critical qualitative research Feminist Pedagogy; Foucault, Michel; Knowl edge, Sociology of; Postmodernism; Praxis

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REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS

Dewey, J. (1997 [1938]) Experience and Education. Simon & Schuster, New York. Freire, P. (1994) Pedagogy of Hope: Reliving Peda gogy of the Oppressed. Continuum, New York. Gatto, J. T. (2002) A Different Kind of Teacher: Solving the Crisis of American Schooling. Berkeley Hills Books, California. Giroux, H. & Giroux, S. S. (2004) Take Back Higher Education: Race, Youth, and the Crisis of Democracy in the Post Civil Rights Era. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. Holt, J. (1970) What Do I Do Monday? Dell, New York. Horkheimer, M. (1975) Critical Theory: Selected Essays. Continuum, New York. Kohn, A. (1999) The Schools Our Children Deserve. Houghton Mifflin, Boston. McLaren, P. (2002) Life in Schools: An Introduction to Critical Pedagogy in the Foundations of Educa tion. Allyn & Bacon, Boston. Morais, A., Neves, I., Davies, B., et al. (Eds.) (2001) Toward a Sociology of Pedagogy: The Contribution of Basil Bernstein to Research. Peter Lang, New York.

critical qualitative research

Gaile S. Cannella In the first edition of The Handbook of Quali tative Research (Denzin & Lincoln 1994), Kincheloe and McLaren (1994) begin by describing research and theory that could be labeled criticalist. Such work assumes socially and historically embedded power relations, facts as ideologically inscripted, language as both constructing and limiting consciousness, oppressions as multiple and interconnected, and research as producing and reconstituting (however unintended) systems of power.

Further, criticalist research assumes the need for emancipatory actions that lead to increased social justice and social transformation. These assumptions would, at first, appear to construct new critical truths for a postmo dern age, and have done so when dominated by an unrelenting focus on the victimization of those who have been oppressed (whether socio economically, sexually, racially, or otherwise). This is certainly a focal point that is warranted within the confines of patriarchy and racist, economic imperialism. However, recognizing that the practice of research has often itself resulted in the production and reproduction of power for researchers, along with an increas ing awareness of diverse forms of resistance, critical qualitative researchers attempt to chal lenge even the construction of critical truths. Therefore, various forms of critical qualitative research are embedded within a self conscious criticism that requires that the researcher continually challenge her will to conduct research as well as the will to define and impose equity and justice. The researchers ideological and epistemological biases are referenced from the beginning, are politically self conscious, and are open to revision. This critical self consciousness even challenges master narratives that would lead to eman cipation while at the same time maintaining as major purposes the elimination of oppression and the construction of an emancipatory social transformation that would be recognized as tentative and shifting. These criticalist, self conscious assumptions have led to reconceptualizations of research in ways that affirm diverse knowledges and ideol ogies. These reconceptualizations challenge truth oriented belief structures that are not even considered questionable from within forms of science that function as if ahistorical and apolitical. Critical qualitative research even deconstructs and blurs the boundaries of tradi tional disciplines. The following are examples of critical research questions that can provide the reader with a feel for the range of possibi lities for exploration, research, and critique from within and across disciplinary boundaries:


How did the creation of the Orient benefit European cultural strength and identity?

868 critical qualitative research



How have androcentric orientations influ enced the selection of problems identified as important for human cultural research?  Does/how does the culture of caring in secondary schools create privilege for some students and serve as a form of erasure and exclusion for others?  What are contemporary ways of speaking/ acting within academic communities that are used to discredit forms of research that are not positivist and/or experimental in nature?  How have particular forms of knowledge (and resultant knowledge bases) used in educational practices privileged particular groups of people and disqualified others? Although the term critical most often evokes thoughts of neo Marxist critical theory, cri tical qualitative research is actually a hybrid and emergent form of inquiry. Calls for a cri tical social science (Popkewitz 1990), a postim perialist science (Lather 1998), and indigenous research agendas (Tuhiwai Smith 2001) are attended to as research is constructed that would uncover the ways that social relations are shaped by ideology and such research explores how these relations can be altered. This type of research is embedded within the history of qualitative research that has resulted in a scholarly environment in which diverse voices and ways of living in the world have been heard and respected. Additionally, critical qualitative research draws from the range of theoretical perspectives that have challenged notions of universalist truth, have acknowl edged the political and power orientations of human knowledge(s), and have fostered emer gent, activist orientations. THE LEGACY OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH Qualitative research, as conceptualized from within ontological and epistemological perspec tives that acknowledge the connections between knower and known (e.g., naturalistic, phenom enological), is foundational to the construction and contemporary acceptance of critical quali tative research. While specific qualitative methods may be used by truth oriented

scholars, the field of qualitative research overall has fostered a paradigm dialogue that chal lenges deterministic notions like generalizabil ity and validity, as well as deconstructed the will to truth found in dominant construc tions of science. Qualitative research in general has created a scholarly environment in which diverse research questions and methodologies are encouraged and fostered with the recogni tion that change, emergence, and new construc tions (even as related to research questions and data collection methods) are necessary. This intellectual environment is necessary for a cri tical science that would unveil societal power relations, while at the same time engaging in self conscious examination of assumptions and biases even within the specific research that is being conducted. Further, the various strengths of qualitative research as the avenue for diverse paradig matic perspectives is directly related to and applied in critical scholarship. First, objecti vist approaches have been discredited as not humanly possible, a position that can result in disciplinary boundary crossing, the acknowledg ment of ideological embeddedness, and increased contextual awareness. Second, the acceptance of human subjectivity within qualitative research practices ensures an advanced rigor that attempts to make assumptions and biases clear up front. The various forms of qualitative research have attempted to document lived experience, often as played out in the lives of those who have suffered societal injustices and those whose voices have not usually been heard, or even acknowl edged. Third, some forms of qualitative research have been implicitly critical in nature as research purposes and collaborations have dealt directly with the imbalance of power in society. Examples include research that addresses womens/gender issues, ethnic/linguistic minority issues, race, and various practices of marginalization (Lincoln & Cannella 2004). HYBRID AND DYNAMIC THEORETICAL ORIENTATIONS A range of theoretical positions has challenged modernist truth orientations while at the same time introducing diverse explanations for the

critical qualitative research 869 construction (and imposition) of power within social relations. These various theoretical and even anti theoretical lenses have been/are being combined and reconfigured as needed in the practice of critical qualitative research. Per spectives that are employed include critical the ory, poststructuralism, a range of feminist forms of critique that challenge patriarchy and sexism, queer theory, cultural studies, and postcolonial critique. These hybrid combina tions result in unthought of ways of under standing the world and vantage points from which to examine rhizomes, tentacles, and sites of power and oppression. These previously unthought interpretations and contingencies foster border understandings, unrecognized possibilities, and the celebration of diverse and shifting identities. When the term critical is used regarding scholarship, most scholars immediately think of the work in critical theory conducted at the Frankfurt School in Germany. Certainly, the neo Marxist work of Horkheimer, Adorno, and Marcuse while living in the US generated a site from which power could be explored while at the same time creating avenues for resistance, hope, and democratic possibility. However, a range of scholars who represent various power oriented traditions influence cri tical qualitative research. Continental theorists like Foucault and Derrida, Latino scholars like Friere and Fals Borda, and feminists like Kris teva and Irigaray would be included. Work in cultural studies and the various forms of tricon tinental scholarship most often labeled postco lonial critique also represent perspectives that recognize power while avoiding its construction as a new truth. Perhaps more importantly, no theoretical view is treated as pure; each is increasingly emergent and hybrid. Feminism has reconceptualized cultural studies post structuralism and feminism have reconceptua lized critical theory postcolonialism has reconceptualized poststructualism, and on and on. Critical qualitative research uses these hybrid constructions and even combines and revises them as needed to address particular social questions and problems. Critical qualitative research methods of data collection and analyses include the range of qualitative techniques such as ethnographic interviews, participant observation, focus group discussions, and document analyses that can be structured or emergent as needed. However, power oriented theoretical perspectives have made possible an expanded group of methods that include archeology, genealogy, deconstruc tion, and juxtaposition. As researchers attempt to gather data that would address issues like the construction of dominant discourses/knowl edges, regulations/rules regarding who is authorized to speak, and the ways that subjects are constructed and positioned, new methods are often needed, chosen, and even designed. For example, a researcher may find, upon attempting to determine the impact of welfare reform on individuals, that money has been redeployed away from welfare services to pro grams that attempt to promote heterosexual marriage for the poor; the study, although begun using predominantly ethnographic inter views, may be revised to collect quantitative data as to the location and use of allocated funds in various state government locations. Finally, even though critical qualitative research meth ods appear to privilege language and various forms of discourse analyses (in a broad sense), the methodologies are not considered bounded by such perspectives and are open to emergent designs and diverse data orientations. Depending on the actual theory/practice used in the particular research, critical qualita tive scholarship has faced a range of criticisms. As examples, work with poststructural leanings tends to appear rationalist and stereotypically masculine; scholarship that uses postcolonial critique is judged as reinscribing power within the academic community; as discussed pre viously, the research faces the same criticisms leveled at qualitative research in general as being without rigor or objectivity. However, if the underlying assumptions of critical qualita tive research are consciously placed at the fore front especially the recognition that research is conceptually a power oriented construct or that theories can be used to reconceptualize each other but do not create new truths then the criticisms become strengths. EMERGENT, ACTIVIST ORIENTATIONS Criticalist research is not simply hybrid and emergent, but, perhaps most importantly,

870 critical realism strives for actions that would increase the pos sibilities for social justice oriented societal transformation. The research questions that are implied are especially useful contemporarily when qualitative paradigms that challenge dominant truth orientations are coming under fire. Further, the discourse of research is currently being used to reinforce dualistic thinking that legitimates power for some and discredits and labels others as immoral, evil, not patriotic, socialist, or incompetent. Words like accountability, profits, experimental or clini cal trials, and evidenced based are being used. Critical qualitative research demonstrates that research is never apolitical, is always complex and even ambiguous, requiring a critique of the underlying assumptions. In this contemporary postmodern time, critical qualitative research generates questions such as:


SEE ALSO: Critical Pedagogy; Critical Real ism; Critical Theory/Frankfurt School

REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS

Denzin, N. K. & Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.) (1994) Hand book of Qualitative Research. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA. Kincheloe, J. & McLaren, P. (1994) Rethinking Critical Theory and Qualitative Research. In: Denzin, N. K. & Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.), Handbook of Qua litative Research. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp. 138 57. Lather, P. (1998) Validity, Ethics, and Positionality in Qualitative Research: Wrestling with the Angels. Paper presented at the Bergamo Conference on Curriculum Theorizing, Bloomington. Lincoln, Y. S. & Cannella, G. S. (2004) Qualitative Research, Power, and the Radical Right. Qualita tive Inquiry 10(2): 175 201. Popkewitz, T. (1990) Whose Future? Whose Past? Notes on Critical Theory and Methodology. In: Guba, E. (Ed.), The Paradigm Dialog. Sage, Newbury Park, CA, pp. 46 66. Tuhiwai Smith, L. (2001) Decolonizing Methodolo gies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. Zed Books, London.

How are children being used to perpetu ate specific political agendas? How are they helped and harmed through such dis courses?  What is hidden or ignored related to the implementation of research results (e.g., in the field of education) in the contemporary labeling of decades of scholarship as poor quality? The most activist possibility for critical qua litative research is to contribute to a critical social science that constructs public imaginaries (and continuous discussions) that embrace the complexities and ambiguities of research, yet at the same time recognizes its usefulness. These public discourses would place resistance to research at the center even as research is conducted to address contemporary societal problems; construct research collaborations with the public while at the same time avoid ing the denial of difference; explore ways to challenge our positions of privilege (including those of researchers); question knowing as the very purpose of research; challenge public discourses that privilege forms of legitimation that reinscribe oppressive power(s); recon ceptualize forms of representation that avoid oppressive results and interpretations; construct a critical public research dialogue; and create nonimpositional forms of critical transformative actions.

critical realism
Jamie Morgan Critical realism in its contemporary usage emerged out of debates in the philosophy of science in the 1970s (e.g., Harre & Madden 1975; Bhaskar 1997). It focused on what could be argued from the relative success of laboratory experiment to create artificial closed systems where causal relationships could be isolated and explored. It was argued that such closed systems of regular causal relations were rare outside the laboratory and that non social rea lity consisted of complex and stratified struc tures in open or variable and changing systems. The purpose of natural science method was to explain the powers of these structures as ten dencies to act in particular ways. Because, in the ordinary course of things, regular outcomes