This article explores two issues in conducting qualitative research: (1) the essentials of data collection, and (2) the unique role of the researcher in the data collection process. The author's own research study on use of health and medical information by various members of a classroom team for special education students is used to illustrate…

This interview with two leaders in gifted education brings out their thoughts on enrichment, characteristics of a good "model," their Enrichment Triad Model, qualitative methods of research and outcome assessment in gifted education, difficulties teachers have applying the Enrichment Triad Model, and parent teacher cooperation. (DB)

Describes the uses of focus groups (i.e., a form of qualitative research involving a small group of respondents and moderator in an unstructured group discussion) in community college research. Discusses what can be learned from focus groups, focus group projects conducted in several community colleges, and problems researchers may encounter.…

Evaluation as a field has moved beyond debating whether certain designs are good while others are bad to begin to appreciate that each of a group of designs may have its uses. The importance of good designs that reflect real-world complexities is increasingly being recognized. (SLD)

The authors of EC 610 841 comment on problems encountered in their research, such as difficulties in analyzing interview data, and discuss their ongoing three-year study of personal and environmental influences affecting attrition of special education teachers. (DB)

Data were analyzed from the postcollege phase of a 7-year longitudinal study of college students' (n=101) epistemological development. The data revealed that the gender-related patterns of relational and impersonal knowing that these students demonstrated during college were integrated into postcollege experience in work, education, and personal…

This qualitative study of 7 speech/language and classroom teachers using facilitated communication with 17 students utilized a portfolio approach to document students' abilities to communicate with facilitation (such as typing information not known to facilitators). Sixteen students were judged to have confirmed their typing/communication ability.…

Describes qualitative investigation of counselor trainees perceptions during multicultural counseling course. Student responses addressed class events, perceived changes in thinking and feeling, desired changes, issues hindering change, between-class thoughts, unexpected benefits, and immediate concerns. Results highlight importance of…

Investigates differences in children's concepts of death as reflected in their drawings in terms of gender and age differences. Four age groups of children (n=431) were asked to draw their impression of the word death and to give a verbal commentary. Analysis of the drawings indicated that conceptual categories were found to be both age and gender…

Three case studies of Third World development illustrate the usefulness of qualitative research methods such as CIPP (Context, Input, Process, Product), oneshot interviews, and grounded theory. Adjusting technology to people and cultures rather than changing people to fit technology is advocated. (SK)

An emerging postpositivist paradigm for inquiry and research is outlined, based on recent thinking in philosophy, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The paper delineates the paradigm's basic beliefs, considers methodological implications, and suggests applications in the education of the gifted. (Author/JDD)

Ten evaluation models are examined in terms of their applicability to investigative, emergent design programs: Stake's portrayal, Wolf's adversary, Patton's utilization, Guba's investigative journalism, Scriven's goal-free, Scriven's modus operandi, Eisner's connoisseurial, Stufflebeam's CIPP, Tyler's objective based, and Levin's cost…

Conducted qualitative study to hear voices of rural women in South Dakota reflecting on midlife experiences. Emerging themes constant with established theory included importance of affiliation, religion, feelings of mastery, and interdependent relationships. Themes that differed included broader definition of mastery as involving well-being of…

Discussion of positivist and interpretive approaches to research and postpositivism focuses on two studies that apply interpretive research in different ways: an exploratory study of user-developed computing applications conducted prior to a positivist study and a study of end-user searching behaviors conducted concurrently with a positivist…

Discusses use of the grounded theory approach to derive models of the information-seeking patterns of academic researchers. The background to the development of qualitative approaches to information studies in the United Kingdom is described, and the results of four studies of the information-seeking patterns of researchers are outlined. (Contains…