Shifting Paradigms and Mapping the Process: Graduate Students Respond to Qualitative Research

We describe the experiences and responses of a group of graduate students as they first encountered an in-depth study of qualitative research methods. Four themes emerged as having important contributions: the nature of previous research experiences, personal style and learning preferences, epistemological and philosophical commitments, and assessment of professional viability. Key words: Qualitative Research, Conceptual Change, and Graduate Students Beliefs "It does little more than provide some questions to be researched. " Peter "It wasn't even considered Sunday reading. " Gary "It just seemed to me to be kind of backwards. " Carl "[It is] consistent with "the essence of my life--my connection with others. " Julie "Phenomenology spoke to me like an old friend. " Jane "I finally found a way to capture the most important part of our lives--the meanings we give to things. " James "It helped to anchor me as a person into the research. " Diana Introduction Reponses and reactions to qualitative research, as evidenced by these statements of students who participated in the same introductory class on qualitative research methods, contrast vividly. They mirror the controversy that still raises heated arguments in some academic communities; in spite of consistent calls for acceptance of alternative forms of research in the social sciences (e.g. Hoshmand, 1989; McLeod, 2001; Rennie, 1999), some scholars do not consider qualitative research equal to traditional methods (Rennie, 1999). For others, study of what has become the main alternative to quantitative research (McLeod, 2000) causes a powerful connection to the research process and opens the door to generation of new research questions (McLeod, 2001). Why? What experiences and personal characteristics contribute to a learner's response to qualitative research? The Current Status of Qualitative Research In the last decade, qualitative research methods, once considered useful primarily for exploratory purposes in the field of psychology, have gained some acceptance in most scholarly research communities as credible research forms in their own right (Elliot, Fischer & Rennie, 1999; Rennie, 1999). The movement has been most evident in the social sciences, education and health care research because qualitative research offers opportunities to understand dimensions of social interactions that traditional research methods do not address (McLeod, 2001). This alternative paradigm provides insights into the why and how dimensions of experience, adding significantly to the completeness of answers provided by research (McLeod 2000). Nevertheless, this acceptance has not been without controversy. Fields that have relied heavily on studies based on quantitative measures have been slower to embrace this alternative paradigm (Hoshmand, 1989; McLeod, 2000). This situation may be based on lack of understanding that the essential purpose of qualitative inquiry is to address different questions and to answer them in different ways (Hoshmand, 1989; Ponterotto & Grieger, 1999). It is not simply a different method, but a completely different paradigm that implies a distinctly different world-view, and a different consideration of the sources of truth (Hoshmand, 1989). Although some institutions offer alternative tracks in which students may choose between an emphasis in qualitative or quantitative studies, this is not the case in every university (Miller, Nelson, & Moore, 1998). Counseling and psychology divisions of schools of education have been known for providing a strong background in research methods and statistics, often requiring students to take 9-12 credits in study of statistical concepts and procedures. By virtue of these experiences in academic settings, many graduate students have been well-trained in quantitative traditions, either through this course work or the pervasive assumptions of their institutions and departments that equate quantitative inquiry with viable research (Miller, et al. …