Running head: FROM TREADING WATER
From Treading Water to Swimming in the Deep End: The Journey and Experiences of
Becoming a Qualitative Researcher
Harley Walden
Research Paper submitted for
EDF 625 Qualitative Research in Education
at Marshall University
in partial fulfillment for the requirements
for the degree of
Doctor of Education in Curriculum and Instruction
Linda Spatig, Ed. D., Instructor
Graduate School of Education and Professional Development
South Charleston, West Virginia
2014
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From Treading Water to Swimming in the Deep End: The Journey and Experiences of
Becoming a Qualitative Researcher
I must say that I am very embarrassed to admit that I am twenty-nine years old
and I cannot swim! This is a ridiculous fact that I plan to remedy by signing up for
swimming lessons at the end of this semester. I can trace this irrational fear back to my
childhood when my family was on vacation visiting some cousins at Myrtle Beach, South
Carolina. I was probably nine years old at the hotel’s pool on a very hot summer’s day. I
had my back to my aunt while I was putting on a pair of water wings or floaties, as they
are commonly known, when I heard her say, “you’re gonna sink or swim.” Well, I did not
swim, as I sank to the bottom of the deep end, which was twelve-foot deep. This was the
beginning of my twenty-plus years’ worth of panic when it came to deep water. Although
much less traumatic, this is a similar experience when I began doing qualitative research.
I had very limited experience with qualitative and ethnographic research when this class
began, but there comes a time when you have to face your fears and engage with the
process that might frighten or unsettle you the most.
Deciding What to Study/Research Questions (Facing Your Fears)
Just like the decision to sign up for swimming classes was a difficult, yet vital
step on the path to overcoming and facing my fears, so too was the decision when I made
up my mind about what I would study for this qualitative research class. I consulted
Bogdan and Biklen’s (2007) advice about choosing a research topic and one of the major
issues that I needed to keep in mind was that “without a touch of passion, you may not
have enough to sustain the effort to follow the work through to the end or to go beyond
the ordinary” (p. 56). So, I wanted to make sure that for my first qualitative research
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project that I chose a topic that I was interested in and had a foundational point of
reference. I was first stuck on what general area my research topic would arise, but was
interested in researching tutoring in some way. This sage advice guided me in the right
direction, as I had to take into consideration the size and scope for my possible research
topic in the next step.
When considering what topic I would choose for my qualitative research project, I
knew that there would have to be some parameters regarding the size and scope of my
topic for this project. Bogdan and Biklen (2007) describe these parameters in terms of
“picking a study that seems reasonable in size and complexity so that it can be completed
with the time and resources available “ and to “also take into account your own skill,
which, at this time is likely to be untested and underdeveloped” (p. 56). When I began
this class I had no idea how to conduct a qualitative ethnographic project, so to say I was
a novice would be an overstatement. I had very few research skills already developed
before the start of this class, as I had previously only done historical research with
documents. The length of this class and due dates for assignments also placed limitations
on my selection of a research topic that influenced the size and scope for this qualitative
project. It was at this point when I began to think about what aspect of tutoring I could
explore within the timeframe that was available and also within the logistic realm of
possibility, as the next guideline suggested by Bogdan and Biklen (2007) would also play
an important role in selecting a topic and research questions.
After taking into consideration the size and scope of my research topic, I also
needed to be aware of my own biases and proximity to “tutoring” as a field of study and
occupation, as I both a graduate assistant ant tutor at the Buck Harless Student-Athlete
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Program. As discussed by Bogdan and Biklen (2007), “people who are intimately
involved in a setting find it difficult to distance themselves both from personal concerns
and from their commonsense understandings of what is going on” (p. 57). I knew that I
wanted to explore a topic related to tutoring and after contacting my class’ instructors, I
came up with the idea of taking a look at the other main tutoring facility on campus that
provides services to the general student body, not just a specific clientele like at the
tutoring facility where I work that only provides help to student-athletes. I wanted to
avoid a topic that was too close to my own area of expertise, so the tutoring facility at the
university that provides help for the entire student body became the focus for the next
step of refining my research topic and developing a central research question to coincide
with my topic.
Once I had chosen an area of interest for my qualitative research project, I needed
to refine and parse my large, general topic down into a smaller, more manageable topic
that would easily support a quality research question. Bogdan and Biklen (2007) suggest
being prepared to “brainstorm possibilities and then to eliminate some on practical or
other grounds” because “doing this often helps you become clearer about your interests
and thus narrow the options” (p. 58). I sent an email to my instructors in order to narrow
my research topic and develop a research question to go along with it. I informed them
that I wanted to potentially look at the differences and similarities, if any, between the
tutoring facility aimed at helping student-athletes and the tutoring facility that provides
help for the entire student body. One of my instructors replied that “it might also be
interesting as well to explore why student-athletes have separate tutoring services to
begin with and if they are equivalent” (B. Seyedmonir, personal communication,
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September, 2, 2014). This really got me thinking about the differences in the quality of
services at both of the tutoring facilities. So, my research topic became the tutoring
services provided at the facility for the entire student body and the research question
became “What are the tutors’ and tutees’ perceptions and experiences associated with the
quality of services that are provided at the tutoring facility?” Now with a research topic
and question in mind, I was ready to get my toes wet and gain access to my research site.
Gaining Access (Getting Your Toes Wet)
Gaining access to my research site was very much like dipping my toes into a
pool for the first time. It is one of the beginning steps you take before you venture out
further into the pool of qualitative research, uncertain of both its depths and whether you
can swim to the deep end and successfully accomplish this task. Before I initiated the
process of gaining access, I was divided between two different research sites. The first
site was where I worked at the tutoring facility that provides help to student-athletes and
the second site was the tutoring facility that provided services to the entire student body
at the university. After receiving feedback from Dr. Spatig and Bobbie regarding these
two different alternatives, I chose the tutoring facility that provided services for the entire
student body in order to avoid any conflicts of interest and avoid any research data that
might influenced by my connections to the student-athlete tutoring facility. So, after
choosing a research site, I began the gaining access portion of this project.
The first step in gaining access to a research site is finding out the hierarchy and
rules they have in place. So, I looked up the tutoring facility’s website and found out the
name and contact information for the program’s director. Bogdan and Biklen (2007)
suggest approaching the gaining access stage of qualitative research from an open and
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honest overt perspective, as you should “make your interests known and seek the
cooperation of those you will study” (p. 84). This was my approach when I contacted the
tutoring facility’s director via a phone call. I was up front about who I was and what my
intentions were in relation to this qualitative research project. This is also part of the
process that Bogdan and Biklen (2007) advocate, as they state, “it is a good idea to
emphasize that you are a student and seek their sympathetic cooperation” (p. 86). I
approached the phone call with the program’s director, as a formal inquiry where I laid
out the research project and reassured her about my intentions. I explained that I would
be doing two observations and two interviews that would be unobtrusive in nature.
Another key element of the gaining access process is telling the gatekeeper “that
you do not plan to use anyone’s name and that you will disguise the location” (Bogdan &
Biklen, 2007, p. 87). I specifically told the program’s director that the names and
opinions of anyone I interviewed and observed would remain confidential and that none
of this research was going beyond the parameters of my qualitative research class. I also
indicated that I would not produce any new data regarding specific statistics from my
research and that they would not be receiving anything research-wise at the conclusion of
my data analysis (Bogdan & Biklen, 2007). This makes it clear that this is not a quid pro
quo dynamic and that at any time, if she decided, my involvement with the facility would
be terminated.
I was able to establish a rapport with the gatekeeper and director of the tutoring
facility, and scheduled a meeting for my first participant observation. I followed Bogdan
and Biklen’s (2007) three-step process for gaining access to my research site in terms of
being “persistent, flexible, and creative” (p. 89). These steps summarize the kind of
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attitude toward qualitative research that is required in order to successfully gain access to
a site. So after successfully gaining access to my research site, it was time to start
researching the existing body of knowledge associated with the quality of tutoring
services provided to student-athletes and non-athlete students.
Literature Searching (Better Grab Some Floaties)
After getting my toes wet and getting a feel for the qualitative research process, it
was time to wade deeper into the pool with the help of some floaties, as I explored the
existing body of knowledge about my research topic. I conducted my initial search for the
existing body of literature related to my research topic after I completed my first
participant observation. By taking this approach, I followed Bogdan and Biklen’s (2007)
advice that qualitative researchers should “begin exploring the literature while you are in
the field” (p. 169). This was new approach to research for me, as I usually performed a
search for literature before I entered the field in order to better familiarize myself with
my research topic and the specific terminology associated with similar studies.
However, Bogdan and Biklen’s (2007) guidelines for conducting a search for
literature offers a unique framework for novice researchers because they suggest that
“after you have been in the field for a while, going through the substantive literature in
the area you are studying will enhance analysis” (p. 169). After I conducted my first
participant observation, I developed a few initial inquiries, in terms of the terminology
and issues related to my research topic. For instance, I began my search for literature with
terms, such as “student-athletes,” “tutors,” and “tutoring services.” The results came back
with only one article that discussed student-athletes tutoring at-risk children, which was
not relevant to my research topic. Next, I used the terms “student-athletes” in conjunction
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with the phrase “academic support programs.” This search received four results that were
of varying relevance to my research topic, which was more substantial than my first
inquiry with the database. The search for literature process was trial and error to some
degree, as I was able to eventually accumulate enough literature about my topic to go
with the data that I collected, and was representative of my larger struggles with
becoming a qualitative researcher.
Another important guideline that I tried to keep in mind with my literature search
was that I needed to “try to avoid jamming my data into preformed conceptual schemes”
(Bogdan & Biklen, 2007, p. 169). I wanted to become more knowledgeable about my
topic, but at the same time I did not want the articles to direct my data collection into
previously charted terrain. I read these data-based articles and eventually narrowed them
down to four, in order to keep the parameters of my research project intact. With these
four articles, I found that there were two main fields of study relating to tutoring at the
post-secondary level: studies that dealt with the quality of the tutoring services available
to college students and studies that involved the structure or organization of the tutoring
services available for college students.
One article that discusses the importance of the quality for a tutoring program is
Arco-Tirado, Fernandez-Martin, and Fernandez-Balboa’s (2011). Their article, The
Impact of a Peer-Tutoring Program on Quality Standards in Higher Education (2011),
explored the connection between freshman dropout rates and academic failure and the
influence that a peer-tutoring program at the University of Granada had on those rates of
failure of dropout. The forty-one students were divided into either an experimental or
control group. Some of them were then paired with peers that tutored them ten times
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during ninety appointments throughout the course of a semester (Arco-Tirado,
Fernandez-Martin, & Fernandez-Balboa, 2011). These tutors received four three-hour
certification training sessions relating to issues, such as “planning and time management,
cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies, motivational strategies, and the use of
materials designed ad hoc for this program” (Arco-Tirado, Fernandez-Martin, &
Fernandez-Balboa, 2011, p. 773). Arco-Tirado, Fernandez-Martin, & Fernandez-Balboa
(2011) found that the freshman students, who received the peer tutoring services,
experienced: higher grade point averages, an increase in learning strategy comprehension,
and higher rates of academic success than the freshman who did not receive the peertutoring services. So the important aspect of this study dealing with the quality of the
peer-tutoring program was the fact that the tutors were well trained and certified, which
translated to marked improvements in their tutees’ academic progress.
Another article that dealt with the quality of tutoring services available to college
students, conducted by Dioso-Henson (2012), examined the difference between the
academic improvement for students enrolled in a college Physics class using Reciprocal
Peer Tutoring (RPT) and students who are not using the RPT tutoring services. Students
were grouped into pairs and provided with online mentoring services as well. Before each
RPT tutoring appointment occurred, each student completed multiple choice assessments
that had the answers provided through the use of study guides via the online website
(Dioso-Henson, 2012). In the RPT groups, each student would take and administer the
assessment to their partner in a reciprocal manner before each class. In the traditional
non-RPT tutoring groups, one student would always administer the assessment and the
other would always take the test, thus keeping the roles of tutor and tutee solidified
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throughout the process. Each tutoring group also had a class monitor and peer mentor to
offer feedback regarding the students’ academic performance and their attitudes toward
the tutoring appointments. Interestingly, Dioso-Henson (2012) found that both types of
tutoring services improved students’ grades in their Physics class, with the RPT
appointments resulting in only marginally higher scores than the non-RPT tutoring
appointments. This study shows that as long as a tutoring program is well resourced, it
does not particularly matter if the program adopts a RPT or traditional approach to
tutoring; the issue that really matters is the high quality of the services at the tutoring
facility.
In addition to the studies dealing with the quality of the tutoring services that were
provided to college students, there were also many studies dealing with the structure and
organization of the tutoring programs. Schleyer, Langdon, and James’ (2005) article,
examined the structure of a peer-tutoring program at the Department of Engineering at
the University of Liverpool. Their peer-tutoring program was designed for undergraduate
Engineering students taking Conceptual Design classes. These classes were taught
primarily through lecture and instructor critique sessions. The faculty designed the
tutoring program as a way “to facilitate student learning by making the group work for
itself, without providing supplementary teaching or textbook solutions to set problems”
(Schleyer, Langdon, and James, 2005, p. 245). The researchers found that the students
who received the peer tutoring services increased their ability to solve problems, became
more confident in their academic abilities, and viewed the tutoring appointments as a
non-threatening way to practice conceptual design skills with understanding peers and
not professors who might judge them based on their academic deficiencies (Schleyer,
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Langdon, and James, 2005). So, the structure of a tutoring program is important for its
ultimate success. If structured properly, tutoring programs allow students the opportunity
to make mistakes, without feeling judged, and learn from their own miscalculation.
Burns, Jasinski, Dunn, and Fletcher’s (2013) article also explored the connection
between the structure of a tutoring program and its impact on a student population. In this
case, the self-efficacy of student-athletes’ decision-making skills was analyzed in relation
to the structure of a tutoring program that provided them with academic support. The
study involved 158 student-athletes from eleven different NCAA Division 1 schools and
measured their levels of satisfaction with the organization of the tutoring services that
they were provided, their self-efficacy regarding their decision-making skills, and their
individual level of self-control (Burns, Jasinski, Dunn, & Fletcher, 2013). The researchers
found that the student-athletes’ opinions of the tutoring program’s organizations were
positively related to their individual self-efficacy regarding their decision-making skills.
In addition to these results, the authors stated that “students who were more satisfied with
their school’s academic support services typically had higher levels of career decisionmaking self-efficacy (CSDE)” (Burns, Jasinski, Dunn, & Fletcher, 2013, p. 165). So if
student-athletes are satisfied with the structure of their tutoring services, then they are
also more likely to be more confident in their abilities to make career decisions. The
structure of the tutoring programs in the study included academic advisors, career
counselors, and athletic staff who all worked in unison to ensure the student-athletes’
academic success.
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After analyzing the existing body of literature regarding my topic, my research
should be viewed as a combination of both existing trends. My research looked at the
ways that tutors and tutees viewed the quality of the services that were provided and also
their perceptions of the tutoring facility’s structure. These different perceptions were
collected from my observations and interview transcripts. After concluding my search for
literature, it was time to collect data in the field and either sink or swim.
Fieldwork/Collecting Data (Sink or Swim)
Once I had accumulated enough articles relating to my research topic, I needed to
collect more data in the field and engage with the qualitative research process or sink in a
failing effort. Patton (2002) provides a useful framework for qualitative research that
allowed me to better understand my role as an ethnographic researcher. He offers three
basic categories containing 12 different principles, which can be used to construct a good
qualitative study. Within each of these three domains, there are twelve principles that
shape and influence the nature of a qualitative study. The design of the study is supposed
to be flexible in terms of emerging understandings and observations and use purposeful
sampling among its participants in order to “gain insight about the phenomenon” (Patton,
2002, p. 40). The researcher seeks qualitative data with thick, full descriptions and
engages the observation participants in a close way without judging them in order to
remain neutral, while still being mindful of the changing dynamics of the observed
participants.
In relation to the design of my study, I had to be flexible in order to address
unanticipated factors that changed the focus of my qualitative research. The emergent
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nature of my research design was reflected when I altered the focus of my research from
exploring the differences between two different tutoring facilities to looking at the
different perceptions of tutors and tutees’ regarding the quality of services that are
provided at the tutoring facility. These details began to manifest in my fieldwork,
especially in terms of conducting observations. During my first observation at the
tutoring facility, I began to notice small, yet important details regarding the facility’s
resources:
O.C.: The old wooden desk that they were using resembled a child’s crib with
panels on both sides and a bar going across the top. Although somewhat messy,
the graduate assistants had a method to their madness and seemingly knew where
everything was located and could grab something when needed. (fieldnotes,
9/19/14)
This particular observer comment provided the thick, full descriptions that I was
looking for, such as the “old wooden desk” that looked like a child’s crib. I was not
expecting to encounter such detail, but this shows the emergent nature of qualitative
research. In fact, I encountered similar details during my second observation when I
noted that “I thought about the main tutoring lounge’s pastel colored walls and the clearly
dated carpeting and the lack of resources that are made available to the facility by the
university” (fieldnotes, 10/10/14). These details allowed me to make changes to the
design of my research, based on unanticipated details from my observations that
addressed the perceived lack of resources at the tutoring facility.
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Bogdan and Biklen’s (2007) guidelines for conducting observations were
especially helpful for me, as I struggled to find the focus for my research design in a
strange new environment. As advised by my class instructor, we were to conduct one
observation without writing down any notes and then on the second one we were
supposed to jot down a few quick thoughts or reflections during our time at the research
site. Bogdan and Biklen’s (2007) discussion regarding the awkward feeling of being a
“researcher” really resonated with me, as I did not think that I was a formal ethnographer
or qualitative researcher, but just a student doing homework. This is what played in the
back of my mind during my first observation. However, before I knew it I started to feel
more confident in my abilities and began “to establish rapport, and ‘learned the ropes,’ as
I became comfortable and worked at making the subjects feel comfortable with me” (p.
90). On the second observation, I learned from my mistakes about sitting in a loud
environment and asked to move so I could hear the tutoring sessions going on.
As I was initially uncomfortable in my role as a qualitative researcher, I sat
through less than perfect conditions and performed my first observation at the tutoring
facility. There were many distractions, yet I still did not move or ask if I could change
seats with one of the G.A.s because of my own lack of confidence. This unease is visible
during my first observation:
I sat in the last of the four chairs across from his desk by the large, buzzing soda
machine. The room was very large and stifling hot, as the temperature outside was
very humid at the time of my visit. I chose to glance through one of the tutoring
tip pamphlets that I received from the smaller tutoring lounge in order to remain
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unobtrusive and fairly inconspicuous to the other tutors and tutees who came and
went while I was there. (fieldnotes, 9/19/14)
It is obvious to me now that I should have moved in order to get a better vantage
point to observe the tutoring appointments, but my own discomfort with the role of
“researcher” prevented me from making a change and taking action. Fortunately during
my second observation, I felt more comfortable with myself and asked the G.A., A.J., to
move when I heard the buzzing air conditioner again. This change in confidence can be
seen when I noted: “A he [A.J.] walked past me, I stood up and said, “Do you mind if I
switch chairs and sit at one of the empty spots at your tutoring station? I can’t hear
anything with the hum of the air conditioner.” He said, “Sure thing.” (fieldnotes,
10/10/14). Although this may seem trivial, it signaled a major change for me as a
qualitative researcher.
After completing my first participant observation, I had to conduct two
ethnographic interviews in order to progress along my way of becoming a qualitative
researcher. Spradley’s (1979) guidelines for conducting an ethnographic interview helped
me organize and plan for my first interview associated with this research topic. The
guidelines state that you begin with the idea that an interview is a major speech event,
similar in some respects to a friendly conversation that you might have with an
acquaintance. Spradley (1979) then discusses the elements of an ethnographic interview.
These elements include: stating your explicit purpose, ethnographic explanations, project
explanations, recording explanations, native language explanations, interview
explanations, question explanations, and ethnographic questions. Of most interest to me
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was Spradley’s (1979) use of ethnographic questions that provide description, structure,
and contrast to the interview. I struggled with asking structural questions that “enable the
ethnographer to discover information about domains, the basic units in an informant’s
cultural knowledge” (Spradley, 1979, p. 60). For instance during my first interview with
A.J., I asked a structural question about his dual roles as a tutor and as a G.A., but I never
followed up with a good qualifying question about what these roles mean to him. This
can be seen in the excerpt below:
I: Since you have been here, what’s it like to be both a G.A. and a tutor?
R: Well, I am currently only a G.A. I was a tutor at the beginning of 2012, but
now my work involves the organizing and scheduling of tutoring appointments. I
can tell you that there are a lot of responsibilities at the desk with an equal amount
of personal responsibility with helping a single student or a small group of
students at one time. It can be very difficult to manage all of these different tasks
and responsibilities at the same time, while still having your own homework. I
have always been a desk G.A. (A.J., personal communication, October, 31, 2014)
I did not capitalize on a potentially intriguing follow-up opportunity that could
have explored what these dual roles mean to him as an employee of the tutoring facility. I
switched topics rather abruptly and the chance was lost. However, during my second
interview with a student who had received tutoring services there, I asked another
structural question and then issued a good follow-up so that I could explore her
understanding behind the purpose of tutoring as a service to students. This is
demonstrated when I asked:
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I: If you don’t mind, let’s backtrack a little bit and discuss your academic
experience here at the university.
R: I’m actually a Freshman and I came in with college credits so I just kind of got
thrown into Organic and I was really worried, but after a while it wasn’t as bad as
I thought. I still wanted to like make sure that I was doing all right and doing all
of the right things. So that’s why I wanted to find a tutor for it, but I wasn’t
necessarily doing bad in the class. I just wanted to be a little more confident.
I: I’m sure that was a nice feeling in that class. Speaking of the new surroundings,
how would you describe the tutoring facilities for the first time, including the
building, the staff, and the program? (Carin, personal communication, November,
14, 2014)
Conducting an ethnographic interview was a new and daunting task for me, but I
feel like I was able to improve under the combined tutelage of Dr. Spatig and Bobbie.
Just like everything else in life, practice makes perfect or at least you will improve
throughout the process. So, after conducting some fieldwork and collecting some data, it
was time to code and analyze my findings in an attempt to tread water and keep afloat.
Coding and Analysis/Findings (Treading Water)
Now that I had indeed started to swim and ventured out deeper into the swimming
pool of qualitative research, I realized that I was treading water and staying afloat by
being able to reflect back on the processes and methodologies that had got me to this
point. I found meaning in my collected data through the process of coding. Data analysis
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or “the process of systematically searching and arranging the interview transcripts,
fieldnotes, and other materials that you accumulate” (Bogdan & Biklen, 2007, p. 159) is
an extremely important and challenging task for a novice qualitative researcher. Another
important component of this process is data interpretation, which involves the qualitative
researcher “developing ideas about your findings and relating them to the literature and to
broader concerns and concepts” (Bogdan & Biklen, 2007, p. 159). One way that
qualitative researchers make meaning out of their collected data is to develop a coding
system to organize and sort pages’ worth of interview transcripts, fieldnotes, and observer
comments. Coding systems allow you to “search through your data for regularities and
patterns as well as for topics your data cover, and then write down words and phrases to
represent these topics and patterns” (Bogdan & Biklen, 2007, p. 173). The generation of
different coding categories can also be a challenging aspect of the coding process, as they
can come from using the native language observed or heard in an interview or could
come from your research question.
I had a difficult time with creating coded groups the first time I analyzed all of
my data up to that point, which included two participant observations and one interview
transcript. I ended up having 116 different coding groups with eleven different families to
organize them by. For instance, I could have combined groups like “messy desk,” “old
desk,” and “1980s carpeting” into one group name “resources,” which would describe the
tutoring facility’s lack of resources. I think that I used too many coding groups the first
time, but was able to parse that large, bloated amount of coded groups into a more
manageable level of analysis with two large coded families that utilized native language
to describe the data on my second attempt.
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These two coded families were labeled,“ Is this a tutoring center?” and “What I
thought it was gonna be like.” I then combined a great deal of the older, clunky coded
groups into more meaningful categories, such as “It’s part of the job,” which describes
the tutoring responsibilities for the facility’s employees. However, I soon realized that the
names of these two coding groups were misleading and did not accurately represent the
meaning I was trying to convey with the data. Two more suitable names for these groups
might be, “this is how it works here” and “how tutoring is viewed.” The first group refers
to the resources, rules, and protocol at the tutoring facility and the second group refers to
peoples’ perceptions of the tutoring facility. It was important to convey the thick, rich
detail from my data and show that my data “analysis was shaped both by the researcher’s
perspectives and theoretical positions and by the dialogue about the subject that one
cannot help but enter” (Bogdan & Biklen, 2007, p. 183). I feel like I improved a great
deal from my first attempt at coding my data to my second attempt where I parsed the
coding families down into smaller categories that used native language to convey their
meaning.
Another one of the major issues that I found interesting and relevant to my
discussion on becoming a qualitative researcher is the topic of validity. Merriam (1995)
discussed the importance of addressing validity in qualitative research by clarifying its
meaning. Internal validity for qualitative research focuses on the dynamic between reality
and the findings of the research (Merriam, 1995). In order to strengthen the internal
validity of qualitative research, Merriam (1995) offered five strategies for researchers to
employ: triangulation, member-checks, peer/colleague examination, statement of
researcher’s experiences, and the submersion in the research activity. As part of my
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qualitative research project, I issued a statement of my experience and biases up front to
both the reader, as well as my interview subjects to let them know where I was coming
from and that my experiences as a tutor and as a graduate assistant might influence the
way I perceive things because I might have done them differently or I might not approve
of the other tutoring facility’s approach to providing students academic support. Merriam
(1995) advocates this process, as it “enables the reader to better understand how the data
might have been interpreted in the manner in which they were” (p. 55). My own biases
were made known to the interview participants, as well as in my fieldnotes, so I could
admit upfront that my interpretation of the collected data might be influenced by my
experiences. After coding my data and addressing internal validity, I was ready to start
writing it up and swim in the deep end of qualitative research.
Writing (Swimming in the Deep End)
After being able to tread water for a while, the natural progression is to test your
skills and confidence by swimming out deeper into the pool of qualitative research by
writing up your data analyses, as well as your reflections on the process and methods that
you utilized along the way. I found a great deal of inspiration when reading the Spatig
and Amerikaner (2014) book, especially the discussion on their writing process and
dealing with qualitative research. Although their approach to research utilized
collaborative ethnography and my research project was much smaller in size and scope,
Chapter 8, subtitled “There’s a (Research) Method to our Madness,” allowed me to think
clearly about balancing voices and maintaining the interview subject’s original thoughts,
especially in light of possible contradictory testimonials. This was evidenced when I
coded the tutee’s interview transcript, my second overall, and analyzed her experiences
FROM TREADING WATER
21
with the tutoring facility. They certainly conflicted with my first interview subject’s
perceptions of the tutoring facility. I wanted to briefly discuss both of their experiences in
this paper just to illustrate the fact that the difference in their experiences “reflects the
complexity of voice decisions researchers make all of the time, but rarely acknowledge
publicly” (Spatig & Amerikaner, 2014, p. 177). So although I am not writing about their
experiences per se in this current narrative, I still had to negotiate and reconcile thee
divergence of experiences, as expressed by both interview participants.
In a more general sense, I also found Bogdan and Biklen’s (2007) discussion on
the writing process to be illuminating when I started to write up the data and reflect back
on my methods and practices in the field as a struggling, novice qualitative researcher. If
I would classify my paper, it would mostly fall into the “topic” focus category because I
am not arguing anything with my research, just exploring the experiences of tutors and
tutees about the services provided at the university’s tutoring facility for the general
student body. It functions as “a unit of a particular aspect of what you are studying” and
“is descriptive” (Bogdan and Biklen, 2007, p. 200). Another important element that is
present in this qualitative paper is my own voice and presence, which is refreshing and
much easier for me to use, as opposed to a distant, quantitative piece. This allowed me to
“separate myself from or reveal to others my personal bias” (Bogdan and Biklen, 2007, p.
201). Using the first-person perspective with writing my research up allowed me to
maintain control of my writing and “focus on developing a clear logic that readers can
follow” (Bogdan and Biklen, 2007, p. 216).
I have tried to accurately chronicle my journey from an inexperienced novice at
the beginning of this project to a qualitative researcher who can now swim in the deep
FROM TREADING WATER
22
end of the swimming pool because of practice and experiences in the field, coding and
analyzing data, and writing up my experiences in a reflective format. My journey began
with developing a research topic and question that would guide my experiences in the
field that would come later. My experiences in the field allowed me the opportunity to
make small mistakes and improve on the second attempt without the fear of complete
ridicule. After analyzing my data and coding the interview transcripts and fieldnotes, I
was able to gain more insight into what it really takes to be a qualitative researcher. As I
wrote up my personal journey, I reflected back on Bogdan and Biklen’s (2007) advice
that “you should remind the reader that what you are presenting is only a piece of the
puzzle, a close-up of one aspect of one segment of a larger world” (p. 209). This was true
for my research in the field, as well as my own experiences as I became a qualitative
researcher who is now a lot less frightened to swim in the deep end of the pool.
23
FROM TREADING WATER
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