ABSTRACT
Throughout this book we have cited the work of qualitative researchers who share a common goal: to understand more about a phenomenon of interest. Among them, William Perry (1970) wanted to understand how men’s thinking changes as they experience a high quality college education. Mary Belenky and her associates set out to explore how women experience their own learning and describe their ways of knowing (Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger and Tarule, 1986). Edwin Farrell and his young collaborators wanted to understand more about the lives of students who were at-risk for dropping out of high school (Farrell, Peguero, Lindsey and White, 1988). Lyn Mikel Brown and Carol Gilligan (1992) embarked on a five year ‘journey of discovery’ by listening to what girls had to say about their thoughts and feelings about themselves and their relationships with others as they grew to adolescence.
