2007

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN SOCIAL STUDIES EDUCATION

Judith Preissle-Goetz

UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA

Margaret Diane LeCompte

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, BOULDER

In 1970, one of us, then a classroom teacher not yet dreaming she would become an

educational researcher, struggled with the problem of how to design a study investigating

children's reactions to the value clarification lessons she was using. For guidance, her advisor

handed her a copy of Campbell and Stanleys Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for

Research (1963). She used a pretest-posttest control group design to produce a mediocre

investigation with ambiguous results. This enabled her to finish a master's degree, but left both

her and her thesis committee members with nagging questions about what had happened and

why. Fortunately, the days of such rigidity of design in educational research have ended.

1970

Experimental and

Quasi-Experimental Designs

Introductory research textbooks once discussed only experimental, quasi-experimental, and

survey designs. Now such books include simulation research, standardized observation,

historical research, case study investigation, conceptual re search, ethnography, and other

permutations of qualitative design (eg, Borg & Gall, 1989). In the past 20 years, approaches to

research design have diversified. Scholars who once felt compelled to use conventional

quantitative designs now use as criteria for choice of design their own research purposes and

questions. More scholars have pursued years-long investigations in various substantive areas: in

so doing, they have raised new questions and concerns.

ethnography Borg

Gall1989

Our goal is to examine how one variety of research design-popularly referred to as

qualitative investigation— is being and can be applied to social studies education. What is

qualitative research? How is qualitative research different from and similar to quantitative

research? What is involved in apply ing qualitative research to social studies teaching and

learning? We intend our discussion to illustrate how qualitative design modes offer a fruitful

perspective on the significant issues and problems raised in social studies education.

WHAT IS QUALITATIVE RESEARCH?

Qualitative research is a loosely defined category of research designs or models (Goetz &

LeCompte, 1984), all of which elicit verbal, visual, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory data. These

data take the form of descriptive narratives like field notes, recordings or other transcriptions

from audio- and videotapes, and other written records, as well as pictures or films. Qualitative

researchers also may collect artifacts—products or things people use—such as objects people

make and records of what they do, say, produce, or write.

Goetz

LeCompte1984

Qualitative research is based on and grounded in descrip tions of observations. These

descriptions address the question, "What is happening here?" Most qualitative research designs

are intended to address this question. It can be asked about anything—ordinary occurrences,

extraordinary events, or circumstances puzzling to an investigator.

Some methodologists object to the name qualitative research. They believe it to be

imprecise, misleading, and imply ing a lack of concern with quantity. Among the synonyms used

are interpretive research (Erickson, 1986), naturalistic research (Lincoln & Guba, 1985),

phenomenological research (Wilson, 1977), and descriptive research (Wolcott, 1980).

Erickson1986LincolnGuba1985Wilson1977

Wolcot1980

Each of these labels emphasizes a characteristic of much qualitative research. Erickson's

preference for the term interpretive focuses investigation on meaning, highlighting the premise

that human activity can only be understood when the meaning of the action to the actor is

taken into account. Lincoln and Guba use the term naturalistic because it indicates a concern for

studying human life as it proceeds unaffected by the scientists interested in studying it. Like

Erickson, Lincoln and Guba are interested in understanding human phenomena from the

perspective of the human participants who produce them.

LincolnGuba

The same quality is conveyed by the label phenomenologicat research, a philosophical

stance whose adherents assert that knowledge, reality, and value can only be known through

human experience (Giorgi, 1971). They focus on the concrete and specific characteristics of

phenomena as experienced by the human observer. Adequately representing the phenomena

requires that they be faithfully described just as they were experienced.

Giorgi1971