2.3 The qualitative dissertation: still hazy after all these years  (Page 6/14)

Carlos, a higher education student, came to me with a request that I chair his dissertation committee. He wanted to study the effectiveness of math tutoring for entering freshmen in College Algebra. He insisted that the only effective way to collect the data that could answer this question to his satisfaction was to interview random students who attended the tutoring over a given semester. His goal was to be able to recommend effective practices for supporting the learning and retention of incoming freshman. The first draft of the proposal outlined a plan for snowball sampling as a non-participant observer who sat in the tutoring lab for a specified number of days interviewing any student who came in for math tutoring. After talking with him for some time, he acknowledged that recording the number and the focus of each student’s visits might help answer his question. He further noted that frequency of visits could be related to positive or negative perceptions of tutoring as could its effectiveness be shown in raising test scores and grades. He also realized that his passion for retaining freshmen through programs of this kind went well beyond the math tutoring to include all efforts at facilitating the freshman experience. Consequently, he refocused his question more broadly and, in the end, completed a mixed method study that assessed support programs for entering freshmen as well as perceptions of the freshman about those programs through both interview and survey. He blended well the methods and data sources that were most appropriate to answering the research question of his study.

I am not suggesting that these questions and concerns are peculiar to qualitative studies, but I do maintain that they may be more troublesome and pronounced than with quantitative dissertation studies. I liken the quantitative dissertation to an expedition where a great deal of preparation occurs; maps, equipment, and supplies are amassed prior to embarking. The qualitative dissertation reminds me more of an odyssey for which some preparation is made, but probably not enough to anticipate every surprise encounter or pitfall. The enjoyment of the journey clearly depends on the expectations and temperament of the traveler.

Stages of the Qualitative Dissertation

Students looking at the typical time it takes to complete the dissertation study and perceiving that the qualitative dissertation may extend that timeframe can easily discern the likelihood of taking longer than their classmates to graduate. There is no place on the diploma that shows the amount of time each student spends on the dissertation study. Yet, seeing students choose studies on the consideration of time alone is troubling. I am not convinced that qualitative studies inherently take longer to complete than do their quantitative counterparts. I am convinced, however, that there are no guarantees about how long immersion and saturation of data will take. The key is in good research design with a meaningful research question. I have seen too many students lose their passion and interest for a study that is not genuinely engaging to them. I believe that in the end it is the innate curiosity and passion for learning that carries most students though the dissertation no matter what the method. Instrumentalism, getting“done”quickly, can sustain one for awhile; if the study becomes drudgery, an act of suppression of passion, it can easily become not“doable.”