Oral history: a viable approach for the 21st Century Educational Administration Research: National Impact
Oral History: A viable approach for the 21st century
Educational Administration Research: National Impact
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SUMMARY
This article identifies 21 century three realities that redefine search school administration: 1) the growing need for relevance and authenticity in the fight against the community and school contexts to solve problems, 2) need for a research method that allows the kind of in-depth interview with individuals experiencing a minimum Institutional Review Board (IRB) control; and 3) a methodology that can be facilitated by emerging technologies. Oral history has been used in many disciplines, but rarely been used in educational administration. It offers some promise and the authors suggest possible uses and interpretations of history project and an oral history project done orally.
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Purpose of Article
The purpose of this paper is to examine the oral history interviews and historical research as a viable research method within the large family of research methodologies in Educational Administration and Educational Leadership. Evolution methodology of research in educational administration has been influenced by the changing paradigms, changing needs, which increases Institutional Review Board (IRB) oversight, and evolving technology. Educational research administration differs from other academic disciplines in that it implies the possibility of finding new and innovative uses for research findings to problem solving and decision making in schools.
Research in Education Administration in transformation
Educational research administration has been great transformation during the past century. Principles of business management from industry dominated the first half of 20th century education Administration of thought. During the 1950s and 1960s, various social science methods and concepts form a new generation of thought Directors education and research methodology (Campbell, Fleming, Newell, & Bennion, 1987; Murphy, 2003, Fall). In the late 1980s, companies and social science methodologies have been completed but not replaced by qualitative methods drawn from anthropology. Action research fills yet another niche teaching research administration. It puts less emphasis on formal theoretical constructions while focusing on authentic, on campus to collect data and solve problems. This continued growth in the acceptance of research methods from other disciplines has been described by Campbell, et al:
Educational administration is an area rather than applying a discipline University. He did not shoot a single body of literature, or use a single set of scientific tools … an applied field should maintain an interest vital not only with increased knowledge, but also with the improvement of practice … Also … an applied field must address problems altogether – based on the methods of several disciplines. (1987, p. 3)
Not all influences on research administration Education in the 21st century have been methodological. An increase in National Institutional Review Board (IRB) has strongly influenced monitoring educational administration research (Herrington & Kritsonis, 2006). There are still large differences between universities with regard to the extent which educational research is subject to supervision by the IRB. Some universities exempt education studies for overseeing the IRB completely particularly those studies that aim to examine quality improvement in schools and action research used to classroom. Some universities require full examination of all aspects of research regardless of the methodology or the intended uses these data. Navigating the maze of restrictions on the IRB to some institutions has led to the cancellation of certain research methods or populations and, in some cases have led to reduced activity of pure research (Herrington & Kritsonis, 2006).
Technology has made most forms of research much more practical and feasible. For example, more user-friendly Windows or UNIX statistical software such as Stat-Pac (Statistical Package for the Sciences Social (SPSS) and SAS have replaced hand calculations, data punchcard readers, and mainframe versions of statistical software. Qualitative researchers have access to software coding as HyperRESEARCH 2.6 NVIVO 7, Computer Aided Qualitative Data Analysis (QAQDAS 07) to help high volume of qualitative data coding capacity. Material recording audio and video, imaging devices, and related software continue to be developed for recording oral history, however, analog recordings continue to be favored by professional historians Most oral.
The challenge for researchers in education in the 21st century is to select a method that can provide a relevant context for examining education issues in specific contexts that are reliably and accurately kept. The methodology must also produce a study is achievable within a reasonable, affordable, and comply with ethical requirements and minimize the need for control of the IRB.
A Methodology-in-waiting
Charlton (1985) defined oral history as "recording and conservation of planned interviews with selected individuals able to relate the collected memory and therefore aid in the reconstruction of the past "(p.2). Baum (1978) defined oral history as:
1. A tape recorded interview or interviews, questions and answers
2. Led by an interview that some, and preferably as better knowledge of the topic for discussion,
3. In interview knowledgeable, someone who knows what he or she speaks from personal participation or observation (sometimes we allow a second account hand)
4. Items of historical [and community] interest …
5. Accessible, finally, in the bands and / or transcripts in a wide range of researchers. (pp. 389-390)
The value of oral history education researchers and practitioners is in the background that may be provided by credible actors who can enrich the understanding of the immediate problem solving context or who can draw parallels with other contexts. Sometimes, tragic events or important phenomena require to give speech to mute or electoral observers who know the true nature of the problem of interest, but have never been consulted by historians or decision makers. For example, ethnographic changes in recent years have created great cultural divisions in communities and schools that challenge long-held assumptions of teachers and administrators about their student clients.
An example is found in former rural / Now suburban campus of the school than in 1995-2004 comparison revealed the following demographic changes in students and teachers. In 1995, only 17 percent of students in this campus downtown were Hispanic, 15 percent were African American, 65 percent of students were Anglo American. Representations of the teacher population were similar. Ten years later, 67 percent of students were Hispanic, 17 percent were African – American, but only 16 students were Anglo American. The demography of teachers is remained relatively unchanged over the same 10 years.
Conversations with parents, teachers and administrators revealed that the differences unexpected demographic developments over the previous ten years had led to increased racial tensions in which teachers / students and teacher / parent conflicts occur. The success of Hispanic students continues a downward spiral, attendance and dropout have been increasing, and other educational disciplines investments were increasing. These realities put the district in danger of losing its reputation based on criteria and standards NCLB statewide. It was a phenomenon that could be documented through interviews oral history and the results made available as a case of other districts. In this case, a number of interventions might be possible in the short term, but a comprehensive and effective planning of medium-term plan informed by oral histories conducted with care to provide some context Precious and community history of the community who can provide answers to work with all parties concerned by the problem.
Another example is the fact that during the years 1960 and 1970, the cornerstone of education and experience for the first generation the Mexican-American university and college presidents and chancellors in the state of Texas and the nation have been established within an educational and cultural environment of South Texas that has been hostile to the aspirations and future progress of Latinos (Herrington, 1993, August). What can be learned about education and mentoring experiences of these highly successful would be valuable for educators and other persons minorities makes this business decisions and education.
Both scenarios are very real, though unrelated to a certain connection. There are lessons that teachers and administrators at the school during dramatic demographic changes (proposed study, but not yet implemented) could learn from the study of South Texas Hispanic students admitted who grew up in communities that previously 30 and 40 years resembled their current demographic realities and cultural. The communities are just beginning to face the realities of landscape change in permanent population can learn much from their predecessors in the South Texas, precisely because these experiments have already been recorded and transcribed for future reference (Herrington, 1993, August). The thoughts and feelings of those Hispanic individuals who succeed on their experiences, parents, teachers and mentors (many of whom were Anglo and Hispanic) were recorded and transcribed eloquently for posterity. Their stories reveal personal strategies and important people who, once extended a helping hand.
In both cases, the methodology of history Oral presents perhaps the only way of preserving information otherwise inaccessible. Regarding the oral history Hoffman (1974) wrote:
Its most important advantage … is that it makes possible the preservation of the life experience of people who do not leisure … to write their memories … Interviews with people who were foot soldiers in the various important movements for social change, but until then Unaccounted may now be preserved and therefore their impact assessed. (p. 26)
The Role history in educational reform
Experts have identified several uses for history of educational research. History can not be played in the implementation of social reform, predict future trends, or to influence practice through training of teachers (Borg & Gall, 1983). Comparing the work of the historian to that of psychotherapist Borg et al noted that history was a function particularly liberating for educators:
For Freud, neurosis is inability to leave the past, the burden on its history. What performance is suppressed and distorted is ever reproduce. The task of the psychotherapist is to help the patient to reconstruct the past. In this regard, the objective historian resembles the therapist – to free ourselves from the burden of the past in helping us to understand it. (p. 802)
It is our common understanding history and ability to learn from our common past which distinguishes man from all other creatures. Wector (1957, August) wrote:
Chimpanzee with a pile of empty cans and a banana hanging out of reach soon learns from his own experience. But one man learns from the experience of others. The story makes this possible. In the broadest sense, everything we know is history. More precisely, is the roadmap of the past. (p. 24)
History is our collective memory. The ability to use history and extract useful generalizations and theories is specifically human. Without a record of the past, we are left to navigate over life without the help of those who preceded us.
In an essay published posthumously convincing, Kennedy (1964, February) has provided several reasons for examining the historical record. He noted:
There is little that is more important … without [history] … [a] stands uncertain and defenseless before the world, knowing neither where he came from or where it goes. With this knowledge, it is no longer alone, but draws strength much greater than his own experience accumulated in the past and the cumulative vision of the future. (p.3)
Ethics Oversight of oral history
Technological considerations and
Historical research and oral history interview in particular deals with the context and clear precedents that can be studied and considered for educational policy and practice. Educational researchers and IRB Council members may wince at the idea of preserving interviews recorded. This practice seems at odds with the ethical provisions preserving the anonymity of research subjects. Here the difference between oral history and other interview procedures is important. Unlike any other discipline or methodology, oral history interviews requires the words of a named individual connected in time and place through the recording of data on audio cassettes, videos, images, documents and transcripts maintained so as to be accessible for historical verification (Dunaway, DK & Baum, 1984).
To address that concern ethics, the Organization of American Historians (OAH) and the Oral History Society (OHS) in October 2003 successfully applied to the U.S. Office for Human Research Protection (OHRP), part of the Department of Health and Human Services, to stop particular research oral history interview. They are primarily concerned with oral history projects that do not involve the type of research defined by the regulations HHS. It was determined that some oral history projects in May does not fall under the common rule "(45 CFR part 46) to define the research as "a systematic investigation, including research development, testing and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute generalizable knowledge. " According to the oral historians (2003, November):
Such research includes questionnaires standard with large samples of individuals who remain anonymous, not open interviews with identifiable individuals who give their interviews with "informed consent" that characterizes oral history. Only those oral history projects that meet the regulatory definition of research must now submit their protocols Research examining the IRB. (p. 17)
An advantage of the interview, oral history, therefore, if the study is carefully designed, is that control of the IRB has become much less restrictive than for other methods.
Concluding Remarks
In conclusion, oral history is the method to high-tech. Emerging technologies the 21st century as well as existing technologies continue to simplify and expand the capacity of the oral historian for both the collection of information and present information in a variety of formats. Digitization of voice, image, video and text have significantly reduced processing time and production to produce and present the results of oral history.
Finally, oral history interviews, more than ever, has a potential great to give voice to the silent actors, but in important arenas of social change – including community and school. To make another of changes in our school systems educational leaders and researchers have learned to find ways to hear those voices previously unheard. Studies well designed which seek to make the voices of individuals who have given informed consent can provide a historically rich information and contextual with specific time and place, without proper oversight of the IRB. Finally, technology is rapidly expanding the repertoire of formats for archiving and presentation very useful and usable for promoting the improvement of academic knowledge.
References
Baum, WK (1978). The expanding role of the librarian in the oral history. Library Conferences,
6, 33-43. In Dunaway, DK & Baum, WK (ed.), Oral history: An interdisciplinary anthology pp. 387-406). Nashville, TN: American Association for State and Local History and oral history.
Borg, WR & Gall, MD (1983). Research in Education (4th ed.). New York: Longman.
Campbell, RF, Fleming, T., Newell, LJ & Bennion, JW (1987). A History of Thought
and practice in educational administration. New York: Teachers College Press.
Charlton, TC (1985). The Oral History for Texans (2nd ed.). Austin, Texas: Texas Historical
Commission.
Dunaway, DK & Baum (1984). Oral history: An interdisciplinary anthology. Nashville,
TN: American Association for State and Local History Assocociation and oral history.
Herrington, DE (1993). Obstacles influences and challenges the leaders of some
Mexican-American administrators in higher southern Texas public Higher Education from 1970 to 1990. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. College Station, Texas: Texas A & M Universi
Herrington, DE & Kritsonis, W. (2006). A national perspective for improving
working relationship between educational researchers and institutional review Council members. National Forum for Educational Research Journal, 19 (3), 1-5.
Organization of American Historians (2003, November). Oral history excluded from IRB
check. OAH Newsletter, 31 (3), 17.
Wector, Dixon (1957, August). The history and how writing. American Heritage, 8 (5), 24 to 27, 87.
About the Author
Dr. Kritsonis Recognized as Distinguished Alumnus
In 2004, Dr. William Allan Kritsonis was recognized as the Central Washington University Alumni Association Distinguished Alumnus for the College of Education and Professional Studies. Dr. Kritsonis was nominated by alumni, former students, friends, faculty, and staff. Final selection was made by the Alumni Association Board of Directors. Recipients are CWU graduates of 20 years or more and are recognized for achievement in their professional field and have made a positive contribution to society. For the second consecutive year, U.S. News and World Report placed Central Washington University among the top elite public institutions in the west. CWU was 12th on the list in the 2006 On-Line Education of “America’s Best Colleges.”
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