Critical Discourse Analysis and Critical Qualitative Inquiry: Data Analysis Strategies for Enhanced Understanding of Inference and Meaning

This manuscript describes an approach to critical qualitative data analysis that combines (1) Carspecken’s critical qualitative methodological framework (1996; 2012) with (2) the conceptual resources of critical discourse analysis (CDA), as framed by Fairclough (2003, 2016) and colleagues (Chouliaraki & Fairclough, 1999; Fairclough & Wodak, 1997). Carspecken’s methodological theory illuminates the connection between sociopolitical power and culture by introducing the content of validity claims into analysis of discourse. In turn, CDA helps to support the analysis of validity claims in that these are often expressed or legitimated through implicit references, and through the rhetoric, shape, or tone of what is being said. After an introduction of key concepts, I outline the combined approach and present an example, illustrating steps from coding to reconstructive analyses to CDA memos. I conclude with a discussion of the kinds of findings that can be supported by this analytical method, and implications for further research

The Communicative Pragmatics of Data-Use for Equity: A Theoretical and Methodological Framework

Calls for higher education institutions to implement improvements guided by “data-driven” processes are prevalent and widespread. Despite the pervasiveness of this turn toward data, research on how data-use works on the ground in postsecondary institutions—that is, how individuals within institutions make sense of education data and use it to inform practice—is still developing. Drawing on Habermas’ Theory of Communicative Action (TCA), critical-race theory, and methodological guidance on critical-qualitative research methods, this paper synthesizes methodological and substantive insights from P–12 data-use research, with an eye to applying these insights to critical questions on postsecondary educational equity. The result of the review and analysis is a theoretical framework and a set of methodological recommendations for future research on the perceptions and experiences of college faculty, administrators, and practitioners, regarding their data-use and its implications for equity

Faculty Views of “Nontraditional” Students: Aligning Perspectives for Student Success

Faculty serve as a primary point of contact for students in college, playing vital roles in students’ retention and attainment. The perceptions and beliefs held by these institutional actors are important for understanding the context that shapes students’ experiences while they are in college and potentially, long after they leave. The purpose of this work is to examine faculty members’ perceptions of nontraditional student experiences. Findings highlight faculty members’ awareness of students’ multiple roles and obligations; perceptions of student academic success, including barriers to succeeding; and the ways faculty connect with students and the types of connections they forge. The findings from this work highlight the need to consider more research on how the experiences of students who do not fit a traditional model are interpreted by those in positions of power at higher education institutions. As such, we add to calls for more work that considers these institutional actors explicitly and how they shape student success

Performance-Based Funding of Higher Education: Analyses of Policy Discourse Across Four Case Studies

Performance-based funding (PBF) for public colleges and universities is increasingly prevalent worldwide, as a part of a broader pattern of marketisation in public education. This study focused on developing an empirical view of how, and in what contexts, policy makers use the concepts of neoliberal economics to design and support PerformanceBased Funding (PBF) policies in higher education. We analysed 121 policy documents, white papers, evaluation reports, and news items related to PBF policies in four case jurisdictions: Tennessee, Washington, United Kingdom, and Italy. We employed critical discourse analysis methods as framed by Fairclough and colleagues and implemented this approach within the broader methodological guidance of Carspecken’s critical qualitative research. Grounded in social theory, this study illuminates the role PBF policies play internationally in moving higher education institutions closer to markets. Moreover, it provides an empirical view of the mechanisms and networks built into PBF policy debates. Finally, it contributes to a theoretically and empirically grounded view on the discursive uses of neoliberalism in education policy

Completing College: A National View of Student Attainment Rates

College completion, earning a degree or certificate, is considered to be a key college success outcome, supported by every educational policymaker. Yet, institutions and policymakers in the U.S. know surprisingly little about the rates of completion for students who follow all but the most traditional of postsecondary pathways. This is because traditional graduation rate calculations are institution based and only count students who finish at the same institution where they started. Building on findings from previous reports in the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center's Signature Report series, this new report measures this key college success outcome -- rates of first completion -- encompassing postsecondary credentials of all levels and types at any institution in any state, whether it is the first, second, third, or more, attended.Students in the U.S. pursuing a postsecondary education move along pathways that are increasingly complex. In its second Signature Report, Transfer and Mobility: A National View of Pre-Degree Student Movement in Postsecondary Institutions (Hossler et al., 2012), the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center found that one-third of first-time college students attended multiple institutions before earning a degree or certificate. Nontraditional students, like those who postpone college enrollment after high school, attend college part time, and/or have full-time jobs, have become the new majority among U.S. college students. This emphasizes the limitations of continuing to rely on traditional measures of student and institutional success that describe only first-time full-time students who never enroll at any institution other than their starting institution. Such measures fail to capture the full range of outcomes among today's college students. They also fail to recognize institutional and policy efforts to support students pursuing diverse pathways.This report draws on the Clearinghouse database's near-census national coverage of enrollments and awarded degrees to explore the six-year outcomes of a cohort of first-time-in-college degree-seeking students who started in fall 2006 (N=1,878,484)

Working Students’ Perceptions of Paying for College: Understanding the Connections between Financial Aid and Work

For many students at urban commuter colleges, the process of financial aid is unknown or mysterious; and so they work—often many hours a week—to pay expenses that financial aid might have covered. Missteps, unforeseen events, and limited resources can have severe consequences for the academic progress of these students. The broader study, of which this paper is a part, represents an effort to explore and describe students’ college-going, working, family responsibilities, and academic success at three commuter institutions in a metropolitan region in the Midwest. The encompassing project aims to introduce new qualitative data and situated description into the study of these phenomena. In this article, we explore students’ views and experiences with financial aid, centering on the research question: How do students describe and conceptualize financial aid policy

Mobile Working Students: A Delicate Balance of College, Family, and Work

Increasingly, education policymakers are turning attention to the access and persistence of the new college majority,-a group that may be described as mobile working students (Ewell, Schild, & Paulson, 2003). Traditionally, much research on college students has focused on students who graduate from high school and move on to attend a four-year college on a full-time basis, graduating in four to six years. However, as Adelman (2006) and others show, even among traditional-age college students this pattern of linear enrollment is less and less common. Thus, as Kasworm (chapter 2) also argues, metaphors such as the education pipeline no longer fit. Instead, students are more accurately represented as moving along pathways or even swirling toward postsecondary success. The experience of the mobile working student as conceived in this chapter encompasses multiple aspects of mobility and the varied, nonlinear, and evolving patterns of college going increasingly characteristic of students nationwide. One aspect of mobility in this complex and emerging picture centers on students\u27 experiences at commuter institutions, moving onto and off of campuses. In addition, students enroll in multiple institutions, moving between them. Finally, because they move into and out of institutions as well, the concomitant issues of attrition, stop-out, and degree attainment are also important to this project.https://ecommons.udayton.edu/books/1048/thumbnail.jp

Institutional Merit-Based Aid and Student Departure: A Longitudinal Analysis

The use of merit criteria in awarding institutional aid has grown considerably and, some argue, is supplanting need as the central factor in awarding aid. Concurrently, the accountability movement in higher education has placed greater emphasis on retention and graduation as indicators of institutional success and quality. In this context, this study explores the relationship between institutional merit aid and student departure from a statewide system of higher education. We found that, once we account for self-selection to the extent possible, there was no significant relationship. By contrast, need-based aid was consistently related to decreased odds of departure

Community as an Institutional Learning Goal at the Unversity of Dayton

This working paper summarizes the work of the Habits of Inquiry and Reflection Community Fellows. It considers the meaning of community both in UD’s historic mission and in the ways it is practiced at UD now; identifies obstacles and failures; and offers recommendations for advancing community as a learning goal at UD

2020: Mary B. Ziskin, Milestone Book Selection

Promotion to the rank of Associate Professor, Department of Educational Administrationhttps://ecommons.udayton.edu/svc_milestone/1062/thumbnail.jp