A qualitative study of the citing motivations of 12 agricultural economists (faculty and doctoral students) identifies several factors they considered in making citing decisions: the contributions of the document to their research; the criteria they apply to the documents; and metalevel documentation concerns. (Author/AEF)

Addresses the following issues, as illustrated by methodological features of a year-long ethnography of two high-school English classes: (1) the particular features and purposes of ethnography as a research genre; (2) the contributions it has made; and (3) the greatest challenges facing the ethnographer. (TB)

There is little residue from the cooperative action research movement of the 1940s and 1950s. So far, teachers have found educational research applications of little use. Action research must originate in the classroom. Researchers are advised to keep it simple, become an effective classroom consultant, learn how teachers think, and be modest in…

The author, formerly a principal, examines her experience as a research subject to demonstrate the harmful potential of qualitative research that tries too hard to "emancipate" participants. She herself became a casualty of invasive inquiry, defined as a violation of self. Personalization of study findings is ill-advised. (24 references)…

Discusses the study of teacher researchers undertaking research into self-chosen aspects of their own mathematics teaching at the secondary level by using qualitative methods to explore the processes and practices of this research and the issues that it raised. Emphasizes that emergent theory of teachers' research activity fit strongly with a view…

Examined the shift in the educational-research paradigm in Finland as seen in 335 doctoral dissertations. Early in the century, educational history was the dominant topic, but by the 1950s the experimental paradigm took over. By the 1980s, factor analysis was a very common research method. In the 1990s, qualitative analyses account for one-third…

A beginning teacher's journal entries and teacher survey and interview responses are alternated with narrative commentary to document a 6-month qualitative inquiry of teacher mentoring among elementary school teachers. Issues discussed relate to components needed to create a mentoring program and effective implementation of a mentoring program.…

Despite often brief and superficial coverage in research reports, discussion of the processes through which qualitative data has been analysed in a particular project is an essential part of the recording of the work. A recent PhD thesis examining the information-seeking behaviour of young people described in some detail the procedures in this…

Studying students' questions during literature discussions became the focus of a qualitative exploratory research project that a university teacher and second-grade teacher pursued over the course of one school year. Their research began as a study of the process of transferring responsibility from teacher to students in a literature discussion…

Traditional forms of research limit the nature of research inquiry, interpretation, and representation. Educational research that is informed by artistic practice is described in this exploration of visual portraits as images of the subjects of research. The research context was a 10-week adult education course titled "Design: Focus on Creative…

It is argued that careful attention to the role of the researcher's experience in qualitative research is desirable for several reasons. A rationale for such examination is established, and the research and scholarly activity pursued by the author for the last 11 years are described to present a kind of career case study for analysis of the…

Value-added learning dimensions resulting from the use of an integrative model for graduate student research skill development are shared by two student researchers, who used virtual teaming in a 10-week online statistics summer course. The researchers collected original data and conducted quantitative and qualitative research. The problems…

Because the researcher's interpretation is the final word, traditional research reinforces relations of domination. When popular theater is used as research methodology, the interviewer's interpretation is performed immediately following data collection, and interviewees offer their interpretations of the interpretation. This gives voice to those…

This article discusses the relationship between theory and methodology in qualitative research, arguing that theory informs the questions that researchers ask, the assumptions they make, and the approaches they use. It outlines the six principles of critical research theory and discusses its application to the language learning of immigrant women…

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)