“Wisdom has many antecedents and forms and that the quest for it is endless.. Peshkin,pg.28
In this article, Peshkin tries to rebut authority’s belief that research has to be theory driven, hypothesis testing or generalization producing because qualitative researchers are being put off to write more due to this reason. He is in fact not defending but respecting qualitative research after reading Nodding’s notion in his book that says: “The search for justification often carries us farther and farther from the heart of morality.”
He puts the goodness of Qualitative Research into 4 major categories. However, I prefer to see it as outcomes. It does not differ between these two but I prefer to use my own term so that I could easily memorized. The 4 major outcomes will be:
a) Description
- Peshkin believes description is not the lowliest level of research as it is believed to be because from it comes- prescription which entails accuracy,sensitivity and comprehensiveness of its descriptive foundation.
- It helps us to understand process which many Positivists ‘fail’ to see.
- It helps us to discovering/uncovering many aspects that we always fail to see when dealing with quantitative such as communal function of certain community and etc.
- It provides setting and situation that not all the time can exist or made to exist in quantitative realm; a restrictive racist society.
b) Interpretation
- Qualitative research that can explain and interpret empirical generalization derived by quantitative techniques.
- Can engender new concepts but also elaborates existing concepts. For example, justifying existing theories of education and at the same time extend understanding to a new paradigm.
- Producing problem finding through insights.
- Theory development: develop a new theory from data collection and analysis rather than reflecting the already existing.
c) Verification
- Peshkin believes it is actually establishing the utility of ideas/theories not merely an assumption as believed by Schofield( 1998).
- It has been proven by John Ogbu’s works (1978) in Stockton, California and corroborated by a study in Fairfax. Ogbu’s study was about the academic failure of American minority students.
d) Evaluation
- It is confined to policies, practices and innovations and fully reflected by asking these questions;
- Have they been implemented? With what impact? What has the process been like? How do they work? For whom do they work? Are there exceptions?
- It helps us to see further; implications of policies,practices and innovations.
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