Qualitative Inquiry
Masters Courses
Ed P&L 798: Qualitative Research for Educators
This course provides an introduction to qualitative research at the Master level. The course seeks to introduce students to several aspects of contemporary qualitative inquiry in education, including:
- Its origins, founding assumptions, and intellectual history;
- a multiple cultural contexts of classrooms, schools, and communities; and
- the broad and practical issues involved in conducting qualitative research in the field, including theoretical orientation, research design, methods of data collection and analysis, research ethics, and writing research reports; and
- the unique challenges and contributions offered by action research. Students will practice several field method techniques as a central component of the course.
Please contact Dr. Macbeth for further information.
Ed. P&L 890: Action Research to Understand and Improve Educational Practices
Action research is a process where teachers identify a problem about their practice they want to understand or improve, collect information about it, analyze their data, and identify its implications for their practice. In other words, it is research done to improve or understand one's own practice. It can be done alone or in groups, and can involve several cycles. The purposes of this course are to teach about the nature of action research, to introduce research design, methods of data collection and analysis, and how to draw implications from those for one's own practice. Action research is a form of professional self-development through determining a focus, data collection, reflection, and altering plans on the basis of the findings.