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Thesis/Dissertation Information
- Degree Disciplines:
- Education
Notes
- Abstract:
- Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative grounded theory research project was to discover and give voice to the role of postmodern feminist theory in the design and delivery of doctoral qualitative research coursework within American research universities’ colleges of education. Fostering an understanding that situates postmodern feminist theory within the academic climate of today’s researchers’ foundational and formative development offers substantive descriptions about its present role in academe. Researchers who are recipients of this present academic guidance will need to evaluate feminist theory influence upon their own research context and directionality. Following this thread of feminist theory will reveal valuable questions; and, in particular, questions about the breadth and wisdom of feminist theory as a contributor to the exposition of research education as performative utterance, relevant, in discoverable fashion, to the value of education as social capital. Method: Feminist communitarianism was the theoretical framework fomenting this research endeavor. The research method was deployed within a higher education community setting comprised of educational research professors. Participants were selected from a purposeful sample of doctoral level qualitative research professors who were teaching professors at research universities; and, who were involved in the design and delivery of qualitative education research coursework. Data was collected via online back-and-forth dialogue utilizing five initial open-ended questions with follow-up questions designed to address pertinent areas that arose from considering each individual participant’s initial responses altogether with the ongoing constant comparative data analysis. Grounded theory was consistent with the intent of this study in relation to developing a theory, relevant to education, from the voiced opinions of the participants. The research method for this investigation was limned by Strauss and Corbin (1998) in their seminal discussions about the qualitative grounded theory approach to research. Major Findings: There was a diverse, often polarized, view of the definitions of postmodernism, feminist theory, and the binary postmodern feminist theory. Some of the professors opined that postmodern theory was the hallmark of present-day qualitative research and the historical linchpin that foreground the efficacy of qualitative research toward the end of the 20th century. To those few professors, postmodern theory was paramount in their students' understanding of qualitative research methodology. Defining postmodernism was accomplished by many of the participants through the use of terms such as complex, not easy to explain, hard to pin down; almost half of the participants used the term postmodern without defining it as though it were simply the era in which we are presently doing qualitative research. This investigation of colleges of education qualitative research coursework utilized methodologies contextually applied to method as suggested by Strauss and Corbin (1998). The emerging themes identified in this discovery process revealed the following theory firmly grounded in the data: The role of postmodern feminist theory in doctoral qualitative research coursework is not openly ascribed to in the classroom as cornerstone for that coursework; instead, it is manifest in the presentation and in the associated assignments provided by faculty delivering that coursework within American research universities’ colleges of education.
- Thesis:
- Thesis (Ph.D.)--Barry University, 2007.
- Bibliography:
- Includes bibliographical references (leaves 135-158).
Record Information
- Source Institution:
- Barry University
- Holding Location:
- Barry University Archives and Special Collections
- Rights Management:
- Copyright Joseph Sebastian Maddox. Permission granted to Barry University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
- Resource Identifier:
- LC197.M33 2007_MaddoxJoseph ( BU-Local )
- Classification:
- LC197.M33 2007 ( lcc )
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