Читать книгу Qualitative Dissertation Methodology - Nathan Durdella - Страница 10

Qualitative Dissertation Methodology: A Guide for Research Design and Methods is a guide-in-action book. The book assumes that readers seek guidance, advice, or insight of some sort (like we all do)—much like doctoral students with their dissertation advisors or students with textbooks. Accordingly, the key features of this book that may appeal to doctoral students or dissertation chairs include many pragmatic, actionable approaches to conceptualizing and applying principles of qualitative research from right inside the dissertation context. Special features that define this book include the following:

 Brief summary descriptions of the parts of the book—Part I: “Preparing for Methodological Work,” Part 2: “Developing a Methodology Chapter,” and Part 3: “Transitioning to Work After a Methodology Chapter”—precede chapters to which they relate. This approach offers readers an opportunity to intellectually organize their work into manageable steps and break down the conceptual and tactical work of methodology writing.

 Chapter purposes, key concepts, and learning outcomes appear at the start of each chapter and guide readers to signposts within each chapter—connecting overall chapter functions to methodology chapter sections and pointing to central concepts, principles, and activities that support chapter development.

 Each select chapters of Part 2: “Developing a Methodology Chapter” includes discussions of variations in formats or approaches to dissertation methodologies—from programmatic differences in culminating experiences of doctoral studies to the diverse application of social science research principles and procedures in the area of practice. These discussions alert readers to how they can adapt what I present in each chapter to the specific tasks of writing the methodological framework.

 Within each chapter, exercises, boxes, figures, and tables that visually illustrate discussions and key concepts appear. These visual graphics heighten interest in these key points and serve as easy-to-find resources.

 Each chapter includes “Key Questions to Ask Yourself” at points in the chapter and “Questions for Application” near the end of the chapter.

 Throughout the book, a set of doctoral student samples appears with conceptual discussions and applications of social science research principles and their application within dissertation contexts. Many of these student samples emerge from applied educational dissertations and relate to students’ dissertation work across applied and social science disciplines.

 Illustrating the iterative, recursive, and often reflective nature of dissertation writing, a before, during, and after look—including student samples—at sections and subsections of qualitative methodology chapters accompanies discussions of potential pitfalls and areas of improvement from early development to final draft.

 Near the end of each chapter in Part 2: “Developing a Methodology Chapter,” a template to draft dissertation methodology chapter sections and subsections appears as a tool for readers to use in their own proposals.

 At the end of the book, two chapters that treat special topics directly related to qualitative dissertation methodology: (a) human subjects with a human subjects toolkit: templates, samples, and a look at the most common request for revisions that IRBs submit to doctoral students and (b) analytical and interpretive processes and presentation of results. The work that characterizes what appears in these two chapters sometimes parallels methodology chapter development—so discussions related to these processes can inform students’ work within the methodology proper.

 Each chapter ends with a summary of key concepts and questions for application—extending discussions with each chapter to readers’ conceptual work and writing tasks.

 Near the end of chapters that focus on design and methods, a checklist for methodology chapter development.

 Each chapter ends with a bibliography for easy reference and referral to resources that support the discussions in the chapter.