Hi all.
I found this relevant review on NETWORKS, the new on-line journal for
teacher research, at:
http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/~ctd/networks/
Network - 
Book Review

      by Catherine Compton-Lilly



      Catherine Compton-Lilly is a Grade 1 Teacher in the Rochester City
      School District.



      Creswell, John. (1997). Qualitative inquiry and research design:
      Choosing among five traditions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
      Publications.

      403 pp. US$28.95 (paperback).

       

      "So, You Want to Do Some Research..."

      You've got a great question, or you're teaching the most amazing
      group of children, or you're trying something new in your
classroom
      that really seems to be working and you're thinking that this
latest
      passion would become a great research project. Your enthusiasm is
      obvious as you talk with colleagues, but now that you have a
vision,
      fear begins to set in. What do you do next?

      As a teacher who has experimented with classroom research, I know
      that "doing research" can seem overwhelming. If you're like me,
you
      took a research methodology course back in college which focused
on
      deciphering quantitative studies and learning seemingly endless
lists of
      terms like validity, sample, and verification. Now you may be
involved
      in a teacher research group affiliated with a local college that
meets
      monthly to discuss how people's research projects are progressing.
      However, that doesn't seem to be adequate to equip you for the
      research task.

      A book that I find particularly helpful is Qualitative Inquiry and
      Research Design: Choosing Among Five Traditions by John Creswell.
      Although this book is not written specifically for
teacher-researchers
      or even educators, both novice and experienced teacher-researchers
      will find this book useful. In his book, Creswell has identified
five
      traditions of qualitative research which he compares and contrasts
      throughout the book. The book is full of engaging examples and
      specific suggestions tailored to each of the five research
traditions.

      The five traditions examined in this book are biography,
      phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, and case study. While
      some of these traditions may be more useful and practical to
teacher
      researchers than others, Creswell's comparison of five traditions
      clarifies the purposes of each research tradition and examines
each
      research tradition in terms of what it is and what it is not.
While
      Creswell explains that different research traditions can be
combined
      within a particular study, helping researchers to identify the
primary
      tradition in which they are working can help to clarify the
parameters
      of the study and focus the researcher on the purpose of her/his
      project.

      To illustrate the potential value of this book, let's imagine that
I am a
      teacher-researcher who is very interested in what parents and
students
      believe and understand about learning to read. I read through
Chapter
      One which introduces the purpose and rationale of the book and
      Chapter Two which introduces and describes qualitative research in
      general. These chapters provide me with a general understanding of
      the methods and purposes of qualitative research. In Chapters
Three
      and Four I am introduced to the five traditions of qualitative
research. I
      read through each of these and consider which tradition best fits
the
      work that I envision. I decide to do a grounded theory study since
I
      am interested in generating a theory that explains and explores
parents
      and student conceptions about reading.

      Of course being relatively inexperienced I have no more idea about
      how to start a grounded theory study than I did about how to start
a
      teacher research project. So I read on. In Chapter Five I have an
      opportunity to think about various philosophical assumptions that
      underlie qualitative research and consider various ideological
      perspectives. Although the ideological perspectives include
complex
      and rather intimidating topics such as postmodernism, critical
theory
      and feminist approaches, Creswell's introduction provides the
reader
      with a general background of each ideological perspective and
      succinctly outlines distinctive aspects of each approach. For
readers
      who want to further explore these ideological perspectives
      recommendations for further reading are included.

      Then it's on to Chapter Six that guides the reader through
introducing
      and focusing their study. And finally I arrive at the chapter on
data
      collection. In all sections of the book, both general comments
about
      qualitative research and comments specific to grounded theory are
      provided. After reading this section I put the book aside for a
while. I
      have an idea of the type of study I plan to complete, some
theoretical
      issues that I may want to explore, a sense of how the study will
be
      focused, and some idea on the types of data I will be collecting.
I
      begin to collect data.

      After a month or so, as my piles and files continue to grow, I
begin to
      wonder about what I am going to do with all this stuff. So I again
start
      reading beginning with Chapter Eight on data analysis. I continue
to
      think about analysis as I transcribe taped interviews and collect
more
      data moving back and forth between preliminary analysis and data
      collection. I continue with analysis after all the data is
collected and
      read the concluding chapters on writing up the research and
evaluating
      my own work.

      By now I am skipping around and reading primarily the sections of
the
      book that relate specifically to grounded theory and skimming
those
      that are less relevant. In addition, I consulted one of the many
books
      Creswell recommends that focuses specifically on grounded theory
for
      further information. I have also found the appendixes helpful. In
these
      appendixes the author has presented an example of a research
article
      in each of the five traditions.

      Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five
      Traditions is a clearly written book. It presents information in
ways
      that are both informative and reassuring to the busy
      teacher-researcher. I highly recommend this book to anyone ready
to
      explore their own compelling question.

I have placed this file on in our files archive entitled:
Review-Qualitative-Research
To download the file send a message to mailbase with only the following
message in the main body of the text.
get ethnography-in-education review-qualitative-research 

Bob



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