This article discusses how the teaching of qualitative research in higher education is threatened by the effects of new public management, by academic culture wars and by a growing belief in big data. The controversy over Alice Goffman's book "On the Run" presents one recent example of this. In an effort to counterbalance these…

My own 'naturalistic observation' was pertinent to the genesis of this research project, which investigated mature students' emotions within higher education. I have been involved for many years in the kind of classroom environment where I have observed that many female mature students lack confidence in their academic ability, something that is…

What is contemplative pedagogy and how is it practiced in Religious Studies classrooms? Contemplative pedagogy cultivates inner awareness through first-person investigations, often called "contemplative practices." Contemplative teaching practices range widely: silent sitting meditation, compassion practices, walking meditation, deep listening,…

This paper reports on a major national study of higher education science and engineering learning communities in New Zealand. The scope of the research project along with a description of the methodology and method used in the study together with rationale for the study and research approach adopted are provided here. Details of the theoretical…

Although clinical educators make an important and irreplaceable contribution to the education of students undertaking qualifications that will enable them to practise as health professionals, little is known about the day-to-day experiences of clinical educators and the complexities of clinical education that may contribute to the problems or to…

The research reported here follows previous articles in this special issue which detail a national study involving a team of researchers across four higher education institutions in New Zealand. A key theme that emerged from a collection of questionnaire, interview and observational data was the central importance of teacher-student and…

Considers how much of the writing on type design reflects the technical and pragmatic aspects of its production and how this approach frequently obscures the human dimension of an already arcane art. Draws a parallel between living and working with letters and exploring the natural world. Offers a literary meditation on the motives for, and…

This article examines community-college students' goals within the dominant framing of higher education, in which education serves primarily as preparation for the new economy. Specifically, it explores students' motives for acquiring college credentials and how they apply the principles of utility and efficiency to their pursuit of those…

Yvonna Lincoln and Egon Guba's challenge to the traditional positivist approach to social science research, naturalistic inquiry, is seen as posing ethical dilemmas of its own. Greater awareness of problems of over-idealizing "special relationships" in research practices and in focusing too much on individual rather than systemic…

Reports the results of two studies of undergraduates that tested an uncertainty expansion information retrieval device and an uncertainty reduction device in naturalistic settings, designed to be given at different stages of Kuhlthau's information search process. Concludes that the timing of the device interventions is crucial to their potential…

University-workplace partnerships are strategies increasingly called for in higher education. This article reports on collaborative knowledge production between employed professional chemical engineers (registered for higher degrees) and their university-based supervisors (researchers in the field of chemical engineering). The study draws on a…

Suggests that the practice of ethnography in the spirit of Clifford Geertz's "thick description," and the thinking that this practice demands, can give college students both a tool for inquiry and a sense of their positions as authorities in the writing process. Defines thick description and discusses how ethnography works in a…

Research assessed 44 students' levels of self-esteem and then measured their actual levels of intoxication with a breathalyzer as they were leaving a fraternity party. Participants with lower levels of self-esteem exited the party with a mean Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of .126, while those with higher levels of self-esteem exited with a…

This paper argues that while organizational research includes a diverse array of naturalistic approaches, a gap exists in the organizational literature that can only be filled by the ethnography of communication (EC). The paper proposes that, instead of using speech to do qualitative research, speech itself should be studied as the topic of…

This preliminary report of a project in progress--the creation of an alternate research guide for educational technology--begins by noting the influence of early ties to behavioral psychology and systems theory on research in the field and recent recommendations by researchers and scholars that the field be broadened to include such…