This autoethnagraphic article argues that in the study of political education, especially learning through social movement activities, the knowledge produced by the research will be of greater social use if researchers position themselves as 'cognitive activists'. This is because, the article argues, the researcher needs to work in solidarity with…

Audre Lorde's provocative admonishment, "The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house," is a fitting caution for Black and other scholars of color who seek to use traditional social and behavioral sciences research as a tool to achieve social justice and health equity in Black communities. Invoking Lorde, I use the…

With intersectional frameworks gaining in popularity within higher education scholarship, we explored the potential of intersectionality to produce nuanced understandings of college student identity without obscuring its mission to examine overlapping axes of power. This article highlights significant areas for consideration for qualitative…

This article uses rhetorical genre theory to discuss methods for writing studies research in light of increasing participation of Indigenous scholars and students in disciplines throughout the academy. Like genres, research methods are embedded in systems of interaction that create subject positions and social relations. Using rhetorical genre…

Activist research engages all participants as co-researchers in order to challenge the status quo in hopes of creating spaces in which they will actively participate in their education and feel responsible for their own and others' learning (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009). There are a number of challenges that researchers might face when…

In its analysis of the potential and realities of narrative inquiry, "Writing for Change" is both theoretical and highly practical, offering a way to conceptualize this kind of research and providing concrete suggestions as to how it might be conducted. With its emphasis on arts-based activist education, the book also contributes to current…

For those who seek to conduct qualitative research that makes a positive difference in the lives of women in poverty, feminist research methodologies offer the most productive guide. Researchers must partner with those we study and foreground participants' own perceptions of their challenges, while analyzing structural discrimination and…

This book scrutinizes some basic assumptions about educational research with the aim that such research may act more powerfully on those persistent and important problems of our schools surrounding issues of race, class, and gender. In particular, the 13 essays in this book examine how power is infused in research by addressing such questions as…

This paper describes a program in which parents learned about becoming educational researchers and developed research skills they could use for school improvement. Parent-U-Turn is a parent organization in Lynwood, California and surrounding communities that has worked with researchers from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) to…

This article is a reflective account of a researcher's journey whilst embarking on a study which was political in its intentions and participatory in its orientation. Learning from feminist writings, where researchers have shared stories and explored notions of insider/outside, academic/activist, the central argument of the article is the…

A Washington doctoral candidate in sociology is jailed for contempt of court for not revealing conversations with animal-rights activists in a grand jury investigation of a research laboratory raid at his institution. The graduate student refused to breach an American Sociological Association pledge of scholarly confidentiality. (MSE)

A code of conduct for qualitative field studies is necessary to identify standards of good work and to prevent or expose unethical behavior. The cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, wisdom, and courage apply to qualitative field research, but ethics also requires asking about the purpose of the research itself. The researcher must ask why the…