Researching Your Professional Practice : Doing Interpretive Research

by Radnor, Hilary A.

• ISBN13: 9780335207633
• ISBN10: 0335207634
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-01-01
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill

Summary

* What is interpretive research? * How do you approach doing interpretive research? * How do you do interpretive research well? This book is for the professional educator who wants to make use of good interpretive research practice to help them do their job better. A view on the nature of interpretation within the qualitative approach is presented which leads on to a model of doing qualitative research the interpretive way that is both credible and trustworthy. The book is designed to demystify the interpretive/qualitative research process for educators doing a further degree at masters or doctoral level. Examples in the book from doctoral students who are teachers, lecturers, advisers and education managers, cover the area of arts education, TEFL, home-school relations and teacher education and development. The book will be of particular interest to educators doing research who want to raise their awareness of the perceptions and needs of others with whom and for whom they are responsible and who want to improve their understanding of the process and the content of their work.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Part 1 Understanding interpretive research	1	(26)
A perspective on interpretive research	3	(14)
What is interpretivism?	4	(1)
The social theory of action	4	(1)
Symbolic interactionism	5	(3)
Sociological phenomenology	8	(3)
The social construction of reality	11	(1)
The intellectual tradition of hermeneutics	12	(1)
The hermeneutic interpretation of understanding	12	(2)
The role of language	14	(2)
Concluding thoughts	16	(1)
Personal approach to interpretivism	17	(10)
My theoretical approach to researching education	17	(3)
Epistemological implications	20	(2)
Methodological implications	22	(3)
Concluding thoughts	25	(2)
Part 2 Undertaking interpretive research	27	(66)
Approaching practice	29	(19)
Principles of researcher practice	30	(6)
Research design	36	(2)
Trust in data collection and analysis	38	(2)
Validity of interpretation	40	(1)
Example 1: Assessing achievement in the arts	41	(3)
Example 2: Local education authorities: accountability and control	44	(3)
Concluding thoughts	47	(1)
Key questions	47	(1)
Watch, listen, ask, record	48	(20)
Watch, listen, record: observation	48	(3)
Example 1 Greta's classroom observation of student teachers during their teaching practice	51	(2)
Example 2 Amany's classroom observation of student teachers' professional studies lectures at their university in Egypt	53	(2)
Example 3 Jean's account of data collecting through observation of a group in action	55	(4)
Ask, listen, record: interviewing	59	(5)
Example of the author's data collecting practice	64	(4)
Analysis and interpretation	68	(25)
Analysis technique using a semi-structured qualitative interview	69	(2)
A step-by-step guide to analysis	71	(19)
Concluding thoughts	90	(3)
Part 3 Describing interpretive research	93	(28)
Researching your professional practice	95	(26)
Reading the conversation	95	(2)
Tutorial conversation between James (research student) and Hilary (supervisor)	97	(22)
Endnote	119	(2)
References	121	(4)
Index	125