Studying Your Own School : An Educator's Guide to Qualitative Practitioner Research

by Anderson, Gary; Herr, Kathryn; Nihlen, Ann

• ISBN13: 9780803961142
• ISBN10: 0803961146
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1994-11-01
• Publisher: Corwin Press

Summary

"This book promises to make an important contribution, especially in assisting teachers and others in using research to improve education, both individually and collaboratively." Susan E. Noffke University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Practitioner research is now in the vanguard of educational development. School administrators and teachers are adding valuable information to the pool of knowledge, and these pioneers are increasingly being recognized for their contributions to the profession. In Studying Your Own School, authors Anderson, Herr, and Nihlen describe the theory and methods for conducting "action-oriented," qualitative practitioner research as they guide educators through the research process. They explain how to adapt traditional research methods to the real-life demands of the dynamic and often-unpredictable classroom environment. The authorsa?? experience ranges from years of practice and research in the classroom to university teaching and anthropological studies. This diversity endows Studying Your Own School with all the strengths of a scholarly work and the everyday applicability of a practitionera??s handbook. Enlightening and well-documented, Studying Your Own School discusses how to handle the sensitive "political" issues that all practitioners encounter. Engaging examples of applications illustrate the authorsa?? points throughout the book, and an extensive bibliography provides material for further study. Whether you are studying your own school to improve practice, challenging old models of educational practice, or doing research for a dissertation, Studying Your Own School guides you, step-by-step, through the process.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Susan E. Noffke
Acknowledgments	xiii
Preface	xv
About the Authors	xxiii
What Is Practitioner Research?	1	(8)
Defining Practitioner Research	2	(2)
Working Assumptions	4	(3)
Conclusion	7	(2)
Merging Educational Practice and Research: A New Paradigm	9	(37)
Practitioner Research: History	9	(1)
The Multiple Traditions of Practitioner Research	9	(1)
Beginnings of Practitioner Research	10	(1)
The Action Research Tradition	11	(2)
Action Research in Education	13	(1)
The Teacher-as-Researcher Movement in Great Britain	14	(2)
Participatory Research: The Legacy of Freire	16	(2)
Action Science	18	(1)
The Teacher Researcher Movement in North America	19	(4)
Practitioner Research: From Academic Tradition to Social Movement	23	(4)
Practitioner Research: Epistemology	27	(1)
Is Practitioner Research a ``Valid'' Way of Knowing?	27	(2)
Criteria for ``Validity'' in Practitioner Research	29	(4)
Are the Findings of Practitioner Research Generalizable?	33	(3)
Practitioner Research: Politics	36	(1)
The Politics of Knowledge, Institutional Change, and Professionalism	36	(1)
What Is ``Politics?''	36	(1)
Institutional Micropolitics	37	(3)
The Politics of Redefining Professionalism	40	(2)
The Politics of Educational Knowledge	42	(2)
The Politics of Schooling as a Social Institution	44	(1)
Conclusion	44	(2)
What Does Practitioner Research Look Like?	46	(34)
Research in the Classroom: Monica Richards and the ``Bums'' of 8H	49	(6)
Developing Teacher Voice: Robyn Russell	55	(6)
Students as Coinvestigators in the Research Process: Suzanne SooHoo	61	(5)
Expanding Theory Through Teacher Research: Cindy Ballenger	66	(4)
Group Process in Support of Practitioner Research: The Principals' Group	70	(7)
A Research Seminar for Teachers: The Educators' Forum	77	(2)
Final Thoughts	79	(1)
Empowerment and Practitioner Research: An Example	80	(26)
Getting Started	80	(3)
The Process of Empowerment	83	(2)
Is This Racism?	85	(3)
Responding to Their World	88	(7)
Political and Methodological Implications of Empowerment	95	(1)
The Negotiation of Multiple Roles and Multiple Levels of Reality	96	(4)
Transformation Becomes a Kind of War	100	(1)
Epilogue	101	(1)
Discussion	102	(1)
But Is It Research?	103	(3)
Qualitative Research Approaches for Everyday Realities	106	(65)
Assumptive Modes	108	(6)
The Research Question	114	(1)
Methods	115	(1)
Interviews	115	(14)
Observation	129	(22)
Archives and Documents	151	(2)
Journals and Diaries	153	(2)
Analysis	155	(1)
Ongoing Analysis and Reflection	155	(1)
The Final Analysis	156	(12)
Multiple Methods Studies	168	(1)
Educational Ethnography	168	(1)
Oral History	169	(1)
Case Studies	170	(1)
Toward a New Paradigm	171	(12)
Methodological Adaptations: Practitioners Looking for Appropriate Techniques	176	(2)
Methods That Surface Tacit Knowledge	178	(3)
Working in a Community of Inquiry: Buffering the Isolation	181	(1)
Conclusion	181	(2)
References	183	(16)
Index	199