Researching 'my people,' researching myself: Fragments of a reflexive tale

The paper investigates my positionality as a Pakistani Muslim researcher, affiliated with a U.S. institution, conducting ethnographic research with Pakistani Muslim immigrants in California. Three vignettes reconstructed from field-notes and a reflective journal illustrate the tensions and contradictions informing the research process. The first vignette details my shifting subjectivities in relation to a segment of the Muslim community in Northern California. Although my perceived disempowerment of Muslims motivated my research, my failure to subscribe to the Muslim Student Association's version of Islam cost me their disapproval. The second vignette highlights my relationship with one particular research participant. Although I shared the same ethnic background as this participant, my inability to conceive of her empowerment in terms other than those of Western feminism led to tragedy. The last vignette focuses on my interaction with the ethnographic data at my desk and becomes an analysis of the forces in my life that feed into my research.     

Navigating the complexity of qualitative research in postmodern contexts: assemblage,critical reflexivity,and communion as guides

For graduate students and other emerging qualitative researchers, the ever-evolving and sometimes conflicting perspectives, methodologies, and practices within various post-positivist frameworks (e.g. feminist, critical, Indigenous, participatory) can be overwhelming. Qualitative researchers working within postmodern contexts of multiplicity and ambiguity are tasked with working through challenges – related to methods, interpretation, and representation – throughout the research process. Through examining related literature and incorporating my own experiences, I explore ethical dilemmas that social justice-oriented qualitative researchers may encounter as a result of conflicting multiplicities of difference among researcher(s), participants, and readers. Such dilemmas include incongruent interpretations between participants and researchers, and participants’ and researchers’ conflicting desires about what should be shared, intercultural (mis)interpretations, rapport issues, and conflicts between research life and home life. I consider how combining the practices of attending to assemblages, engaging in critical reflexivity, and centralizing communion may be useful in navigating relationships and ethical dilemmas in qualitative research.     

Developing a Vision of Teacher Education: How my classroom teacher understandings evolved in the university environment

Drawing on my experiences as a former classroom teacher making the transition to teacher education, this study examines how my vision of teacher education developed over the course of my first three years as a graduate teaching assistant in a social studies education program in the United States. A qualitative self-study methodology was used to identify and describe sources of tension and growth that contributed to the evolution of my classroom teacher understandings as I forged a distinct vision for teacher education. My vision of teacher education was informed by completing graduate coursework, engaging in the work of teacher education, interacting and collaborating with peers, and studying my practice as it developed and unfolded. Throughout the article, I discuss the potential of self-study methodology to encourage new teacher educators to examine both the features and motivations behind their practice, as well as the effects of this examination on the development of a vision of teacher education.     

Weaving action learning into the fabric of manufacturing: the impact of humble inquiry and structured reflection in a cross-cultural context

This account of practice examines the implementation of and reactions to action learning through the Lean methodology in a unique, cross-cultural context. I review my time spent as a Lean coach; engaging with, training, and using action learning with employees in a garment manufacturing facility located in Bali, Indonesia. This research addresses the issue of action learning as it applies to line-level manufacturing workers in an Indonesian national culture. The paper first examines the role of action learning as it applies to the Lean methodology. Then I reflect on broad observations from my ethnographic research, before delving more deeply into the process and reflections of the action learning group. I conclude with some key learning points for the role of action learning for manufacturing work in cross-cultural environments.     

Developing holistic practice through reflection,action and theorising

This article outlines how I, as a primary teacher engaging with a self-study action research process, have come to a deeper understanding of my practice. It explains how I have also come to an understanding of why I work in the way I do; of how this understanding influences my work, and the significance of this new understanding. My work as a teacher frequently includes doing collaborative digital projects with my class. As I engaged in research on my practice, I initially experienced difficulties problematising this work. I struggled to achieve clarity not only with engaging in critical thinking but also with articulating my educational values. I found Mellor’s idea about ‘the struggle’ helpful as he explains how ‘the struggle’ is at the heart of the research process. My new understanding around these collaborative projects emerged in terms of holistic practice; clarifying my ontological values and learning to think critically. I am now generating an educational theory from my practice as I see my work as a process for developing spiritual and holistic approaches to learning and teaching. I conclude by outlining what I perceive to be the significance of my work and its potential implications for education.     

Treading on eggshells: ‘doing’ feminism in educational research

This paper explores the contradictions of ‘doing’ feminist research, and how the materiality of engaging in fieldwork magnifies the gap between ‘ideal’ versus ‘actual’ feminist ways of conducting research. Drawing on my Doctoral research with British-Pakistani mothers of children with SEND, I explore the ethical and methodological challenges of engaging with feminist methodology and how this contributes value to the research process when working with marginalized groups. I examine three principles of undertaking feminist methodology; firstly, the ethical challenges arising from conducting unstructured interviews in a non-therapeutic context with vulnerable participants. Secondly, I explore how feminist researchers can positively contribute to making a practical difference in the lives of the women they research with, thereby going beyond how feminist values of reciprocity and responsibility towards participants have traditionally been implemented in the field. Finally, I consider utilizing theoretical frameworks which help analyse data to reveal sites for social change. This paper concludes by noting that traditional feminist methods may not always be more ethical, and that as feminist researchers we must be willing to adopt a holistic view of feminist values, where the vulnerabilities of the researcher and participants are both respected and where methodology is adjusted accordingly.     

Engaging postgraduates in a peer research group at the research proposal stage in a Malaysian university: support and challenges

Due to the increasing workloads for supervisors and the challenges in research proposals for postgraduates, the study focused on engaging 15 postgraduates in a Malaysian public university in a peer research group. The data was collected from observations of the group meetings, video-recorded peer feedback and follow-up interviews. The qualitative analysis of the data indicates that the research group supported the postgraduates through peer feedback practices, learning how to present proposals and defend themselves and finding directions in research proposals. Although their engagement was challenged by initial reservations of some postgraduates to present their proposals and provide feedback and issues related to provision, reception and reliability of peer feedback, these challenges were minimized through mentoring and instructional strategies. While peer research groups represent a valuable pedagogical support that complement supervisors’ support to postgraduates in developing their research proposals, the value should be maximized by integrating supervisors in research groups.     

On the Affective Challenges of Developing a Pedagogy of Teacher Education

This article reports on the affective challenges I experienced while attempting to develop a pedagogy of teacher education during my first three years in teacher preparation. Data were collected systematically over the course of the study in the form of written interpretive accounts of my experiences. Analysis of these accounts revealed how certain ongoing, and at times paradoxical, tensions influenced my thinking about my initial practices as a teacher educator. Even as I came to understand the content and pedagogy of my instruction in more sophisticated ways, I simultaneously exhibited fear of regression, displayed apathy or exhaustion, exhibited frustration and restlessness, and struggled to navigate interpersonal relationships with my students. The implications of these affective challenges for developing a pedagogy of teacher education are discussed and avenues for further research are considered.     

A critical reflection on the multiple roles required to facilitate mutual learning during service-learning in Creative Arts education

In this article, I critically reflect on my own learning during a community-based, service-learning pilot project, highlighting the multiple roles that were required of me as facilitator. I provided opportunity for student teachers in a Creative Arts module to engage with youth from a local township community. The purpose of the participatory action research was to explore how this process enhanced reciprocal learning. Data were generated through multiple qualitative methods in four cycles of interactive activities. Adapting to the challenges of community-based learning necessitated that I was flexible enough to know when to don the hat of educator or research designer and when to be less directive to promote professional development and intercultural competencies. I learned to value relational platforms, enable diverse modes of communication and find workable strategies for mutual learning. By sharing my lessons learned, I hope to provide a better understanding of the facilitator’s multiple leadership roles.     

“Ain't nobody gonna get me down”: An Examination of the Educational Experiences of Four African American Women Labeled With Disabilities

This study used qualitative research methods to explore the educational experiences of four African American women with disabilities, revealing how each participant developed a critical consciousness in response to the dominant ideology surrounding the discourses of African American, woman, and disabled. The development of a critical consciousness led participants to counter the oppressive nature of their educational experiences by engaging in acts of resistance. Recommendations are made with regard to how K-18 educators might support and capitalize upon students' critical consciousness to facilitate equitable classroom communities.     

Working Alterity: The Impossibility of Ethical Research With Youth

In this article, my goals are to speak theoretically and methodologically about researching with, for, and about queer youth in ways that trouble identities as people represent them. I do so within examinations of (hetero)normativity and exploring the promise of queering qualitative methodologies. Opening with a brief contextualization of the ethical conundrums inherent in a qualitative research methodology, I am particularly interested in methodologies that emanate from epistemologies that attempt both to be ethical, and to acknowledge the very impossibility of such a move. Next, possibilities for data collection, analysis, and representation that are particularly important when working with queer youth are outlined. Last, I engage in the difficult conversation about who ought be engaging in research with, by, and for queer youth.     

Reflections on teaching observations and the use of a personal development journal in medical teacher education

In this article, I reflect on the events and experiences that occurred during (and after) my studies for a Diploma in Teacher Education. The elements required for the award of Diploma included a professional development journal, a number of peer teaching observations and an action research project. At an early stage, I selected vaguely ‘peer teaching observation’ as the topic for my research. As the course progressed my journal began to contain an increasing amount of material relating to the teaching observations and finally the three components – journal, teaching observations and research project merged into one. Through a process of progressive focusing, the project was clarified and came to be about my role in the observation. I was surprised to find it became a very personal examination of myself in order that I could understand more fully the process of teaching observation. In the end, almost everything else diminished compared to the insights I gained about myself. I concluded that, for myself, perhaps a direct critical self-examination was too threatening and potentially painful to endure. However, by looking at myself as an observer of teaching then the very objectivity that was potentially so safe turned out to allow me to reflect on myself as a person. To become a reflective practitioner is not easy, yet the process can be intellectually engaging.     

Observant participant: carnal sociology and researcher identity in religious educational spaces

The ethnographer’s embodied action during research is a complex of habit, belief, social and institutional positioning, and intention. This article examines what urban anthropologist Wacqaunt calls ‘carnal sociology’ and considers its implications for ethnographers of religious educational spaces. Contemporary ethnographers of education have renewed their interest in religious educational spaces—religious schools, houses of worship, public festivals. In conducting research in the field of religious education, ethnographers often cross familiar and unfamiliar boundaries, engaging in forms of participant observation and practice beyond their own religious categories: we research in religious spaces and with religious communities different from our own commitments. Drawing on interactional data from a multi-year ethnography of an urban Catholic school and parish in Philadelphia (USA), I consider how my own embodied participation in the religious rituals of the school and parish led to a reflexivity on practice, and initiated institutional and youth-driven social positioning in response.     

Challenges in Enacting Core Practices in Language Teacher Education: A Self-Study

In this study, I explore my practices as a teacher educator in one course both before and after returning to the K–12 classroom to teach secondary language learners for one academic year. By examining the intersection of self-study and practice-based teacher education, I illustrate how I used self-study as a mechanism for innovation and change and focus on the challenges I encountered in implementing the use of practice-based education in my work as a teacher educator. Qualitative data analysis revealed that in redesigning my approach to my course, I stopped short of my goals to make the course more practice-centered. Although I provided students with many opportunities to practice planning, I did not provide enough focused opportunities to practice implementation and to participate in giving and receiving feedback. I learned that engaging teachers in practice-based teaching requires teacher educators to be both specific and deliberate in setting their own purposes for establishing the centrality of practice in their courses and to explain these clearly to teacher candidates. Further work in which teacher educators study their use of practice-based pedagogy would benefit from using a self-study lens. Other researchers are urged to add to the limited body of research about the use of practice-based pedagogy with teachers of language learners, particularly English language learners.     

The familiar observer: seeing beyond the expected in educational research

Reflection on subjectivity in the qualitative research process is fundamental to the methodology. Although much attention is paid to what to do (identify subjectivities), there is much less emphasis on how one should do this. Furthermore, a researcher engaged in an intimately familiar setting, such as a typical American classroom, faces the unique challenge of sifting through vast stores of prior knowledge and beliefs that influence perceptions of observed instruction, including experiences as a K-12 learner and classroom teacher. As a novice qualitative researcher and former special educator drawn to questions involving instructional practice in reading comprehension, I struggled to balance my emotional responses to observed instruction with my need to understand teachers' decision-making. I begin by sharing my own experiences as a novice researcher, brought forward from artefacts of that time. Moving to the present, I reflect on my early misperceptions, and conclude with recommendations for working with subjectivity in the research process.     

Can we engage postgraduates in active research methodology learning? Challenges,strategies and evaluation of learning

ABSTRACT

Due to the complex nature of research methodology courses, the current study focused on implementing the active teaching and learning approach to a postgraduate research method course in a Malaysian university over an academic semester. A qualitative analysis of observations, instructor-learner interactional exchanges, students’ drafts of tasks and pre-course and focus group discussion was performed. The findings revealed three types of challenges: student-oriented challenges, subject-matter-related challenges and instructor-oriented challenges. Three main pedagogical strategies: instructional scaffolding, peer scaffolding and engaging the postgraduates in drafting their tasks were employed as a response to these challenges. Although the active teaching and learning practices resulted into students’ enhancement of the assigned research methodology tasks and positive research learning experience, such practices were time and effort-consuming. Therefore, future research will need to examine the applicability of our active teaching and learning approach to research methodology courses in different contexts.     

Public Internet Data Mining Methods in Instructional Design,Educational Technology,and Online Learning Research

We describe the benefits and challenges of engaging in public data mining methods and situate our discussion in the context of studies that we have conducted. Practical, methodological, and scholarly benefits include the ability to access large amounts of data, randomize data, conduct both quantitative and qualitative analyses, connect educational issues with broader issues of concern, identify subgroups/subpopulations of interest, and avoid many biases. Technical, methodological, professional, and ethical issues that arise by engaging in public data mining methods include the need for multifaceted expertise and rigor, focused research questions and determining meaning, and performative and contextual considerations of public data. As the scientific complexity facing research in instructional design, educational technology, and online learning is expanding, it is necessary to better prepare students and scholars in our field to engage with emerging research methodologies.     

从新闻宣传角度看待质的研究方法

质的研究方法是社会科学研究的一种方法。它是人们了解、分析、理解社会现象、社会活动和社会过程的一种活动[1]。从宣传角度看待质的研究方法,质的研究方法与新闻宣传具有一定的共通性,质性研究者在从事项目研究时需要对其宣传能力进行有意识地塑造,培养新闻工作者所应具备的"三个力",这对于质的研究方法的开展有一定积极意义。