Research Methods for Social Justice and Equity in Education

Edited by

Kamden K. Strunk · Leslie Ann Locke

Research

Methods for

Social Justice

and Equity

in Education

Research Methods for Social Justice and Equity

in Education

Kamden K. Strunk • Leslie Ann Locke

Editors

Research Methods for Social

Justice and Equity in

Education

ISBN 978-3-030-05899-9 ISBN 978-3-030-05900-2 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05900-2

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019930472

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019

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Editors

Kamden K. Strunk

Educational Psychology and

Research Methodologies

Auburn University

Auburn, AL, USA

Leslie Ann Locke

Educational Policy and

Leadership Studies

University of Iowa

Iowa City, IA, USA

v

Contents

Part I Theoretical and Philosophical Issues

1 Re-positioning Power and Re-imagining Reflexivity: Examining

Positionality and Building Validity Through Reconstructive

Horizon Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Meagan Call-Cummings and Karen Ross

2 Considering Positionality: The Ethics of Conducting Research

with Marginalized Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Laura Parson

3 Flipping the Paradigm: Studying Up and Research

for Social Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Elena Aydarova

4 Framing Critical Race Theory and Methodologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Kenzo K. Sung and Natoya Coleman

5 Disentangling the Complexities of Queer Theory and

Intersectionality Theory: Research Paradigms and Insights for

Social Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Christian D. Chan, Sam Steen, Lionel C. Howard, and Arshad I. Ali

6 Using Critical Theory in Educational Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Kamden K. Strunk and Jasmine S. Betties

7 Viewing Research for Social Justice and Equity Through the Lens

of Zygmunt Bauman’s Theory of Liquid Modernity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Danielle T. Ligocki

8 Thinking Critically About “Social Justice Methods”: Methods as

“Contingent Foundations” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Lucy E. Bailey

vi

9 Institutional Review Boards: Purposes and Applications

for Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Leslie Ann Locke

Part II Approaches to Data Collection and Analysis

10 Typical Areas of Confusion for Students New to Qualitative

Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Leslie Ann Locke

11 Youth Participatory Action Research: The Nuts and Bolts as well as

the Roses and Thorns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Shiv R. Desai

12 Advancing Social Justice with Policy Discourse Analysis . . . . . . . . . . 137

Elizabeth J. Allan and Aaron R. Tolbert

13 Through Their Eyes, in Their Words: Using Photo-Elicitation to

Amplify Student Voice in Policy and School Improvement Research 151

Jeff Walls and Samantha E. Holquist

14 Using Photovoice to Resist Colonial Research Paradigms . . . . . . . . . 163

Susan Cridland-Hughes, McKenzie Brittain, and S. Megan Che

15 Re-introducing Life History Methodology: An Equitable Social

Justice Approach to Research in Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

James S. Wright

16 Quantitative Methods for Social Justice and Equity: Theoretical

and Practical Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Kamden K. Strunk and Payton D. Hoover

17 Large-Scale Datasets and Social Justice: Measuring Inequality in

Opportunities to Learn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Heather E. Price

18 X Marks the Spot: Engaging Campus Maps to Explore Sense of

Belonging Experiences of Student Activists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Carli Rosati, David J. Nguyen, and Rose M. Troyer

19 Propensity Score Methodology in the Study of Student

Classification: The Case of Racial/Ethnic Disproportionality

in Mild Disability Identification and Labeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Argun Saatcioglu and Thomas M. Skrtic

20 Transformative Mixed Methods: A Missed Opportunity . . . . . . . . . . 241

Carey E. Andrzejewski, Benjamin Arnberg, and

Hannah Carson Baggett

Contents

vii

Part III Developing a Research Agenda

21 Writing, Race, and Creative Democracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Timothy J. Lensmire

22 Beyond White: The Emotional Complexion of Critical

Research on Race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Cheryl E. Matias

23 I Pulled Up a Seat at the Table: My Journey Engaging in Critical

Quantitative Inquiry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Lolita A. Tabron

24 Working with Intention and in Tension: Evolving

as a Scholar-Activist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Kristen A. Renn

25 Collaboration, Community, and Collectives: Research

for and by the People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Erica R. Dávila

Terminology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

Contents

ix

Notes on Contributors

Arshad I. Ali, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Educational Research at The George

Washington University. Ali is an interdisciplinary scholar who studies youth cul￾ture, identity, and political engagement. His research engages questions of decolo￾niality, race, religion, and political liberalism. He is co-editor of Education at War:

The Fight for Students of Color in America’s Public Schools as well as numerous

research articles on Muslim youth identities and politics.

Elizabeth J. Allan, PhD, is Professor of Higher Education at the University of

Maine. Her scholarship on campus cultures and climates includes qualitative and

mixed methods studies about teaching, equity, student engagement, and student

hazing and its prevention. Drawing on critical theories and feminist poststructural￾ism, she developed policy discourse analysis as a hybrid methodology for both

unthinking policy and advancing social justice.

Carey E. Andrzejewski, PhD, is a former mathematics teacher with a research

and outreach agenda focused on equity and reform in schools. She is an associate

professor in the College of Education at Auburn University. She joined the faculty

there after completing her PhD in Teacher Education from Ohio State University.

Benjamin  Arnberg is a PhD candidate in Higher Education Administration at

Auburn University. His research uses queer and feminist theories to address campus

climate, inclusion policy and practice, and research methodology in higher educa￾tion research.

Elena Aydarova is Assistant Professor of Social Foundations at Auburn University

in Auburn, Alabama. Her interdisciplinary research examines the interactions

between global social change and the work of teachers, teaching, and teacher educa￾tion through the lens of equity and social justice. Her projects have explored teacher

education reforms in Russia and the US, education privatization and commodifica￾tion, as well as internationalization of education. She has written about conducting

ethnographic research in elite settings and in postsocialist contexts.

x

Hannah Carson Baggett, PhD, is a former high school teacher and current assis￾tant professor in the College of Education at Auburn University. Her research inter￾ests include critical theories, race and education, and educator beliefs. She holds a

PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from North Carolina State University.

Lucy E. Bailey, PhD, is Associate Professor of Social Foundations and Qualitative

Inquiry and the Director of Gender and Women’s Studies at Oklahoma State

University. She teaches a variety of qualitative methodology and diversity courses.

Recent research has focused on family methodology and body politics in education.

Jasmine  S.  Betties is a doctoral student in Educational Psychology at Auburn

University. Her research interests include social justice, democratic and alternative

approaches to schooling, and education policy.

McKenzie Brittain is a doctoral student in Curriculum and Instruction at Clemson

University where she focuses on Secondary Mathematics Education. Her research

interests include single-sex education, photovoice methodology, and teacher sup￾port of argumentation in the mathematics classroom.

Meagan Call-Cummings is Assistant Professor of Qualitative Methods at George

Mason University’s Graduate School of Education. She writes on critical, participa￾tory, and feminist qualitative methodology, with a specific focus on how validity

and ethics are conceptualized. Her most recent work has taken youth participatory

action research forms.

Christian  D.  Chan, PhD, NCC, is Assistant Professor of Counseling at Idaho

State University. His interests revolve around intersectionality; multiculturalism in

counseling, supervision, and counselor education; social justice; career develop￾ment; critical research methods; acculturative stress; intergenerational conflict; and

cultural factors in identity development and socialization.

S.  Megan  Che is Associate Professor of Mathematics Education at Clemson

University. Her research foci include humanizing pedagogies in mathematics teach￾ing and learning, and the roles of social context in student mathematical thinking.

Natoya Coleman is a PhD student in Urban Education at Rowan University where

she focuses on decolonizing curriculum and instruction in urban and diverse learn￾ing environments. Her research interests include mentorship among black women in

higher education, feminist pedagogy, critical literacy, and equity-based pedagogical

practices in secondary English classrooms.

Susan Cridland-Hughes is Assistant Professor of Secondary English Education at

Clemson University. Her research centers on the intersection of critical literacy and

pedagogy, specifically exploring how critical literacy is taught and enacted both in

schools and outside of schools.

Notes on Contributors

xi

Erica  R.  Dávila, PhD, is Associate Professor in Educational Leadership in the

College of Education at Lewis University outside of Chicago. Her research interests

are educational policy, critical race theory, sustainability, and Puerto Rican studies.

Dávila holds her doctorate in Educational Policy from the University of Illinois

Champaign Urbana.

Shiv R. Desai is an assistant professor in the Department of Teacher Education,

Education Leadership, and Policy in the College of Education at the University of

New Mexico. Desai is currently working with system-involved youth where he is

helping them conduct a youth participatory action research (YPAR) project that

examines the school-to-prison pipeline as well as how YPAR can be utilized to

inform new policies to shape a more socially just juvenile justice system.

Samantha  E.  Holquist is a doctoral candidate in Organizational Leadership,

Policy, and Development at the University of Minnesota. She also advises Oregon

Student Voice, a student-led organization that empowers students to be authentic

partners with education decision-makers. Her research interests include the incor￾poration of student voice into education policymaking.

Payton  D.  Hoover is a PhD student in the Educational Psychology program at

Auburn University. She earned a BA in Psychology from Hanover College. Her

research interests include community-based participatory research, specifically

with schools and after-school programs.

Lionel C. Howard, EdD, is Associate Professor of Educational Research at The

George Washington University, in Washington DC.  Howard’s research interests

include, broadly, racial and gender development and socialization, motivation and

academic achievement, and qualitative research methodology.

Timothy J. Lensmire is Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the University

of Minnesota, where he teaches courses in race, literacy, and critical pedagogy. His

current work examines how white people learn to be white, as part of a larger effort

to develop more effective antiracist pedagogies.

Danielle  T.  Ligocki is Assistant Professor of Education in the Department of

Teacher Development and Educational Studies at Oakland University in Rochester,

Michigan. She spent 11 years teaching junior high school in a high-needs area

before making the move to higher education.

Leslie  Ann  Locke is Assistant Professor of Educational Policy and Leadership

Studies at the University of Iowa. She received her PhD from Texas A&M University

in 2011. Her research interests include leadership for social justice, schooling for

students from marginalized groups, equity-oriented education policy, and qualita￾tive methodologies.

Notes on Contributors

xii

Cheryl E. Matias is an associate professor in the School of Education and Human

Development (SEHD) at the University of Colorado Denver. She is the faculty

founder of Research Advocacy in Critical Education (R.A.C.E.). Her research

focuses on race and ethnic studies in education, critical race theory, critical white￾ness studies, critical pedagogy, and feminism of color.

David J. Nguyen is Assistant Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs at

Ohio University. He holds his PhD in Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education from

Michigan State University. He incorporates visual research tools when studying his

research interests, which focus on access and equity issues facing underserved and

underrepresented college students.

Laura Parson is an assistant professor in the Higher Education Administration

Program at Auburn University. Her research interests focus on identifying the insti￾tutional practices, processes, and discourses that coordinate the experiences of

women and underrepresented groups in higher education, explored through a criti￾cal lens.

Heather E. Price, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Leadership Studies doctoral

program at Marian University. Her research focuses on sociology and educational pol￾icy. Price previously worked as a senior analyst at the University of Notre Dame and

the private educational policy sector, and taught for years in the Milwaukee District.

Kristen A. Renn, PhD, is Professor of Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education at

Michigan State University, where she also serves as Associate Dean of Undergraduate

Studies for Student Success Research. She studies student identities, learning, and

success with particular focus on students who are minoritized in higher education

by their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, socioeconomic

class, or first-generation college student status.

Carli Rosati is Assistant Director for Student Success Initiatives at Rice University.

She holds a BA in Political Science and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

and an MEd in College Student Personnel, both from Ohio University. Her research

interests center on student activism and feminist theory.

Karen  Ross is Assistant Professor of Conflict Resolution at the University of

Massachusetts-Boston, where her work focuses on conceptual and methodological

issues at the nexus of peace-building, education, and sociopolitical activism. She is

also a dialogue practitioner and trainer.

Argun  Saatcioglu, PhD, is Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and

Policy Studies and (by courtesy) Sociology at the University of Kansas. He studies

educational inequality and school organization. His recent work has appeared in

Teachers College Record, Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race, and

Sociological Inquiry.

Notes on Contributors

xiii

Thomas M. Skrtic, PhD, is Williamson Family Distinguished Professor of Special

Education at the University of Kansas. His interests include disability policy and

politics and critical policy inquiry. He has published his work in several books and

in journals such as Harvard Educational Review and Disability Studies Quarterly.

Sam  Steen, PhD, is Director of the Counseling Program at the University of

Arizona, Associate Professor, and a practitioner-researcher. He served as a school

counselor for ten years before entering academia and has spent approximately eight

years consulting, collaborating, and conducting school-based research within public

schools in Washington, DC.

Kamden  K.  Strunk, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Educational Research at

Auburn University, where he teaches quantitative methods coursework. He holds

his PhD in Educational Psychology from Oklahoma State University. His research

focuses on intersections of sexual, gender, and racial identities in higher education,

and broadly on social justice and equity in education.

Kenzo K. Sung, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Urban Education and Education

Foundations, and affiliated faculty with Africana Studies and American Studies, at

Rowan University. His research areas include urban education and policy, ethnic

studies, critical race theory, history of education, political economy, and social

movements and reforms.

Lolita  A.  Tabron, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership and

Policy Studies in the Morgridge College of Education at the University of Denver.

Through critical policy analyses and critical quantitative inquiries, she studies how

systemic racism and other forms of oppression are perpetuated and sustained

through policies, politics, and statistical data.

Aaron R. Tolbert, PhD, currently serves as the Dean of Liberal Arts at SUNY

Schenectady County Community College. He also serves as the college co-chair for

the Achieving the Dream Core Team. He holds a PhD in Higher Education from the

University of Maine, and an MA in English from the University of Vermont.

Tolbert’s research interests are highly varied, including discourse, policy analysis,

agency, access to higher education, and equity in higher education.

Rose M. Troyer is a Community Coordinator at Denison University. She holds a

BS in Journalism and an MEd in College Student Personnel, both from Ohio

University. Her research interests focus on student activism and civil discourse

within the academy.

Jeff Walls is Assistant Professor of Educational Foundations and Leadership at the

University of Louisiana at Lafayette. His research interests include caring school

environments, school-level policy implementation, and how school leaders and

teachers collaborate in their efforts to produce more equitable schools.

Notes on Contributors

xiv

James S. Wright, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership at San

Diego State University. His research agenda is highlighted by the ways in which

educational administration and leadership are positioned to rewrite historical ineq￾uities across the educational landscape. He holds a master’s degree in Business

Administration (MBA), which he leverages to broaden understandings of organiza￾tion and economic currents that impact schooling and educational reform.

Notes on Contributors

xv

List of Figures

Fig. 14.1 “Discipline from the teachers can be difficult because sometimes

the guys (or girls) in the class don’t want to listen” ........................ 170

Fig. 14.2 “Students seem more focused and on-task” .................................... 172

Fig. 14.3 “In a unisex class, we always thought that we were bigger than

each other. Our egos were high” ..................................................... 172

Fig. 17.1 Within-group student shutoff along the Advanced Placement

curriculum pipeline. Source: Civil Rights Data Collection, pooled

school years of 2011–12 and 2013–14 ............................................ 210

xvii

List of Tables

Table 1.1 Validity horizon for Example 1 ..................................................... 7

Table 1.2 Validity horizon for Example 2 ..................................................... 8

Table 1.3 Validity horizon for Example 3 ..................................................... 10

Table 1.4 Validity horizon for Example 4 ..................................................... 11

Table 17.1 HHI scores along the Advanced Placement curriculum

pipeline ......................................................................................... 211

Table 19.1 PSR-adjusted multinomial estimates for odds of mild disability

labels ............................................................................................. 234