Research Methods for Liminal Times: Investigating Education’s Past, Present, and Future through Three Qualitative Approaches

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 4:15 pm - Gold 4
  In Roundtable Session: Method in Transition: Ethics, Temporality, and AI in Evolving Qualitative Research Landscapes

Abstract

In response to the 2026 AERA conference theme, Unforgetting Histories and Imagining Futures: Constructing a New Vision for Education Research, this conceptual paper examines how oral history, autoethnography, and systematic review can help educational researchers learn from the past, understand the present, and (re)imagine the future. Drawing on the concept of liminality (Turner, 1967; Van Gennep, 1908/1960), I argue that the unprecedented shifts in U.S. education policy following the new presidential administration have pushed educators, students, and researchers into a liminal stage. Using methodological examples from my own work, this paper illustrates the application of oral history, autoethnography, and systematic review in educational research and explains why they are especially valuable during this historically liminal time.

Author

• Chi Nguyen, University of Arizona