Forthcoming
- DSI Annual Conference: http://www.decisionsciences.org/annualmeeting/
- Special Issue on Qualitative and Case-Based Research in Innovative Education
Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education
Announces Call for Papers
DSJIE Special Topic Forum
Associate Editor
T. Grandon Gill, University of South Florida
Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education is currently seeking papers for a theme specific issue, “Qualitative and Case-Based Research in Innovative Education” (submission period August 1, 2008 – January 31, 2009).
Articles must meet Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education’s high standards of research rigor and originality, while simultaneously offering new insights to its readership of practicing educators. The issue will consist of a section of three to five articles that are published in a regular issue alongside peer-reviewed articles on other topics.
Disciplinary and pedagogical research in the decision sciences are similar in many ways. We expect both types of research to conform to the highest standards of rigor and to exhibit clear relevance to practice. We recognize that both types of research can benefit from a portfolio of research methods, with theory building, quantitative analysis, and qualitative approaches each contributing in their own way.
Pedagogical research differs from discipline-specific research in one very important way, however. Nearly all pedagogical researchers in the field are also practicing educators—as are most of the readers of education-focused journals such as Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education. This presents us with a number of challenges and opportunities. First, education-related journals are positioned to be exceptionally influential in terms of actual impact on teaching practice. Thus, our standards for both rigor and relevance need to be high. Second, a high percentage of pedagogical research can be characterized as action research, meaning that the participants being observed and the observers are frequently one and the same. This scenario offers tremendous opportunities for insight, while at the same time greatly increasing the threats posed by loss of objectivity and bias. Third, because our goal emphasizes influencing practice rather than research, we have a special obligation to communicate our findings effectively.
In communicating with educational practitioners, qualitative and case study research often proves more effective than its quantitative and theory-building counterparts. Consider, for example, what you are likely to find in the practitioner-focused Harvard Business Review (HBR). According to a recent study that examined human resources research across a range of journals, “the main source of ‘evidence’ in HBR is the anecdote. One hundred percent of HBR articles in a sample used anecdotes or ‘stories’ to make their cases” (Rynes, Giluk and Brown, 2007, p. 999). Coincidentally, the cover story of the HBR issue published at the same time was on the subject of story-telling (Gruber, 2007). Actually, the affinity between practice and qualitative research is not that surprising. We live in a complex world and are often faced with situations where a high degree of fit cannot be achieved by considering situational characteristics individually. Indeed, the degree to which a system is impervious to such decomposition is sometimes used as the definition of complexity (see, for example, Simon, 1981). Faced with such complexity, a few well explored (and explained) examples of real-world fit may be far more valuable to the practitioner than quantitative analysis of many examples or involved contingency theories. When we hear, for example, that individual learning styles can impact our teaching effectiveness, our appreciation of the concept is likely to be greatly improved by examples of how others have succeeded in matching course content, instructional styles, technologies and a portfolio of student learning styles to achieve better learning outcomes.
Creating exemplary qualitative research is not easy, however. It depends upon the objectivity and expertise of the researcher far more than quantitative techniques that allow for statistical significance to be tested. It is often less familiar to researchers—particularly in quantitatively-oriented fields—than other techniques. Given its potential importance in informing our practitioner selves, then, we have a strong motivation to improve our skills in this area.
Topics of interest for this special edition therefore include, but are not limited to:
- Exemplary research case studies that help us better understand educational practice in the decision sciences
- Other exemplary examples of qualitative research in decision sciences education
- Descriptive and prescriptive analyses of the conduct of qualitative research in education
- Examining the role of qualitative research in impacting teaching practice
- Learning to conduct exceptional qualitative research
- Similarities and differences between disciplinary and educational qualitative research
- Communicating qualitative educational research effectively
Manuscripts will be evaluated on the same criteria as regular manuscripts, except greater emphasis will be placed on the potential of the research to positively impact of conduct of future qualitative education research in the decision sciences. All submissions must adhere to the format and style guidelines of Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education.
Manuscript preparation and submission instructions can be found on the journal’s web site at www.dsjie.org and all submissions must be made through http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/dsjie. In the submission form, please specify that you are submitting to the theme-specific issue. Letters to the editor should also indicate that they are intended for the theme-specific issue.
Submission Period: Manuscripts for this theme-specific issue may be submitted between August 1, 2008 and January 31, 2009. Early submission is encouraged, but not prior to the starting date of August 1.
References
Guber, P. (2007) “The Four Truths of the Storyteller”,
Harvard Business Review. December. 52-59.
Rynes, S., Giluk, T. and Brown, K. “The Very Separate Worlds of Academic and Practitioner Periodicals in Human Resource Management: Implications for Evidence-Based Management”.
Academy of Management Journal. 50(5). 987-1008.
Simon, H. (1981)
Sciences of the Artificial, Second Edition. Cambridge: MIT Press.