An Introduction to Qualitative Research: Learning in the Field

About Gretchen B RossmanSharon F Rallis

Gretchen B. Rossman is Professor Emerita of International Education and the Center for International Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She received her PhD in education from the University of Pennsylvania with a specialization in higher-education administration. She has served as a visiting professor at Harvard Universitys Graduate School of Education. Prior to coming to the University of Massachusetts she was senior research associate at Research for Better Schools in Philadelphia. With an international reputation as a qualitative methodologist she has expertise in qualitative research design and methods mixed-methods monitoring and evaluation and inquiry in education. Over the past 30+ years she has coauthored 15 books 2 of which are editions of major qualitative research texts (Learning in the Field third edition with Sharon F. Rallis and the present seventh edition of Designing Qualitative Research with Catherine Marshall and Gerardo L. Blancoboth widely used guides for qualitative inquiry). In addition she has published a book titled The Research Journey: An Introduction to Inquiry (with Sharon Rallis). She has also authored or coauthored more than 50 articles book chapters and technical reports focused on methodological issues in qualitative research synthesis mixed-methods evaluation and ethical research practice as well as the analysis and evaluation of educational reform efforts both in the United States and internationally. Professor Rossman has served as principal investigator (PI) or co-PI on several large U.S. Agency for International Developmentfunded projects (in Palestine the Southern Sudan Malawi Tanzania and India); as co-PI on a World Bankfunded multigrade schooling project (Senegal and Gambia); as lead trainer for a Save the Childrenfunded participatory monitoring and evaluation of professional training (Azerbaijan); and as external evaluator on several domestic projects including a Department of Educationfunded reform initiative a National Science Foundationfunded middle-grades science initiative and a number of projects implementing more inclusive practices for students with disabilities. Sharon F. Rallis is Dwight W. Allen Distinguished Professor of Education Policy and Reform at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Previously she was professor of education at the University of Connecticut; lecturer on education at Harvard; and associate professor of educational leadership at Peabody College Vanderbilt University. Her doctorate is from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has coauthored numerous books including several on leadership: Principals of Dynamic Schools: Taking Charge of Change (with Ellen Goldring); Dynamic Teachers: Leaders of Change (with Gretchen Rossman); Leading Dynamic Schools: How to Create and Implement Ethical Policies (with Gretchen Rossman and others); and Leading With Inquiry and Action: How Principals Improve Teaching and Learning (with Matthew Militello and Ellen Goldring). Her numerous articles book chapters edited volumes and technical reports address issues of research and evaluation methodology ethical practice in research and evaluation education policy and leadership and school reform. A past-president of the American Evaluation Association (2005) and current editor of the American Journal of Evaluation Professor Rallis has been involved with education and evaluation for more than three decades. She has been a teacher counselor principal researcher program evaluator director of a major federal school reform initiative and an elected school board member. Currently her teaching includes courses on inquiry program evaluation qualitative methodology and organizational theory. Her research has focused on the local implementation of programs driven by federal state or district policies. As external evaluator or principal investigator (PI) she has studied a variety of domestic and international policy and reform efforts such as alternative professional development for leaders; collaborations between agencies responsible for educating incarcerated or institutionalized youth; initiatives supporting inclusive education for children and youth with disabilities; local school governance and leadership; labor-management relations in school districts; and leadership development. Her work with students on evaluation and qualitative methodology has taken her as far as Afghanistan Turkey and Palestine.