qualitative research – Page 3

6th International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (QI2010) – Abstracts Due!

In case you are planning to submit an abstract for the 6th International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (QI2010), time is running out — you have until tomorrow, 12/1! The call for papers / posters / panels and submission guidelines is here, and the actual submissions area is here.

After attending the conference for the first time last year, I am really looking forward to attending the same again. Thus, will hope my 2 abstracts get accepted!

One of the things I so liked about this conference was the interdisciplinary nature of the participants–educational researchers, social scientists, communications theorists, sociologists, technology researchers, nursing researchers, and many others who engage in qualitative research. Looking forward to connecting with old friends and new colleagues alike.

Anybody else submitting and hoping to attend?

Research Interest Clarification, 2009

I recently had to re- introduce myself to a colleague regarding where my current research interests are, and I thought it may be interesting to share with a wider audience, as I do get asked to explain what I am interested in (since I cannot oversimplify this, however hard I try).

One of the things I learned about myself in the module at Lancaster I just finished is just how much I love qualitative methods. Not just qualitative studies in my own content areas, but the rich methodological particulars in themselves. Yes, I couldn’t believe it when I first said that a few weeks ago – I knew I was interested in application to practice, but now find myself loving the complexities and issues around selecting, using, and assessing various qualitative methods. I can see myself really exploring this more in itself . . .

Since my background is adult education, I tend to think of myself as an adult educator. I like critical theory and constructivist frameworks, and am fond of Wenger’s Community of Practice model, as well as Jack Mezirow’s Transformative Learning framework. I am a proponent of postmodernity, and as such am interested in identity development, especially in online blogs and other forms of social media where narrative inquiry and autoethnography can be used.

Now, to see how all this can develop toward a thesis direction . . .

Qualitative Research Links and References

I recently stumbled across Ron Chenail’s The Qualitative Report website at Nova Southeastern University while I was doing some research for a proposal I am working on for the 6th International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (QI2010). Ron has a wonderful weekly newsletter, as well as one of the more current lists of references for Teaching Qualitative Research: Updated November 9, 2009 (with this document being exactly what I needed to assist with my research). If I were not currently engaged in my doctoral studies at Lancaster University, I would have been interested in Nova’s new Graduate Certificate in Qualitative Research–this looks rather comprehensive and very timely indeed.

Nice to know there are so many useful references out there that are being shared. One of the things I have learned about my increased focus on qualitative research in the last few years, is the more that I share, the more I receive back. From this framework, there seems to be a lot of collaborative possibilities for the future!

The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers ~ Review

A few months ago I blogged about Johnny Saldana’s new text, The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers, and I just read a great review of it by Robin Cooper at The Weekly Qualitative Report. It may be worth a look if you face an upcoming coding project and may need an overview of Saldana’s excellent primer.

Narrative Inquiry Paper Revision – Module 2

I am nearly finished revising my narrative inquiry paper for my Module 2 class, which is due tonight. The more I am processing and reprocessing the Analysis and Presentation section of the paper, the more I am beginning to appreciate narrative inquiry.

Learning to use it here for the first time (or rather, this is the first time I have used it, after having learned about it over the years), I realize how much more I want to explore some of its possibilities.

Has anybody out there used narrative inquiry and want to share what the found useful about it, especially regarding how they navigated the various methodological issues?