Expanding Qualitative Researchers’ Worlds: A Review of David Silverman’s Qualitative Research

A collection of 26 chapters dealing with a host of topics in qualitative research (QR) under the scholarly authority of David Silverman, a putative scholar in the field of QR is to focus of my book review. While reading the book chapters I realized how colorful QR had become in recent years and how many methodologies exist today for those of us who are eager to move their research program a step further. Personally, as a qualitative researcher who has used mostly semi-structure interviews in his researches, the book challenged me to think of employing other methodologies because the world in which we live is not only verbal, but also visual, virtual, and manifold. My review attempts to deliver my thoughts and impressions when reading this brilliant collection of qualitative perspectives and methodologies

Building a Typology of Self-Renewal: Reflection Upon-Life Story Research

The current paper provides a researcher\u27s account of the life-story method used in a study which aimed to identify patterns of the self-renewal process among women school principals in mid-career. The subjects of this study were 25 elementary school women principals aged between 43 and 52 in Israel. The paper outlines the practical aspects of the life-story method and contributes to our understanding of the consecutive pragmatic ways to implement a life-story method aimed to explore and develop a typology of a yet unknown phenomenon. Further, the ethical implications of doing life-story interview are discussed and presented

Eleven Pitfalls in Qualitative Research: Some Perils Every Emerging Scholar and Doctoral Student Should Be Aware Of!

The current article analyzes potential pitfalls that each emergent researcher might face during the qualitative research process and illuminates adequate strategies to cope with them effectively. The author\u27s personal and professional experience in supervising doctoral and MA students in their qualitative research and students\u27 own reflections on the pitfalls they have faced are used as resources for this paper. Eleven pitfalls are depicted in this paper, divided into four phases in the research process, beginning from the preparatory phase in which the researcher plans the research program, through data collection and analysis, to the final phase of writing the research report. The paper provides some practical strategies to cope with these pitfalls successfully and effectively

Exploring the Links between Qualitative Inquiry and Global Crises: Some Answers and More Questions

Reading an edited book such as Denzin and Giardina’s 2011 Qualitative Inquiry and Global Crisis that comprises different chapters and authorship patterns may be challenging and evocative, let alone a book that focus on qualitative inquiry in an era of globalization, racism, privatization, and social injustice. To make the journey of reviewing this new book enjoyable, I posed a meaningful guiding question to me: what could a book that links between qualitative inquiry and global crisis contribute to our theoretical and practical knowledge about the qualitative paradigm? The answer is not yes or no but rather manifold; some papers shed light on innovative aspects of qualitative inquiry while others seem to reframe well-known scholarly forms or methods pertaining to the qualitative paradigm

“Qualitative Research as a Public Good”: A Review of Patricia Leavy’s The Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Research

The Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Research offers both a retrospective and prospective view of the field. Its 34 chapters provide a wide variety of philosophical/theoretical approaches, research strategies and methodological tools in qualitative research and provide insight into the history of the field, ethics, and innovative streams of thoughts and methods. In this review, several chapters are reviewed to illustrate the wealth and depth of this handbook and its contribution to the field is discussed

Understanding Emotion in Educational and Service Organizations through Semi-Structured Interviews: Some Conceptual and Practical Insights

The aim of this paper is to illuminate the challenges, complexities, and strategies of semi-structured interviewing in studies about emotion in educational organizations, in general, and about teacher emotion and emotion in educational leadership, in particular, and, thereby, enable interviewers to make thoughtful decisions concerning planning and implementing future interviews on this sensitive issue. After a short review of the literature on semi-structured interviews, I analyze the distinctive characteristics of the planning phase (e.g., sample, sampling, location) and the implementation phase (e.g., the opening stage, rapport, hazards) in interviewing teachers and educational leaders about their emotion management, emotion regulation and internal feelings. Practical insights and recommendations are suggested throughout the text

Teachers' perceptions of their role in educational marketing: Insights from the case of Edmonton, Alberta

Based on semi-structured interviews with high school teachers in Edmonton, Alberta, the reported study examined teachers' attitudes towards their roles and responsibilities in marketing their school, and the perceived impact of educational markets upon teachers' well-being. The teachers define marketing negatively and narrowly, resist any involvement of teachers in marketing their schools, and feel that working in a market-like environment leads to high levels of stress and uncertainty in their work. Yet many of them provided evidence of their contribution to prospective students' recruitment by promoting their subject matter in the open house. Theoretical and practical implications are suggested.

El surgimiento de la gestión educativa como campo de estudio en América Latina

In this article, the author advocates the creation of a field of study of educational management specifically oriented to Latin American educational contexts and criticizes the blind adoption of imported concepts and foreign theories. Relying on the literature of the sociology of knowledge, research in education and the epistemology of science, he succinctly analyzes the development of educational management as an Anglo-American field of study, then focuses on the main differences between educational systems in the Latin American school leadership and in the Anglo-American nations. In his conclusion, the author suggests four challenges for Latin American scholars and researchers focused on educational management and leadership, among which are the generation of applied knowledge from and for the Latin American educational system and the exploration of new specific areas of study of the Latin American contexts. Resumo Neste artigo, o autor defende a criação de um campo de estudo da gestão educacional voltado especificamente para contextos educativos da América Latina e critica a adoção cega de conceitos importados e teorias estrangeiras. Com base na literatura da sociologia do conhecimento, investigação em educação e epistemologia da ciência, ele sucintamente analisa o desenvolvimento da gestão educacional como um campo de estudo anglo-americano, para em seguida destacar as principais diferenças entre os sistemas de ensino e a liderança escolar latino-americana e as das nações anglo-americanas. Em sua conclusão, o autor sugere quatro desafios para acadêmicos e pesquisadores da América Latina com foco em gestão educacional e liderança, entre os quais a geração de conhecimento aplicado de e para o sistema educacional da América Latina e explorar novas áreas de estudo específicas dos contextos latino-americanos. Resumen En este artículo el autor aboga por la creación de un campo de estudio de la gestión educativa específicamente orientado a los contextos educativos latinoamericanos y critica la adopción ciega de conceptos importados y teorías foráneas. Apoyándose en la literatura de la sociología del conocimiento, de la investigación en educación y de la epistemología de las ciencias, analiza sucintamente el desarrollo de la gestión educativa como campo de estudio anglo-norteamericano, para luego focalizarse en las principales diferencias entre los sistemas educativos y el liderazgo escolar latinoamericanos y en las naciones anglo-norteamericanas. En su conclusión, el autor sugiere cuatro desafíos para los académicos e investigadores latinoamericanos centrados en la gestión educativa y el liderazgo, entre los que destacan la generación de conocimientos aplicados desde y para el sistema educativo latinoamericano y la exploración de nuevas áreas de estudio específicas a los contextos latinoamericanos

An exploration of the notion of the 'good enough school'

In many countries, expectations of schools are very high and rising, with increasingly serious consequences for schools if those expectations are not met. It is as if only ‘perfect schools’ will suffice – only then will all those with an interest in schools be satisfied. In this article, we argue that schools cannot be perfect and that indeed perfection is undesirable, for important educational/developmental reasons. We use the ‘good enough mother’ concept to explain and develop an alternative notion, the ‘good enough school’. We draw on a round-table discussion at the 2013 BELMAS Annual Conference in Edinburgh where we explained the concept and discussed vignettes of events in schools in relation to the ‘good enough school’ idea. </jats:p