TEED 540Qualitative research(let’s play volleyball)

How quantitative and qualitative research differ from one another?

How do you do qualitative research?=>What constitutes good vs poor qualitative research?

Preview Questions

Write down 1-2 potential research

questions you have…what are you curious

about?

I like it!Current faves:

Stereotype threat (Claude Steele) Fluency as a predictor of reading proficiency (Sheila Valencia)

I dislike some of the trends related to it!

Overly heralded as superior to qualitative National Reading Panel What Works Clearinghouse

Mis-used/wrongly applied Student test scores Applying studies of groups to individuals

Quantitative Research

What is qualitative research?

Qualitative research represents inquiry in which researchers aim to gather an in-depth understanding of human behavior/experiences/perspectives and the factors that shape such behavior/experiences/perspectives.

What is going on here?What are the relationships between these phenomena?Why is this happening?How is this happening?

(Quantitative: How many? To what degree?)

Heath—What are the language participation patterns in two communities in the Piedmont? What is the relationship between students’ language patterns and teachers’ language patterns? What does this mean for students’ learning experiences?

Orozco & Orozco—What are the experiences of immigrant youth in U.S. schools?

Valenzuela—How do relationships influence student achievement for Mexican American youth?

Ladson-Billings—What are the characteristics of teachers who are exceptionally effective at raising achievement for African American students?

4 examples

Benefits Open-ended (you can change/develop your question(s)!) In-depth Engages complexity, rather than avoiding it

Limitations Small samples Subject to bias It’s hard! SOO much data! Tricky to generalize

Qualitative research

Potential relationships between quant and qual:

Sometimes studies use both qualitative and quantitative approaches

Sometimes qualitative used to further describe and/or explain quantitative findings (the why/how)

Sometimes a pilot qualitative study is conducted in order learn what to ask of a quantitative effort (e.g., a few case studies can highlight the “right” factors to measure)

Quantitative & Qualitative

Best suited for quantitative or qualitative?

Your research questions?

Smaller samples Participants are selected on the basis of their

ability to contribute new light to your experiences with the concept or question you are investigating. (Glaser and Strauss, 1967)

samplingsampling

“What opportunities to learn are facilitated by field placements in community-based organizations?”

Organizations Represent range of partnering CBOs

Teacher candidates Have a range of experiences and backgrounds

(representative of cohort)

Purposeful Sampling

Most common approach: Case studies

Most common data sources:

Observations/field notesInterviews/transcriptsVideoDocuments

Good to have several sources of data!

Methods

Design & data sources

Triangulation of data: the use of multiple complimentary sources of data

triangulation

Systematic coding (pre-developed or codes emerge as you read data set)

Look for patterns (within data for each individual and across the group)

Constant comparative method

Triangulate data sources

Constantly look for disconfirming evidence

analysis

ARACELI: (after reading 5 pages) So, Miguel. Is there anything you didn’t understand yet?

MIGUEL: uhh…(2 seconds).

A: No? Ok. (keeps reading)

How might you code this?

TEXT: Pele and his friends started their own soccer team. When the other teams saw that Pele and his teammates couldn’t afford shoes, they nicknamed them the “Barefoot Team.” But the Barefoot Team kept winning!

Julia: What do you think the other kids thought—like kids with soccer shoes when the barefoot kids beated

them?

Daisy: Weird.

J: I think so, too. Why would it be weird?

D: Because they don’t have shoes and they are poor so it doesn’t seem like they would be better.

How might you code this?

TEXT: Pele’s team won! The Brazilians were the world champions of soccer for the first time! Listening on the radio at home, Pele’s father cried—but this time because he was so happy.

Vanessa: Porqué su papá estaba llorando?Liana: Porque está…(5 sec)V: Su papá está triste? O él está llorando porque

hubieron ganado?L: (3 sec) Está feliz porque ellos hubieron ganado.

How might you code this?

Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers

Helen: Ok so it says… what do you think ‘discovered’ means? It says, ‘the next morning he discovered that penguins came from the South Pole’…So what do you think ‘discovered’ means?

Beatriz: Um, he don’t know where he come from.

H: Or like if you look in this picture, it’s like, what is he trying to do? It says “where penguins come from.”He discovered where they came from…so what do you think that means?

B: That now he knows something now.

H: YA! So he figured it out, right? YA!

How might you code this?

Modified Analytic Induction

Constant Comparative Analysis

Reliability

Would other researchers in similar settings draw similar conclusions?

Validity

Internal: Do the things you chose to look at really represent the concept you are aiming at?

External: Do your results generalize beyond your participants?

Reliability and ValidityReliability and Validity

Reliability Use multiple sources of data (∆Triangulation∆) Thorough description of conceptual framework Record data as reliably as possible => video,

audio, verbatim notes. Low inference descriptors=> direct quotations,

copies of documents, etc. Thorough descriptions of the setting and the

participants as well as the relationships between participants

Consult peers and experts regularly Consult participants

Dealing with threats to Reliability and Validity

Validity (internal) Use multiple sources of data (∆Triangulation∆) Pay special attention to the selection of

participants (pilot study?) Spend lots of time in the field setting with

participants

Dealing with threats to Reliability and Validity

Validity (external)Statistical generalizability (quantitative)(e.g., others beyond those in the study will act this way)

vs. Analytical generalizability (qualitative)(e.g., these people acted this way according to X principle/theory,

and others may act according to X theory in other contexts, as well)

GENERALIZING:

Readers of qualitative research can determine ways in which study generalizes to their respective contexts/students.

Qualitative findings can generalize to theory, and then others can use/apply theory in their contexts. (With Heath’s study, the language patterns she identified might not directly translate to Seattle, but the theory—that differences between students’ and teachers’ language patterns may contribute to learning difficulties—can, in fact, apply in Seattle.)

Validity

What research questions can you imagine?

Quantitative:How does the IB program impact R.Beach’s test scores?How does the IB program impact R. Beach’s attendance? Enrollment? How did student/parent attitudes shift as a result of the IB program?

(comparing pre/post quantitative survey questions)How did the policy change impact students socially and emotionally?

(comparing pre/post quantitative survey questions)

Qualitative:Why is enrollment plummeting? Why do fewer students of color (per capita) take IB?How do R. Beach teachers experience and respond to the policy and

enrollment changes?How did student/parent attitudes shift as a result of the IB program?

(using interviews, observations, student and parent focus groups)How did the policy change impact students socially and emotionally?

(using interviews, observations, journal entries)

Rainier Beach example