An Autoethnographic Study on Teaching Doctoral Qualitative Research Courses at an R1 Institution

Qualitative research has earned its academic space in higher education and has been increasingly popular among scholars and graduate students. Qualitative research is becoming popular because it is different and focuses on making meanings and gaining a deeper understanding of people, cultures, and contexts compare to the conventional quantitative research approach, which seeks to generalizations. With that popularity, there is an increasing number of qualitative research courses that are offered in graduate schools in research institutions. However, a conventional research philosophy, a positivist perspective, has still been a strong influence and emphasis on graduate students, particularly doctoral students. This proposed presentation will focus on exploring a qualitative research professor’s experience of teaching doctoral qualitative research courses at an R1 institution to discuss some challenges in contemporary higher education. It will also focus on how positionality of the instructor influences his teaching and promotion of qualitative research in a positivist research institution. Some pedagogical implications and future directions of doctoral qualitative research will also be provided