Category Archives: Qualitative Research

Qualitative Research – Tech Adoption – Group Meeting

Had our group meeting and decided upon our questions to ask Anita:

Background (introductory icebreakers)

Thank you for letting us observe the event – how did it go for you?

Grand tour questions

In your own words, what does SVEF do?
Tell us about your specific responsibilities as ‎iHub Manager at SVEF.
Walk us through a typical day as ‎iHub Manager at SVEF.

Program Specifics

What’s the process that startups go through with iHub prior to pitch night?
Prior to orientation?
After orientation?
To what extent is iHub involved after orientation?
What other events/resources do you provide with similar goals/priorities?

Qualitative Research – Week 5 – Class Notes

So the night before this class I was watching “Race to Nowhere” – a documentary about “Transforming education from the ground up” – and there was my professor for this class: Denise Pope 🙂

The class as usual was very interactive, group and pair discussions about subjectivity in the process of observation, analysis and reporting.

Class Notes

Class Discussion

This is our next homework!

Qual.Research – Week 4 – Class Notes

Interviewing rehearsal class today. Enjoyed being the interviewer.

Qualitative Research – Week 4 – Reading Notes

Lot’s of reading today!! Around 60 pages of double pages pages – lots of pages.

Very interesting material – makes me wonder if that is a career path – Qualitative Research 🙂

Assignment:

“Making Words Fly, Becoming Qualitative Researchers: An Introduction.” – Glesne, C., & Peshkin, A (1992) – White Plains, NY: Longman. pp. 63-92.

“Interviewing, Learning from Strangers: The Art and Method of Qualitative Interview Studies.” – Weiss, R. (1994) – NY: Free Press. pp. 61-83, 107 – 115.

Notes:

Qualitative Research – Week 3 – Class Notes

Did our first exercise in observation at the park! Information overload… fast note taking… focus focus focus

Qualitative Research – Week 3 – Group Work

Met today with my group (James Leo & Ana Cuellar) to decide upon the technology setting we want to observe. Great conversation, easy going group, direct and efficient. We came up with the following for now…

How does the adoption of technology impact the learning experiences of students with disruptive tendencies and/or lower academic achievement?

To answer this question, we are interested either in A) observing the impact of a education technology specifically designed to improve student behavior or B) observing whether a learning technology changes student behavior despite not being created for that purpose.

We sent our Professor (Denise Clark Pope) and T.A. Petr Johanes an email with some questions and got responses from both in less than 3 hours! So good to work this way…

Our questions:

“We are hoping you can give us some feedback on this progress before we reach out to potential interviewees.

We are also curious about the order of the observation and interviews – can we interview a teacher pre-technology use, then observe the class upon tech adoption, then conduct the final interview after the observation? Or are we tied to the observation-interview-interview order?”

Their responses I will maintain to our group. The result of the feedback will come later 🙂 Can’t spill all the beans right?

After we met, we walked around the School of Engineering’s Future Day and ran into a company we were actually talking about during the meeting: Little Bits!! Talked to Joe, the local representative, teacher, enthusiast and parent about possibly taping into his school to observe the use of this technology in action! Awesome coincidence.

Qualitative Research – Week 3 – Reading Assignment

Reading:

Geertz, C. (1973). “Thick Description, “The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books. pp.3-30.

Taylor, S., & Bogdan, R. (1998). “Participant Observation, In the Field,” Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods. (Third Edition). New York: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 45-53, 61-71.

Intro.Qual.Res.Meth. – class notes

So after all the reading and note taking, I arrive at class and realize that one of the pieces I read was actually for next week!! And the two discussed in class I did not read!! So frustrating. Well – the discussion was broad enough and my group filled in the blanks for me : /

The project idea is coming into focus: James, Ana and I are thinking about doing:

Topos: EdTech adoption
Site: Classroom
Age: Teenagers

Class Notes:

Intro to Qual. Research Methods – Reading from 2pm to 10pm… 6am to 10am

So this was the reading for this week on the topic “The Nature of Qualitative Research”

Merriam, S. (2002). “Introduction to Qualitative Research”. In S. Merriam & Associates (Eds.) Qualitative Research in Practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. pp. 3-17.
Miles, M.B., & Huberman, A.M. (1994). “Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook.” (Second Edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. pp. 1-12.
Spindler, G. & Spindler, L. (1987). Teaching and Learning How to Do the Ethnography of Education.” In G. Spindler & L. Spindler (Eds.) Interpretive Ethnography of Education at Home and Abroad. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. pp. 17-22.
Creswell, J. (2003). “A Framework for Design,” Research design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches” (2nd edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. pp. 3 -24.
Becker, H. (1996). “The Epistemology of Qualitative Research”. In R, Jessor, A.
Colby, & R. Shweder (Eds.) “Ethnography and Human Development.” Chicago: University of Chicago. pp. 53-71.

And here are my notes:

Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods

Professor: Denise Pope

Course Description:

“This course introduces students to core concepts and methods of qualitative research. Through a variety of hands-on learning activities, readings, field experiences, class lectures, and discussions, students will explore the processes and products of qualitative inquiry. Essential questions for the course include: What is the nature of qualitative research– and how can we, as consumers and “doers,” assess its value?”

Class Notes:

Class Exercise:

Choose a partner, and first one draws the other without lifting the pen from the paper. Then switch, but now you cannot look at the paper! I was on the second round! NO PEEKING!

Drawing of me.

My drawing:

Assignment #1