Ten new student affairs professionals participated in this longitudinal study of their first year on the job. This qualitative study used online data collection. Participants submitted monthly responses to open-ended prompts inquiring about their experiences, challenges, and surprises. Over three time phases (Pre-Employment and Orientation,…

In Chile, teaching is in a period of transition between occupation and profession. To examine teachers' perceptions of their profession, the author conducted a qualitative, phenomenological investigation. He interviewed twenty-seven history and social science teachers employed at urban secondary schools in Chile. He found that teachers believe…

Understanding human activity in real-world situations often involves complicated data collection, analysis, and presentation methods. This article discusses how Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) can inform design-based research practices that focus on understanding activity in real-world situations. I provide a sample data set with…

Qualitative methods can do much to describe context and illuminate the why behind patterns encountered in institutional assessment. Alone, or in combination with quantitative methods, they should be the approach of choice for many of the most important assessment questions. (Contains 1 table.)

This article explores the various ways in which recent Vietnamese immigrant students form cultural and gender identities as they transition to U.S. schooling. Using data from a 2-year qualitative study that tracked the social and academic adjustment processes of recent Vietnamese immigrant youth, this article examines the tensions that students…

University graduate-level programs are striving to address needs for community college leaders. One way they are doing this is by strengthening their graduate programs with relevant community college courses. Increasingly, however, community college presidents are being invited to join universities in professorial roles. These new graduate faculty…

This article aims to contribute to the debate of how theoretical concepts can be operationalised when researching educational issues. Specifically, it examines the application of the concepts of social and cultural capital in empirical research seeking to provide explanations for educational processes relating to post-secondary school choice…

This article presents the results of research into the relationships between lessons on the primary instrument and individual practice in conservatoire education. Six cases were extensively investigated through observation, questionnaires, logbooks, and interviews. Regarding the lessons on the primary instrument, we examined aims, topics,…

Approximately 650,000 individuals will be released from incarceration in state and federal prisons this year. However, little is known about the challenges ex-offenders face when they endeavor to reenter the workforce. The authors used consensual qualitative research methods to analyze data from 2 focus groups: one for male (n=6) and another for…

Between the 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census several Southeastern states, largely void of a permanent Latino population prior to 1990, witnessed significantly large increases in the number of Latina/o residents, particularly in rural communities. This study was designed to ascertain the impressions of non-Latina/o teachers and school counselors working…

This paper reports the findings of a qualitative case study of the benefits for teachers undertaking the role of mentor/supervisor in pre-service teacher education programmes. The research has a particular focus on school-based teacher educators working in rural and/or isolated communities and uncovers the role of reflection associated with…

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of formulaic writing such as the five-paragraph theme (FPT) or essay for the purpose of earning high scores on high-stakes writing assessments. This qualitative descriptive study analyzed more than 1000 essays from Delaware Grade 8 and 10 writers, written for a statewide…

Animations of molecular structure and dynamics are often used to help students understand the abstract ideas of chemistry. This qualitative study investigated how the features of two different styles of molecular-level animation affected students' explanations of how sodium chloride dissolves in water. In small group sessions 18 college-level…

This paper presents findings from a qualitative study that compared the learning experiences of a group of students from a technology-based college-level introductory statistics course with the learning experiences of a group of students with non-technology-based instruction. Findings from the study indicate differences with regards to classroom…

One of the most prevalent visual impairments of people aged 60 and older is age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which ranks third globally as a cause of visual impairment (World Health Organization, 2006). The purpose of this study was to conduct a tentative subjective assessment of eccentric viewing by persons with AMD. The authors recruited…