Argues that an adolescent's bedroom is an important site for the everyday work of creating identities and that what the authors have come to call "room culture" is both a theoretical perspective and a valuable research strategy. Describes research carried out over the past five years in which the authors have pursued this line of…

It is argued that a clear vision of the role of qualitative methods in educational research is needed. A series of six guidelines to chart that vision is presented, and the notion of research genres within a postmodern framework is used to reconcile the differences between qualitative and quantitative research. (SLD)

Analyzes women (n=6) whose husbands reside in nursing homes, determining the extent to which these women perceive themselves as married. Some women perceive no existing couplehood with their institutionalized husbands, while others perceive low to high couplehood. Offers implications of such a typology for researchers, clinicians, and…

Uses qualitative content analysis to discuss current perspectives in technical communication pedagogy. Examines the 1990-94 issues of 5 major scholarly journals--totaling 563 articles--to identify 98 articles mentioning teaching in undergraduate technical communication courses. Classifies the articles into four pedagogical perspectives: (1)…

Twenty heterosexual married female and male feminists were interviewed and asked to describe the influence of feminism on their marriage. Couples reported practicing vigilance, which entails a critique of gender injustices, public acts of equality, support of wives' activities, reflective assessment, and emotional involvement. (JPS)

The definition, importance, conceptual basis, and functional nature of content validity are explored, with an emphasis on psychological assessment in clinical situations. Conditional and dynamic aspects and multiple elements of content validity are discussed, and quantitative and qualitative methods of content validation are reviewed. (SLD)

A life history approach can give better understanding of adult motivation to participate in education than quantitative surveys can. Interviews with 30 adults entering higher education illustrate the technique but also raise methodological questions about this form of research. (SK)

Challenges many of the specific ideas and actions discussed in J. Myers's "The Social Contexts of School and Personal Literacy," published in this journal (volume 27, pages 297-333). Argues that the investigator appeared to be the sole source through all analyses, many assumptions were either internally of externally inconsistent, and the effects…

Responds to T. Anderson and C. West's article in the same issue (which criticized the methodological foundations of an earlier article by the current author). Discusses epistemological assumptions of the Anderson and West article. Addresses the nature of meaning and interpretation. Discusses Anderson and West's deterministic assumptions. (RS)

Describes a citation analysis that was performed to explore the extent and nature of the contributions of linguistic theory to information science research from 1950 to 1984. Quantitative and qualitative assessments are discussed, hypotheses tested are described, and recent developments in linguistic theory are addressed. (38 references) (LRW)

The field of gifted education lags behind other veins of educational research in utilization of the array of available research approaches. The dominance of the positivistic model is evidenced in realizing that all other research approaches (constructivism, critical theory, qualitative approaches) account for less than one-third of total research…

Conducted qualitative analysis of important change event in family therapy: sustaining engagement (SE). Examined videotapes of 33 sessions to develop and refine operational definitions of "disengagement" and "sustained engagement." Conducted qualitative comparison of interpersonal dynamics in four successful versus four…

Eight clients participated in interpersonal process recall interviews to review therapy sessions in which they explored problematic reactions. Grounded theory analysis of reports resulted in model of cognitive-affective operations characterizing clients' internal processes during sessions. Model's main categories were client operations and session…

The new concept of research on teaching includes such methods as storytelling, narrative, and autobiography, relies on language and dialog, and affirms the centrality and wisdom of teachers. Teachers are able to express their views in their own language, and their knowledge and expertise are respected. (SK)

Useful reference material and a list of professional associations are provided for the institutional researcher interested in qualitative research. (MSE)