Critical Evaluation of A Fly in the Buttermilk - Article Example

Critical Evaluation of “A Fly in the Buttermilk s of Life by Successful Black Undergraduate Introduction In their article, ““A Fly in the Buttermilk”: Descriptions of University Life by Successful Black Undergraduate Students at a Predominately White Southeastern University” Davis et al explores deep into the self-realization -from the student’s perspective- of a non-white minority student about his or her position among the white majority. The title of their study explicitly asserts the concerns of the Successful Black Undergraduate Students with their University Life among white majority. In addition, they dealt with the theme explicitly and effectively in the beginning of the study, as it is evident in the following line, “The purpose of this study was to obtain the first-person perspective of the students themselves, a perspective…about the academic experience of black students” (Davis et al, 2004, p. 420). Review of Literature The literature appears to be pertinent and all-encompassing for the purpose of the study. In a comprehensive way, Davis et al reviewed the literatures that relates the purpose of this study and outlined its salient features. It mainly covers the following areas of the study: a. a full statistical view of the population of black students in the universities if the countries (American Council on Education, 1988; U.S. Census Bureau, 1993), b. the discrepancy between the enrollments of white students and black students (Echols, 1998; Steele, 1999), c. nature of the prevailing “atmosphere for minority student learning” (Davis et al, 2004, p. 420) in the educational institutions (Sue et al, 1999; Katz & Hass, 1988), d. attitude of white students to black students (Bjerklie, 2001), e. “important aspects of the black college experience” (Davis et al, 2004, p. 422). These broad descriptions and findings of the literatures assisted Davis et al to prepare the outline of their investigation. Evaluation of Method The procedure of the study appears to in fair concordance with the subjective purpose. Davis et al approached the participants of the study with phenomenological interviewing process. In the first place, they justified their decision -of using phenomenological interview- by focusing on the salient features of the interviewing process as Davis et al asserted that their interview mainly “concerns the “what” of an experience and seeks to capture the specific meanings uniquely characterizing that experience” (Davis et al, 2004, p. 423). Their investigation was based on the clues found within the proceeding of the interview, as they said, “After the initial question is asked, a phenomenological interview proceeds largely under the direction of the participant” (Davis et al, 2004, p. 423). The researchers prudently selected 11 black students as the participants of their study. Davis et al’s purposed selection of the successful participants can be justified on the pointed that information and experiences provided by the participants would remain free of any fear of being discriminated. The participants were chosen ensuring the following conditions: a. successful students were chosen, because they experienced the full, 2. successful students would be free of being the victim of racial discrimination academically, 3. these students would be able to track any change during their four or five years graduation. While interviewing, the process of “Bracketing” was used in order to “make the interviewer sensitive to her own issues” (Davis et al, 2004, p. 424). The interviewer of Davis et al’s research team was trained prior to the interview. Once an interview was completed, it was transcribed verbatim. During the interview, the followings were maintained to make a thorough analysis: 1. a black interviewer was employed in order to win the trust of the participants, 2. “Outsider within” technique was employed to grasp the experiences of the students, 3. to ensure the flow of rich “details of painful experiences” (Davis et al, 2004, p. 425). Results Davis et al attempted to stem the results from five themes that were chosen from the participants’ speeches. In a very concordant way, they related the findings in terms of their research question. It appeared that the research question is in the prime focus of the description of the finings. Davis et al illustrated the results revolving around the five themes describing them both in participants’ language and academic language. Discussion In this study, Davis et al attempted to contextualize the whole findings in one phrase, that is, “a fly in the buttermilk” (Davis et al, 2004, p. 420). They pointed out that the their finings resembled with lot of prior studies. Especially they drew the references of Smith (1980), Allen, Nunley, & Scott-Warner (1988), Fisher and Shaw (1999), Schmader, Major, & Gramzow (2002), to describe the reaction of the participants to the unfairness of the white students. Indeed, they led discussion around the five themes and pointed out similarities to between these findings and other authors’. In this study it appears that Davis et al did not explicitly demonstrate the limitations of the study, but they made significant attempt to overcome the possible limitations by adhering to the theoretical approach. Overall Assessment of the Article A thorough assessment of the study is bound to rate it as an excellent article because of the authors’ self-supporting and self-analytical approach to the purpose of the study. Reference: Davis et al, (2004), A Fly in the Buttermilk”: Descriptions of University Life by Successful Black Undergraduate Students at a Predominately White Southeastern University, The Journal of Higher Education, Vol. 75, No. 4 Critical Evaluation of “Preservice Teachers’ Educational Beliefs and Their Perceptions of Characteristics of Effective Teachers” Introduction In the article, “Preservice Teachers’ Educational Beliefs and Their Perceptions of Characteristics of Effective Teachers” Minor et al attempted to “examine the preservice teachers’ perceptions of characteristics of effective teachers” and at the same time, they investigated into the influence of these perceptions on the educational beliefs. Though they demonstrated that the purpose of their study is to evaluate the teachers’ perception of the characteristics of effective teachers, they failed to expound the subjectivity of the purpose of their study. In addition, they did not define the terms “educational beliefs” and “characteristics of effective teachers” from academic point of view. Literature Review In the article, Minor et al did not explicitly review the prior literatures and studies in this field to identify the significance of the purpose of their study. Rather the remarkable feature of this study is that they reviewed some literatures in order to work out the purpose of the study. Consequently Minor et al failed to establish the relation of their study with the academic fields. Moreover, the literature review they made is not capable of defining the outline of the investigation topic. It appears that they simply provide some informant without any indicated relationship with the aim of the study. Methodology Consequently, their failure to perceive the subjectivity of their study resulted into the failure to choose a proper qualitative method and ways to investigate into the topic. The sampling of the participants is such that they are not fairly able to represent the preservice teaching fields. Minor et al say that there were about 134 participants in the research project. The excess of any group, such as [freshman (10.4%), sophomore (59%), junior (23.1%), senior (2.2%), or graduate (1.5%)] and sex [female (78.4%)] is such that the sampling of the participants is prone to any marginal error. They did not made any attempt to justify their sampling process. Neither have they provided any clue how the participants were selected. However, surprisingly the whole procedure and the use of instruments were praiseworthy. Minor et al successfully employed close-end questionnaire to find out the educational belief. Their questionnaire included twenty questions for Transmissive view of education and twenty questions for progressive view of education. Minor et al used both the qualitative and the quantitative methods to analyze the data gathered. But most of the qualitative analysis was performed for the data gathered from “Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions of Characteristics of Effective Teachers Survey” (PTPCETS) group of participants and most of the quantitative method Result The findings of the research are both in-details and in concordance with the purpose of the study. Point by point Minor at al analyzed the data and relates the findings with the purpose. The ML factor analysis was performed to get a three factor solution, as the authors says, “The first factor can be labeled instructional and management skills. The second factor…ethical and well-tempered behavior, and the third factor…termed knowledge and enthusiasm of/for subject and student. Discussion Minor et al discussed the findings in relation to its impact on the particular field. While discussing the findings, the authors not only kept an eye on the purpose of the study, but also related it to other studies in this field. Mainly their discussion revolved around seven themes, as they say, “perceptions were identified that led to the following seven themes: student centered, effective classroom and behavior manager, competent instructor, ethical, enthusiastic about teaching, knowledgeable about subject, and professional” (). They also pointed out that such orientation of the findings adds a new dimension to the existing knowledge of this field. At the same time Minor et al’s discussed the limitations of the study and recommended the future field of investigation. Overall Assessment of the Article Despite some lacking in the overall approach of the study to its topics of investigation, Minor et al are successful in some promising areas of the study. It is a prudent decision to rate the article as good. References Minor, C. L., Onwuegbuzie, J. A., Witcher, E. A., & James L. T., (2002), Preservice Teachers’ Educational Beliefs and Their Perceptions of Characteristics of Effective Teachers, The Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 96, No. 2 Read More