Qualitative Research in Education Explorations in Ethnography Series Series Editors: Stephen J.Ball (King’s College, London) and Ivor Goodson (University of Western Ontario). In the past fifteen years qualitative research has had a thorough-going and controversial impact on the field of educational research, both generally and specifically. That is to say, qualitative approaches have colonised, or have been colonised by, almost all theoretical varieties of educational research. Such variation and varigation is evidenced and documented in this volume. But this kind of enthusiastic development and take up has its dangers and problems. The potential of qualitative methods can be blunted or distorted by the cavalier abandonment of first principles or disregard for techniques or rigour. In this collection of papers a careful and systematic review is provided of the current possibilities and necessities of good qualitative research. It is an important contribution to the mature phase development of qualitative methods in educational research. Stephen J.Ball King’s College London Series Editor Explorations in Ethnography Series Qualitative Research in Education: Focus and Methods Edited by Robert R.Sherman Rodman B.Webb London and New York UK RoutledgeFalmer, 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE USA RoutledgeFalmer, 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © Selection and editorial material copyright R.R.Sherman and R.B.Webb All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or other wise, without permission in writing from the Publisher. First published 1988 by Falmer Press RoutledgeFalmer is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Qualitative research in education: focus and methods. 1. Education. Research. Qualitative methods I. Sherman, Robert R. II. Webb, Rodman B. 370′.7′8 ISBN 0-203-64599-5 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-67763-3 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 1-85000-380-7 (Print Edition) ISBN 1-85000-381-5 Pbk Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sherman, Robert R., 1930– Qualitative research in education. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Education—Research. 2. Education—Research— Methodology. I. Webb, Rodman B., 1941– II.Title. LB1028.S455 1988 370′.7′8 88–3922 ISBN 1-85000-380-7 ISBN 1-85000-381-5 (pbk.) Jacket design by Caroline Archer For Lindsey and Laurie—and Joy To see a world in a grain of sand; and heaven in a flower. Blake, ‘Auguries of Innocence’ Contents Foreword and Acknowledgments ix Part I Frame of Reference 1 1 Qualitative Research in Education: A Focus 2 Robert R.Sherman and Rodman B.Webb 2 Qualitative Inquiry in Philosophy and Education: Notes on 21 the Pragmatic Tradition James M.Giarelli Part II Methods 27 3 Philosophy of Education As Qualitative Inquiry 28 James M.Giarelli and J.J.Chambliss 4 Our Past and Present: Historical Inquiry in Education 42 C.H.Edson 5 Inside Lives: The Quality of Biography 57 Jack K.Campbell 6 Anthroethnography: A Methodological Consideration 74 Nobuo Shimahara 7 Educational Ethnography in Britain 88 Peter Woods 8 Putting Life Into Educational Research 108 Ivor Goodson and Rob Walker 9 Education and Grounded Theory 122 Sally Hutchinson 10 Phenomenography: A Research Approach to Investigating 140 Different Understandings of Reality Ference Marton 11 An Introduction to Curriculum Criticism 161 Dorene Doerre Ross viii 12 Qualitative Research and the Uses of Literature 174 Maxine Greene 13 Critical Theory and the Politics of Culture and Voice: 189 Rethinking the Discourse of Educational Research Henry A.Giroux Subject Index 210 Index of Names 213 Foreword and Acknowledgments With two exceptions—‘lnside Lives: The Quality of Biography’ and ‘Putting Life into Educational Research’—the papers that appear in this collection are reprinted from the Journal of Thought, Volume 19, Number 2 (Summer, 1984), pp. 24–29 (‘Qualitative Research: A Theme Issue’); and Volume 21, Number 3 (Fall, 1986), entire issue (‘Qualitative Research: A Special Topic Edition’). They are reprinted with the permission of the authors and the Editor of Journal of Thought. We express our appreciation to Dr Chipman G.Stuart, the Editor, for the opportunity first to publish our views and then for permission to republish them. Dr Stuart has shown that editing a journal is more than a service; it is a distinct contribution to research. Our thanks also to Dr Samuel D.Andrews, our colleague in Foundations of Education at the University of Florida, who helped in preparing the first issue of Journal of Thought. We wish to thank Falmer Press Limited, Mr Malcolm W.Clarkson, Managing Director; and Dr Ivor G.Goodson, member of the Board of Directors, for arranging to have the papers republished. Because they have gone out of print in their previous form, their republication makes them available for continued use by students and others interested in qualitative research. We also appreciate the authors’ willingness to have their ideas exposed to a wider audience. Our aim with this collection is to clarify and explain some of the different approaches and methods by which ‘qualitative’ research in education is being conducted and to develop a sense of what is meant by the term ‘qualitative’. It is not our view that qualitative research is an alternative, or an antagonist, to quantitative research. We want any research to be rigorous and productive. The contributors explain how that can be accomplished with various kinds of qualitative methods. Our aim also is to provoke discussion and further elaboration of the issues and methods that are represented, so we have taken x seriously the matter of citing documentation and giving references for further reading. A word about the title of the collection. We think it is important to stress the idea of a unity among the methods. There appears to be a general or generic idea of qualitative research that is in the background of all the contributions. But to avoid reductionism or debate over ‘unified science’, we emphasize unity of ‘focus’. The several methods appear to have a similar focus. ‘Focus’ should be enough to give the sense of what is meant by ‘the qualitative’ and how qualitative methods are related. The quest for understanding is never finished. Other qualitative methods may be formulated, particularly combinations of methods, and their use in educational research will need to be demonstrated. What we offer here is a beginning. We trust that our students and colleagues will go well beyond what we have imagined. Robert R.Sherman Rodman B.Webb Gainesville, Florida, USA Part I Frame of Reference Chapter 1 Qualitative Research in Education: A Focus Robert R.Sherman and Rodman B.Webb Foundations of Education University of Florida Gainesville, FL 32611 Qualitative research in education has come into vogue. As the song used to say, ‘everybody’s doing it’. Yet onlookers, especially students, may not see clearly what is being done and why. We need a systematic discussion of the nature, presuppositions, origins, functions, and limitations of qualitative research; the commonality—if any—among its several methods; and its relation to quantitative research. Aim and Method The aim of the present essays is to explain the nature and use of qualitative research methods in education. We have asked scholars who work in areas and use methods commonly thought to be ‘qualitative’ to describe the methods and results specific to their interests and styles of inquiry. We present essays in the areas of philosophy of education, history, biography, ethnography, life history, grounded theory, phenomenography, curriculum criticism, the uses of literature in qualitative research, and critical theory. We have asked the essayists to address the following concerns: 1 What is the meaning of ‘qualitative’? In what respects and manner is your method and/or area of inquiry qualitative? 2 Are there qualitative ‘schools’ within the area? That is, sort out the qualitative activities within the area and define the qualitative similarities and differences within the area. 3 Elaborate the qualitative method and show its use through examples. While the aim is not to present a cookbook method, the introduction to qualitative methodology within the area should be explicit enough to enable students to become familiar with it and to build on it. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN EDUCATION 3 4 Though the essays are not intended to be a review of the literature about qualitative research and methods, but rather an introduction to what those methods are and how they apply in educational settings, the essays should provide citations to work that has been done so that students may build on them. 5 Suggest a reading list (which may double as a reference list). It should contain citations to qualitative methodology, pertinent to the area being covered, and specific examples where that method is employed. The essays in this collection follow these guidelines rather well. J.Giarelli and J.J.Chambliss explain, from the perspective of philosophy of education, the evolution of the concern with qualitativeness and the role of philosophy of education in qualitative inquiry. C.H.Edson argues that qualitative inquiry is a form of ‘moral discourse’, an attempt to ‘understand ourselves in relation to the larger world’. That larger world includes both the past and the present, and historical study is a way to reveal the relation. Further, making history personal, J.Campbell argues that the ‘new qualitative force’ is grounded in biography, getting support from the phenomenologist A.Schutz, who believed that the ‘biographic situation’ is the basic unit of human understanding.