Journal Entry #1

 Qualitative Research and Evaluation

             The beginning of this course included a discussion of what qualitative research is.  We discussed that qualitative research is a relatively new issue with regard to education and that the qualitative researcher wants to know what's going on from the standpoint of the participant.  Also discussed was that in qualitative research we look at information gathered to find commonalities that lead to a rule.  A key point is that qualitative research starts with the question:  "Do we really know enough to ask the right question?" 

This was very interesting to me from the standpoint that I have always acted on the notion that if something is to be said in a professional context it must be cited so that there is sufficient evidence behind what is being said.  Specifically, what I thought was interesting was that one might begin a research project without actually knowing what will be studied.  For example, it may take several observations before one can focus the study to what is of particular interest to the researcher by asking an appropriate specific question.

We later discussed the terms ethnography, ethnomethodology, and field notes.  Ethnography looks at culture in the sense of the big picture.  Ethnomethodology looks at how specific cultural interactions occur and the primary focus is on how norms of society are developed and maintained rather than what norms are.  Field notes are written accounts of on-the-spot occurrences within the social setting.

When I was first exposed to this information I was very apprehensive.  I did not understand them and was quite confused.  To be honest, I am not yet completely comfortable with these and the five traditions Creswell spoke of.  In an effort to help understand, I have made copies of the notes on the web site and have begun looking back over them as well as getting into Creswell's book in some detail.

Later we looked at the question:  "What is data?"  In answering this question we were directed to ask the question "What's of interest?"  We then looked at the biography and the case study followed by post-modernism.  Biography focuses on one individual and is a story as told to the researcher or found in documents or archival materials.  Case study is an exploration of a "bounded system" over time through detained, in-depth collection involving multiple sources of information in context.  The concept of post-modernism is that knowledge claims must be set within the conditions of the world today and it is characterized by a number of interrelated characteristics rather than by a single definition.

After further reading in the Creswell book I have a greater understanding of biography and case study.  However, I am having some problems with understanding post-modernism and the implications of it on qualitative research.  I have gone to Creswell's book to define it, and I believe it is related to the notion of reductionism.  In other words, one cannot take knowledge and generalize it necessarily to other humans without regard to race, gender and other factors.

In reading Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design Choosing Among Five Traditions by John W. Creswell, I was exposed to different traditions of inquiry.  Those traditions are (a) biography, (b) phenomenology, (c) grounded theory, (d) ethnography, and (e) case studies.  In this book we are given an example of a study using each of these traditions.  The biography is a story of a 29-year-old man who is retarded and his story is told through the use of the bus system as a metaphor.  The phenomenology investigated the characteristics of "caring interaction" between the nurse and patient.  The grounded theory studied the coping and strategies of women to childhood sexual abuse.  The ethnography examined the interview process for choosing a new principle through data including documents, participant observation, and interviewing.  The case study described the reaction to a gunman who attempted to fire a gun at his classmates on campus.

After reading of the five traditions, I was not at all clear on the differences between these.  I could understand them when reading them separately but had problems with specific differences when looking at them together.  Therefore, I created a table with five rows in which I intend to put a short description of each of these traditions.  I plan to take these descriptions from my notes, the handouts, and the studies listed in the appendix in Creswell's book.  I have already read the first four studies in the appendix and will read the other and put together this table in an attempt to gain a greater understanding of this information.

Another experience I had during the first portion of this class was that of doing observations at Indian Mall in Jonesboro.  I entered the mall and spent about thirty minutes observing what I saw there.  I then returned to do another thirty minute observation in which my focus was directed toward something more specific.

I had never done anything like this in the past and did not know if I would be uncomfortable doing this.  However, after entering the mall and beginning to write down my observations, I felt very comfortable.  I also enjoyed writing up these field notes into a written form of data and choosing a more detailed foci for the second observation.  During that observation, I focused on the interactions of an employee when customers would come near her in the shop in which she worked.  It was very interesting for me to write about this experience, look at my speculations, and use those speculations to narrow my focus to a more detailed topic.

Finally, I have begun working on a class project.  We are to find a place to do a small qualitative study.  The study is to include observations, interviews, and another set of data.  I have chosen the Student Government Association (SGA) at ASU-Newport, which I am a sponsor of.  I have completed the field notes and data compilation for my first observation.

I have so much that has to be accomplished this semester, both with my doctorate work and my job as intramural director and teacher at two junior colleges that I have tried to get an early start on the course project that we must do as well as other assignments in both graduate classes.  I am taking field notes at the SGA meetings here as ASU- Newport and compiling those notes while the information is still fresh on my mind.  I plan to then begin interviewing members and hope to interview at least two people for fifteen minutes.  I have some apprehension about interviewing but I attribute that to the fact that we have not yet covered interviewing in class as thoroughly as we have observation.

I am beginning to see that the five traditions may overlap in a specific study.  In other words, one study may involve characteristics of more than one of the five traditions.  For example a case study may also be a biography.  I intend to use this information as a framework to categorize different methods for doing qualitative research.

I will try to combine this knowledge with the practical (hands-on) experiences I am receiving in class so that I may complete the class project (mini-study) and gain a more thorough understand of the processes of qualitative research.

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