Methods Despite or Without Content? Reflections on Teaching Qualitative Research

Abstract

There is no shortage of scholarship focusing on qualitative pedagogy. However, very little has been written about the tension in the classroom between teaching methods and the content instructors use to do so. The relationship between methods and content is critical to the success of any class. In this paper, we discuss the pedagogical choices of two professors and the consequences, both good and ill, of such choices. Each takes a different approach. We examine the follow-through of each choice practically and theoretically. We discuss the dichotomy of “methodologies despite content” vs. “methodologies without content” and the implications of each in teaching qualitative inquiry.