In this article, I draw on my experiences as a non-binary researcher in a high school to interrogate the normative construction of adulthood. I centre the discussion on the concept of adulthood in order to interrogate a presumption within the field of education that all researchers are recognized as adults. I argue that a person's adherence to…

This article reflects on the tensions I encountered as an insider researcher during a qualitative study exploring academics' integration of educational technology in a South African higher education institution. While critical qualitative approaches acknowledge research participants' vulnerability to the researcher's interpretation and…

Ethnography as a methodological approach presents the fieldworker with many ethical crossroads throughout the research process. This is because of the unique position that ethnographers find themselves in, the environments that they research and the relationships which are formed. This paper presents four confessional vignettes from a broader…

This paper is an autoethnographic exploration of the topic of artistry in the author's work as an educator and what it means to be an artist and practitioner researcher, given his own history with the concept of art as a strained one. In this paper, the author discusses how his struggle for an identity as an artist in research has led to personal…

Practitioner research, as Ravitch (2014) writes in the previous issue of "Perspectives on Urban Education," holds the unique possibility of "generating local, practice-based knowledge that is deeply contextualized and meaningfully embedded in a specific milieu" while spurring a "counter-hegemonic way of thinking about and…

In this paper we are explicitly in conversation with Doug Foley's recently published paper in "AEQ." Given our shared commitment to the linkages between intersectionality and broader social and economic arrangements, two noted ethnographers argue that the paradigmatic shift highlighted by Foley demands detailed attention to what…

Ralph LaRossa's (2012) thoughtful piece suggested that qualitative researchers' self-awareness (and clear articulation) of their conceptual and empirical goals can help their manuscripts in many ways, including during the review process. If authors self-consciously embrace particular orientations, then it will be easier for reviewers to evaluate…

The article discusses how the use of ethnographic approaches to the study of researcher-child relations highlights the importance of structures that shape and define children's actions. The discussion is illustrated by using case study material from research with pre-school and pre-adolescent children in Indian educational settings. The article…

For over 20 years, researchers and evaluators worldwide have criticised the traditional formula of family learning courses for their narrow vision, and have emphasised their potential to provide a bridge between home and school experiences, building on resources that parents already have, but which are unknown or unacknowledged. This article…

The aim of this paper is to discuss the development and evolution of particular personas adopted by researchers in the quest for rich exchanges within the social field. It analyses my role (the principal author) as a female ethnographer (and the sole female) in the world of elite male rowing. Data are drawn from personal notes, reflections and…

Writing studies has been an intellectual playground dominated by the "big kids." If we are to understand how writing becomes "relevant" to children as children, then we must study them, not for who they are becoming, but for who they are in life spaces shared with other children. This essay on the methodology entailed in…

Though researcher dilemmas are not new to the pages of "Qualitative Inquiry," we argue that the current contemporary context has both altered and intensified issues associated with conducting qualitative research within sites most affected by more recent social, political, and economic shift. Navigating such sites as researchers poses…

This essay about the work of a famous anthropologist is an attempt to illuminate one way that researchers could apply their findings about the behavior of people in particular groups to ethical considerations of social relations. I argue that Gregory Bateson (1904-1980) is a good example because he applied a few seminal ideas to a wide range of…

David Schoem reflects on his research study from 30-plus years ago, published as "Ethnic Survival in America: An Ethnography of a Jewish Afternoon School" (1979, 1989). Schoem points to the continuing importance of giving greater focus to meaning-making, relational identity, and deep community. Schoem argues that through a renewed focus on…

The article argues that the emotional framing of interviews plays a major role in shaping the content of interviews. Drawing on the psychoanalytic theory of Jessica Benjamin and Luce Irigaray, the article describes how interviews can be experienced as either conquest or communion. Qualitative researchers typically focus on the cognitively…