Purpose: Reflexivity involves critical reflection by the qualitative researcher as to the influence of the researcher's culture, history and belief on the conduct and outcome of the research. It is often seen as a practice exercised in the analysis of results in order to attempt to objectify the research. The purpose of this paper is to argue that…

Qualitative data analysis has been criticised for a lack of credibility over recent years when vagueness has been afforded to the reporting of how findings are attained. In response, there has been a growing body of literature emphasising a need to detail methods of qualitative data analysis. This paper adds to this body of knowledge by presenting…

I argue that Ricoeur's "preunderstandings" can be used as a heuristic to aid researchers who collect narratives as data (1) to identify cultural meanings that become resources for participants' positioning work, (2) to ground the identified cultural meanings in participants' experiences, and (3) to understand participants'…

This article draws upon the findings of a study at Liverpool Hope University (LHU) into the transformative nature of International Service-Learning (ISL) experiences for student participants. This research is concerned with the implications of these findings for professional practice, in particular how ISL is constructed in Higher Education policy…

This paper attempts to describe the relationship between the embodied practice of fieldwork and the written articulation of this experience. Starting from Valerie Hey's conceptualization of "rapport" as form of "intersubjective synergy", a moment of recognition of similarity within difference--similar in structure to Laclau and Moufffe's…

Using data from the Monitoring the Future study, this article presents historical trends in U.S. high school seniors' work values across 30 years (1976-2005). Adolescents across three decades highly valued most aspects of work examined. Recent cohorts showed declines in the importance of work, values for job security, and various potential…

An "Educational Researcher" article by Pamela Moss (1994) asks the title question, "Can there be validity without reliability?" Yes, she answers, if by reliability one means "consistency among independent observations intended as interchangeable" (Moss, 1994, p. 7), quantified by internal consistency indices such as…

Reviews three of the most popular qualitative data analysis software packages currently available. Describes the purpose of research, including hermeneutic understanding and storytelling; examines the issue of holistic versus atomistic approaches to data analysis; and lists Web sites that describe qualitative software. (LRW)

This study investigated whether or not students apply educational theory to practical situations when they are involved in a learning process that starts from their own educational experiences and "Gestalts," the holistic unity of knowledge, feelings, values, and meanings linked to concrete situations encountered before, and colored by…