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Ryan Costanzo Qualitative Research Methods GENERAL REFERENCES The works listed in this selective bibliography will provide the qualitative researcher with an overview of the historical, philosophical, and ethical considerations that underlie and inform research practice in composition studies and TESOL. While many of the listings may not focus on composition or TESOL specifically, the information they contain should be applicable to qualitative research in those fields. Barone, T. (2000). Aesthetics, politics, and educational inquiry: Essays and examples. New York: Peter Lang. The author proposes the concept of research as “educational storysharing” (p. 259) that involves a researcher-as-artist who “is out to prick the consciences of readers by inviting a reexamination of the values and interests undergirding certain discourses, practices, and institutional arrangements found in today’s schools” (p. 193). Researchers who are committed to social change and frustrated by the limitations of traditional qualitative inquiry will benefit from an examination of this text. Cresswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method approaches. (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. This helpful, reader-friendly guide offers an organized overview of the research process that includes examples, charts, writing exercises, and suggestions for further reading. Research Design is well-organized, from its Table of Contents, which is presented in three different configurations for the reader’s convenience, to its author and subject indexes. Dadds, M., & Hart, S. (2001). Doing practitioner research differently. London: Routledge. Acknowledging that “Much action research and practitioner research continues to draw upon the methods and methodologies of traditional social science research” (p. 7), the editors advocate for a movement toward “exciting, unorthodox ways of doing and reporting research” (p. 8). In so doing, they offer seven examples of research conducted by graduate students at the Cambridge University School of Education. Doing Practitioner Research Differently exposes the prospective qualitative researcher to “the driving forces that lie behind innovative work” (p. 143); moreover, Chapter 10 offers justification for cutting-edge research that will prove comforting to those needing “access to the experience of others who had tried something innovative (and been successful)” (p. 161). deMarrais, K. B. (Ed.). (1998). Inside stories: Qualitative research reflections. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. This text is especially useful for the qualitative researcher interested in ethnography and educational anthropology, especially if he or she “[has] an interest in qualitative methods, but . . . may or may not have access to qualitative courses or research groups” (p. x). Table 1.2, located in the introduction, helps the reader to decide the applicability of this text to his or her interests by listing each chapter’s key issues (p. xii-xiii). Glesne, C., & Peshkin, A. (1992). Becoming qualitative researchers: An introduction. White Plains, NY: Longman. A sensible complement to other introductory qualitative research texts, Becoming Qualitative Researchers offers a discussion of the major components to research, and it includes a chapter that covers ethical considerations. Chapter 7 gives the researcher some helpful tips for keeping organized throughout the research process. Johanek, C. (2000). Composing research: A contextualist paradigm for rhetoric and composition. Logan, UT: Utah State UP. Composing Research was not written for the researcher content with the status quo. Rather, the text persuades the reader to avoid “decontextualized arguments that seemingly center on numbers vs. narratives regardless of the research contexts that naturally produce both” (p. 53). A winner of the NWCA Outstanding Scholarship Award, Composing Research wrestles with the interdisciplinary nature of composition studies, and the reader is left to ponder his or her own beliefs about what constitutes quality research. Keeves, J. P. (Ed.) (1997). Educational research, methodology, and measurement: An international handbook. (2nd. ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP. An indispensable tool for the qualitative researcher, this handbook is divided into three sections: “The Methods of Educational Inquiry”; “Research Methodology”; and “Measurement in Educational Research.” Each section is further subdivided for ease of reference, and a quick survey of the contents is all that is needed to gain an appreciation for the scope of this text. King, G., Keohane, R. O., & Verba, S. (1994). Designing social inquiry: Scientific inference in qualitative research. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP. As expressed in the Preface, the authors’ goal “is to encourage qualitative researchers to take scientific inference seriously and to incorporate it into their work” (p. ix). A helpful read for anyone seeking to design research with both qualitative and quantitative components, and it is no doubt especially useful for the researcher who needs to brush-up on his or her knowledge of statistical terminology and application. Lagemann, E. C., & Shulman, L. S. (Eds.). (1999). Issues in education research: Problems and possibilities. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Issues in Education Research reflects the current trend among researchers who “are increasingly inclined to study, and even participate in, actual schools and classrooms” (p. xv). Any researcher intending to undertake classroom action research would do well to examine this text; indeed, it serves “as an introduction to the tensions, dilemmas, issues, and promise that currently characterize education research” (p. xix). Merchant, B. M., & Willis, A. I. (Eds.). (2001). Multiple and intersecting identities in qualitative research. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. This text contains eight essays written by female researchers from a variety of racial / ethnic and religious groups who share the ways in which these factors of identity “have played a significant role in [their] research agendas” (p. ix). Multiple and Intersecting Identities exposes the researcher to the complex relationship between one’s sociocultural identity and one’s research. O’Donoghue, T., & Punch, K. (Eds.). (2003). Qualitative educational research in action. London: Routledge Falmer. This useful text offers a number of essays that are of special interest to the qualitative researcher in composition studies, such as “Reflections on a Qualitative Investigation of Critical Literacies and the Teaching of English”; “Meaning and Method: Using Metaphors in Qualitative Research”; “A Research Narrative: Confronting the Tensions of a Methodological Struggle”; and “Reflections on a Social Semiotic Approach to Discourse Analysis in Educational Research.” These essays may prove especially relevant to the graduate or doctoral student in the planning stages of his or her research. Sherman, R. R., & Webb, R. B. (1988). Qualitative research in education: Focus and methods. London: Falmer. Organized in two sections, “Frame of Reference” and “Methods,” Qualitative Research in Education intends “to clarify and explain some of the different approaches and methods by which ‘qualitative’ research in education is being conducted and . . . develop a sense of what is meant by the term ‘qualitative’” (Foreword and Acknowledgements). This text helps to inform the reader of some of the philosophical underpinnings of qualitative research. Zeni, J. (Ed.). (2001). Ethical issues in practitioner research. New York: Teacher’s College. Situating practitioner research within “qualitative or descriptive methods (e.g., participant observation, interviewing, journaling) rather than quantitative, statistical, or experimental methods” (p. xiv), this text, to its credit, “opens the boundary between practice and research, because doing research becomes central to how one teaches” (p. xv). Ethical Issues is true to its name: It puts forth critical discussions of responsibility in educational research. The reader will do well to review the “Ethical Questions Specific to Insider Research” in the Epilogue.
Compiled by: Kathleen Klompien, Nicole Munday and Mary Verbout |