Intro to Qualitative Research

Catalog description

Learn how to synthesize and use many forms of evidence and knowledge when making both policy and professional practice decisions. With accountability, fiscal integrity, and quality as driving concerns, the course focuses on what education leaders need to understand, know, and do, to facilitate informed decision making. A core component of the course involves developing an understanding of the major meta-theoretical positions in education, philosophy, and social science that influence policy and practice in education: positivism/post-positivism, interpretive theory, and critical theory. At a real-world, practical level, you will learn to critically interpret simple and complex quantitative research in the experimental, correlational, and standard qualitative research methods (e.g., interviews, case studies, participatory action research, and emancipatory research). Through analyses of research, scholarship, and sources of professional practice knowledge, you will explore different models for making informed policy and practice decisions.