The literature review of a qualitative study is also known as a conceptual framework. It includes not only the theory and research for grounding the study, but also includes the researcher’s personal knowledge and experience relevant to the study (Creswell, 2013). As such, I will convey my life experiences in shaping this research study, and present a visual framework or map of the phenomenon. Consistent with the rhetorical structure of phenomenology research, these sections are written to provide a backdrop to better understand how teachers perceive their experience participating in science-based out-of-school programs such as CROP.
Researcher Positionality Given the interpretive nature of qualitative research, it is important for me to first position myself by acknowledging the philosophical assumptions that underlie my research method and design. Researcher positionality, or bracketing, refers to the biases and subjective experiences of the researcher, including: how
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I know that in order to conduct this study I needed to be aware of my own internal viewpoints so that I could fully focus on my participants’ experiences and truly hear their perspectives. My goal is to understand them within their school contexts, their community contexts, and their experiences as teachers. For these reasons, I am taking additional efforts to be aware of my own feelings and perspectives in this study. These additional efforts will include maintaining field notes to document my thoughts and reactions after each interaction with teachers, and maintaining a record of my own internal processes to reflect on my biases and assumptions throughout the
Merriam, S. B. & Co. a. The adage of the adage of Qualitative research and case study applications in education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Palmer, P. (2000).
Qualitative research is an approach that attempts to situate an activity that locates the observer in the world by providing the study to occur in their natural setting and by attempting to make sense of, or interpret information (Denzin and Lincoln, 2005). A characteristic of qualitative research is to use a variety of empirical materials such as personal experience, interviews, and questionnaires. It is imperative to understand the task at hand and how to fully carry out the study when using a qualitative research approach in order to find out the information needed. One view of qualitative research is it involves examining individual’s experiences and documenting those experiences in detail (Jones, 2011). By documenting these observations the researcher is ensuring validity in his or her data and giving the correct creditability to those who participated in the study.
Qualitative research is concerned with understanding people’s many layers of envisioned reality. It is observation of the human practice, descriptive in manner, with careful, detailed factual description of people, objects and action. Viewed in a nonpositivism style, those who look at research in this manner believe all that is important and cannot be measured as in quantitative, concrete measurement. They believe there is an interaction between researcher and participant that has to be accounted for. This being said, experiments cannot be reproduced from one environment to another because the conditions are different, the context of the situation changes and interactions cannot be the same for different researchers and participants (Long, 2014a).
The frame of qualitative research is broadly within the socially constructed, advocacy /participatory theories that assert that social construction determine meaning, and therefore, there are multiple truths to discover (Parylo, 2012). Some of the data from qualitative research is collected from interviews, observations, and field notes. The researcher adds codes to the data to allow for analysis and interpretation, taking into account the context and personal values of the researcher (Parylo, 2012). Creswell (2014) notes that qua...
(Spring): 49- (22 p.). Kvale, Steinar and Svend Brinkmann. 2009. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Interviews: Learning the craft of qualitative.
When I first decided to be a teacher I had many thoughts and opinions about teaching and education. Some of my thoughts and opinions have stayed them same; however, many have changed from the discussions and readings in LL ED 411 and 480. When I first decided that I wanted to be a teacher I thought that most students learned in the same manner. I also thought that the teacher should have power over the classroom. Likewise, I thought that technology should not be used in the classroom--except to type papers. I now know that there is not much truth to my ideas and thoughts because my thoughts were shaped only from my experiences. My experiences are narrow because they were shaped from the problems in schools and the old ideas that teachers still have. Now that I have learned the other sides to these problems I know that my thoughts about teaching and education are not fully developed.
There are debates on why qualitative and quantitative can be combined because the two approaches share the goal of understanding the world in which we live Haase & Myers (1980). However, Reichath &Rallis (1994) argued that the two paradigms are incompatible if the qualitative paradigm assumes that there are no external referents for understanding reality. Howe (1988) suggests that researchers should forge ahead with what works. Quantitative research makes no attempt to have personal relationship with the people being studied and to account of their view. The accounts include feelings, beliefs these being concept of feminist work. Feminism holds on to qualitative method because are interested in how ordinary people observe and describe their Silverman (1993).
A significant problem of practice in education is teacher bias. Teacher bias has implications around race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and socioeconomic status. Teachers must be willing to examine their beliefs, acknowledge and overcome their biases. Teachers need to evaluate their practices in relation to their ideals as well as recognize and assess the position of power they hold in their classrooms in order to be true Social Justice Educators (Cooper, 2003).
I had a difficult time adjusting to the criteria and teaching styles of my teachers. It reached the point that my teachers would call, email, or request for parent teacher conferences because of their concerns and will to help. Overtime it became a yearly pattern from which my parents and I were exhausted. Having to see the looks on my parents filled with alarms, the feeling of vulnerability towards their worries, along with the pressure of teachers and parents counting on me to improve was all hidden behind an amiable smile. When in reality I felt, scholarly unwise, I was beneath the people who filled the seats every day in my classes.
A teacher today needs to have an ability to relate to and create partnerships not with their students, but also families, administrators and other professionals. This ensures that all persons involved with the education of the student are on the same page. All involved then work in harmony and help each other achieve the common goal of educating the student in the best possible way for the best possible result. (Wesley, 1998, p 80)
Sadker, D.M., Sadker, M.P., and Zittleman, K.R.,(2008) Teachers, Students, and Society (8th ed.).New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
It is important that researchers are knowledgeable of the qualitative research methodologies in order to select the most appropriate to investigate their problem of interest, and thereby selecting the most appropriate data collection methods that will aptly produce the richest data for analysis.
Along these two weeks we have been prompt to make a recall to our own way of learning and why we became a teacher: Was it because coincidence, due to life circumstances, maybe because family tradition, was it a conscious decision or because someone influenced us? Whatever the answer is, we have to face reality and be conscious that being a teacher does not only means to teach a lesson and asses students learning. It requires playing the different roles a teacher must perform whenever is needed and required by our learners, identify our pupils needs and preferences, respecting their integrity and individuality but influencing and motivating them to improve themselves and become independent.
In today’s classroom, the teacher is no longer viewed as the sole custodian of knowledge. The role of a teacher has evolved into being amongst one of the sources of information allowing students to become active learners, whilst developing and widening their skills. Needless to say, learning has no borders – even for the teacher. One of the strongest beliefs which I cling to with regards to teaching is that, teaching never stops and a teacher must always possess the same eagerness as a student. Through several interactions with other teachers, I always strive for new ideas, techniques, teaching styles and strategies that I might add to my pedagogical knowledge. Furthermore, through personal reflection, feedback and evaluation...
In recent years, the cliché image of a teacher has come under attach. Research has shown that teachers often work in an isolated setting in which they are considered experts in their specific area; however they often lack the support and equipment needed to do their jobs effectively. As a result, to the inadequate working environment new teachers often leave the profession within the first five years. These conditions often exist because the educational system fails to prepare our teachers with the proper tools and experience needed to do their job well (U.S. Department of Education, 2010).