Week Two
How is Qualitative Research a good lens through which to view classroom research?
 |
As defined above,
qualitative research seems like it could be a good lens to view classroom
research because of the following reasons:
- The researcher observes what people do and say.
As teachers, we do this every day in the classroom with our
students.
- The researcher collects information by interviewing
individuals (rather than surveys and experiments). Teacher have
daily contact with their students and can set up a routine time to meet
with students and to talk about the research.
- The research is exploratory and open-ended. As
the research evolves, it might lead to a different focus
question.
Qualitative research is
not about surveys and experiments, this research wants to know about the how
and why. Here is an example from Merriam. "Rather than finding
out how many retired folks take on part-time jobs after retirement, which could
be done through a survey, we might be more interested in how people adjust to
retirement, how they think about this phase of their lives, the process they
engaged in when moving from full-time work to retirement and so on".
(Pg. 6) This example makes me think of Blooms Taxonomy and
qualitative research reminds me of higher-level thinking. Asking a retired person if they are taking on
a part time job is the basic level of Blooms, ‘remembering’. However if you ask the retired person about
how they have adjusted this moves up on Blooms list to ‘understand or apply’.
Through some of my
reading I learned that it is important to keep detailed descriptions, study the
behavior as it occurs naturally, collect data directly from the source and
allow the design to evolve and change. (Goossens) This type of
research seems like it would be a good fit for education. As teachers, we already do most of these things daily.
Finally, it is important
to gain "a clearer perception of the factors impacting engagement" (Goossens
Pg. 64) by exploring specific learning processes. The way to do this is
to get people to "interpret their experiences [about] how they construct
their worlds, and what meaning they attribute to their experiences".
(Merriam Pg. 6) I believe that I have a good working relationship with
all of my students so that they feel like they can open up and tell me what is
on their mind without worrying about hurting feelings or getting anyone in
trouble. It will be interesting to see what my shy students have to
say.
Sources:
Goossens,
P. J. (n.d.). A Qualitative Investigation of Engagement in One Mathematics
Classroom. Retrieved from
https://research.avondale.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1016&context=theses_bachelor_honours
Merriam,
S. B., & Tisdell, E. J. (2017). Qualitative research: a guide to design and implementation. Vancouver, B.C.: Langara
College.
Great post here Keri, I love that you talked about how qualitative research wants to know about the "how and why," and is not. With this research we are taking a much deeper look into what is going on in our classroom. We may not be given direct answers or solutions but by focusing on the "how and why" we are allowing ourselves to be taken into new directions and ideas of better understanding ourselves as teachers and our students. I think the connection you made between Bloom's taxonomy and qualitative research was a great way to show the what it is we are actually trying to get out of it. By looking at through the lens of higher level thinking, I think it helps us to formulate a better understanding of our student's ideas. I love that you have a strong relationship with your students and like you said it will be curious to hear what they say. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI like the fact that with this research we are the driving force behind what gets the focus in our classrooms.
DeleteHi Keri,
ReplyDeleteGreat post on qualitative research. I really liked where you talked about having a great working relationship with "ALL" of your students. It is really easy to build relationships with the students who love your subject matter and want to learn. It is much harder to build those relationships with shy students or students who are not interested in your subject or school in general. Through qualitative research you can certainly observe behavior and the learning process for all of your students. Also, your comment on how it would be interesting to see what your students would say made me laugh a little. Then it made me think that I would be really interested to see what my students would say as well. Might just have to find that out!
"Through some of my reading I learned that it is important to keep detailed descriptions, study the behavior as it occurs naturally, collect data directly from the source and allow the design to evolve and change. (Goossens) This type of research seems like it would be a good fit for education. As teachers, we already do most of these things daily."
ReplyDeleteThis paragraph really hit home to me. I keep notes about how something went (good and bad) but i do not leave detailed enough notes. When reviewing the lesson again and my notes, i have a hard time filling in the gaps. I believe this action research project will help me with being more detailed in all areas.
Keeping detailed notes is definitely something I need to do better. I write/scribble notes to myself on my lessons as well but they could be better. For this research project, I plan on keep a journal with notes and observations.
DeleteOftentimes I think good qualitative research is more difficult than quantitative research. It certainly takes more work to decipher just what you observed and what may have had impact or influence on those actions you observed.
ReplyDeleteThe more I think about it, the more I agree with that statement. Good qualitative research is hard work. I think being able to keep an open-mind will help in this process.
Delete