Misconceptions Students Bring to Qualitative Research

Abstract

This paper explores graduate students’ misconceptions about qualitative research and demonstrates how a learner‐centered approach can support formative adjustments in instructional design and delivery of a qualitative research course. Among the qualitative data sources used in the study was students’ work in the course, as well as observations made by the instructor. A two‐stage analysis process, using NVivo software, generated two broad categories of students’ misconceptions: technical skills and design considerations. An examination of the depth of students’ work provided insight into how they approached and corrected misconceptions. Among the implications of these findings is the need for qualitative research instructors to continually anticipate, monitor, and actively respond to students’ misconceptions to counter negative effects of students’ faulty thinking. An instructor who gives little forethought to the issue of systematically and formatively adjusting course content to resolve learning dissonance may be hindering student learning and encumbering the development of future qualitative researchers. On one level, students’ misconceptions become a diagnostic tool to help the instructor correct students’ flawed thinking; on a higher level, an in‐depth exploration of the origins of the misconceptions can engage educators in curriculum reform efforts to promote cross‐curricular building of research competencies. Rather than supporting the divisions between qualitative and quantitative research, graduate reform should promote a learner‐centered systemic approach to formative improvements, thus strengthening cohesion among all forms of research methodology.