Qualitative Research

1
Qualitative Research

• Chapters 16-18

2
Narrative research

• How humans experience their lives
• Storied lives
• Researchers construct a narrative attributing
  experiences to some meaning

3
Narrative research

• Influences in the last 15 years
• Emphasis on teacher reflection
• Emphasis on teacher knowledge
• Empowering teachers in research process

4
Narrative research

• Addresses difficult issues
• Goal is to increase understanding
• Sharing storied lives of teachers to provide
  insight
• Some believe numbers cannot represent this
  understanding and insight

5
Narrative research process

• Identify purpose and phenomenon to explore
• Select an individual to learn from
• Pose initial narrative questions
• Describe researchers role

6
Narrative research process

• Describe data collection methods
• Describe strategies for analysis and
  interpretation of data
• Collaborate with participant to write the
  narrative validate accuracy

7
Narrative research

• Highly sensitive, intimate approach
• Trust
• Equality of voice

8
Narrative research - types

• Autobiographies/biographies
• Personal accounts
• Oral histories
• Ethnohistories/ethnobiographies

9
Narrative research key pointsAnd then what
happened?

• Focus on individual experiences
• Concerned with chronology of these experiences
• Concentrates on the life story based on collected
  data
• Incorporates context and place
• Collaborative effort researcher and participant

10
Narrative research techniques

• Multiple data sources ensure objectivity
• Interaction required
• Restorying researcher gathers stories and picks
  key elements to build a chronological sequence
• Raw data translated to cohesive unit of
  information

11
Narrative research techniques

• Interview
• Spoken words plus reactions, nuances, etc.
• Transcribed data key elements identified
• Researcher organizes the story chronologically
• Setting, characters, actions, problems, and
  resolutions are detailed

12
Narrative research analysis

• Narrative analysis
• Descriptions of events collected
• Synthesized into narratives
• Attempts to answer how and why
• Analysis of narrative
• Stories collected
• Constructs themes central to all stories
  captured in narrative

13
Narrative research data sources

• Oral history
• Storytelling
• Letter writing
• Lesson plans
• Parent newsletters
• Philosophical statements

14
Ethnographic research

• Cultural patterns
• Perspectives of participants in natural settings
• Goal is to describe, analyze, and interpret the
  culture of a group and their shared beliefs,
  behaviors, and language