Qualitative Educational Research

by Wendy Luttrell (editor)

Qualitative Educational Research is a comprehensive anthology designed to deepen education students' thinking about their qualitative research purposes, questions, and decision-making. Focusing on various epistemological, intellectual, and ethical conflicts in doing social analysis, this reader invites researchers-in-training to explore why, from what perspective, for whose benefit, and with what stakes are research questions being posed. Drawing from her wealth of expertise executing and teaching qualitative research methods, scholar Wendy Luttrell has selected essays that focus specifically on the challenges of qualitative inquiry as they pertain to the field of education. These essays present multiple paradigms and perspectives in qualitative inquiry, including interpretivism, critical theory, cultural studies, feminist theories, critical psychology, and critical race theory. Reflexive writing assignments at the end of the volume expand readers’ understanding of the essays and guide students through developing their own research design.

520 pages, Paperback

First published September 11, 2009

Reviews

[Stef Rozitis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm giving it 5 stars simply because I had got myself into a rut of writer's block and this helped unblock me.

This is about reflexivity- who we are when we are caught up in our research. The forms of research here are broad enough to include things the specific authors have not thought of- there is a mix of modelling "this is how I did it", theory "this is what we ought to think about" and practical advice "try this to help you write" as well as references to other helpful resources.

This is broad, complex, inclusive, unashamedly committed to social justice and yet pretty readable. One chapter might be useful for some of my work colleagues (teachers not researchers) to read.

I'd strongly recommend this for anyone thinking of doing research, especially in fields like education and/or sociology.