Meta Ethnographic Synthesis In Education

Calls for “deparochialization of educational research” (Lingard 2006) have directed educational ethnography from the conventional research designs and from the study of single sites and local situations to the study of “the circulation of cultural meanings, objects and identities in diffuse time-spaces” (Marcus 1995: 96). In response to this call and following the already established tradition of use of meta-ethnography in health studies this volume explores the potentials of this method (Noblit & Hare, 1988) to unpick the interconnectedness of different educational sites which have been and are being studied ethnographically. Besides, metaethnographic analyses may also offer a credible response to the lessening of opportunities for original educational ethnographic research at times of limited resources. The volume examines the forms of translocal and transtemporal ethnographic synthesis currently in use by educational ethnographers as well as the challenges and the possibilities that the method offers. It also addresses and attempts to respond to the question if meta-ethnography might be a means to sharpen ethnographers’ sensitivity for each other’s work and achievements in the past. This book was originally published as a special issue of Ethnography and Education.

How can ethnographic studies be generalized, in contrast to concentrating on the individual case? Noblit and Hare propose a new method for synthesizing from qualitative studies: meta-ethnography. After citing the criteria to be used in comparing qualitative research projects, the authors define the ways these can then be aggregated to create more cogent syntheses of research. Using examples from numerous studies ranging from ethnographic work in educational settings to the Mead-Freeman controversy over Samoan youth, Meta-Ethnography offers useful procedural advice from both comparative and cumulative analyses of qualitative data. This provocative volume will be read with interest by researchers and students in qualitative research methods, ethnography, education, sociology, and anthropology. "After defining metaphor and synthesis, these authors provide a step-by-step program that will allow the researcher to show similarity (reciprocal translation), difference (refutation), or similarity at a higher level (lines or argument synthesis) among sample studies....Contain(s) valuable strategies at a seldom-used level of analysis." --Contemporary Sociology "The authors made an important contribution by reframing how we think of ethnography comparison in a way that is compatible with the new developments in interpretive ethnography. Meta-Ethnography is well worth consulting for the problem definition it offers." --The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease "This book had to be written and I am pleased it was. Someone needed to break the ice and offer a strategy for summarizing multiple ethnographic studies. Noblit and Hare have done a commendable job of giving the research community one approach for doing so. Further, no one else can now venture into this area of synthesizing qualitative studies without making references to and positioning themselves vis-a-vis this volume." -Educational Studies

This provocative volume deals with one of the chief criticisms of ethnographic studies, a criticism which centres on their particularism or their insistence on context -- the question is asked: How can these studies be generalized beyond the individual case? Noblit and Hare propose a method -- meta-ethnography -- for synthesizing from qualitative, interpretive studies. They show that ethnographies themselves are interpretive acts, and demonstrate that by translating metaphors and key concepts between ethnographic studies, it is possible to develop a broader interpretive synthesis. Using examples from numerous studies, the authors illuminate how meta-ethnography works, isolate several types of meta-ethnographic study and provide a theoretica

Education research has seen a phenomenal growth in studies that explore the multiple, fluid, and changing complexities of culture and identity work. The nuanced, contradictory, and process-oriented nature of identity and identification has meant that the studies in education are largely, and appropriately, qualitative and ethnographic. However, because qualitative studies are marked by their focus on the particular, it has been difficult to discern exactly what these studies contribute to identity theory collectively. In Cultural Constructions of Identity, a set of meta-ethnographic syntheses of qualitative studies addressing identity become the vehicle to speak across single studies to address cultural identity theory. Meta-Ethnography, first developed by Noblit and Hare in 1988, incorporates a translation theory of interpretation so that the unique aspects of studies are preserved to the degree possible while also revealing the analogies between these studies. While the studies in this book examine the various intersections of race and ethnicity with respect to gender, age, class, and sexuality, Cultural Constructions of Identity turns its primary focus on what these studies reveal about identity and identification theory itself.

Martyn Hammersley's provocative new text interrogates the complex relationship between research, policymaking and practice, against the background of the evidence-based practice movement. Addressing a series of probing questions, this book reflects on the challenge posed by the idea that social research can directly serve policymaking and practice. Key questions explored include: - Is scientific research evidence-based? - What counts as evidence for evidence-based practice? - Is social measurement possible, and is it necessary? - What are the criteria by which qualitative research should be judged? The book also discusses the case for action research, the nature of systematic reviews, proposals for interpretive reviews, and the process of qualitative synthesis. Highly readable and undeniably relevant, this book is a valuable resource for both academics and professionals involved with research.

Comparing Ethnographies presents cross-national comparisons that give researchers and students a fresh look at familiar concepts. How does it matter, for example, to think in terms of "majorities" rather than "minorities, "migrants" rather than "immigrants, or"intercultural education" rather than "multicultural education"? How does indigenous education or the work of teachers look different to ethnographers from differnt countries of the Americas? This engaging new volume edited by Kathryn Anderson-Levitt and Elsie Rockwell includes essays from experts throughout the Americas which help readers understand and learn from ethnographic educational research conducted across the Western Hemisphere, and also includes a practical guide to finding the relevant literature.

Meta-ethnography is a variety of meta-analyses or qualitative synthesis; that is, it is a way to synthesise the results of ethnographic projects that allows for the study of their interconnectedness while retaining their interpretive nature of ethnographies. It is an advanced technique, primarily used in the fields of health studies and educational research. Meta-ethnography preserves the particularities of the original studies while comparing and contrasting them to explore similarities and differences. It is a method that has theoretical origins and has developed in countries and in disciplines where there is a focus on drawing out the policy implications of ethnographic research.This entry further defines meta-ethnography and outlines its benefits for ethnographic researchers as well as the controversies associated with it. Three tensions have to be understood to contextualise these controversies: the demands and calls for policy-relevant research, the calls for theoretical adequacy that surrounds meta-ethnography, and the distinction between meta-ethnography and replication. Each of these is illustrated by an examination of a specific example. The policy issue is illustrated by an educational example, the theoretical debate by contrasting the influence of Pierre Bourdieu and Michel Foucault on meta-ethnography, and the differences between the concepts of research replication and that of meta-ethnography are explained.

A state-of-the-art reference on educational ethnography edited by leading journal editors This book brings an international group of writers together to offer an authoritative state-of-the-art review of, and critical reflection on, educational ethnography as it is being theorized and practiced today—from rural and remote settings to virtual and visual posts. It provides a definitive reference point and academic resource for those wishing to learn more about ethnographic research in education and the ways in which it might inform their research as well as their practice. Engaging in equal measure with the history of ethnography, its current state-of play as well as its prospects, The Wiley Handbook of Ethnography of Education covers a range of traditional and contemporary subjects—foundational aims and principles; what constitutes ‘good’ ethnographic practice; the role of theory; global and multi-sited ethnographic methods in education research; ethnography’s many forms (visual, virtual, auto-, and online); networked ethnography and internet resources; and virtual and place-based ethnographic fieldwork. Makes a return to fundamental principles of ethnographic inquiry, and describes and analyzes the many modalities of ethnography existing today Edited by highly-regarded authorities of the subject with contributions from well-known experts in ethnography Reviews both classic ideas in the ethnography of education, such as “grounded theory”, “triangulation”, and “thick description” along with new developments and challenges An ideal source for scholars in libraries as well as researchers out in the field The Wiley Handbook of Ethnography of Education is a definitive reference that is indispensable for anyone involved in educational ethnography and questions of methodology.