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Full-Text Articles in Education

An Expose Of The Relationship Between Paradigm, Method And Design In Research, Godswill Makombe Prof Dec 2017

An Expose Of The Relationship Between Paradigm, Method And Design In Research, Godswill Makombe Prof

The Qualitative Report

It is crucial that any research inquiry be guided by a paradigm. However, many early career researchers do not mention the research paradigm guiding their inquiry. Furthermore, qualitative and quantitative methods are sometimes erroneously referred to as research paradigms or research designs. Experienced researchers often use the terms research paradigm, research methods and research design in a loose and confusing manner. Although it is reasonable to assume that experienced researchers do understand the distinction and relationship between the three concepts, the loose use of the concepts leads to confusion among early career researchers, especially Master’s and PhD students. By using …


Qualitative Delphi Method: A Four Round Process With A Worked Example, Dia Sekayi, Arleen Kennedy Oct 2017

Qualitative Delphi Method: A Four Round Process With A Worked Example, Dia Sekayi, Arleen Kennedy

The Qualitative Report

The Delphi Method was originally designed to collect data from a panel of experts to aid in decision making in government settings. Delphi has been described as a qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods approach. The anonymous collection of narrative group opinion coupled with the tightly structured nature of the process and quantitatively described results renders the approach difficult to situate in a methodological category. The purpose of this article is not to settle the debate. Rather, the aim is twofold: to present a modification of Delphi that is definitively qualitative, and to provide a worked example to demonstrate the proposed method.


Between Paradigms: Becoming A Pathological Optimist, Carol Isaac Aug 2017

Between Paradigms: Becoming A Pathological Optimist, Carol Isaac

The Qualitative Report

Using an autoethnographic poststructural lens, I examined my academic journey in becoming a qualitative methodologist. I integrated my mentor’s maxims such as, “the institution will not love you back,” “prisoner of your words,” “make plans; if they don’t work, make new plans,” “one has mentors and tormentors and both help shape us,” “ever the opportunist,” “strategic groveling,” “a mosaic approach to mentoring” and “just get naked.” Despite paradigmatic contradictions between my doctoral and postdoctoral experiences, I gained much from working between the polarities of the social science and biomedical discourse. In time, I became a “pathological optimist,” one of the …


A Narrative Inquiry: A Black Male Looking To Teach, Edward E. Bell Apr 2017

A Narrative Inquiry: A Black Male Looking To Teach, Edward E. Bell

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to understand how a Black male experienced the interview process while seeking a teaching position. The participant and I attempted to answer how race and/or gender played a role in his interviewing experiences. The researcher used a qualitative approach to interview this individual. Data analysis revealed major findings contributing to this Black male’s interviewing experiences: Racism played into the hiring process in subtle ways, and just because this candidate was prepared to teach, that preparation did not guarantee his employment. The findings from this narrative account might prove helpful in understanding why …