[NLA] Practitioner-based research VERY LONG

[AWilder106@aol.com]

Nancy,

Thank you for your thoughtful questions.

I'll start at the end, first.

1)  I too wondered how the NRS came into being.
2)  You gain teachers' trust by hanging out with them, showing that you know    
something about what they do, by asking non-foolish questions, and by   
respecting their opinions, skills, experience.  You acknowledge you are a   
researcher.

About demanding critics:

There are two sorts, those who are most knowledgeable about the topic, and 
those most knowledgeable about study design; they may be one in the same 
persons, or different people.  One should be prepared to be grilled either 
way.  The study design is critical, a sloppy design will leave critics 
screaming, others feeling misrepresented, maybe betrayed.  A researcher has 
to get PERMISSION from the people involved as to how their information is to 
be used, what a final product will look like at the end, whether names, 
programs, will be disguised.  Everyone will have to be in the know as to the 
nature and results of their participation.

Also, a cheer of gratitude may not come from the research!  There may be some 
unhappy people!  

1)  Who would be interviewed and how selected is negotiated.  It depends on 
the topic and the method of research.  The concern is how to draw an adequate 
sample to answer the QUESTION.  The QUESTION interacts with the study 
design--is the design good enough to answer the question?  

An example: the latest census count relied on door-to-door counting.  Another 
plan was put forth: using a statistical sample which would give a more 
accurate count.  Would It?  I expect it would--there are those who don't 
answer the door, who aren't home, etc., etc.  It turned into a political 
football--what party would gain more with which kind of counting?  

You want a sample which will give you an answer to the question that you can 
depend on--valid and reliable.

2) and 3)--already answered

4)  A decent researcher would OF COURSE realize that this diversity is an 
important part of the study design!  

A good researcher wants to replicate AND HIGHLIGHT "reality," not create 
something bizarre that no one recognizes.

5)  Types of questions: depends on the goals of the research and the study 
design, also time and amount of money available.    

It is very hard to answer Nancy's questions, here, because of what I am 
feeling is a DISTRUST of research, a wish to protect her learners, and yet a 
desire for them to participate in research.  These seem to me to be ordinary, 
not misplaced, fears, but it's a big world and a short day....  another time.

Good research does not maul its subjects, it respects them.  Researchers are 
usually profoundly grateful that people will agree to talk with them!  
Research takes an immense amount of time, tremendous effort and usually a lot 
of money.  

I will briefly describe my own and then that of a research project I worked 
on.

I did an ethnographic study of a private school undergoing leadership 
succession.  Because I am interested in organizational health, I 
"operationalized" it as leadership succession.  I had to get permission from 
the Chairman of the Board, and the Head of the School to do it.  I had to 
look right and sound right, i.e., professional.  They had to trust me and the 
bona fides of my own teachers.  They had to agree to talk with me even if the 
head had given his permission.

I studied the school for more than a year.  I sat in on school meetings of 
all types.  I observed, wrote, and typed up, interviewed and transcribed.  I 
had open-ended questions and ethnographic questions, boxes of tapes and piles 
of transcripts.  It was a disguised case study.  I interviewed the current 
head, past heads, teachers, students.  And so on.  I was steeped in 
cross-cultural work on leadership succession and its consequences for 
organizational health.  Generalizability could be global.

The NCSALL study--the concepts (Freirian) were operationalized--how did they 
translate in an ordinary classroom? Then they were put on a grid, and a list 
was drawn up of who to interview, and how to interview them.  For the pilot, 
we observed in classes and we went into the homes of learners (who had agreed 
ahead of time) with a very structured framework to follow--types of reading 
and writing materials in daily use, and how use of them might have changed 
due to literacy classes.  The first part of the questionnaire had more 
open-ended questions, and biography type questions. I worked on the pilot of 
this questionnaire. Then we hired data gatherers from local communities. 
Purcell-Gates had already used a similar frame work in another study, but it 
had to be reformatted for this one.  

We advertised for classes to study, used word of mouth, and also drew them 
from  nifl list servs.  We "sold" the study over the phone and by email, we 
worked with program heads to find teachers, and then went out to sites to 
train data gatherers.  I visited Kentucky, Arkansas, Alabama, and Maine 
(southern and rural).  There were 4 other people on the study doing the same 
kind of work at this time and traveling to different parts of the country.  
We PAID data gatherers and students for their time.
Could have biased results, we felt it was more legitimate to show people they 
were worth something as study participants.

We wanted to know whether Freirian classroom methods translated into better 
learning.  It's all reported in one of the FOB's.

(I am trying to say that researchers try to do good work, and this is how 
they do it. ) 

This NCSALL study analysis was presented in both statistics and 
words--quantitative and qualitative.

About my research--an ethnographer is a research INSTRUMENT--feelings of 
certainty, uncertainty, exhaustion, fear, elation all must be scrutinized and 
understood in relation to the research site and the job at hand.  That's why 
I mentioned the therapy--and it wasn't my original observation, but someone 
else's.
So this became part of the study design, and I had to figure out the 
defenses.  Leadership succession is a fantasy DEATH, so all sort of feelings 
related to death--homicide, suicide, depression, were expected to arise, and 
by gum they did!  I studied political assassination, too--not such a good 
idea, you don't know who will replace the person, then there is the guilt, 
and the opprobrium  attached to the act.  The Harry Truman model is the way 
to go.

Good classroom teachers are doing research ALL THE TIME. It must be clear 
from what I have said that professional researchers need PARTNERS at the 
grass roots.  Insider's knowledge is used ALL THE TIME on the nla. 

I used to be  a classroom teacher, and I never in a million years would have 
had the time to do an independent research project--nor much interest, 
actually.  That Nancy and others have the time and the spirit to contribute 
here is a kind of miracle.

To follow the analogy out--gather more cows and feed them well, and they will 
contribute to the betterment of the field and provide great cheese.  Has to 
be.  Gather up the cows and yammer for more fields.  Isn't there something 
about a demand economy that's useful here?

Andrea


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