This case study focuses on the use of qualitative interview methodology to understand the socioemotional states of undocumented students majoring in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields during the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of a recent research project. The term "socioemotional states" refers to the emotional…

This case study investigates the practical and methodological challenges associated with conducting interviews with high-ranking public figures ("elites") in politically fragile environments, with a particular focus on education and gender issues in Turkey. The original research utilised a qualitative methodology, emphasising an…

Qualitative interviews can be enhanced through using creative methods within them to prompt discussion and conversation. The research project upon which this case focuses sought to explore the space between policy and practice in pre-entry widening participation work in universities. This is an area where often people focus on telling you about…

Much of qualitative interview research encourages researcher reflexivity, though there seems some uncertainty of how one actually does reflexive research. We show in this case that reflexivity includes examinations of the researcher in relation to the interviewed "other," and that transcriptions--a common element of interview-based…

The purpose of this case is to understand the process of a case study research as it was employed to investigate a government-initiated curriculum reform in secondary schools. The policy to practice aspect of school education has long been a contested field. Certainly, previous research has highlighted the problematic nature of implementing policy…

This project was a qualitative longitudinal research study into cultural and structural change in an English secondary school. The schools' consistent underperformance led to its conversion to "academy" status as part of a development under the Labour administration of 1997-2010. The Labour policy for academization was designed, first,…

The case study presented here highlights a unique method of collecting data for phenomenological qualitative studies. Drawing from many scholars in qualitative research, Irving Seidman developed this method of in-depth interviewing with attributes of validity and reliability. It is a time-intensive method in which three interviews are conducted,…

Our research examines the effectiveness of intake variables used by a Canadian post-degree teacher education program over the period of 3 years to select candidates for entry into the program. Using a mixed-methods approach, we compared intake variables (grade point average, written response, work experience, reference letters, academic…

When I started my PhD in 2010, Britain was in the grips of recession, and the banking crisis loomed large in most peoples' minds, along with the perceived unethical behaviours of the corporate leaders behind these, and other, institutional failings. Authentic leadership had come to the fore as the proposed solution for the crisis in modern…

The research design of a study involves continual refinement through experiential processes. This case study demonstrates the importance to novice researchers of conducting a pilot study to test the feasibility of the study's research design and practice data collection (in this instance, interviewing skills). The case study is based on an…

This case study discusses qualitative fieldwork among ethnic minority university students in Malaysia. Active marginalization is taking place in this country due to the enforced differential treatment of ethnic groups, favoring the ethnic Malay majority. In this context, students are forced to choose university education as a conscious means of…

My own 'naturalistic observation' was pertinent to the genesis of this research project, which investigated mature students' emotions within higher education. I have been involved for many years in the kind of classroom environment where I have observed that many female mature students lack confidence in their academic ability, something that is…

In 2003, I began a doctoral research case study of the role of collaborative early intervention teachers as change agents implementing differentiated instruction in an intermediate school setting. Previous studies had focused largely on change theory in general, change in schools, early intervention programs, collaboration, or differentiated…

Conducting international research presents unique possibilities for peril. Without understanding local context, culture, and norms, data-collection efforts may produce little usable data. This case study reports lessons learned about the importance of involving broad stakeholder groups in the design phase of a study. To inform the design of a…

This formative evaluation study of a professional development institute for K-12 educators examined immediate outcomes and short-term impacts on participants' learning and change in mathematics teaching practice. Participants' journals and interviews were analyzed using qualitative methods and a grounded theory (the discovery of theory from…