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Appendix Research Methods Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not the sitter. The sitter is merely an accident, the occasion. It is not he who is revealed by the painter; it is rather the painter, who, on the coloured canvas, reveals himself. The reason I will not exhibit this picture is that I am afraid that I have shown in it the secret of my soul. —Oscar Wilde, quoted in S. LawrenceLightfoot and J. Davis, The Art of Portraiture Qualitative Inquiry I used qualitative inquiry for this research study, as it offered an opportunity for deep examination of the multiple dimensions of a very complex human topic. My goal, which was to paint a holistic picture of the concept of culture as described by students, fits well with the qualitative process. D. Krathwohl describes qualitative methods as particularly beneficial when seeking to determine how to understand a phenomenon.1 This methodology, then, is ideal in the study of a very complex concept about which there is either little knowledge or when existing knowledge is manifold and varied. R. E. Stake lists several advantages to the use of qualitative methods. They include the ability to humanize a problem, to help people or situations come to life, to allow the researcher to get inside of others’ world view, and to assist in attaching emotion or real feeling to a phenomenon that makes the study of it more consistent with how it is actually experienced in life.2 Stake notes that the intent is “not necessarily to map and conquer the world but to sophisticate the beholding of it.”3 Krathwohl further expands the benefits by establishing when qualitative inquiry is most appropriate. I present four of these instances, which are particularly important to this study: 1. When research must emphasize discovery rather than validation 2. When the focus is on the internal dynamics of a situation or problem rather than on its effect or product 3. When the interest lies in the diversity and unique qualities among people 4. When examples are needed to put “meat” on statistical “bones”4 The last instance is particularly meaningful to this study. Many studies have substantially shown the need for and benefit of expanding cultural resources on college 164 appendix campuses.5 The question that remains is “Now what?” Now that we agree that campuses must commit to cultural resources, now that culturally focused departments, centers, institutes, and human resources are increasing in number, how do we approach this concept of culture? As Krathwohl explains: “Qualitative research is especially helpful when it provides us with someone’s perceptions of a situation that permits us to understand his or her behavior. For example, much has been made of how so-called culturally deprived children see the world as hopeless. But when, through qualitative research, a study reveals in detail the hopes, fears, dreams, and nightmares of a few cases that general statement takes on new meaning.”6 This explanation offers an important insight regarding the issue of cultural practice . It may not be enough to simply know that students desire cultural opportunities if this knowledge is not complemented with a deeper understanding of what “culture ” actually means and looks like to students. The ability to clearly understand the concept of culture as it is understood by the students we serve may have significant impact on the level of student engagement with cultural opportunities on campus and the meaningful growth that they obtain as a result of this engagement. In this regard, culture should be replicated not on the basis of outside definitions or administrative opinions of culture that may hold no relevance or meaning to students, but on the portrait that students themselves draw of culture. Of particular significance for my study is the use of narrative to gain a deeper sense of the lived experience that is so much a part of qualitative inquiry. In outlining the key components of qualitative inquiry, T. Schram stresses that voice is generally critical to qualitative inquiry. This includes both the voice of the subject and the voice of the researcher. According to Schram, “Inquiry, like fieldwork, is a human endeavor in which personal contact and straight talk can carry you further along than academic posturing and heaped jargon.”7 Therefore, value is placed on research presentation that is as personal, as approachable, and as human as the subjects studied. Methodological Approaches I used phenomenology as the methodological approach of this study...

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