Oral History as a Social Justice Project: Issues for the Qualitative Researcher

I am writing this to assist researchers in training and experienced researchers in understanding ways to view oral history as a social justice project. This paper will illuminate the importance of oral history in terms of enriching the knowledge base of qualitative research methods as well. Oral history provides us with an avenue of thick description, analysis, and interpretation of people’s lives through probing the past in order to understand the present .The postmodern appreciation of the study of people and their stories, those stories from persons generally on the outside or periphery of society, offer a unique opportunity to view and conduct oral history as a social justice project

Understanding the Marriage of Technology and Phenomenological Research: From Design to Analysis

Phenomenologists seek to discover the universal essence of their participants’ lived experiences through a reiterative analysis process. While phenomenologists (in transcendental and empirical approaches) often follow very traditional practices in conducting research, there are a number of alternatives available that can aid in the overall research process. From virtual interviews to transcription software, many of these tools provide varying benefits and they are especially useful for smaller scale phenomenological research studies (from 1 to 20 participants). In this article, the authors discuss a number of technology choices including virtual interview practices, transcription procedures, researcher reflective portfolios and qualitative analysis techniques using spreadsheet programs

Conversations on Method: Deconstructing Policy through the Researcher Reflective Journal

In this article the authors argue that the researcher reflective journal is a critical interpretive tool for conducting educational policy analysis. The idea for this research grew from the experiences of a doctoral candidate (Ruth) in pursuit of a policy focused dissertation and a series of on-going conversations with her qualitative methodologist (Valerie). The structure of the paper takes a dialogue form on the topic of policy analysis and the various uses of the journal, including found data poetry and photographic representations of the self as a research instrument, which may expand the findings and increase options for data presentation. Sections of the paper include a discussion on journal writing as a creative process, the reflective role of the researcher when examining policies, and the challenges of constructing a well-designed methodological framework

A gene regulatory network balances neural and mesoderm specification during vertebrate trunk development

Transcriptional networks, regulated by extracellular signals, control cell fate decisions and determine the size and composition of developing tissues. One example is the network controlling bipotent neuromesodermal progenitors (NMPs) that fuel embryo elongation by generating spinal cord and trunk mesoderm tissue. Here, we use single-cell transcriptomics to identify the molecular signature of NMPs and reverse engineer the mechanism that regulates their differentiation. Together with genetic perturbations, this reveals a transcriptional network that integrates opposing retinoic acid (RA) and Wnt signals to determine the rate at which cells enter and exit the NMP state. RA, produced by newly generated mesodermal cells, provides feedback that initiates NMP generation and induces neural differentiation, thereby coordinating the production of neural and mesodermal tissue. Together, the data define a regulatory network architecture that balances the generation of different cell types from bipotential progenitors in order to facilitate orderly axis elongation

Practicing the Zen of Research as Contemplative Qualitative Inquiry

This paper is about contemplative qualitative inquiry using Zen as a metaphor for qualitative research projects. Three elements of Zen thinking will be described: Impermanence, Non Self and Nirvana. The use of koans and sutras, constructing poetry from transcripts and documents, and journal writing are tools for becoming more contemplative. Using Zen as a metaphor to conduct contemplative qualitative inquiry is a new way of looking at our work, our thinking, and our continual historical

Janesick, Valerie J., Ethnographic Inquiry: Understanding Culture and Experience, pp. 101-119 in Edmund C. Short, ed., Forms of Curriculum Inquiry . Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1991. *

Describes the processes of ethnographic inquiry in curriculum

Janesick, Valerie J., Stretching Exercises for Qualitative Researchers, 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2004.

Offers trial exercises in doing observations and interviews for qualitative research

Janesick, Valerie J., Developing Grounded Theory: Reflections on a Case Study of an Architectural Design Curriculum, pp. 15-22 in William H. Schubert and Ann L. Schubert, eds., Conceptions of Curriculum Knowledge: Focus on Students and Teachers. University Park, PA: College of Education, Penn State University, 1982.

Reports a study of a professor\u27s view of his curriculum that contains both propositional and tacit knowledge; accompanied by an analysis of issues in ethnographic research

Janesick, Valerie J., Ethnographic Research in Education: A Case Study on the Fillmore Arts Center, Educational Horizons, 63(Summer, 1985), 142-146.

Reports an ethnographic study of an arts program

Janesick, Valerie J., Of Snakes and Circles: Making Sense of Classroom Group Process through a Case Study, Curriculum Inquiry, 12 (Summer, 1982), 161-189.*

Describes an ethnographic study of a teacher\u27s classroom from the teacher\u27s perspective