and relationships for researchers conducting qualitative research in which they may be consultants and in which affective, human-relating skills are as important as traditional technical research…

Reviews of multivocal literature are assessments of what can be learned from a given body of literature and assessments of the claims on which that knowledge is based. Methodological rigor is less likely to be a problem in such reviews than is lack of independent judgment. (SLD)

University professor addresses issues that can inhibit or distort collaborative qualitative research. The article looks at issues of power and authority in collaborative research in a teacher researcher group involving five classroom teachers and the professor. (SM)

Posits that a "democratic approach" to defining and evaluating educational quality is necessary, since the concept of quality itself is heavily subjective and value based, and that educational evaluation is best achieved through the involvement of all participants, including practitioners, parents, and children. (MDM)

Explores limits of quantitative research methods and introduces qualitative approach, focus groups, as alternative information-collection tool for student personnel administrators. Presents two research projects where focus groups were used. Maintains that focus group approach has several advantages, including cost effectiveness, emphasis on…

An emancipatory researcher morally committed to reciprocity, or sharing results with study participants, felt extremely uncomfortable when disclosing findings about power definitions to one friend and participant. Clearly, this participant felt betrayed, not emancipated, when findings were applied to her own situation. The researcher learned a…

Comments on Reba Page's methods of teaching about interpretive research methodologies. Points to four potential problems: (1) students have little knowledge of underlying epistemological debates; (2) students are unaware of broader "conversations" between texts; (3) students have read little qualitative research; and (4) students must learn to…

This paper addresses the conceptual issues of combining qualitative and quantitative methods in early intervention research by illustrating how two analytic approaches were used for different mixed-method purposes in the study of preschool inclusion. It describes practical strategies for conducting mixed-method data analysis in terms of data…

Presents an overview of the goals and procedures of qualitative research, and discusses linkages between epistemologies and methodology. Reviews possible guidelines involved in the several steps of the evaluation process of qualitative research, emphasizing naturalistic research with families. Reviews common problems with qualitative research.…

This article discusses how interpretive research can challenge the special education field to think differently about what is already known and to factor in different ways of knowing and different meanings. Three dimensions of interpretive research are explored: "truth" value and accuracy, context and relations, and utility and relevance.…

This article attempts to enter the world of orphaned children by describing how their daily activities are organized in a social rehabilitation center for minor children, called Center N in this article. The article was based on materials of a study that resulted from participant observation between 1995 and 2002, reflecting a few aspects of the…

Qualitative evaluation and quantitative evaluation are discussed, examining how the perspective of each can and should create a critical debate that encourages inquiry instead of hostility. To achieve the major goal of linking evaluation information to the organization's culture, the evaluator needs to use multiple methods in a responsive,…

An interpretive and ethnographic approach to human communication study, using naturalistic or participant observer techniques, is particularly useful in intercultural contexts. The basic ideas undergirding this approach are (1) that the researcher is the instrument of inquiry, (2) that humane considerations are more important than investigating…

This paper argues that a human science approach should be included in the American Psychological Association's (APA) pending reconsideration of accreditation specifications. Psychology's curriculum will remain incomplete and sterile until it assimilates this approach. Some of the key procedures of human science research methodology are outlined,…

The paper states that quantification is neither ethical nor unethical, but is ethically neutral. It is the behavior or intent of the human being that is clearly a matter of ethical concern. Like numerology and the sects of inumerates and qualitatives, there is not so much an unethical practice that is supported as there is a lack of vision and…