A Quality, Qualitative Blog

Next semester, I plan to introduce my students to the wonders of qualitative research.  I've laid the groundwork in terms of exploring some quantitative research this semester, and I suspect they may all be getting tired of me repeating "quaNtitative= Numbers, quaLitative= Language".  I'm pretty comfortable that by now, they know the difference.

Qualitative research as a methodology allows us to get underneath the data in a way that quantitative does not- an ability to capture depth.  The first thing I need to do is to engage the students in reading qualitative research- no mean feat when you consider that some of the better papers are particularly lengthy.  Therefore, I set about finding some andragogical guidance online which may enable me to demonstrate to the students some texts which are not perfect studies (therefore allowing us to identify the flaws) but has the features of good research that permits us to appreciate how the research plays out in the real world.

After an extensive online search, I came across the 'Qualitative Research Cafe', an online blog dedicated to interpretative and critical research approaches.  I was particularly impressed to see the author had recommended a list of books used in research classes which will allow students to see good (but not perfect) examples of qualitative research, whilst also allowing some room for critique. Learning by example, you might argue.

Of particular resonance was the post, complete with an embedded video clip, reminding us of the difference between empathy and sympathy (a concept of particular import to counselling) and how empathy is fundamental to qualitative research.  This is something I certainly plan to build in to my lessons.  I feel this blog will be an incredibly useful tool for my teaching, although the posts are (a bit like qualitative research papers) a bit on the lengthy side.  The author (s) also appear to have a disregard for the use of capitals in titles, but as it's an informal method of communicating I shall switch off my grammar police radar. The blog design itself is quite drab, certainly not reflective of the innovations the posts themselves represent and perhaps feeds into the misinterpretation of qualitative research as being 'dull'.

That said, the blog isn't too busy and therefore doesn't detract from the quality of the content. The site is well organised with a search option included which allows the user to search categories,as well as navigate between recent posts and older posts by title.

I have always been a firm advocate of the benefits of research participation, particularly from the perspective of the undergraduate counselling student, who will be required to undertake various forms of research of their own.  By being a research participant, we can better understand how the requirements of different studies may affect us, what works and what doesn't and allows us to truly put ourselves in the position of the participant.  Therefore, when we come to plan our own research, we are better placed to keep the best interests of the participants in mind (and might just help to achieve ethical approval first time around!).  The Qualitative Research Cafe has a post entitled 'Learning to be a better researcher...by being a research participant' which sums this up perfectly.  Also included are some accounts of reactions from research participants when the researcher has got it 'wrong'.  These can serve as a warning to us all and I will definitely be using these examples when I am expounding the benefits of a well thought out research process.  I especially appreciated these sentiments:

 'We should remind ourselves..............
Narcissism should not prevail and being a researcher is simply not a license to tell all'

Couldn't have put it better myself.  If you have any interest in qualitative research, this is the blog to visit.  You can find by  clicking here .I hope that you find it as informative as I have.