20th Annual Conference on Interdisciplinary Qualitative Studies
1993 Conference Proceedings
Abstracts and Key Words
M. Allexsaht-Snider
Continuing the Conversation: Collaboration and the Ethic of Caring in Educational Research
Key Words: ethic of caring, collaborative educational research
Abstract: The evolutionary process of collaborative research design for a study with elementary teachers in Santa Barbara, California is discussed. The dilemmas and opportunities raised by the multiple roles of the researcher as an active participant with teachers is examined.
C. Andruske
Marks on Paper: Exploring Literacy Through Theatre
Key Words: literacy, theatre
Abstract: Since 1979, the literacy play Marks on Paper has enjoyed different phases of popularity in British Columbia, Canada. This paper explores the impact of performing theatre on adult literacy and upgrading students.
L. Bonham
Autodidaxy of a Wandering Man
Key Words: adult self-directed learning
Abstract: Study of an autobiographical account reveals that one autodidact had distinct patterns of choosing resources for his self-directed learning and that his family history and personality probably influenced the way he learned. Methodological issues are also discussed, in relation to choice and use of existing documents as data sources.
D. Brook
Students from Town and Township: Problems of Reshaping Education for Culturally Diverse Student Populations in South Africa
Key Words: educational reform, South Africa
Abstract: This paper considers South Africa's efforts to reform education to be more culturally diverse and relevant, both as macro-level policy and as micro-level implications in individual schools. Selected qualitative research methods are considered for their utility in eliciting multiple perspectives and in documenting change, against the background of negotiations for a new Constitution and power-sharing, multisector reform, protests and violence, and impact of these on schools and students.
J. Deegan
Echoes in the Well: Raising the Voices of Individuals and Small Groups from Diverse Cultures
Key Words: contexts, perspectives and voices of cultural diversity
Abstract: In this introductory chapter, the editor discusses the contexts, perspectives and voices of cultural diversity represented in the proceedings. Cautions against essentialist notions of diversity are offered. The challenge of creating learning environments in which ALL can learn, work, and live together, free of sexual, racial, and ethnic prejudice is presented as a lens for reading the proceedings.
D. Dewitt
C. Flake
School, Family, and Community Contexts of African American Children in South Carolina
Key Words: alternate family styles, cultural diversity
Abstract: Teachers' knowledge about African American children and culture and the development of culturally inclusive school curriculum were examined through a year-long, in-depth case study. In a second, ethnographic study, "shadow family" life (resulting from a white man, married to a white woman, who fathers children by a black woman and maintains support for both families) in two rural South Carolina communities is examined. These school, family, and community contexts are discussed from the perspective of one researcher who believes that modifications must be made in the school curriculum to meet the needs of African American children and another who believes that "until we deal with who we were made to be as a result of slavery, instead of our African heritage, we won't be able to move beyond it."
M. Fey
Feminist Collaboration and Computer Conferencing
Key Words: feminist collaboration, computer conferencing
Abstract: The use of computer conferencing for classroom instruction frees learning from constraints of time and space and offers possibilities for implementing new teaching and learning situations. Students communicate on equal footing and, as a result, build unique relationships with diverse classmates. Such development contributes to evolving voices that reflect not only developing confidence but also transforming perspectives on cultural issues.
M. Fraser
Revealing Ourselves: Notes on the Self and Personal Experience in Qualitative Research
Key Words: qualitative research, methodology
Abstract. Using examples from a current work in progress, this paper focuses on defining personal and political reasons for undertaking research within the gay and lesbian community. Emphasis is placed on looking at the role of the self-as- researcher in the total investigative endeavor: from initial question formulation to "data" interpretation and conclusions. Seeking to raise more questions than answers, this paper forwards a conception of qualitative research that remains true to both the researcher and the researched.
V. Gadsden
Cultural Messages about Learning: Narrowing the Divide between Researcher and Researched
Key Words: methodologies, cultural messages
Abstract: How messages are constructed and conveyed--as intellectual inquiry into different cultural communities (e.g., African American and Latino), various units (e.g., the family), and defined settings (e.g., research)--expands the discourse of, about, and between the researcher and the researched.
L. Grant
Gender, Feminism and Qualitative Methods: Cutting through some of the Underbrush
Key Words: qualitative methods, gender research
Abstract:The increased popularity of qualitative methods has paralleled and increase of women in academics, inspiring considerable interdisciplinary debate across disciplines about whether there are fundamental links between gender, feminism, and social scientific methods. I consider diverse perspectives on these issues and the implications of each for research and application. I conclude with a personal perspective on the integration of feminism into social scientific research, which is intended as a starting point for a dialogue about these linkages.
M. Hauser
T. Schram
P. Wilson
S. Wilson
Joint Explorations of Self and Culture: A Conversation about Cultural Therapy
Key Words: cultural therapy, self exploration
Abstract: The model of "cultural therapy" advanced by George and Louise Spindler has gained increased attention as an orientation for understanding and mediating cultural processes in ethnically diverse classrooms. In this paper we will discuss our separate applications of the model, with particular attention directed to issues of multiculturalism and concepts centering on the self and its adaptations to academic success and failure.
C. Langone
Diverse Voices: A Community Leadership Context
Key Words: community leadership, program evaluation
Abstract: Through community leadership education programs, Georgia communities have developed a cadre of local leaders from diverse backgrounds and interests. Qualitative methods were used to document program impact which shows that these individuals have become involved in effective local decision making and action.
G. Lombard
R. Lombard
Acquiring Voice: The Role of a Peer Reviewer in an Investigation of Prenatal Care for a Young African-American
Key Words: peer reviewer, medical education
Abstract: An exploration of the role played by a peer reviewer during a naturalistic investigation of the manner in which a young African-American encounters the delivery of prenatal care in an urban setting. Interview data from both the medical student investigator, the peer reviewer, and the research director are analyzed in order to discover how peer reviewers help investigators find voice.
H. Mendez-Berrueta
Condition-action Rules as a Methodological Tool for the Analysis of Clinical Interviews Conducted to Investigate Scientific Misconceptions
Key Words: condition-action rules, scientific misconceptions
Abstract: The reliability of clinical interviews conducted in the investigation of scientific misconceptions can be increased if the researcher summarizes transcriptions of verbal reports in condition-action rules. The specification of these condition- action rules allow other researchers to check informant's mental model internal and external reliability.
S. Merriam
"What can you tell from an N of 1?": Issues of Validity and Reliability in Qualitative Research
Key Words: validity, reliability
Abstract: This paper deals with the issues of validity and reliability in qualitative research. Philosophical assumptions underlying concepts of internal validity, reliability, and external validity or generalizability will be discussed, along with the strategies for insuring for rigor and trustworthiness of findings in qualitative research.
N. Presmeg
Mathematics in Multicultural Classrooms
Key Words: multiculture, mathematics
Abstract: This paper describes a qualitative research project in a multicultural school in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The research is used to illustrate issues and principles of relevance in the learning of mathematics in multicultural classrooms everywhere. The study illustrates some of the advantages of cultural diversity in a mathematics classroom.
R. Taylor
Increasing Public Awareness: A Community Action Group Case Study
Key Words: community action, citizen participation
Abstract: A study of how advocacy/community action groups create awareness of an issue, by attracting the attention of the extended community, and creating learning situations through which the general public in the area become knowledgeable about the issue. This study investigates the role played by informal, incidental and unintentional learning in the extended community and the means by which this is intentionally achieved by the action/advocacy group.
H. Trueba
The Ethnography of Cultural Diversity: Class, Race and Ethnicity in the Fabric of American Democracy
Key Words: minority groups, epistemological struggles
Abstract: This paper will focus on three interrelated issues: (1) the role of ethnographic research on minority groups around the world, especially in Europe, the former Soviet Union and China, and its implications for Western democracies; (2) the current epistemological struggles in ethnographic research across nations: grounded research versus deconstructionism, ethnohistorical reconstruction of "cultures" with a keen sense for equity issues affecting women and minorities, and (3) some projections on the critical importance of ethnographic research after the year 2000, especially in the study of behavior in the social sciences.
J. West
P. Oldfather
"We Do Good Stuff Together": A Comparison of Primary and Intermediate Students' Perceptions of Group Endeavors
Key Words: collaboration, student perceptions
Abstract: In non-traditional format, the researchers create a conversation among students from two classrooms. The conversation will be constructed from the students' own words in research interviews.
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