Confessions of a Quantitative Educational Researcher Trying to Teach Qualitative Research

Bibliographic Data

ID9732127
AuthorsWilliam M Stallings (corresponding author)
Year1995
Volume24
Issue3
Pages31
Publication date1995-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEducational Researcher (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0013-189X • E-ISSN: 1935-102X
PublisherAmerican Educational Research Association (AERA) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/1176023
OpenAlexW1965147323
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited4

walking through the exhibit area, I noticed Professor Peshkin, clean shaven, sitting at the Longman booth. Be-cause Professor Peshkin is a former colleague and because I use his textbook (Glesne & Peshkin, 1992), I thought I might pick up some hints on teaching qualitative research. Parenthetically, for over 25 years I have taught measure-ment and statistics. In describing my professional training to Professor Peshkin, I mentioned also that I have an AB and MAT in sociology and that, as an undergraduate, I had taken several courses in anthropology. Professor Peshkin responded that my background was better than most of the "first generation " of professors of qualitative research. Fve been chewing on that "first generation " label since last year. This article is the result. Although I have no formal training in qualitative re-search, for the past 2 years I have taught a graduate course entitled "Ethnography in School and Community Set-tings. " Because of the terminal illness of one faculty mem-ber and the failure of a formal search, I have become the "little Dutch boy with his thumb in the dike. " Through this article I can share my successes (some) and can ask for help in those areas that need improvement (many). Most of all, I wish to initiate a dialogue with those of the "first genera-tion " who, although not trained formally in the area, nev-ertheless teach qualitative research methods, either as a unit in the introductory educational research course or as a "stand-alone " ethnography or qualitative research course. Following Van Maanen (1988) the perspective of this ar-ticle is that of a "confessional tale, " a tale whose "concern [is] how the fieldworker's life was lived upriver among the natives " (p. 75). Obviously, the natives are my ethnogra-phy students. A secondary perspective, in a pedagogical if not philosophical sense, is constructivism, as used in sci-ence and mathematics education. In the language of real-tors I am having an open house so that others can examine my construction of qualitative research and its instruction, and perhaps suggest some additions and improvements

Educational research · Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Qualitative research · Research methodology · Social science · Sociology · Educational Assessment and Pedagogy · Psychology · Qualitative Research Methods and Applications

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub