Ethnography

Qualitative Designs

Chapter 8Robert E. SlavinEthnographyEmphasis the importance of culture

Used to generate hypothesis

Use of: video tape, audio tape, documents, photographs, and diagrams

Ongoing data analysis

Open ended interviews/direct quotes

Most common way to analyze data: constant-comparative

Data analysis software: NVIVO and ATALAS.ti

PhenomenologyUnderstand situations and environments from the perspective of the participants

Researchers bracket individual perceptions to describe the thoughts and feelings of participants

Limited to research with older participants and adults who can provide insights on personal experiences

Report interpretation of reality

Unstructured interview

Case StudiesAn evaluation of a single program and/or setting by a 3rd party

Data collected using: inventory reports, open-ended interviews

First determine goal and narrow set of objectives for study

Descriptive data focused on the goals of the study

Obtain perspective of many participants

Second decide what data to collect

Types: life history-i.e. oral history

Historical Research

IMPORTANT: obtain information from sources as close to events as possible

Data: documents (i.e. legal records, books, newspapers, minutes of board meetings, report cards, and standardized tests), oral statements, statistical records (i.e. attendance records, test scores, and district budgets) and relics (furniture, samples of assignments, yearbooks, trophies and equipment) = secondary sources

Research to find connections between events in the past

Researcher must weigh credibility and objectivity

Critical reviews of documentary evidence

First hand accounts = primary sources

Supplemented with interviews

Content AnalysisAnalysis of documents, letters and other forms of communication

Systematic study of documents to study human behavior

Often part of a larger qualitative research design

Sometimes mixed method design

Begins with a specific question

Postmodern Research Designs

Critical TheoryResearchers present cases of those who are marginalized, highlighting the injustices

Feminist ApproachAim to emancipate women and eradicate the inequalities that exist between men and women