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Vol. 38, No. 18 |
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5-6-2009 Clarifying the complexities of qualitative inquiryNew OSU working group aims to improve research methodology, resources
 Through the newly formed Qualitative Inquiry Working Group, co-founder Stout hopes to understand how other researchers have struggled with the same issues. “Beyond the approval of the Institutional Review Board, despite the consent forms, despite my close collaboration with my research participants, the shared outcomes of my research may make these teachers vulnerable,” Stout said. “What ‘good’ or what ‘harm’ beyond my own researcher’s intent might come in sharing their stories? “There are no simple answers that will quell these concerns. But an exchange of perspectives from fellow researchers who also have worked with vulnerable populations might well be of help.” The QI Working Group had its first meeting May 1 in Smith Laboratory, and a standing-room-only group of more than 50 faculty and graduate students from across disciplines — arts and humanities, education, behavioral and social sciences, nursing and medicine — took part. It was the broad swath and high participation Stout and fellow co-founder Mark Moritz, assistant professor of anthropology, had hoped for. “I’m generally prone to understatement, but this was the most exciting meeting of minds that I have experienced in my seven years here at OSU,” Stout said. “We want as many different disciplines as possible joining us. The more people we put together in sharing experiences and developing strategies for research into the human experience, the healthier our research is.” College of Education and Human Ecology’s Patti Lather, an international scholar in qualitative research, was the featured speaker. And the first call to action came out of the meeting: The need for undergraduate courses to teach qualitative methodology. That played into the group’s other goal, which is to broaden access to QI methodology by creating a clearinghouse of the people and resources available at Ohio State. Moritz is putting together a user-edited wiki that will identify people, courses, syllabi, research projects, method skills, labs, data analysis software and equipment that OSU researchers have and use. Both Stout and Moritz expect it to become an invaluable resource, and Moritz admits it would have saved him time when he started out doing research on herder-farmer conflicts in West Africa. “I had trouble finding a method to analyze the data,” Moritz said. “But I came across a particular method, qualitative comparative analysis, which very few people had used. However, I found out later we have a specialist here on campus, Randy Hodson in sociology. It would have been nice to know that person was there so I could go to him and figure out how to analyze data or set up a study. “There are so many resources around us and we’re just not aware of it. By bringing those people together and making those resources visible, it’s going to stimulate research in general across OSU.” The QI Working Group will meet again from 2-3 p.m. June 5 in 4012 Smith Laboratory, although an informal meeting May 7 was slated to plan which speakers to invite. Two on the list of potential speakers include The Rand Corp.’s Gery Ryan, who is an expert on collecting and analyzing “messy data,” and University of Illinois Distinguished Professor of Communications Norman Denzin, considered one of the foremost researcher methodologists in qualitative inquiry. The QI group receives funding to bring in some of the best minds thanks to its acceptance as an official working group by the OSU Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities. “Qualitative research is fraught with complexities, ambiguities and judgment calls,” Stout said. “We needed a broader forum and more perspective even though Mark and I both teach qualitative research courses in our departments. We’re not looking for truth, but truthfulness — a resonance with the human experience.” For more information on the Qualitative Inquiry Working Group, contact Stout at stout.127@osu.edu or Moritz at moritz.42@osu.edu.
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