Description

In the past 10 years, qualitative research has become an increasing “fad” in China, for its flexible design, its awareness of reflexivity of the researcher and inter-subjectivity in producing research findings, its advantage of searching for the meaning-making of the researched, and, above all, its attention to the voices of the disadvantaged groups in society. Inspiring as it is, we, as university researchers, have encountered many challenges in doing this kind of research in Chinese schools. As we attempt to find out the “truth” of teachers’ practice, they are more interested in finding out what needs to be improved from us. As we try to keep certain distance from the teachers so as to obtain enough “space” for the research, some of them show signs of getting really “close” for emotional support. We are constantly struggling between rigor and relevance, objectivity and subjectivity, as well as outer comfort and inner peace, for the validity check and ethical concerns in our research. In this presentatioProfessor Chen will introduce some of the dilemmas faced, strategies used in dealing with them, as well as cultural, social, political and research paradigmatic implications for this kind of phenomenon. Since these dilemmas are so complex and complicated, some are considered insurmountable and needing further reflection by, imagination from, and collaboration among all parties concerned.
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Xiangming CHEN is professor of education and director of Center for Basic Education and Teacher Education at Graduate School of Education, Peking University, China. She obtained Bachelor of Arts degree in Hunan Normal University in 1982, Master of Arts degree from Beijing Normal University in 1987, and Master of Education and Ed. D. from Harvard University in 1989 and 1994 respectively. Since 1970, she has worked as factory worker, primary and secondary school teacher, and university professor at different periods of her life. Prof. Chen’s major research areas include qualitative research methodology, teacher education, curriculum development, as well as learning and teaching. She has been team leader for more than 15 national and international research projects on education, especially basic education for poor rural areas in China. She has also worked as national consultant for many international organizations such as the World Bank, UNDP, and UK DFID. One of her major projects is participatory teacher training for the new basic education curriculum reform, which has made great impact on teacher training in China. She has also been leading an university-school collaborative research project on teachers’ practical knowledge, as the theoretical foundation for teacher professional development. By now, Prof. Chen has published 10 books (including editing) and over 100 articles on education and research methodology. Prof. Chen has been teaching courses on qualitative research methods, teacher education, curriculum development and instruction for graduate students in Peking University and many other higher learning institutions as guest lecturer. She was rewarded the 1st Class Prize on Teaching in 2001 and Excellent Teacher in 2009 by the Beijing Municipal government. In addition, Prof. Chen is serving on many committees, as adjunct professor of quite a few universities, and as member of the Standing Committee of Chinese Educational Association as well as many journals.