Abstract
This article surveys the literature from 1999 to 2013 on teaching qualitative research methods. One hundred thirteen articles fitted the inclusion criteria; 79 of these were by academics in the United States and Canada. Only 39 of the 113 were based on empirical research: from these, seven descriptive themes were distilled, of which the dominant ones are experiential learning and practice-based materials and workshops. The literature portrayed teaching qualitative research as providing experiential and practice-based learning opportunities for students that revealed its desirable pedagogical features. It further reported that when students engaged in learning experiences, they underwent paradigm shifts about qualitative research as well as personal transformations. Our study confirmed that there is a lack of a research-based approach to teaching qualitative methods and we recommend that more be done to contribute to its pedagogical culture particularly concerning methods used to evaluate instruction, innovative instructional methods, and approaches to assessment.
Highlights
Thematic synthesis tends to be applied to qualitative evidence, we followed the developers of this approach, Thomas and Harden (2008), and used the sections labeled findings, results, discussion, limitations, or conclusion that were directly related to teaching outcomes as the data
Three analytical themes were constructed from the descriptive themes that were presented in the previous section: trends in the literature on teaching qualitative research methods, the subjective nature of learning qualitative research, and the current status of research into teaching qualitative research
Qualitative research was conceptualized in the literature as a craft, that is, learning it was not merely a matter of mastering technical skills or learning from a textbook: What was needed were apprenticeship and co-operation in participating in learning activities (Shaw et al, 2008)
Summary
This study is a systematic review: We undertook “a structured system of inquiry to find and review publications” (Bearman et al, 2012, p. 626). Qualitative data, with conveniently or purposively selected or volunteer samples, were collected in 33 of the 39 articles These data included interviews (indepth, semistructured, and telephonic), reflective journals, case studies, instructors’ notes, course syllabi, discussions with students, notes of class discussions, synthesis essays, written reflections, written responses to semistructured questions, open-ended questions online, autoethnographies, participant observation, focus groups, audiotapes of interviews, think-aloud protocols, and documents, such as student research reports, assignments, critiques, and transcripts of interviews. Thematic synthesis tends to be applied to qualitative evidence, we followed the developers of this approach, Thomas and Harden (2008), and used the sections labeled findings, results, discussion, limitations, or conclusion that were directly related to teaching outcomes as the data This method aligns with Sandelowski and colleagues’ (2006) definition of mixed research synthesis. The analytical themes are presented in the discussion that follows after the findings
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