Becoming Qualitative Researchers: A Collaborative Approach to Faculty Development

Five junior scholars, representing two departments and four program areas in the College of Education at the University of North Texas, committed themselves to a long-term, systematic, research-based learning program in order to further their knowledge and skills as qualitative researchers. In this essay, this community of learners describes their collaborative efforts to develop more effective skills in one method of qualitative research, in-depth, oral history interviewing. Through their cross-discipline, research-based, faculty development model, the authors offer helpful direction to other higher education faculty who seek to improve their ability to conduct and also to guide students in qualitative investigations.