Unapologetic Educational Research: Addressing Anti-Blackness, Racism, and White Supremacy

2021 ◽  
pp. 153270862110604
Author(s):  
Penny A. Pasque ◽  
Lori D. Patton ◽  
Joy Gaston Gayles ◽  
Mark Anthony Gooden ◽  
Malik S. Henfield ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Educational Research ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Educational Leaders ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Racial Equity ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Sociopolitical Context ◽  
Women Educational Leaders

We explore “ Unapologetic Educational Research: Addressing Anti-Blackness, Racism, and White Supremacy” to engage scholars in thinking about and reflecting on what it means to conduct qualitative research from a standpoint that honors Black lives in the research process while also disrupting racism and white supremacy. First, we unapologetically take up topics including engaging “diversity” in qualitative research, interrogating the etic perspective in the “new” focus on race, using critical perspectives to inform research and practice, examining the racialization of positionality, focusing on Black women educational leaders, and engaging schools and communities. Next, we engage in dialogue with each other to push ourselves—and you/the reader—to think more deeply about the serious and potentially dangerous implications of our research decisions. Given the unprecedented historical present we are all experiencing in our lifetime, we are committed to shifting the landscape of qualitative research as well as using research to shift our sociopolitical context toward racial equity and justice.

scholarly journals Starting Where You Are: How Race Can Constrain Researchers within the Research Setting

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamesha Spates ◽  
Wangari Gichiru
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Graduate Training ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Approaches To Teaching ◽  
Research Setting ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Research And Teaching ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Personal Reflections

What challenges can race and gender present for researchers of color? As Black women, we draw on personal reflections to look back at our graduate training and its influence on how we conducted ourselves in the field as graduate students and now as researchers in the academy. We particularly consider how mainstream pedagogical approaches to teaching qualitative methods might work to marginalize researchers of color throughout the qualitative research process. We lay out these complexities, not necessarily to offer solutions but rather to allow others in similar situations to think about their own journey as we collectively move qualitative research and teaching to new heights. We conclude this article with a short discussion of the direct implications for teaching and doing qualitative research.

The Impact of Black Women Educational Leaders on Student Achievement

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terri N. Watson ◽  
Patrice A. McClellan
Keyword(s):  
Student Achievement ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Educational Leadership ◽  
White Women ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Educational Leaders ◽  
White Men ◽  
Nel Noddings ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Women Educational Leaders

What is the relationship between educational leadership, student achievement, and what we know about Black women? For one, while educational leadership is closely associated with student achievement, school leaders were found to have little, if any, direct effect on student achievement. Black women, on the other hand, are rarely mentioned in regard to student achievement, yet their efficacy is unparalleled. Black women should be listed alongside often-cited theorists, including John Dewey, James MacGregor Burns, Nel Noddings, and the Brazilian educationalist Paulo Freire, as they have made significant contributions to the field of educational leadership. These trailblazers include Frances (Fanny) Jackson Coppin, Sarah J. Smith Tompkins Garnet, Mary Jane Patterson, and Anna Julia Cooper. As Black women and professors of educational leadership, we have an obligation to ourselves, our communities, and the next generation of school leaders to reframe and extend the narratives surrounding educational leadership, student achievement, and Black women. Most research focused on educational leadership and student achievement includes neither the perspectives nor contributions of Black women educational leaders. Extant educational leadership literatures largely chronicle the perspectives of White men and rely on theories established by other White men. Moreover, student achievement is most often attributed to teachers, roles primarily occupied by White women. These correlations negate and further marginalize Black women educational leaders, who, despite the fact they have successfully led schools and are effective instructional leaders, remain untapped resources. Black Feminist Theory provides a framework to explore the lived experiences and contributions of groundbreaking Black women educational leaders. The knowledge gleaned from these “firsts” will proffer invaluable lessons to the field of educational leadership.

scholarly journals What Have We Learned from Critical Qualitative Inquiry about Race Equity and Social Justice? An Interview with Pioneering Scholar Yvonna Lincoln

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Stanley ◽  
Chayla Haynes
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
Research Paradigm ◽  
Racial Equity ◽  
Qualitative Research Methodology ◽  
Women Scholars ◽  
Senior Colleague

In this article, two Black women scholars in higher education share a conversation with our distinguished senior colleague, Yvonna Lincoln, a pioneering scholar of qualitative research methodology about what we have learned from her, and more specifically, how this research paradigm has been used to advance racial equity and social justice in higher education. The readers will learn, through her lens, about issues that emerged over the years and what she envisions for the future of higher education and qualitative research. This article presents implications for higher education, including faculty, students, and administrators working in higher education institutions.

I Need You to Tell My Story: Qualitative Inquiry for/With Transnational Black Women

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 184-192
Author(s):  
Tanja Burkhard
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Feminist Theory ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
Black Feminist Theory ◽  
Black Feminist ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Dominant Ideologies

Drawing on a yearlong qualitative research project with seven Black transnational women, this article employs a transnational Black feminist approach. It is guided by the following questions: What does it look like to conduct qualitative research rooted in a transnational Black feminist framework? What implications related to storytelling, reciprocity, and the relationships with participants emerge from this work? In exploring these questions, I consider some of the ways transnational Black feminist theory can be operationalized to counter re-inscriptions of dominant ideologies onto the research process with marginalized communities, particularly under consideration of contemporary national and transnational processes and discourses.

Shifting the Frame: Theoretical and Methodological Explorations of Photography in Educational Research

2021 ◽  
pp. 153270862110459
Author(s):  
Vivek Vellanki
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Educational Research ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Visual Research ◽  
Art Photography ◽  
Artistic Works ◽  
The Relationship

In this article, I focus on the relationship between photography and educational research, situating this conversation at the interstices of fact/fiction, indexical/imaginary, and art/data. I ask: How has our understanding and use of photography, the camera, and the photographer been shaped by the field of qualitative research? What possibilities exist for reimagining the role of photography in educational research and practice? Drawing on a diverse body of theoretical, empirical, and artistic works, I respond to the questions by looking at three key elements shaping image-based visual research: the ontology of photography, collaboration and photography, and thinking with art/photography. Across these three key elements, I interrogate taken-for-granted assumptions about the camera, photographs, and the relationships between the photographer-photographed in the context of educational research and articulate some shifts that help reframe our understanding of photography and how it is used within educational research and practice.

“Answers,” Assemblages, and Qualitative Research

2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 256-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirka Koro-Ljungberg ◽  
Tim Barko
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Educational Research ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Multidimensional Problems ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Historical Developments ◽  
Historical Discourses ◽  
Expected Outcomes

Although educational researchers predominately study complex, multidimensional problems, research findings and proposed arguments can sometimes be characterized as definite, simplified, and prone to particular types of answers or expected outcomes. The authors seek to problematize these definite and simplified notions of answers by looking at some historical developments of dialogue and how answers have been conceptualized within these historical discourses. The authors propose that answers be seen not as a final step in the research process but rather as an opening, an assemblage, a jar, or a call to transition into new forms of questions, new outlooks on methods, and new processes of thought. Finally, the renegotiation of the philosophical notion of answers that the authors will discuss in this article exemplifies potential for a renewed commitment to meaningful educational research.

scholarly journals Conceptualizing researchers’ perspectives on involving professionals in research: a group concept mapping study

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine E. Laustsen ◽  
Albert Westergren ◽  
Pia Petersson ◽  
Maria Haak
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Concept Mapping ◽  
Hierarchical Cluster ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Scaling Analysis ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Group Concept Mapping ◽  
Process Adaptation ◽  
Group Concept

Abstract Background Researchers have shown an increased interest in involving professionals from outside academia in research projects. Professionals are often involved in research on ageing and health when the purpose is to address the gap between research and practice. However, there is a need to acquire more knowledge about what the involvement might lead to by exploring researchers’ experiences of involving professionals in research on ageing and health and developing conceptual areas. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify conceptual areas of professionals’ involvement in research on ageing and health, from the perspective of researchers themselves. Methods Group concept mapping, a participatory and mixed method, was used to conceptualize areas. Researchers with experience of involving professionals in research projects on ageing and health participated in qualitative data collection through brainstorming sessions (n = 26), and by sorting statements (n = 27). They then took part in quantitative data collection, where they rated statements according to how much a statement strengthened research (n = 26) and strengthened practice (n = 24). Data were analysed using multidimensional scaling analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis. In addition, a qualitative analysis of the latent meaning of the cluster map was conducted. Results Analysis of the sorting stage generated five clusters illustrating conceptual areas of professionals’ involvement in research projects on ageing and health. The five clusters are as follows: complex collaboration throughout the research process; adaptation of research to different stakeholders, mutual learning through partnership; applicable and sustainable knowledge; legitimate research on ageing and health. The qualitative latent meaning of the cluster map showed two themes: the process of involvement and the outcome of involvement. A positive strong correlation (0.87) was found between the rating of strengthened research and practice. Conclusions This study reveals conceptual areas on a comprehensive and illustrative map which contributes to the understanding of professionals’ involvement in research on ageing and health. A conceptual basis for further studies is offered, where the aim is to investigate the processes and outcomes entailed in involving professionals in research on ageing and health. The study also contributes to the development of instruments and theories for optimizing the involvement of professionals in research.

scholarly journals Do It for the Culture: The Case for Memes in Qualitative Research

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 160940692110258
Author(s):  
Constance Iloh
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
Cultural Relevance ◽  
Prominent Feature ◽  
Rapport Building ◽  
Everyday Communication ◽  
Remote Data

Memes are a prominent feature of global life in the 21st century. The author asserts that memes are significant to current and future qualitative research. In particular, the text establishes memes as: (a) part of everyday communication, expression, and explanation, thus useful in qualitative research; (b) valuable cultural units and symbols; (c) forms of rapport building and cultivating relational research; (d) approaches that bolster and sustain remote data collection; (e) methods that infuse agency, humor, and creativity into the research process. The author then showcases distinctive ways memes can be effectively incorporated in qualitative research pursuits and publications. The article concludes with the necessity of data collection and representation approaches that advance the meaningfulness and cultural-relevance of qualitative inquiry.

scholarly journals Resilient Research in the Field: Insights and Lessons From Adapting Qualitative Research Projects During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 160940692110161
Author(s):  
Syahirah Abdul Rahman ◽  
Lauren Tuckerman ◽  
Tim Vorley ◽  
Cristian Gherhes
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Qualitative Research Methods ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Building Resilience ◽  
Digital Methods

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has seen the implementation of unprecedented social distancing measures, restricting social interaction and with it the possibility for conducting face-to-face qualitative research. This paper provides lessons from a series of qualitative research projects that were adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure their continuation and completion. By reflecting on our experiences and discussing the opportunities and challenges presented by crises to the use of a number of qualitative research methods, we provide a series of insights and lessons for proactively building resilience into the qualitative research process. We show that reflexivity, responsiveness, adaptability, and flexibility ensured continuity in the research projects and highlighted distinct advantages to using digital methods, providing lessons beyond the COVID-19 context. The paper concludes with reflections on research resilience and adaptation during crises.

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