Methodologist. Methodologist. Methodologist. Methodologist. Saying a word enough times in rapid-fire succession can make it lose its meaning. Your focus shifts from understanding of the word and its multiple signifiers, to the sounds you make when you say it, the movement of your lips and the shape of your mouth, the touch of your tongue on your…

Advice on case selection in small-"N" research emphasizes controlling for confounding variables to facilitate inferential tests of a cross-case pattern. Yet many researchers embrace the "mechanismic worldview" and aim to construct explanations. Explanations differ from inferences because one explains an outcome at the…

Purpose: This article outlines the experience of conducting Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis research into the chronic illness of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, an incurable condition of the gastro-intestinal tract which results in numerous physically and psychologically symptoms that are difficult to live with, by a researcher who shares the…

In his detailed response to our paper on sample size in qualitative research, Norman Blaikie raises important issues concerning conceptual definitions and taxonomy. In particular, he points out the problems associated with a loose, generic application of adjectives such as 'qualitative' or 'inductive'. We endorse this concern, though we suggest…

We appreciate Barry Cooper and Judith Glaesser's (henceforth CG) energy and effort put into reflecting on parts of our proposals laid out in "Set-theoretic Methods for the Social Sciences" (2012). We use our response to explain what enhanced standard analysis (ESA) is meant to achieve and what not, an issue about which CG hold erroneous…

This article is a response to a qualitative study that examined how the indigenous African notion of "ubuntu" informs how some school teachers in a Black township in South Africa conceptualize Western-oriented narratives of democracy. While the study acknowledges important differences in how ubuntu is understood and defined, the author…

Within this "Adult Education Quarterly" ("AEQ") forum, the authors call for a dialogue and examination of research methods in the field of adult and continuing education. Using the article by Boeren as a starting point, the authors analyze both qualitative and quantitative research trends and advocate for more methodological…

In a recent contribution to "Sociological Methods & Research," Baumgartner and Epple (B&E) employ Coincidence Analysis (CNA) to explain the outcome of the vote on the Swiss minaret initiative of 2009. Although the authors also present a substantive argument, their principal objective is to prove the superiority of CNA over…

A recent collaboration between the professional organization of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO), with support from research partner Hobsons, resulted in a November 2016 report which seeks to examine college perceptions of dual enrollment as an enrollment management initiative. According to AACRAO,…

In this short essay, I explore in a narrative style the following question: do narrative analyses of sport and exercise need to engage more fully with social theory in order to become more forceful in their arguments? More specifically, to have real impact, and to achieve what we are especially trained to do as qualitative social scientists,…

Four studies into characteristics and instructional needs of students with learning disabilities are summarized in this article. These studies are also reviewed in the wider context of mathematics intervention research in special education. These studies generally rely on qualitative methodology, and they are best understood in light of a…

The article argues for the participation and involvement of students in developing learning spaces within higher education. In early childhood education there is a strong emphasis upon rights, democracy and planning learning through listening to young children. Taking inspiration from this, the study explores the use of participatory approaches in…

Ralph LaRossa (2012) did a fine job of identifying three issues that authors of qualitative submissions to the "Journal of Marriage and Family" ("JMF") should take into account because reviewers are likely to attend to them. His intention was to assist communication between authors and reviewers in order to "increase the representation of…

This article addresses the "state of qualitative inquiry" in the sense of how that inquiry is being positioned in the current construction of a US national policy agenda for "scientifically based" education research. In the author's view, qualitative inquiry is being drowned out in the national agenda despite its ability to…

The state of qualitative research in education is addressed in this paper in terms of three categories of scientific inquiry (following Heap, 1992) and the varying place and function of qualitative work in each of these categories. The argument is put that one of these categories of inquiry, specifically cultural human sciences, offers the…