Dream interpretation as a component of researcher's reflexivity within an ethnographic research

Researchers' reflexivity about how they shape the phenomena that they study within the data collection process is often presented as a crucial component of ethnographic research methodology. Nevertheless, academic literature about ethnography is mostly silent around whether researchers' dreams are relevant to the research process and their interpretation can be considered a valuable material to be reflexive of. While using data from an ethnographic study in two public primary schools in Australia and Slovakia about inclusive education and school leadership, this paper demonstrates how researcher's dreams and their interpretation navigated his decisions about the data collection process, data analysis and ethical aspects of the study. This paper presents original implications for understanding the concept of reflexivity and putting it in practice when employing ethnographic research methodology.     

Beyond "cool" and "hip:" engaging the question of research and writing as academic Self-woman of color Other

This article presents a self-reflexive analysis of the situatedness of the author and her work - research and writing - as a woman of color in the academy. The author critically examines self-reflexivity in relation to her research by drawing on her lived experiences as academic Self-woman of color Other, first as an international doctoral student and now as a junior faculty member. Drawing on critical and feminist perspectives, she argues that such self-reflexivity allows for an openness which eliminates the apparent dichotomy of Self-Other and offers new spaces for re-presenting difference(s). In particular, she construes her writing as a self-renewing site of activism and resistance to Othering and her teaching as praxis and self-assessment. She concludes that cutting-edge research and writing, when rigorously self-reflexive, are beyond "cool" and "hip," allowing us to maintain integrity and agency as educators and researchers.     

A matter of scale: multi-scale ethnographic research on education in the United States

ABSTRACT

In recent years, cultural anthropologists conducting educational ethnographies in the US have pursued some new methodological approaches. These new approaches can be attributed to advances in cultural theory, evolving norms of research practice, and the affordances of new technologies. In this article, I review three such approaches under the rubric ‘multi-scale ethnography’. Each approach responds to the desire to understand cultural forms that extend beyond single sites and the capabilities of single researchers; each pursues cultural forms that ‘travel’ across spaces, levels, and times. The three approaches are multi-sited ethnography, meta-ethnography, and comparative case study. I view these approaches not as replacements for older forms of ethnography but as complements that extend the contextualisation and generalisability of traditional ethnography.     

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.     

Students negotiating the borders between general and special education classes: an ethnographic and participatory research study

ABSTRACT

Although Finnish basic education is based on inclusion, 37% of students receiving special support still study in either separate schools or separate classes in comprehensive schools. In this study we explore how policies of inclusion are implemented in a school with separated special educational needs (SEN) and general education (GE) classes. More specifically we conducted a two-year ethnographic study focusing particularly on exclusion and the sense of belonging in a lower secondary school (students aged 13–16) in the capital region of Finland. During the fieldwork, several students attending the SEN-class expressed an interest in changing from the SEN-class to a GE-class, or in breaking the borders between SEN and GE classes in other ways. As part of the negotiations with the school, students who criticised the GE- and SEN-class division were offered an opportunity to transfer to GE-classes but in the end, all of them wanted to stay in the SEN-class. In this investigation, we focus on the students’ reasoning and the teachers’ reactions when students negotiate the borders between SEN and GE-classes. In this study we found a clash between integration and inclusive thinking.     

Ethically scaling up interventions in educational development: a case for collaborative multi-sited ethnographic research

Educational interventions are often administered at scale in diverse settings as part of international development programmes. Their implementation is subject to a linear process that begins with finding out ‘what works’ at a local level, frequently through the use of randomised controlled trials, and continues with rolling out the intervention to the whole population at a national or even transnational level. This process often fails to consider the role cultural, political, and historical factors play in the perceived success of the local intervention, which can compromise both the impact and the ethics of at-scale implementation. To help address this issue, this paper argues for a definition of scalability that incorporates the ethics of the practice of scaling. It points to the potential of collaborative multi-sited ethnographic research to identify nuanced understandings of the different ethics systems endogenous to individual sites of implementation, in lieu of the universalising notions of ethics that are embedded in mainstream, linear notions of scalability. In so doing, it makes the case for multi-sited critical ethnography as a methodology of choice in researching the scalability of interventions in the context of development projects in the ‘Global South’.     

Personalised learning as repressive tolerance: a comparative ethnographic analysis from research in three Swedish schools

The idea of personalised learning is built upon a liberal tradition that values tolerance in enabling the process of human autonomy. In this article, we elaborate on this notion, its theoretical base and effects on the learning conditions of upper secondary school students. We draw upon data from three different studies of the Swedish upper secondary school. The aim of the article is to elaborate on values that are implemented and how these values affect how the notion of tolerance can be used as a tool to explore and explain the idea of personalised learning. For the purpose of analysis, we use parts of Kyle Moore and Walker's [2011. “Tolerance. A Concept Analysis.” The Journal of Theory Constructing & Testing 5 (2): 48–52] work. Our analysis shows that personalised learning was legitimised in our studied settings, but in its extension it did not benefit and challenge the ongoing learning and development of the students. In fact, tolerance appeared repressive and confirmed status quo.     

Performativity,guilty knowledge,and ethnographic intervention

This paper applies Dennis’ [(2009 Dennis, B. 2009. “What Does It Mean When an Ethnographer Intervenes?” Ethnography and Education 4 (2): 131–146. doi: 10.1080/17457820902972762[Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]). “What does it Mean when an Ethnographer Intervenes?” Ethnography and Education 4 (2): 131–146] modes of ethnographic intervention to a fieldwork experience of an observed secondary school lesson in England. Ethnographic research raises numerous ethical dilemmas, in the face of which ‘intervention’ is unavoidable. The observed lesson – in which a teacher was judged as ‘Requiring Improvement’ – left me with ‘guilty knowledge’. The performative nature of observed lessons constructs highly charged events. Drawing particular attention to the power imbalances between observer and observed, ethical deliberation about the event is considered, and subsequent ‘interpersonal’ and ‘administrative’ intervention is presented. As ethnographers, it is impossible to avoid intervening in some sense. I conclude that performativity raises ethical issues which may demand particular responses from ethnographic researchers, whose empathetic intention places them well to explore – and critically engage with – the workings and effects of performativity.     

Generating ethnographic research questions: an anthropological contribution to the study of higher education

As part of recent complex transformations, it seems that higher educational organisations are being forced to reorganise, standardise and streamline in order to survive in the new political and economic context. How are ethnographers in general going to approach these contemporary phenomena? By drawing on the conceptual history of anthropology, the aim of this article is to generate ethnographic-oriented research questions concerned with higher education. The first part of the article provides an ethnographic background, while the second part focuses on Paul Willis's reasoning on ethnographic imagination, as a prerequisite for generating alternative research questions. The third part makes explicit anthropologist Maurice Godelier's theoretical imagination, carving out some specific theoretical parts which may be used in the generating process. The conclusion then suggests a number of questions to be asked by future ethnographers of higher education. The questions are followed by a reflection upon the consequences of doing ethnography within contemporary higher education settings, which are increasingly dominated by policy-makers; ethnography is thus to be seen as an intervening instrument.     

A dialogic about using Facebook status updates for education research: a PhD student's journey

Facebook status updates provided the data for a study about the transition learning experiences of 1st-year university students. Strict ethical guidelines were proposed by the PhD researcher from the outset of the study. Anonymity was considered important for the approved ethical clearance for both the university and the participants. Phenomenography was adopted and adapted for the study because it both conceptually and methodologically managed anonymity as well as questions of authenticity. An ethical dilemma arose during the research because the archival parameters were expanded by the researcher to allow the collection of data from the participants’ network. Questions of consent in an online space and how to report findings, which included data from people unaware of their involvement in the research, needed to be considered.     

Building bridges: the use of reflective oral diaries as a qualitative research tool

The article is a reflection on the use of an oral diary as a qualitative research tool, the role that it played during fieldwork and the methodological issues that emerged. It draws on a small-scale empirical study into primary school teachers' use of group discussion, during which oral diaries were used to explore and document teacher reflective thinking across time. The paper considers the design of the oral diary tool in this context and how its use created both a window on the developing construction of teachers' ideas about their practice of using group discussion in science and also a space to explore emerging analytical themes. The way in which the regular routine of the oral diary entries helped to make connections between the researcher and the participant and nurture fieldwork relationships is discussed in addition to the limitations of this specific research tool.     

Understanding classroom practice: ethnographic reflection as a methodological tool for professional development

To identify the possibilities for collaborative professional development; a research-driven model was adopted to assist an English First Additional Language teacher to appreciate how he could teach effectively by using an approach that takes into account the students' culture. Using critical observation and stimulated recall discussion, this study examined how his teaching addressed the requirements of the curriculum policy. Evidence points to a reluctance to consider this policy. The teacher's disposition posed challenges to the research process. We suggest that such research could be used effectively if policy were to clarify how a ‘new field’ could contribute to the public good and teachers' development of a ‘new habitus’. In conclusion, we explain how the envisaged outcomes of policy are underpinned by a notion of cultural harmony that has to inform teaching.     

Examining the use of theory within educational technology and media research

Academic research in the areas of educational technology and media is often portrayed to be limited in terms of its use of theory. This short paper reports on data collected from a survey of 462 ‘research active’ academic researchers working in the broad area of educational technology and educational media. The paper explores their use (and non-use) of theory.     

Conceptualising food research in higher education as a matter of social justice: philosophical,methodological and ethical considerations

Globally, food concerns in higher education have emerged as an issue of critical importance. Food acquisition struggles and high rates of food insecurity among students have been documented, yet food within higher education continues to be an under-researched area of study. This paper calls for advancing research that critically engages with food concerns in higher education. The argument is made that food concerns should be viewed as a social justice matter, and a case is made for conducting research on food concerns by adopting an alternative approach to research in this area – a transformative paradigm. The paper advances new insights for the philosophical, methodological and ethical dimensions to researching food in higher education as a matter of social justice. The argument is made that a transformative approach to research is conducive for examining the experiences of those who are marginalised within the context of higher education and confront food challenges.     

Straw Godzilla: Engaging the academy and research ethics in artistic research projects

Abstract

In Australia, the university ethics approval process is guided by the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research. The National Statement does not provide a hurdle to be overcome or avoided, nor is it a Godzilla-like monster that must be slain for truth to survive. Rather the National Statement provides an affirmation of an abiding respect for all life and a mechanism for beginning the intelligent questioning, theorization and contextualization for a work of art. Focusing specifically on the emergent discipline of artistic research, this article addresses the question of how the supervisory process may take on the ‘spirit’ of the National Statement to engender genuine ethical debate, rather than merely focus on the instrumental obstacles that seem to get in the way of the research. It specifically addresses the emergent field of artistic research and the concomitant resistance to ethical regulation of artistic research, in which bureaucratic instrumentalism and compliance or censorship are considered to potentially emasculate the vitality of an art work and the ability of art to serve as a truthsayer or agent provocateur. In this, the attitude of the supervisor toward research ethics in artistic research is considered a key factor in determining their students attitudes towards the ethics process. This article will present several initiatives undertaken with the intent of more fully engaging supervisors and students with research ethics.     

Blurring the boundaries: connecting research,practice and professional learning

Educational researchers can incorporate benefits for themselves and teacher participants by planning for interactions between research, practice and teachers’ professional learning from the outset of a project. However, the dual role of a researcher as a professional learning partner has rarely been explicated and theorised in studies of teacher–researcher relationships. The study described in this paper occurred in the context of early childhood education. The notion of a critical friend was extended and validated as a useful theorisation of the relationship. Four ways that I acted as a critical friend are described. The expertise, roles, boundaries and hybridity of a co‐constructed approach to research are discussed. The importance of a researcher as critical friend having research and theoretical knowledge to shift teacher knowledge and practice is argued. Implications for teacher–researcher partnerships in terms of strengthening coherence between research, practice and professional learning are suggested.     

Facebook group dynamics: an ethnographic study of the teaching and learning potential for secondary school teachers

ABSTRACT

This study examines the role of social networking sites on the learning processes, teaching practices and professional development of secondary school teachers. By conducting observations and in-depth interviews with active participants, we present an ethnographic study of the Facebook group Teaching ideas secondary education [author’s translation], which is hosted and primarily employed by Flemish teachers. By drawing parallels between the study findings and the theory of affinity spaces we aim to gain greater insight into emerging group dynamics and social informal learning processes. According to respondents, the Facebook group has the potential to address teachers’ needs with respect to the exchange of teaching ideas, experiences and materials. The findings point to a number of emerging developments in the educational landscape, highlighting that social media environments present a new source of inspiration, and combined with a collaborative atmosphere are able to stimulate cross-fertilization, social informal learning processes and self-management and -reflection. We hold these findings up to the light of current education discourses.     

人类学研究方法比较——以《西太平洋上的航海者》《安达曼岛人》为例

学科的研究方法与成果同等重要,研究之初其方法就已决定了成果的指向。人类学的经典著作,不仅可以作为现实研究的有效指导,其理论方法也值得我们借鉴、反思。文章以《西太平洋上的航海者》和《安达曼岛人》二书为例,通过马林诺夫斯基和布朗研究方法异同的比较,阐述一种民族志学的新研究范式。     

教育人种志研究中的伦理道德要求

教育人种志研究者要遵循自愿与"不隐蔽"原则,保护研究对象隐私的原则,保证研究目的和过程合法、合理、公正的原则,以及研究结果的互动反馈原则等,这是提升研究质量的前提.此外,研究者与资助研究机构等方面的关系、研究对象的主观体现及配合支持、研究选题的价值和社会意义等,都直接影响着教育人种志研究的伦理道德水平.     

Ethical dilemmas of youth participatory action research in a democratic setting

ABSTRACT

This article discusses ethical issues involved in facilitating the research of young people on controversial issues. This article considers the potential ethical dilemmas of teachers facilitating a particular form of activism – youth participatory action research (YPAR). We consider how teachers foster school-wide conversations on difficult issues and support students who wish to take a critical stand on issues of race, class and gender. The article also discusses how to scaffold the exploration of topics that require emotional maturity and might lead to shifts in beliefs that run counter to the values of one’s family.