First task - on the HIVE... ... Due October 1.

Our online task on the Hive is here (It is pretty much a practice run for what we'll have to do later):

Introduction and aims:
This activity will enable students to develop understanding of the interpretive epistemological position in educational research and to understand the implications of this for assessing the quality of educational research. These issues will be considered in relation to a variety of contrasting methodologies and perspectives, including ethnography, phenomenology, hermeneutics, postmodernism and poststructuralism.
Aims:

• To develop critical awareness of the criteria of judgement which may be used to evaluate quality in interpretive research.
• To read, understand and critique research papers and reports that have used qualitative approaches.
• To demonstrate understanding of methodological principles through choice of appropriate research techniques in light of complex problems

It is assumed that student will have attended the NER sessions relevant to this activity and that they can access the NER 031 module Support materials online.
Procedure:

• Read the following article: Harry, B. (1992) An Ethnographic Study of Cross-Cultural Communication With Puerto Rican-American Families in the Special Education System, American Educational Research Journal Fall 1992, Vol. 29, No 3, pp. 471-494
• Evaluate the article, using Klein and Myers’ principles of interpretive research (use a table similar to the one Klein and Myers’ use on p.72 of their paper).
• Read the article by Hammersley, M. (2007) The issue of quality in qualitative research, International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 30:3,287-305
• Make a list of any areas of the research paper that you consider do not meet Klein and Myer’s criteria for quality. Focusing on TWO of these areas, explain how these could have been addressed by doing things differently drawing on the Hammersely’s perspectives.
• Consider whether you would add any other criteria for quality to those identified by Klein & Myers and Hammersley.
• Share your insights/findings with others on the web (check dates above for your group). At the same time you might want to use the insights/findings of others to improve or modify some of your own insights/findings.

we can find it all on the hive

here:http://dll.ex.ac.uk/mscresearch/edd/ner/activities2010.html