EdL 708 Qualitative Research Methodology

1. EdL 708Qualitative Research Methodology Weekend Two

2. Use of Theory • Qualitative inquirers use different terms for theories • Patterns • Theoretical lens • Naturalistic generalizations

3. Theory Use in Qualitative ResearchCreswell (2009) • Broad explanation for behavior and attitudes, and it may be complete with variables, constructs, and hypotheses • Theoretical lens or perspective in qualitative research provides an overall orienting lens for the study of gender, class, and race (or other issues of marginalized groups) • Theory (or some broad explanation) is the end point • Do not employ any explicit theory—inquirer constructs a rich, detailed description

4. Theoretical Perspectives • Feminism(s) • Racialized discourses • Critical theory • Cultural studies models • Queer theory

5. Feminism(s) • View as problematic women’s diverse situations and the institutions that frame those situations. • Topics: policy issues for realization of social justice for women in specific contexts or knowledge about oppressive situations for women Creswell (2009)

6. Feminism(s) Olesen (2008) • Problematizes women’s diverse situations as well as the gendered institutions and material and historical structures that frame those • Examination of that problematic to theoretical, policy or action frameworks to realize social justice for women (and men) in specific contexts

7. Feminism(s) cont’d • Generates new ideas to produce knowledges about oppressive situations for women, for action or further research • Dominant theme: Whose knowledges? Where and how obtained, and by whom; from whom and for what purposes?

8. Feminism(s) cont’d • As the concept of a universalized “woman” or “women” faded, understanding grew that multiple identities and subjectivities are constructed in particular historical and social contexts (Olesen, p. 318). • Olesen’s conclusion: pp. 343-344

9. Racialized Discourses • Raise important questions about the control and production of knowledge • About people and communities of color Creswell (2009)

10. Racialized DiscoursesLadson-Billings & Donner • Meaning of the “call” (pp. 371-372) • O.J. Simpson (p. 372) • Ladson-Billings (pp. 372-373)

11. Racialized Discourses • Critical race theory enacts an ethnic and ethical epistemology, arguing that ways of knowing and being are shaped by one’s standpoint, or position in the world. • Limits of liberal ideology (p. 380) • Conclusion (p. 397)

12. Critical Theory • Concerned with empowering human beings to transcend the constraints placed on them by race, class, and gender Creswell (2009)

13. Critical Ethnography Foley & Valenzuela (2008) • Continuum of critical ethnography: Foley: academic cultural critiques, more collaborative and politically involved Valenzuela: academic cultural critiques, much more directly involved in public policy processes

14. Critical Ethnography • Standpoint theory & situated knowledge (p. 288) • Multiple epistemologies (pp. 288-289) • More reflexive (p. 289)

15. Critical Ethnography • Case Study: Foley (pp. 294-297) • Case Study: Valenzuela (pp. 300-307)

16. Critical TheoryKincheloe & McClaren • Definition of criticalist as researcher or theorist… (pp. 404-405) • Critical researchers… (pp. 406-407) • Critical theory is never static: it is always evolving, changing in light of both new theoretical insights and new problems and social circumstances (p. 407).

17. Critical TheoryKincheloe & McClaren • Multiple perspectives and bricolage (p. 424) • Critical Research…in the 21st Century (pp. 439-442)

18. Queer Theory • Focuses on individuals calling themselves lesbians, gays, bisexuals, or transgendered people • Does not objectify individuals • Concerned with cultural and political means • Conveys the voices and experiences of individuals who have been suppressed Creswell (2009)

19. Queer Theory • Queerness becomes a topic and a resource for investigating the way group boundaries are created, negotiated, and changed. Institutional and historical analyses are central to this project, for they shed light on how the self and its identities are embedded in institutional and cultural practices. Denzin & Lincoln (2008, p. 252)

20. Critical Humanism and Queer Theory: Plummer (2008) • Critical humanism: • Emphasis on: symbolic interactionism, pragmatism, democratic thinking, storytelling, moral progress, and social justice • Committed to: reducing human suffering, to an ethics of care and compassion, a politics of respect, and the importance to trust • The above values bring their own tensions

21. Critical Humanism and Queer Theory: Plummer (2008) • Humanistic inquiries usually reveal humanistic researchers. • Example: “Brad, the Sneaky Kid” (pp. 484-485) • Despite its tensions…with the human being at the heart of analysis, with care and justices as its core values...humanism still has a place in social science and qualitative inquiry.

22. Critical Humanism and Queer Theory: Plummer (2008) • Key themes—queer theory is a stance in which: • Binary challenged • De-centering • Sexual categories open • Power embodied discursively • Normalizing strategies shunned • Academic work ironic • Inscribed homosexual subject positions • Deviance paradigm abandoned • Common objects of study textual • Frequent interests…on sexual fringe (p. 489)

23. Critical Humanism and Queer Theory: Plummer (2008) • Queer methodology (p. 495) • Queer theory meets critical humanism (pp. 495-496)

24. Cultural Studies • Cultural studies research is historically self-reflective, critical, interdisciplinary, conversant with high theory, and focused on the global and local • Takes into account historical, political, economic, cultural, and everyday discourses • Focuses on questions of community, identity, agency, and change. Denzin & Lincoln (2008)

25. Cultural Studies • Involves an examination of how the history people live is produced by structures that have been handed down from the past • Concern with cultural texts, lived experience, and the articulated relationship between texts and everyday life Denzin & Lincoln (2008)

26. Cultural Studies: Saukko (2008) • Three modes of inquiry (perspectives on reality or definition of truth) • Hermeneutic impulse: evaluates the value of research in terms of how sensitive it is to the lived realities of its informants • Poststructuralist bent: assesses research in terms of how efficiently it exposes the politics embedded in the discourses though which we construct and perceive realities • Contextual and realist: evaluates how accurately or truthfully research makes sense of the historical and social reality

27. Cultural Studies: Saukko (2008)Integrated Framework

28. Cultural Studies: Saukko (2008) • Example (p. 459) • Three validities or methodological programs in cultural studies in an integrated framework • Contextual validity • Dialogic validity • Self-reflexive validity

29. Cultural StudiesSaukko (2008) • Contextual validity • analysis of social and historical processes • worth or validity of the project depends on how thoroughly and defensibly or correctly this has been done

30. Cultural StudiesSaukko (2008) • Dialogic validity • Capturing the “native’s point of view” (discourses) • To realize his (the native’s) vision of his world (social contexts that shape discourses)

31. Cultural StudiesSaukko (2008) • Self-Reflexive validity • Critical reflection on how social discourses and processes shape or mediate how we experience our selves and our environment • Objective analysis may end up forgetful of the discourses that guide the analysis itself • Example (pp. 467-469) • Conclusion (p. 472)

32. Characteristics of Qualitative ResearchCreswell (2009) • Natural setting • Researcher as key instrument • Multiple sources of data • Inductive data analysis • Participants’ meanings • Emergent design • Theoretical lens • Interpretive • Holistic account