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In this article, educational scholars L. Janelle Dance, Rochelle Gutiérrez, and Mary Hermes share insights from their lived experience as qualitative researchers trying to work in collaboration with diverse populations. They refer to these insights as "improvisations on conventional qualitative methods," reminding readers that their methodological approaches have been more collaborative than unilateral, more fluid than unyielding, more like the reciprocal creativity of jazz than the directed orchestration of classical music. Calling on us to expand our previous conceptions of cultural intuition and reciprocity, these authors offer powerful examples of how their communities shaped their research processes.
Since the late twentieth century, there has been a growing consensus among scholars that conventional qualitative approaches fail to adequately capture a broad range of socially and ethnically diverse interactions (Clarke, 2005; Denzin & Lincoln, 1994, 2005; Stanfield, 1994; Twine & Warren, 2000). This consensus, though important and necessary, does not always provide concrete steps that novice methodologists may follow to transcend conventional methods. In an attempt to address questions about how qualitative research can become more adept at capturing the lived experiences of diverse communities, we set out to share our own experiences redesigning (and sometimes eschewing) conventional qualitative methods. Each of us conducts research in the field of education, focusing on ethnic minorities and schooling, yet we come from three distinct ethnic backgrounds. Here we share the steps we have taken to ground our research methods in the realities of our respondents, who are Native Americans, Latin®1 Americans, and Black (African Americans and Somalis in Sweden). Please do not essentialize or overgeneralize our stories, as we do not seek to wield disciplinary (or positivistic) power through identity politics but, rather, to open up the conversation.
We are inspired by the overarching question: exactly how do different epistemologies give rise to different ways of doing qualitative research? Whether conducting research with college students, teenagers, or community elders, we expect that respondents will co-construct, and at times determine, our methodology. A key ingrethent in such interactions is an acquired ability to improvise within the bounds of interpersonal and cultural dynamics of small group and community contexts. In this article, we discuss the role that culturally responsive improvisation plays in ethnographic research and interactions. Our experiences reveal that...