Understanding, Designing and Conducting Qualitative Research in Education : Framing the Project

by Schostak, John F.

• ISBN13: 9780335205097
• ISBN10: 0335205097
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-01-01
• Publisher: Open University Press

Summary

How do I get my research off the ground and ensure that it is 'new', 'novel' and 'important'? How do I make sense of data, build theories and write a compelling thesis? How can my research bring about change? This book is more than an introduction to doing research - it helps readers identify what is new and important about their project, how their research relates to previous work and how it may be used to bring about change at individual, community, national or even international levels. A total strategy is offered focussing on the notion of the 'project' as an organising framework that ensures that the methods chosen are appropriate to the subject and aim of the study. The intention throughout is to help readers move from being able to apply methods to being able to interrogate the theoretical underpinnings of particular perspectives so that they can feel confident about the particular kinds of knowledge claim they are making. The book is important reading for students at Masters and doctoral level and will be particularly helpful for professionals from education, health, social work, criminal justice and business who carry out research in their workplace and who need to reflect upon the consequences and possibilities for action and change.

Author Biography

John Schostak is Professor and Director of the Centre for Applied Research in Education, University of East Anglia. He has been involved in around 40 funded projects involving ethnographies, evaluations and case studies of a range of organizations and professions from schooling, to journalism, to healthcare, to policing, to business and information technology.

Table of Contents

List of figures	vi
Introduction	1	(9)
Finding bearings	10	(26)
Subjects: choices and consequences	36	(27)
The Other: its objects and objectivity	63	(29)
Handling complexity and uncertainty	92	(24)
Sense and nonsense - braving the postmodern, broaching the novel	116	(18)
Being shy of the truth	134	(18)
Framing texts and evidence: con/texts, intertextuality and rhetoric	152	(21)
Framing ethics and political issues	173	(19)
Framing ethical actions	192	(20)
Writing it	212	(19)
Conclusion	231	(2)
Notes	233	(3)
References	236	(9)
Index	245