Methods of Literacy Research

The Methodology Chapters From the Handbook of Reading Research, Volume III

Michael L. Kamil, Peter B. Mosenthal, P. David Pearson, Rebecca Barr

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2001
• ISBN:
  9781135649616
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

In this volume, 10 reviews of significant reading research methodologies are reprinted from the Handbook of Reading Research, Volume III. The editors have judged that these specific methodologies have had great impact on reading research since the publication of Volume II in 1991. This text is especially well-suited for use in upper-level undergraduate and graduate-level reading research methods courses.

CHAPTER 1
Making Sense of Classroom Worlds: Methodology in Teacher Research

James E Baumann
University of Georgia

Ann M. Duffy-Hester
University of North Carolina at Greensboro

We had such a hard time finding methods that we thought were practical and feasible. To this day, I have not been able to master the use of a teaching journal The idea of being videotaped gives me hives…. None of the traditional methods of collecting data were inviting to me…. I thought of what strategies I could fit into my existing classroom structure and what wouldn’t drive me insane.

—teacher researcher Debby Wood (cited in Baumann, Shockley-Bisplinghoff, & Allen, 1997, p. 138)

The 1990s have been marked by the resurgence and coming of age of teacher research (McFarland & Stansell, 1993). The recent renaissance of teacher research has resulted in the publication of numerous compendia (e.g., Bissex & Bullock, 1987; Donoahue, Van Tassell, & Patterson, 1996), full-length books (e.g., Allen, Michalove, & Shockley, 1993), and essays on classroom research (e.g., Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1993; Goswami & Stillman, 1987). In spite of the proliferation of published teacher research studies, relatively little attention has been given to methodology processes and how they evolve and mature (Calkins, 1985). Perhaps it comes as no surprise that teacher researchers like Debby Wood and her colleagues sometimes struggle to find research methods appropriate to the unique demands of their classroom studies.

Many teacher researchers have successfully wrestled with vexing methodological issues, however, by selecting, adapting, or creating procedures that accommodate their specific research needs (Baumann et al., 1997). But what are the methodological solutions? What is the nature of methodologies teacher researchers have employed in classroom-based inquiries into literacy? We address these questions in this chapter by presenting a qualitative analysis of published literacy teacher-research studies. We begin with a discussion of theoretical issues, followed by a description of our research methods. Next, we present and discuss the categories and themes of teacher-research methodology our analysis uncovered. Finally, we address limitations and conclusions, and we consider whether teacher inquiry is a new research genre.

THEORETICAL ISSUES

Defining Teacher Research

Definitions of teacher research vary (Threat et al., 1994), but most include several common characteristics (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1993; Lytle & Cochran-Smith, 1994a, 1994b). Being present daily in the research and work environment, teacher researchers have an insider, or emic, perspective on the research process. This provides them a unique, situation-specific, participant role in an inquiry (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1993, p. 43). Theory and practice are interrelated and blurred in teacher research (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1993; Kincheloe, 1991; Lather, 1986). It is this mixture of reflection and practice, or praxis, in which a teacher-researcher ‘s personal theory and theory within a field converge and affect one another. A cornerstone of teacher research is that it is pragmatic and action oriented’, that is, it involves reflecting on one’s teaching and practice, inquiring about it, exploring it, and then taking action to improve or alter it (Burton, 1991; Patterson & Shannon, 1993; Wells et al., 1994).

Teacher research must involve disciplined inquiry (Shulman, 1997), which means it is intentional and systematic. Teacher researchers consciously initiate and implement their inquiries and have a plan for data gathering and analysis. Teacher research embraces both inquiries steeped in conventional research traditions (e.g., qualitative, quantitative) that have well-articulated, accepted information collection and interpretation procedures and evolving research paradigms (e.g., personal narrative, formative experiment, memoir) that involve less traditional but nonetheless still regular, ordered modes of inquiry (Lytle & Cochran-Smith, 1994b). Drawing from these principles and extending Lytle and Cochran-Smith’s (1994b, p. 1154) definition of teacher research, we conceive of teacher research as “reflection and action through systematic, intentional inquiry about classroom life” (Baumann et al., 1997, p. 125).

Methods Versus Methodology

In our exploration of teacher research, we distinguish between method and methodology. According to Denzin and Lincoln (1994, p. 99), epistemology involves how a researcher comes to know about the world; ontology involves a researcher’s beliefs about the nature of reality; and methodology involves the means by which a researcher gains knowledge about the world. Consequently, methodology for teacher researchers involves their beliefs about the world of teaching, learning, children, and classroom life. Methods, in contrast, are the procedures and tools a researcher employs in an inquiry: the plans for gathering information, the mechanisms for reducing or synthesizing data, and the techniques for analyzing and making sense of information. Methods are determined by methodological decisions (see Dillon essay in Baumann, Dillon, Shockley, Alvermann, & Reinking, 1996).

The implication of this distinction is that our examination of methodology in teacher research involves more than simply reporting the various types of research designs, data collection procedures, and analysis techniques (i.e., methods) teacher researchers have employed. Rather, it requires that we put on a wide-angle lens to examine the general characteristics of teacher research, the process of teacher inquiry, and the nature of classroom inquiry dissemination, along with the actual methods classroom teachers use in their studies.

Literature on Methodology in Teacher Research

Teacher research has a long, rich, and varied tradition, and we refer readers to other sources to glean a full historical perspective (e.g., Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1990; Lytle & Cochran-Smith, 1994a; McFarland & Stansell, 1993; Olson, 1990). Here we briefly trace selected works germane to methodology in teacher research.

Early in the 20th century, one finds references to the importance of teacher contributions to the knowledge base on teaching (Dewey, 1929) as well as discussions of methods appropriate for research involving teachers (Buckingham, 1926). Concurrent with the mid-century action research movement (e.g., Corey, 1953; Elliott, 1991; Stenhouse, 1973, 1975) were discussions about appropriate methodology for teacher research (Corman, 1957; Hodgkinson, 1957). More recently, authors have described various methods, tools, and procedures for engaging in teacher research (e.g., Brause & Mayher, 1991; Calhoun, 1994; Hopkins, 1993; Hubbard & Power, 1993a, 1999; Kincheloe, 1991; Mohr & Maclean, 1987; Myers, 1985; Nixon, 1981; Sagor, 1992).

Given the long-standing interest in the conduct and publication of teacher research and the more recent works describing methods and tools, it is interesting that there have been relatively few analyses of methodological perspectives employed in teacher re...

Table of contents

• Contents
• Preface
• REFERENCES
• CHAPTER 1 Making Sense of Classroom Worlds: Methodology in Teacher Research
• CHAPTER 2 Designing Programmatic Interventions
• CHAPTER 3 Undertaking Historical Research in Literacy
• CHAPTER 4 Narrative Approaches
• CHAPTER 5 Critical Approaches
• CHAPTER 6 Ethnographic Approaches to Literacy Research
• CHAPTER 7 Verbal Reports and Protocol Analysis
• CHAPTER 8 A Case for Single-Subject Experiments in Literacy Research
• CHAPTER 9 Discourse and Sociocultural Studies in Reading
• CHAPTER 10 Research Synthesis: Making Sense of the Accumulation of Knowledge in Reading
• Author Index
• Subject Index