Strengthening the role of qualitative research in education for sustainable development

Group Submission Type: Pre-conference Workshop

Proposal

In order to develop education policies, structures and systems that create sustainable development, it becomes even more important than ever to understand what works, and in particular, in which contexts. Qualitative research methods play an important role in program evaluation, especially with a focus on research contextualization, but often they are considered “second class” when compared to quantitative evaluations. When researchers want to know ‘what works’, quantitative methods are commonly selected instead of qualitative methods. However, without good qualitative data to contextualize these findings, ‘how or why things work’ can often remain obscured. Thus, the Building Evidence in Education (BE2) working group, a group of over 30 funders of education programs, has developed a guidance note to help commissioners of research and researchers design and implement qualitative research that use an equivalent level of rigor and command an equivalent level of respect as quantitative research.

Most qualitative studies are used to explore and understand the mechanisms of social phenomena, rather than assess the effect or attribution of action. The purpose of qualitative analysis is “sense making”, i.e., how to understand, think about, make sense of, and manage situations/environments and/or to describe the contexts in which a program is being implemented. This analysis often answers “how” and “why” questions. Within each of the research streams - interviewing, observation and documentation analysis - various different approaches are used and require sound research design, careful sampling, well thought-out data collection and capture, and methodical data analysis.

Learning outcomes for the participants: Workshop participants will
• Learn how they can use the new guidance note in their own research activities;
• Learn about features of qualitative methods, and how they can be not only applicable, but preferable in certain types of evaluations and formative research;
• Learn how to assess the quality of a qualitative research;
• Gain an understanding of when qualitative methods are used appropriately;
• Have an opportunity to exchange expertise with peers, and provide input and feedback for the draft guidance note based on their own experiences and expertise;
• Learn how to make methodological choices when commissioning or delivering a usable, credible qualitative research product.

Interactive, skill-building workshop activities:
The session will start by presenters briefly sharing the new guidance note on how to conduct excellent qualitative research and familiarizing participants with specific components of the guidance note, including when and the extent to which qualitative methods are appropriate, e.g., based on evaluation’s purposes and intended uses.

Then the participants will:
• Be divided into multiple groups/tables led by a facilitator per table;
• Have in-depth group discussions on approaches and methods based on prepared questions and worksheets; questions will include participants experiences, e.g., when to use certain qualitative approaches (pros/cons), sampling strategies, sample size considerations, data analysis;
• Discuss how qualitative methods relate to different types of evaluation;
• Discuss what ethical questions they have encountered, and how they have solved them;
• Provide feedback on the guidance note.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Workshop Organizers

• Joan DeJaeghere, University of Minnesota

• Dominic Richardson, UNICEF

• Rachel Hinton, DFID

• Maria Brindlmayer, Making Cents International