Although many critics are reluctant to accept the trustworthiness of qualitative research, frameworks for ensuring rigour in this form of work have been in existence for many years. Guba's constructs, in particular, have won considerable favour and form the focus of this paper. Here researchers seek to satisfy four criteria. In addressing…

Since the publication of the first edition of "Studying Your Own School", practitioner action research has become an established professional development practice in schools and teacher education programs.While the fundamentals of practitioner action research have not changed, the challenges of large scale reform have dramatically…

This paper discusses research methods used to examine children's art. The first part of the paper presents information on four theoretical approaches to the examination of children's art and discusses the teacher's role within that approach: (1) psychological approach, using art to discover the child's inner conflicts; (2) behavioral psychological…

Since the latter part of the 19th century, a fervent debate has ensued about quantitative and qualitative research paradigms. From these disputes, purists have emerged on both sides. Quantitative purists express assumptions that are consistent with a positivist philosophy, whereas qualitative purists (i.e., post-positivists, post-structuralists,…

In 1998, the researcher participated in a graduate-level interpretive methods class as a teaching assistant. This paper considers several aspects of the approach used in this class to teach interpretive research methods. These approaches include: (1) the introduction of five different research traditions recognized as qualitative; (2) the…

Examples of qualitative investigations of traditionally hard-to-measure college and university characteristics using multiple investigators are rare, despite their potential for in-depth understanding and broad comparisons of institutional contexts. A team approach to qualitative multisite research was found useful and effective in a 9-researcher…

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)

Defines the heuristic model of research. Offers a comparison among phenomenology, hermeneutics, and heuristics in research methodologies. Describes the stages of heuristic research and addresses the potential contributions of this model to the field of art therapy and the personal and professional growth of the art therapist. (MKA)

In attempting to provide empirical qualitative data analysis, the researcher has to work within many constraints. There are ethical issues that need to be considered and evaluated in the managing of data, especially one that is naturally occurring. One of the more popular methods of "capturing" this data is through audio recording and to be able…

The purpose of this paper is to unveil how Peter McLaren's revolutionary brand of pedagogy, multiculturalism, and research colored my two-year qualitative research study, which unearthed twenty White female future teachers' experiences and perceptions in relationship to computing technology and male-centered computing culture. His ideas positioned…

This article reports on a method developed for teacher self development that is grounded in the classroom and within the everyday repertoire of skills and resources available for teachers. It is developed under the general rubric of action research, which positions teachers as insider researchers of their own practice. Action research techniques…

Digital video and accompanying editing software are increasingly becoming more accessible for researchers in terms of ease of use and cost. The rich, visually appealing and seductive nature of video-based data can convey a strong sense of direct experience with the phenomena studied (Pea, 1999). However, the ease of selection and editing of…

The relationship between research and autobiography is explored. The planned study was a qualitative study of literacy methods instruction at the college level, a case study of one class of students and their professor. The study was based on the premise that preservice teachers need experience-based learning opportunities in the classroom in…

This book is intended to explain principles of qualitative research to potential researchers and to provide them with a set of tools, and guidelines for critical thinking as they carry out such research. The chapters are organized around the elements of the research process which require decisions. Following an introductory chapter, Chapter 2…

Sources for thinking about and doing new paradigm research are reviewed. A variety of nontraditional approaches that address the role of subjectivity and consensus in research are discussed. The effect of personal and social processes on the researcher, including how one's construction of reality depends on the chosen methodology, is emphasized.…