This article explains and illustrates an approach to the design of qualitative inquiry in education using a conceptual methodology informed by a realist ontology. It is written with research novices in mind, based on two observations we have made while supervising postgraduate students. The first is that the methodology literature education…

This case study presents two qualitative feminist research approaches to investigate lived experiences of early-career academics: autoethnography and collective narrative inquiry. Autoethnography tells a story from the researcher's perspective, whereas collective narrative inquiry challenges researcher objectivity and presents multiple participant…

This case study discusses how autoethnographic approaches can be used as a qualitative research tool. Based in a U.K. university Faculty of Education, it outlines a collaborative project designed to investigate barriers to engagement with academic writing development for early career researchers. After a brief overview of the project and its…

Masters and PhD student researchers in the social sciences are often required to explore and explain their positionality, as, in the social world, it is recognized that their ontological and epistemological beliefs influence their research. Yet novice researchers often struggle with identifying their positionality. This paper explores researcher…

Librarians continually seek innovative ways to integrate library expertise and resources into campus research endeavors. Although qualitative research has grown across disciplines, researchers using these methods often receive little campus-based support. The authors investigate this shortfall in support of qualitative researchers through…

This paper reports on the challenges faced by two researchers during data collection and translation of data and analysis in two public sector universities in Pakistan. Data collection from each institute involved different procedures and a different set of issues, including negotiating access with gatekeepers and participants, dealing with…

In this article we describe the process followed in the creation of the "Hopscotch Model," a tool to help novice researchers thoroughly design qualitative research studies while learning the philosophical underpinnings of this particular form of research. The model helps to incorporate the theoretical background behind any qualitative…

We present a descriptive analysis of 53 naïve assessment constructors' explanations for selecting test items to include on a summative assessment. We randomly assigned participants to an informed and uninformed condition (i.e., informed participants read an article describing a Table of Specifications). Through recursive thematic analyses of…

Purpose: Novice researchers experience difficulties in analysing qualitative data. To develop the skills necessary for qualitative data analysis, theoretical manuals are often insufficient. Supervisors supporting students in analysing qualitative data stress the need for practical guidance, including exercises and feedback. The purpose of this…

This study aimed at exploring novice researchers' experiences of and perspectives on the qualitative research journey and determining the difficulties tackled and strategies developed while conducting qualitative research. The study was an interview-based qualitative case study involving nine graduate students in education as the participants. The…

A historical indicator of the quality, validity, and rigor of qualitative research has been the documentation and disclosure of the behind-the-scenes work of the researcher. In this paper, we use what we call "methodological data" as a tool to complicate the possibility and desirability of such transparency. Specifically, we draw on our…

Background: The social constructivist perspective emphasises that learning is a process of self-construction of knowledge in a social context. Game-centred approaches, such as teaching games for understanding, have been used in accordance with this perspective. The process of transferring learning responsibility takes place when the learner is…

This study investigates how new presidents of higher education institutions struggle to understand their organisations, paying special attention to campus resistance, and how new presidents manage institutional dynamics and expectations. A qualitative study using a phenomenological approach is conducted with 11 single-campus presidents of…

This qualitative study consisted of two case studies of southern public metropolitan universities, which successfully completed inaugural major comprehensive fundraising campaigns. The purpose of the study was to explore how the process of initiating and competing an inaugural comprehensive fundraising campaign was explained by organizational…

In parallel with the recognition of the importance of writer presence in academic texts, there has been an increasing interest in writer stance. Yet, very little of this research has been devoted to the construction of stance through retrospective labels. Driven by this need, this study aims to investigate the construction of stance through…