Qualitative Research Methodology

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FORUM 1 AIT HMEF5103 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY LEMUEL MAWUTOR AVORGBEDOR MTSMEDJ120006Y A SUMMARY OF CHAPTER ONE of Bogdan, R. C. and Biklen, S. K. (2007). Qualitative Research for Education: An Introduction to Theory and Methods (5th Ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. FOUNDATIONS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH FOR EDUCATION. According to Bogdon and Biklen (2007), qualitative data take a narrative form, representing perspectives or interaction that is naturalistic or context-driven. Qualitative research has actual settings as the direct source of data and the researcher is the key instrument. He goes to the particular setting under study because he is concerned with context. Qualitative research is descriptive, the data collected take a form of words/pictures rather than numbers. The data include interview transcripts, fieldnotes, photographs, videotapes, personal documents, memos, and official records. Qualitative researchers are also concerned with process rather than simply with outcomes /product. Hence, data analysis in qualitative research tends to be ongoing, and inductive in nature. New/follow-up data may be collected at any point until the researcher decides that he has sufficient data to make interpretations about the phenomena being studied. Meaning is also essential to qualitative researchers who are interested in how different people make sense of their lives. IDEOLOGICAL CONFLICTS DEVELOPED OVER THE STYLE AND ORIENTATION OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS During the 1970s, ideological conflicts developed over the style and orientation of qualitative research methods. There was tension between cooperative and conflictual approaches to research. The cooperative researchers believed fieldworkers should be truthful with the subjects they studied. An example is the descendants of Chicago School (Bogdan, 1975). Another difference is the
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