Qualitative Methods of Evaluation

Abstract

The dilemma concerning the use of quantitative and qualitative studies and its related debates were discussed in chapter six. This chapter focuses on qualitative studies, including their underlying rationale, and various ways in which they can be applied to teacher self-evaluation. We cannot start the discussion on the nature of qualitative studies and its implied practical ways of implementation without repeating and emphasizing that we do not make a distinction between qualitative and non-qualitative studies. As in all studies attention must be paid to quality, but there is a difference between the more scientific studies which are based on controlled laboratory experiments and use formal and quantitative instruments for data collection and analysis, and the more artistic studies in which the basic elements are interpreted by employing “sensitivity to context, an appreciation for nuance, a set of skills that one can use with flexibility, and a variety of intellectual frameworks that allows one to see the situation from different perspectives…” (Eisner, 1985, p. 2).

The range, richness and complexity of educational phenomena occurring within classrooms are wider than can be measured (Eisner, 1985, p.108).