To the Student

This text is based on the assumption that you have little or no background in how qualitative research is conducted in your field. Most who take a course of this kind will neither major in research nor become researchers one day. As students you will need to know how to read, understand, and interpret this kind of research so that you can judge its worth and practical value.

The material here is therefore presented using nontechnical language whenever that is possible. When technical terms are needed, they are offered along with practical explanations to increase your understanding. Further, you are provided with a broad coverage of qualitative research approaches (sometimes called methodologies) ranging from the recognized field of ethnography (the study of cultures and practices) to the emerging framework of indigenous research.

As a student your objectives for a course using this text should include learning about how qualitative studies are planned, carried out, and reported so that you, as a practitioner, might be able to read and interpret the results. Whether or not each research study's results should be used depends on your ability to determine if the studies are done well. To be an effective reader and evaluator of research in education and the social sciences, you should gain from this text the ability to

• Recognize and judge ethical issues in research
• Understand the inductive role of most qualitative approaches
• Comprehend the ideas and terms used to explain how each kind of research study is conducted
• Determine how each approach is organized and planned
• Recognize that practitioner questions may be answered differently depending on which research methodology is used
• Explain the similarities and differences found among qualitative research methodologies
• Understand how data are ordinarily collected and interpreted
• Develop ways of evaluating actual research studies to determine whether or not findings can be trusted
• Gain insight into how or when research might be translated into policy and practice

Some Study Suggestions

Many students find the language and procedures associated with research to be frightening or at least foreign to their everyday world. The following suggestions may assist you in tackling this relatively new and unusual area of study:

• Read the textbook before the course begins, making margin notes
• Commit new terminology and definitions to memory along with at least two examples for each
• Use chapter questions to monitor understanding
• Rewrite class notes and compare them to assigned readings
• Form a study group to test understanding “out loud”
• Talk with advanced students who have successfully completed the course for suggestions on content and study habits