Describes chemical education research conducted in classrooms using a qualitative methodology. The researcher studies interactions between learners, the teacher leading the instruction, and the material being studied in hopes of better understanding where learning occurs. This is diametrically opposed to standard experimental research, being…

Summarizes a qualitative study that identified four predominant dimensions of reculturing processes in two southeastern U.S. school districts, based on practitioners' observations. Reculturing dimensions included reflecting on and questioning past and present practice; participating in comprehensive, continuous, and purposeful development…

Analysis of semistructured interviews with 10 parents concerning their views on physical punishment found parental confusion and contradiction. Four categories of justification for physical punishment were identified: pedagogic (educational), cathartic (need relief), individualistic (power assertion), and cyclical (reproduction). The utility of…

Presents a qualitative research study of six successful female college graduates who are legally blind and suggests interventions for maximizing the career potential of female adolescents with visual impairments. (Author/DB)

Summarizes the author's experience using the grounded theory form of qualitative research. Lists the influences which led to adopting the grounded approach, followed by a section on the use of this methodology. Reviews the experience of publishing qualitative research in mainstream journals, and addresses the challenge of teaching students how to…

Identifies similarities between multicultural counseling competencies and the basic assumptions and methodology of qualitative research. Examines how various characteristics shared by these two approaches (i.e., using appropriate strategies and skills) are addressed under aspects of qualitative research, such as selection of the research question…

Discusses aspects of two qualitative studies that focused on: (1) children's interests in comics; and (2) reactions to a home-school comic lending library based in three classrooms over a period of seven weeks. Discusses results from both studies and implications for development of the primary school literacy curriculum. (BT)

States Project SEARCH, a three year qualitative study of special education in U.S. charter schools, revealed a fundamental gap between the individualized, autonomous nature of charter schools and regulated nature of special education. Notes this is complicated by some charter schools' inability to amass fiscal/human capacity to meet individual…

Uses thematic meta-analysis to examine study method, medium and area of focus, theoretical approach, funding source, and time period covered in research articles published in 10 major mass communications journals during the 1980 to 1999 period. Finds that qualitative research methods continued to be much less common than quantitative methods…

Describes a study that used interview data to adapt SERVQUAL, a survey to determine customer perceptions of service quality, to LibQUAL[TM], a Web-based survey to investigate users' perceptions of library service quality. Offers hypotheses regarding how data was categorized as it was. (Author/LRW)

Examines the relationship between professional development characteristics of "healthy" vs. "unhealthy" school districts and student writing achievement. Measures health of 24 school districts using Organizational Health Scale. Analyzes professional development characteristics of high-health and low-health districts. Finds that student writing…

Describes five African American women learners who were participating in a community-based General Education Development program. Argues that a lack of engagement is in part due to the "scripts" of school reading, which they have carried with them into adulthood and which alienate them from the act of reading. (SG)

Examines significant influences that shape the identities of primary-school principals in Ireland to gain insight into the process of identity construction and its relationship to the educational change process. Includes theoretical perspectives, policy context, methodological considerations, and ethos and identity. Concludes that principal…

Two papers respond to an article by P. Atkinson, S. Delamont, and M. Hammersley (1988) critiquing papers by E. Jacob (1987, 1988) on qualitative research traditions. The use of T. Kuhn's concept of "paradigm" and the criticism that the British were not included in the Jacob's study are addressed. (TJH)

The qualitative study evaluated knowledge of and attitudes toward educational research of 14 medical school professors. Analysis of interview data indicated little or no knowledge of past or current educational research even among those professors who thought such research was valuable. (Author/DB)