crit research handbook

8/9/2019 Crit Research Handbook

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CRITICAL

RESEARCHHANDBOOK

UCLA/IDEA

CRITICAL

RESEARCH

CRITICAL

RESEARCH

CRITICAL

RESEARCHHANDBOOKHANDBOOK


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CRITICAL

RESEARCHO

ver the past five years, UCLAʼs Institute

for Democracy, Education, and Access

(IDEA) has worked with educators

to engage urban youth in studying equity and

access in schools across greater Los Angeles. We

call this process ʻcritical research.ʼ It is critical

because it highlights inequality, empowers youngpeople of color, and aims to enact more just and

democratic policies. It is also rigorous research

in which young people draw on the tools of social

science investigation and social theory to docu-

ment and make sense of the conditions in their

schools.

The critical research process offers a powerful

model for learning and activism. It provides

urban youth with the knowledge and skills they

need to conduct and report on conditions in theirschools. But that is just the beginning. Students

build on their information and research skills to

participate in school improvement along with

broader movements for educational and social

justice.

The following is an overview of our critical

research. It is really more of a “how-to-think-

about-it” handbook than a “how-to-do-it” hand-

book. By its very nature, critical research isbound by the contexts, resources, and histories

of its participants. However, there is much that

various critical research projects have in common

even if their “stories” are very different, and we

have attempted to extract a few central compo-

nents that apply across different settings.

This handbook is a companion piece to the video,

“IDEA Summer Seminar 2002,” which follows

30 urban high school students through the criti-

cal research process. The video chronicles the

studentsʼ efforts to test what is, on the surface,

a perfectly unassailable and democratic propo-

sition—that students and parents monitor theconditions for learning at their schools and ask a

series of questions—questions that are, in sum,

critical: What are the conditions at this school?

How did they get this way? Who is responsible?

Do people have rights to different conditions?

What groups benefit or suffer from these condi-

tions? What can be done to change the condi-

tions? and so forth. The video shows what this

critical research looks like and how it affects par-

ticipating students.

Teachers and students interested in seeing criti-

cal research from additional perspectives will

want to look to IDEAʼs online journal, www.

TeachingToChangeLA.org. Here you can

find examples of critical research projects at

every grade level, including student-generated

surveys, observation forms, and other critical

research tools. We encourage you to contrib-

ute your own critical research projects to www.

TeachingToChangeLA.org. For more informa-tion, please contact tcla.gseis.ucla.edu.

John Rogers,

Associate Director, UCLA/IDEA


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Introduction:Studentsʼ CriticalResearch and the Role

of the Critical TeacherCritical research teaches students to notice and

understand how power and inequality shape con-

ditions that affect their communities. It also helps

them identify or construct strategies that can chal-

lenge the status quo. There can be no escaping

that teaching critical research requires critical

teaching—teachers with the knowledge and dis-

positions to ask questions such as, “ How do

apparently fair social practices belie deep inequi-ties?“ “Who benefits from particular social and

economic policies?” “How do traditional practic-

es in economic, educational, legal and other social

institutions stand in the way of social justice?”

Rather than instructing students to study a set

of procedures gleaned from othersʼ experiences,

the teacher of critical research guides students

through their own sense-making and discover-

ies. The critical teacher encourages students to

identify problems that matter to them. Students

acquire a toolbox of research techniques, and they

practice matching appropriate tools to the ques-

tions at hand. Teachers help students reflect on

their research process to address one of the main

problems that confronts all serious researchers of

social issues: how to keep focused while remain-

ing flexible as they venture into the real world of

their data.

Rigorous data collection is of little value if itnever sees the light of day. Critical research is

not only about the personal enrichment that comes

with learning certain facts and skills, but with

contributing to oneʼs community of neighbors

and scholars. The teacher helps students explore

questions such as, “Who will find our data use-

ful?” “Who should be exposed to this data?”

“What will be the obstacles to having our data

find an appropriate forum?” and so on.

The teacher can help students match their report-

ing media (formal reports, videos, Power Point

presentations, graphs) to their audiences, and

help students shape their presentations to such

audiences. Importantly, not all good teaching is

critical teaching, but all critical teaching mustbe good teaching. The standard for student-cen-

tered, inquiry based, and caring teaching is simply

higher for critical teaching. Without this in mind,

critical teaching risks becoming as doctrinaire and

oppressive as “uncritical” teaching.

I. Identifying the Problem and ResearchQuestion

Critical research is “reflexive;” that is, it bringspersonal experiences together with broader issues

outside oneʼs own sphere. For example, a criti-

cal study may begin with an everyday experi-

ence that seems to have little connection outside

oneʼs immediate surroundings—the conditions

in oneʼs neighborhood, disrespect for oneʼs pre-

ferred music, lack of a textbook for a math class,

for example. But soon students discover that their

local concerns are at least partly the effects and

expressions of national policies and prejudices,

state laws, and macroeconomics.

A critical study also can respond to lawsuits,

policy initiatives, or organizing campaigns that

emerge far from the studentʼs home community.

Critical questions can reveal the immediacy that

these seemingly remote actions have with stu-

dentsʼ daily lives. The benchmark for a good

critical topic is whether the researcher/student

feels that the topic matters to them. They must

also have a passion for finding the truth, the com-plete picture, and the hidden assumptions about

the topic.

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PHYSICAL ECOLOGY

Buildings

How does the state of a classroom (floors,infestation, inadequate desks) affect the physicalecology of the school?

What role does the presentation of the buildings(wires, gated areas, windows, dilapidated struc-tures) play in the physical ecology?

How does the quality of the bathrooms affect thephysical ecology of the school?

SOCIAL ECOLOGY

School climate

What do student to student relationships say about the social ecology?

What do student to teacher relationships say about the social ecology?

What do student to administrator relationships say about the social ecology?

What do student to security relationships say about the social ecology?

How do the available enrichment opportunities affect the social ecology?

How do school clubs, clicks, and sports affect the school ecology?

How do the available after school programs affect the social ecology?

In Summer 2002, one student research group examined the social and physical conditions in

urban schools. They began their work by generating the following questions:

Positioning of school incommunity

What role does the physical positioning of theschool in the community play in the physicalecology of the school?

Positioning of school in community

How does the parent relationship with the school administrators playa role in the social ecology?

All critical learning is shaped by the prior experi-

ences and knowledge of the participants—includ-

ing the teacher. Research begins with free-rang-

ing conversations to access that knowledge—ask-

ing, what concerns us, what do we know, why arewe angry, what are our experiences, what are our

theories, what is our evidence, and so on. But

these conversations, by themselves, can soon dry

up into complaints, negativity, and a sense of

hopelessness. Itʼs the teacher s̓ job to make the

talk “generative;” that is, to use curiosity, con-

cern, and outrage as a springboard to scholarship,

and scholarship as a lever for social change.

A powerful assist for generating new knowledge,

actions, and hope can be gained from readings

by theorists who also take a critical view. These

works reveal broad patterns in the social repro-

duction of inequality and allow students to see

inequality as political and systemic instead of

random events that inexplicably happen to some

people and not to others. These readings explore

how educational inequalities relate to the unequal

distribution of wealth and power in society generally.

Some Readings on Social Reproduction for

High School Students:

Paulo Freire’s “First letter: Reading the word/reading theworld,” in Teachers as cultural workers: Letters to those who

dare to teach. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 17-26, 1997

Jeannie Oakes, and Martin Lipton’s Teaching to Change theWorld chapter 1, pp. 3-33.

Patrick Finn’s Literacy With an Attitude: Educating WorkingClass Children in their Own Self Interest New York: SUNYPress, 1999.

Pedro Noguera and Antwi Akom’s “Disparities Demystified,” The Nation June 5, 2000, pp. 29-31.

Readings such as these provide students and

teacher alike with the historical foundation and

analytic tools to make sense of their experienc-

es in schools by seeing them as part of broader

systemic phenomena. The readings might appear

daunting at first look. They are not, certainly,

written for younger people. However, our projects

with students convince us that students are drawn to

the arguments and are amenable to the scaffolding

that the teacher provides.

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II. Methods for Data Collection/Investigation

The methods for conducting research are varied—

accessing existing databases, Internet searches,

interviews, focus groups, observations, surveys,

etc. There is no reason to assume that even vet-

eran teachers are experienced with or skilled at

teaching these research techniques—all the better

to create a classroom community environment in

which the techniques themselves are the subject of study and the teacher is not the sole repository for

research knowledge. In research methodology,

the process of drawing conclusions using mul-

tiple data techniques and sources is called trian-

gulation and can help reduce bias in the findings.

However, the researchers should be aware that

every method of data collection has the potential

to introduce bias, and here, too, critical question-

ing is needed to expose and understand those

biases.

Following are five research methods our students

have found useful. Ultimately, each is built on a

sophisticated and nuanced set of skills that few

adults have mastered. Even so, the “learning

curve” for younger as well as older students is

rapid, and students are quick to critique and learn

from their early difficulties. Rather than pounding

away at “techniques” itʼs best to offer “pointers”

that groups of students are sure to reconsider

when they are in the midst of their reflections andraising self-critical questions such as “Should

I have asked a follow-up?” “Did I wait enough

time for an answer?” “Did I remember to intro-

duce myself and explain why I was asking the

questions?” “What do I know about the Internet

author or organization that published these data?”

And so on.

Working-Class Schools

“To know stuff?”“Doing pages in our books andthings.”“Worksheets.”“You answer questions.”“To remember things?”

“Teachers.”“Books.”“The Board of Ed.”“Scientists.”

No: 15 Yes: 1Don’t Know: 4One girl said, “No, because theBoard of Ed makes knowledge.”

Middle-Class Schools

“To remember.”“You learn facts and history.”“It’s smartness.”“Knowledge is something youlearn.”

“Teachers.”“From old books.”“From scientists.”“Knowledge comes fromeverywhere.”

“You hear other people talk withthe big words.”

No: 9 Yes: 11“I’d look it up.”“You can make knowledgelistening and doing what you’retold.”“I’d go to the library.”“By doing extra credit.”

Affluent ProfessionalSchools

“You think up ideas and then findthings wrong with those ideas.”“It’s when you know somethingreally well.”“A way of learning, of finding outthings.”“Figuring out stuff.”

“People and computers.”“Your head.”“People—what they do,”“Something you learn.”“From going places.”

No: 4 Yes: 16“You can make knowledge if youinvent something.”“I’d think of something todiscover, then I’d make it.”“You can go explore for newthings.”

What StudentsSay AboutKnowledge?

Where doesknowledgecome from?

Could youmakeknowledge, andif so, how?

Scaffolding Critical Readings

We have used this chart as a teaching tool for making sense of Jean Anyonʼs analysis of how schools

provide different understandings of knowledge to students from different class backgrounds.


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Accesing Existing Information. Students

can learn about school conditions from a number

of public sources. Newspapers, for example,

can be searched for recent articles about prob-

lems facing local schools. Government websites

feature data, reports, and legislation. To meetfederal guidelines, the State and local districts must

create annual reports on their programs and stu-

dent performance. Students can access much of

this information online, through general searches

and by browsing the web pages of the California

Department of Education and their local district.

It is often helpful to use these data sources to

compare conditions at schools serving affluent

and low-income communities.

Of course, public reports are not the products

of critical research. They often lack vital infor-

mation about educational opportunity and they

frequently downplay or disguise inequalities.

Students should always ask: “Does this data make

sense from my own lived experience?” “What is

not being reported here?” By identifying gaps

in existing data, students generate an agenda for

their own investigation.

Interviews. Interviews are enormously chal-

lenging interactions and students have much tolearn from them—cognitively, substantively, and

socially. They are also fun. Students can inter-

v other students, educators, policy makers, and

activists. Interviews with young people document

the daily experiences of youth in schools and how

they make sense of these experiences. Interviews

with educators, policy makers, and activists pro-

vide student researchers with a record of adults

explaining why things are the way they are and

how they might be changed.

Well-prepared student interviewers frequently

report having a sense of expertise and efficacy

they have rarely experienced, perhaps because

they possess a breadth of information about a

topic that the interviewee has only considered

Online Educational

Data Sources

California Department of Education CBEDSdatabase fileshttp://www.cde.ca.gov/ope/research/ Download any California Basic Education Data Systems infor-mation that is available through DataQuest are available fordownload here, though are generally to large to download toExcel. Data available by ethnicity, gender, English languagelearners, and poverty.

California Postsecondary EducationCommissionhttp://www.cpec.ca.gov/OnLineData/FindRpt.aspQuery or download College Going Counts, First Time Fresh-men, Transfer Students, Higher Education Enrollments,Degrees, High School Graduates, Private High School Grads,Student Profiles, and Student Levels. Information is availableby ethnicity, and gender.

DataQuesthttp://data1.cde.ca.gov/DataQuest/ Query user-created reports that include information onthe API, Course Enrollments, Dropouts, English learners,Enrollments, Expulsions, Graduates, High School Exit Exam,High School (SAT, ACT, AP0 scores, Physical fitness results,Projected Teacher Hires, Special Education, Staffing, Stanford9 Results). Information available by ethnicity, gender, SES,and grade level.

Ed Weekhttp://www.edweek.org/sreports

The special reports section reports data and graphs bystate for teacher quality and technology. Free registra-tion is required to retrieve this information.

Ed-Datahttp://www.ed-data.k12.ca.us/ Query educational portraits at the state, county, district,and school level. Included are school types, enrollments,charter schools, class size, technology, student char-acteristics including ethnicity, language, free/reducedlunch, and staff characteristics including ethnicity,credential type, and assignment. User-created queriescan be made to compare districts and schools. Also,statewide and national comparison of schools is avail-

able. Pre-made graphs are available for a snapshot ofCalifornia’s education system.

National Center for EducationalStatisticshttp://nces.ed.gov/ Query this site created by the primary federal entity thatcollects and analyzes education-related data from theUnited States and other nations. This site features datafrom school and district locator tools; numerous educa-tion statistics; publications; and a searchable databaseof NCES tables and figures.


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superficially. Further, when interviewing other

experts on a topic, student interviewers are driven

by a desire for data. Often the initial condescend-

ing attitude of adult interviewees evolves into a

genuinely collegial discussion. Students are fas-

cinated by these sometimes predictable and some-

times surprising social and power relationships

and, upon reflection, gain a deeper understanding

of the roles these relationships play in shapingpolicy and social life.

There are some obvious “handy hints” of good

interviews: plan well, know what you want to

learn, design good questions, practice or role play

the interview, have alternate follow-up questions,

allow sufficient “wait-time,” make sure your tape

recorder has batteries and you know how to work

it, research the intervieweeʼs background when

you can, work with a partner so one can concen-

trate on questions while the other takes notes,and so on. A digital photo of the setting (school

or classroom) and the people (with their permis-

sion) helps reconstruct the environment and many

of the details afterwards. These techniques are

important to explain and review, but the tech-

niques are really (or deeply) learned upon reflec-

tion with others who shared similar experiences

and miscues in their interviews.

Creating Interview Questions

One group of student researchers in Summer 2002 examined access to technology and textbooks

across several schools.

Student Interview Questions:

1. Do you feel it is important to have home and school copies of textbooks? Why or why not?

2. How does Internet access help enhance your educational experience?

3. Do you feel your culture is accurately and equally represented in your schoolsʼ textbooks?

Why or why not? Why is this important?

4. What have you been required to buy for school that was a burden for you or your family?

Do you feel the school should have provided that item? Why or why not ?

Interviewing Elected officials

“California is below the national averagein per pupil spending but we are the mostexpensive state in the union to live.”

Moises Castillo: What should we do to improve thequality of teachers in California’s schools?

Delaine Eastin: We have to raise the pay to be a teacher in

this state. Teachers should be treated like professionals and paidat a much higher level than they are paid now. Then, if somebodywants to be off in the summer, they can pick an 80% contract.

Also, more teachers need to be encouraged to do staff develop-ment. For example, in the private sector, when a person works fora company and we want to train them on a new operating systemor a new protocol or anything else, the company doesn’t tell themto take vacation time and pay their own way. Why should teachersbe treated so differently? It is time that we really give them the fullsalary that you need to have to live in California.

MC: What are some of the barriers that are getting in the wayof making this happen?

Moises Castillo and LizbethAntonio of Santa MonicaHigh School, Aminah Hasan,of Westmark High Schooland Professor Ernest Morrellof Michigan State Univer-sity, interviewed DelaineEastin, Superintendentof Schools for the State ofCalifornia, on student accessto a quality education.


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DE: California is below the national average in per pupil spend-ing but we are the most expensive state in the union to live. Wehave to raise per pupil spending. We have the largest class size in

America above the third grade. We have to lower class sizes andthat means building more classrooms and hiring more teachers.

All this means more resources. The RAND Corporation did astudy and it showed that if you look at the factors that contribute

to the most successful students in the most successful states,they spend more money per child. That is one out of five thingsthey do. They also have lower class sizes in elementary educa-tion; they have public preschool available for all kids, not just richkids; teachers report a lower turnover; and teachers report thatthey have enough resources. All that stems back to the first factor,which is higher per pupil spending, higher resources per child.

Lizbeth Antonio: How would you describe your role ineducation?

DE: The role of the State Superintendent is several fold. First,you are not the dictator or the empress and you don’t tell peoplewhat to do. In fact, a lawsuit that my predecessor lost says that theState Board sets policy and certainly the governor and the legisla-ture play a big role in setting policy and the budget. The state su-

perintendent can in fact be used as a bully pulpit to be an advocatefor children and education. I advocated for class-size reduction forK-3 and got ridiculed by the governor at the time, Pete Wilson, andby some member legislators. Eventually, we got class-size reduc-tion. I supported standards for all kids and all schools, and now wehave standards. At one point when Governor Wilson had illegallytaken $2.3 Billion out of schools, I was part of the lawsuit againsthim to make him put that money back. We, in fact, got the moneyback and that is where we actually got the money to do class-sizereduction. There isn’t as much power and authority as one mightthink, but there is a lot more moral persuasion and you do havea bully pulpit. You can get in to see an editorial board and any ofthe many interest groups that affect public policy. You can testifybefore the legislature, and you can generally be a voice to fight forwhat is right for kids.

LA: What type of changes would you like to see in theCalifornia public school curriculum?

DE: I would like to see every child learning at least two languag-es. I would like to see the arts strengthened in the California publicschool system. We are dead last in the number of music teachers.I would also like to see every school have a garden in its school,so that kids could really learn not only where food comes from butalso what the basis of a healthy diet is. I would certainly like to see

every California school have a complete and full public library witha librarian. I’d like to see us with more nurses and more counsel-ors, as well as smaller class sizes in K-3.

AH: What are the current educational resources that stu-dents and teachers are entitled to?

DE: The State Constitution says that you are entitled to a freeand appropriate education, but it doesn’t really define that inspecific terms. Every school isn’t the same. Resources available toa student at a small school like Whale Gulch in Mendocino County,that doesn’t even have electricity, aren’t many. I wish that I couldsay that every district uses all of its money wisely and gives everychild a credentialed teacher and a textbook. Not every district

does an excellent job providing for that. We try to cajole them andsometimes we sue them to try to force them to give kids what theyshould be getting. We have a ways to go in California before wegive every child a free and appropriate education in my view.

AH: In yo ur opinion, why is it important that students haveaccess to educational resources?

DE: It is more important than it has ever been. In a democracywhere people respect one another, people have to be well edu-cated. Even the founders of our country understood that. Now welive in the information age where not only do we need to respectyour neighbors and one another, but we have to make sure thatyou learn at a very high level because there are no good jobs leftin America for unskilled workers—none. If you really want a good

job in America, it is very important that you have a good educationbecause this is the information age. They use a lot of robots nowin a lot of what used to be considered unskilled labor. Now theywould have a few semi-skilled laborers. I had a high school studenttell me once that she was going to drop out of high school, join thearmy, and drive a tank. I said ‘if you can’t read at the 13th grade

level and don’t have high levels of skill in math, you can’t drive atank.’When I was a child, you opened up the hood of the cars in the1950s and it was a very simple matter (although I still couldn’t fixit). However, at the time you didn’t need the level of education thatyou need today to be a car mechanic.

AH: How evenly are educational resources appropriatedamong California schools?

DE: The good news is that they are more equal than they oncewere. The bad news is that not all of the money follows the childinto the classroom. Some districts are inefficient and a very few arecorrupt. Not every child’s needs are the same. Even if you gave an

identical amount of money to two schools, if one school had lots ofchildren who didn’t have books and opportunities to learn at home,those children might need additional support. They would needmore than a child from a very affluent community, whose parentshave books in every room, has tutors, and lots of other support.

Again, I think that our goal should be not just absolute equality,dollar per dollar, but in fact, additional support for children thathave learning challenges.

AH: What type of legislation would you support that wouldestablish equality in the amount of educational resources inall California schools?

DE: I would raise teachers’ salaries even higher among some ofthe poorest schools because that would be an attraction for moresenior teachers to work in some of the schools where the kidsreally need extra help. Right now, lots of these schools have thenewest teachers and face the challenge that a lot of the teachersare not fully credentialed. The kids with the biggest needs havethe least equipped teachers. I would reverse that and say that weare actually going to give a bonus where we are going to pay moreand spend more for the poorest children. I would make sure theschools were clean, well-lighted, safe, up to date with technologyas well as fully equipped libraries and enough nurses, counselors,and of course good teachers. I would make sure that they wouldhave great sport programs, but also make sure that they wouldhave great art programs.


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Focus groups. “Focus groups” is the term

that researchers use for group interviews. There

are many ways to run a focus group such as small

breakout groups or large group discussions; and

there are a variety of ways to elicit the discussions

such as direct questions to individuals, turn-tak-ing answers, or more of a free flowing discussion

that is guided, but not strongly controlled by the

researcher. The group leader can supply a variety

of prompts such as data that the group might not

be familiar with, charts or videos, or simply ques-

tions.

Focus groups are not just a more “efficient” way

to get information from several people at one

time. Focus groups add a group dynamic that

influences the responses people give. Whether

that influence is helpful and whether it adds to

or hides the expressions and genuineness of indi-

vidual responses depends on how the group is

“managed.” Focus groups allow the researcher

to see how people come to a consensus, how they

go through a change in their thinking when new

ideas or vocabulary are introduced, and how they

disagree. Focus groups can be followed up with

individual interviews.

Surveys. A survey asks a set of common ques-

tions to a large number of individuals. Some sur-

veys seek responses from students in a classroom

or school. Other surveys seek responses from

youth in public places like parks or malls.

Surveys can range from a few questions to a great

many questions, however, shorter surveys tend

to draw a more focused response. It is important

that students design surveys that maintain the

same measurement for responses. In other words,students might design their survey to measure

responses on a scale of 1-5, with a 1 represent-

ing a response of “never” and 5 representing a

response of “always”. Likewise, students might

decide to simplify a surveyʼs response options by

only offering informants” “yes” or “no” response

options. All surveys must be “field tested.” That

is, the survey should be administered to a few

“trial” survey-takers in similar circumstances that

the real survey will be given. A few questions

after the trials can lead to beneficial revisions. Do

people seem interested in or bored with answer-

ing all the questions? Does anyone get stuck on a

question or misunderstand the meaning? And so

forth.

Student Surveys

Student researchers asked young people at malls

across Los Angeles about the quality of their

curriculum. http://tcla.gseis.ucla.edu/rights/fea-

tures/7/students/survey/curriculum.html

Los Angeles students rated their responses to thequestions and statementslisted below on a scale of one to five, with one (1)representing the lowest grade and five (5) the high-

est.

My classes are prepar-ing me for a successful

future.

I feel like I’m being

challenged in myclasses.

I know what courses Ineed to graduate and goto a four-year college.

I often choose my own

class schedule.


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Field notes. Field notes are the researcherʼs

diary or journal of data collection activities. Field

notes are an important part of the research process

because they record what student researchers see

and what they are thinking. Field notes are typi-

cally kept in a notebook with each entry record-ing the date, time and location. When first taken,

notes are typically brief, fragmented, and may be

illegible. A crucial step can be to “write-up” the

notes—completing partial thoughts, adding unre-

corded circumstances, and so on. This write-up

step needs structured and perhaps supervised time

to complete. The objective of the field note is to

record what the researcher sees and hears. No

detail should be considered unimportant; no inci-

dent too small to record.

The researcher should also create a section in

each entry for “observer comments.” This is the

space for the researcher to reflect on questions

such as: “Why did the teacher focus on that one

student?” “Why arenʼt these students angrier

about what they have experienced?” “How doesthis classroom differ from the one we observed

last week?” “How might I have inserted bias into

my questioning?”

III. Analyzing Data

After collecting the data, student researchers need

to make sense of what they have learned. A first

step in this process is for students to immerse

themselves in all the data. Reviewing all of the

data they have gathered—interview and focus

group transcripts, survey results, field notes, and

so on—they are looking for patterns, key ideas,

and themes. These examinations can occur indi-

vidually, in small research groups, and with peo-

ple who are less familiar with the research, but

may be more likely to ask “basic” or critical

questions. Once some key themes and patterns

have been identified, students can design a simple

coding system to match (and mark or identify)

particular pieces of evidence with the broaderthemes. These codes work two ways: first, they

help discover and refine the key research ideas;

and second, once ideas are refined, they help

document the research findings or arguments.

July 17, 2002 Field Note While in South High School, an overwhelming feeling over-came me, a feeling that I was in a school whose studentswere in the climactic stages of social reproduction. Talkingto the counselor reaffirmed my conviction: nine hundredstudents enter as freshmen; four hundred make it to theirsenior year, only two hundred graduate. What happened tothe other seven hundred? It is my belief that they gave upon the educational system, prompted by years of inequalityand subtle discouragement from achieving great things inlife.

Therefore, conducting a focus group interview was not aneasy task. I noticed right away that the Black and Latinostudents separated themselves in the classroom, which isprobably how the school is divided during normal operatingtime. Most of the students in the interview were listening,but it seemed like they did not care enough to give thought-ful and meaningful responses. It seemed as if they thoughtthey were lab rats, guinea pigs whose responses would beheard but not valued…almost as if they’ve been in the situ-ation before and been disappointed. I was very happy withthe thoughtful responses of the students that did speak.They really helped our research, and made me personallymore attuned to their struggles and needs at their highschool.

The school’s physical ecology perpetuated incarceration,in my opinion. Vending machines had thick, metal barsaround them, as well as the windows, and those machinesthat were not enclosed were immediately locked up after the bell rang. I also noticed that there were many places tosort of “hide out,” and get into more trouble. Bungalowswere in the far corner of the school, and one girl even com-mented that she did not even know the school had them. Tome, the cafeteria area was too small to provide sufficientspace for the 2400 students that attend the school, and thearea that most students were made the students look like acolony of mice whose hiding place had just been exposed.


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IV. Findings and Policy Implications

In this stage, students draw on their data analy-

sis to develop a set of preliminary findings that

respond to the original research problem. The

teacher and students should discuss what theyhave learned that will be of interest to youth,

educators, community members, elected officials,

and other researchers. They will also want to talk

about the implications of their findings for their

own further investigation: Do they need more

data? Do they need to revisit or refocus their

methods or assumptions? Only then can they be

on their way to informing othersʼ thinking about

the practices and policies they are investigating.

This stage of the research is particularly transfor-

mative for young people. By combining scholar-

ship and experience, they construct knowledge

that helps to make sense out of their daily lives

and that lays out avenues for continued empower-

ment. Their work gives the students the authority

to demand attention, and it gives prospective audi-

ences a reason to listen.

V. Presentation of Critical Research

The final stage of the research process calls on

students to communicate the central findings

from their data analysis to a variety of audiences.

Teacher and students should generate a list of

people who should hear about their work and then

discuss how to make their research meaningful to

these people. The students will create a research

report and presentation that can include video,

skits, readersʼ theater, PowerPoint presentations,

and so forth. Whatever form they use, studentsshould: a) explain their research problem and why

it is important; b) describe the methods they used

to examine the problem; c) highlight findings; and

d) conclude with a set of policy recommendations.

They should also be sure to allow some time to

receive questions.

Creating powerful presentations is an exhausting

and exhilarating process. Students should work

through several drafts of all written products and

rehearse their public performance. There is never

sufficient time to remove or prevent all glitches.

The teacher may want to create a checklist toguide this development. For example: Do we use

language that everyone in our audience can under-

stand? Do we define all our terms? When we use

PowerPoint, is the font large enough to be read?

Do our examples grab the audience? Do they

make the points we wish to make? What would a

skeptic say? What message do we leave the audi-

ence with? Does this message represent our most

compelling and important finding?

Final Presentations

http://tcla.gseis.ucla.edu/about/archived_

homes/rights7.html

Moving from the shadows to the forefront of educationalleadership, students culminated the summer seminar by pre-senting six weeks of critical ethnographic research at UCLA’sprestigious Faculty Center.


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IDEA seeks to become an intellectual home of a

broad-based social movement that challenges the

pervasive racial and social class inequalities in

education. IDEA brings diverse constituencies

together to create knowledge and action that can

disrupt the cultural assumptions and political

arrangements that prevent opportunity and civic

participation. Taking our cues from social

movements and grassroots community organizing,

rather than from conventional approaches to

reform, IDEA creates and supports networks

of UCLA scholars, educators, advocates, community

activists, and young people in research and action

that empower individuals, build relationships,

and create knowledge and action for social change.

Jeannie Oakes , Director

John Rogers, Associate Director

UCLA’s Institute for Democracy,Education, and Access (IDEA)

1041 Moore Hall, Box 951521

Los Angeles, CA 90095

310-206-8725

[email protected]

crit research handbook

Documents