Abstract:

This study adopts a case study approach, taking the doctoral dissertations from Beijing Normal University and East China Normal University as two cases, to explore the content and forms of methodological statements on qualitative research. The study finds that the methodological statements feature an internal structure of two-level logical linkage, an explicit function of legitimizing justification, and an implicit assumption of positional reconstruction. In terms of internal logic, the first-level linkage refers to the intrinsic continuity between ontological and epistemological positions within the conceptual world, achieved through the particularity of social science research subjects and the dual role of researchers. The second-level linkage connects these ontological and epistemological positions with methodological choices in the empirical world, realized through the articulation of the research orientation. As for its explicit function, researchers consciously adopt historical, disciplinary, and situational justifications in their writing to legitimize their methodological choices. As for its implicit assumption, qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods researchers presuppose the dominance of the positivist paradigm and quantitative methodology. While they reproduce the prevailing methodological stance in different yet convergent ways through their writing, they also inadvertently facilitate its reconstruction through qualitative methods and associated paradigms. Over the past decade, the methodological statements on qualitative research in doctoral dissertations of education in China have demonstrated a hybrid characteristic of “spirality” and “escalation”: while reflecting a growing methodological self-awareness, they also reveal the potential risk of a collective unconsciousness.

Key words: qualitative research, statements of methodology, educational research method