How to curate your data
I discovered this book last evening while searching through Left Coast Press’ catalog for new resources on Oral Histories and interviewing. Curating Oral Histories From Interview to Archive Nancy MacKay (Author) 156 pp. / 8.50 x 11.00 / Oct, 2006 Hardback (978-1-59874-057-8) Paperback (978-1-59874-058-5) I am adding this book to my shelf because it was written by a curator and promises to provide new researchers with easy to understand oral history materials management.... Read More
Global sailing or death to ethnocentrism
US researchers can have a rather angsty relationship with the rest of the world when they fail to recognize their international audience in their writing. This is precisely what I want to avoid. I’ve written and presented elsewhere on my analysis of “US-centric” perspectives pervading the work accepted for presentation and publication within literacy related associations. When I teach and supervise graduate work I emphasize the need for my US students to become... Read More
Welcome!
Welcome to my blog about qualitative inquiry. I began writing in April 2009 about teaching and mentoring qualitative research and my work as faculty coordinator of the Center for Qualitative Inquiry at Texas Woman’s University, Denton Texas USA. An overreaching goal is to open up dialogue. I look forward to your comments. I won’t include ads but if you enjoy my blog please take a moment to visit my profile at Scribnia.com and rate my blog. Read More
Landing on goals for a unique center
The Center for Qualitative Inquiry (CQI) opened its doors four years ago. In the “about” page I lay out particulars about the purpose of the center. In brief, the purpose for developing the Center was two fold. First, to provide high-end hardware, software, and user support to graduate students and faculty. This meant coming up with short term funding to get us started, and long term funding to sustain the Center. The second goal was simply to bring qualitative researchers... Read More
Ph.D. Comics
Ph.D. Comics (or Piled Higher and Deeper.com) provides some of the funniest grad school characters and web comics that I have ever seen. I use the comics in my teaching. They have a new group of comics for subscribers to Academia.edu. Anyone who is or has been a graduate student can relate to the characters and topics. I like to post on some of the comics on my Blackboard course announcement pages. I download new comics, add to my favorites folder, and rank order according to... Read More
IIQM – A model for excellence
As I’ve written before, few university centers exist that support qualitative research. The University of Alberta sponsors an Interdisciplinary Center called the International Institute for Qualitative Methodology. In addition to providing faculty support, the center sponsors an annual conference and a journal that is free to subscribers. Why do I have a photo of a suitcase? Because I REALLY want to visit their center to share experiences and learn more about their center.... Read More
Video Analysis- Interactional Ethnography Perspectives
Dr. Judith Green is an incredibly prolific writer. I use a great deal of her work in my courses. In 2007, she published an invaluable chapter on video data analysis. The title of the chapter is: Epistemological issues in the analysis of video records: Interactional ethnography as a logic of inquiry. In Goldman, R., Barron, B., & S. Derry (eds.) (2007) . Video Research in the learning Sciences. Atlanta, Ga.: Taylor and Francis. Visiting to the Center for Qualitative Inquiry... Read More
Centers, conferences, & focus groups
The International Institute of Qualitative Inquiry is based at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champain USA. Dr. Norm Denzin is the director of the center. The center sponsors an annual conference. The Sixth International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry will be held May 26-29, 2010. I was pleased to learn that Drs. Greg Dimitriadis & George Kamberelis will be leading a workshop session entitled: The Critical Use of Focus Groups. Focus group research has gained tremendous... Read More
QDA Miner
An impressive workshop was announced today via the Qualitative Research for the Human Sciences list (QUALRS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU) I have not used this software and hope to learn more about the benefits for users working with multiple data sources. 14th & 15th June 2010 QDA Miner 2-day Introductory Workshop, University of Surrey, UK QUIC and the CAQDAS Networking Project are delighted that Normand Peladeau, of Provalis Research will lead this two day workshop. This workshop... Read More
Confessions
Many thanks to comments from Kip Jones. I look forward to following his blog and learning from him. In regards to delving deeper, as a relatively newbie blogger I recognize that I tend to focus energy on the formatting of the theme, etc. Having my theme go down this past week didn’t help (thank goodness for talented and generous son’s who drop everything to go into the WP backdoor to fix my errors. I’m looking at some professional wp themes to help me solve my... Read More
Kip’s World: Embracing Serendipity
I’ve enjoyed reading Dr. Kip Jones’ Blog at http://kipworldblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/embracing-serendipity_18.html He is a Reader in Qualitative Research, Centre for Qualitative Research Leader, Performative Social Science Group, School of Health & Social Care and The Media School, Bournemouth University, UK. I am also rapt in the video post that he provided on his website entitled: “Beyond Text: relations of dialogue, parody and contestation” Trevor... Read More
Methodspace
An interesting site called Methodspace “is the home of the Research Methods community from across the world”. Based on my reading, the site appears to be supported by Sage Publications. After being granted access to the site I was pleased to learn that many wonderful colleagues have posted to the site and have begun sharing resources. I enjoyed reading the posts on the discussion boards and recommend a look. Read More
Peshkin
I assign an article written by Dr. Alan Peshkin entitled: The Nature of Interpretation in Qualitative Research. This article was published in Educational Researcher, Vol. 29, No. 9, 5-9 (2000) Dr. ALAN PESHKIN, professor of education, Stanford University, Cubberly Lasuen, Stanford University, CA 94305-3096. His area of specialization is anthropology of education. This paper addresses the process of interpretation from a study of the academic achievements of Native American youth.... Read More
Video Analysis
Baker, W.D. & Green, J. (2007). Limits to certainty in interpreting video data: Interactional ethnography and disciplinary knowledge, Pedagogies, 2(3). This is an amazing article. The uncertainties of analysis and our developing interpretations can be the most difficult issues for new researchers and those who are new to qualitative inquiry. Baker & Green reveal a framework for understanding using interactional ethnography as a lens for constructing understandings. Read More
Conversational Analysis Tutorial
A good friend reminded me of a wonderful tutorial on conversation analysis found at: http://www-staff.lboro.ac.uk/~ssca1/intro1.htm CA is now a settled discipline, developed since the pioneering work in the sixties by the sociologist Harvey Sacks. What it has accumulated as insights and findings can be brought to bear on any set of data where language is used in interaction. Its cross-light shows up subtleties in the terrain which are invisible from a more ‘common-sensical’,... Read More
Rigor in Qualitative Research
How do you support graduate students who are new to qualitative inquiry in understanding rigor in qualitative research designs? This chapter supports me well in this goal. I have used this chapter reading for quite a while in my advanced qualitative design and analysis course is entitled: Rigor in Qualitative Research: The assessment of trustworthiness by Laura Krefting The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 45 (1991) pp. 214-222 If you are new to my blog – I am not... Read More
Epistemology
I want to begin posting about “additional readings” that I use in my qualitative research courses. Epistemology & Educational Research by Gregg Kelley (2006). In Green, J., Camilli, G. & P. Elmore (eds.). Handbook of complementary methods in education research. Washington: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates & American Education Research Association. I like to begin the semester with this chapter. Dr. Kelley accomplishes so much in this article and provides a wonderful... Read More
It just takes 120 seconds
We have provided access to voice recognition software since the Center for Qualitative Inquiry opened its doors. Early on we used Dragon Naturally Speaking for pc users and MacSpeech IListen for mac users. Last year we upgraded to MacSpeech Dictate for mac users. The software was easier to train than earlier versions of mac packages. Last week I upgraded to the latest version of MacSpeech Dictate for Leopard users and to MacSpeech Scribe. I’m thrilled with the products. MacSpeech... Read More
Dialogue and Representation Conference
Members of the DISCOURS@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG list posted the following call today: Call for Papers : DIALOGUE AND REPRESENTATION IADA — International Association for Dialogue Analysis 13th International Conference on Dialogue Analysis www.dialogue-representation.org April 26-30, 2011 Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada Read More
Analysis – it’s not about the software
A wonderrful discussion thread on QUALRS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU about using software for data analysis broadly, and grounded theory specifically, included reference to the following text that discusses phases of analysis through reading and reflection. While I prefer to be able to organize my data via a software program and engage in similar processes described in the discussion, I appreciate the opportunity to read the text recommended: Brown, L. M., Tappan, M. B., Gilligan, C.,... Read More
NVivo 9
Cynthia Jacobs of QSRInternational posted the following message today about the upcoming version of NVivo. NVivo 9 software will be released in October 2010. NVivo 9 will allow researchers to import and work with databases and spreadsheets including Excel, Access, and text delimited files. You can work with data in a ‘table view’ or a ‘form view’. Read more at http://www.qsrinternational.com/news_whats-new_detail.aspx?view=207 Currently, we have NVivo version... Read More
International Marxism and Psychology Conference
A QUALRS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU Post received today: The preliminary program for the 2010 Marxism and Psychology Conference (August 5-7, 2010 – Prince Edward Island) is now available on the conference website: http://vre.upei.ca/mprg Read More
Manchester Ethnography Group
Wishing that I could attend the upcoming Manchester Ethnography Group Seminar tomorrow. The following message came via Jacqueline Eke: A reminder that our final spring seminar takes place tomorrow, Wednesday 14 April: Max Travers (University of Tasmania, Australia) In search of court culture: explaining juvenile detention rates in three Australian states. http://www.mmu.ac.uk 4.00 – 6.00pm Room 222, Geoffrey Manton Building, MMU. Email: j.eke@mmu.ac.uk Tel. 0161 2473913 Jacqueline... Read More
Representation in Ethnography
A wonderful edited text written by John Van Maanen (Tales of the Field) is entitled: Representation in Ethnography (Sage Publishing). The text includes chapters by wonderful authors such as Harry Wolcott, Laurel Richardson, Michael Agar. Read More
Contours of culture
I’m currently reading and recommending: Contours of culture: Complex ethnography and the ethnography of complexity By Paul Atkinson, Sara Delamont, William Housley Read More
The long interview
A “small” text published by Sage entitled: The Long Interview, by G. McCracken. McCracken writings about key theoretical and methodological issues relating to his “simple four-step model of inquiry”. 1. Review of analytic categories 2. Review of cultural categories 3. Discovery of cultural categories 4. Discovery of analytic categories. He outlines states of the analytic process discussed and provides key insights for new researchers to follow when designing... Read More
Imperial Eyes
A few years ago I was reviewing literature relating to intersubjectivity. I happened upon a wonderful text by Mary Louise Pratt entitled: Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation. At the time that the text went to press, Dr. Pratt was a Professor in the Departments of Spanish and Portuguese, and of Comparative Literature, at Stanford Univ. (California). This text provides a wonderful “textured approach” to understanding how travel writing becomes one of the... Read More
Journeys through ethnography
A wonderful text that I have returned to recently is Laureau, A. & Shultz, J. (1996). (eds.). Journeys through ethnography: Realistic accounts of fieldwork Boulder, Co.: Westview Press. This text brings readers back to early conversations by scholars such as William Whyte, author of Street Corner Society and Suan Kriefer, author of Beyond Subjectivity. The focus is on the social side of research. A memorable quote about the text that highlights how in order to understand the... Read More
Irish Qualitative Data Archive
I couldn’t agree more with The Weekly Qualitative Report Resource of the Week selection of the Irish Qualitative Data Archive: This website provides access to qualitative data, including photographic data, specific to Ireland. Those with qualit ative research to contribute may also add a catalogue record through the site. Coincidently, I am heading to Ireland in May. As a new blogger, I appreciate the design of the blog and search capabilities. plan to register to gain... Read More
