2.3 The qualitative dissertation: still hazy after all these years  (Page 12/14)

Similarly, the richness or thickness of the data requires that the researcher reduce the data to a clearly organized and understandable interpretation (Lofland&Lofland, 1995; Miles&Huberman, 1994). The transition from dissertation writing to writing for publication often hinges around one’s ability to reduce the data, to synthesize and make“crisp”the findings. It is a hazy transition that some students never make (Fauske, 2001). One or more data displays during the emergence of the study can lend clarity and precision to the data analysis process. Articulating the steps of developing grounded theory, for example, can both clarify the analysis and interpretation for the reader and also can help the student move to the final stages of identifying implications, of highlighting the what I call the“so what factor.”What do the data tell us that offer new knowledge and/or extend current theory? I have seen many students struggle in their dissertation defense because they are still overly immersed in the data and have not yet stepped back from the study sufficiently to“tell the story.”

Trusting the Process

I have an emerging theory that, especially in a qualitative dissertation, there are peaks and valleys. On the peaks in the sun, the view is clear and we collectively know where we are headed. In the valleys, our vision is impeded and clouds and shadows can hide the signs that guide our progress. Sometimes, the only choice is to sit and wait for the sun. Other times, careful scrutiny of the few visible signs can allow us to set off in the right direction. Some dissertations have numerous peaks and valleys, and our stamina and perseverance is tested. When my students and I find ourselves in a valley, it becomes difficult to stay immersed, to“trust”the process.

Yet, trusting the process of qualitative inquiry is indeed the crux of completing the study. Trusting the process is defined as“being willing to postpone judgment, to remain authentically immersed, and to accept the unpredictability of the outcomes of applying qualitative methods”(Meloy, 2002, p. 46). Largely, it involves the willingness to live with the inherent ambiguity that is qualitative data, to live in the and space (Atkinson, 2001). Atkinson offers a reconceptualization of decisions and choices that acknowledges blurred boundaries and ambiguous spaces not as either/or but as and (p. 311).

As researchers, we aim to categorize and code our data. Atkinson’s notion applied here would allow us not to make such choices until they become clear. For example, interview data on school improvement practices can be positive and negative, good for some children and bad for others, effective for some teachers and ineffective for others. Of course, the ambiguity fades over time and choices become clearer, but ambiguity is common in the study of humankind and of educational leadership. Thus, to some extent, the qualitative dissertation is never completely“done.”Rather, the evolution of the research and the researcher continues, and the reporting of finding become waypoints in the journey (Meloy, 2002). Students who want to be“done”struggle with the discursive nature of qualitative“knowing”and the iterative nature of data analysis (Piantinada&Garman, 1999).