The Qualitative Research Special Interest Group, QRSIG, established in 1987, was created to provide a space within AERA for the discussion of philosophical, ethical, and methodological issues in Qualitative Research as well as to seek cutting edge approaches to qualitative research methods.  The QRSIG strives to legitimize all non traditional forms of research, and to support other SIG's and Divisions with similar interests and goals, including an emphasis on ways that qualitative research may contribute to reducing inequality and injustice in schools and society. 

AERA 2023 Qualitative Research-SIG Call for Proposals

Thursday, April 13–Monday, April 17, 2023 (dates to be extended)

Chicago, IL and Online

Conference Theme: “Interrogating Consequential Education Research in Pursuit of Truth”

Submission Deadline: July 27, 2022 at 11:59 PDT

The conference call this year asks us to consider the constellation of possibilities when  interrogating what makes educational research consequential, whose voices count in the pursuit of truth, and how to reimagine the modalities and methodologies we as researchers engage to share our work. This kind of critical engagement with how we come to know, share data, represent, and disseminate scholarly work is the beating heart of qualitative research. 

Given the theme, we particularly want to invite creative, dialogic, and participatory approaches to conference sessions for the 2023 annual meeting. We believe that coming together at this meeting, either in person or virtually, can be of consequence and can be leveraged to grow our scholarly relationships in service of educational research that serves the many communities to which we are responsible.

Specifically, the Qualitative Research SIG invites papers that foreground discussions of qualitative inquiry. Qualitative Research includes a wide range of methodological, theoretical, and analytic approaches to education research, including but not limited to interpretive, intersectional, anti-racist, critical, post-structural, and posthumanist frameworks and the multitude of approaches produced from working at these intersections.

While proposals that address the yearly theme are encouraged, high quality proposals on all topics that make contributions to qualitative inquiry are welcomed.

We invite scholars from all divisions and SIGs to submit proposals. The AERA online submission system is now open, and details about the formal call for proposals and the July 27, 2022 deadline available

Proposals for papers, posters, roundtables, and symposia/sessions are invited, and innovative session designs are encouraged. In order to accommodate flexibility in program decisions, please select all of the formats in which you would be willing to present your work. Every year there are far more spots available for poster presentations and roundtable papers than individual papers and symposia. We encourage you to be very thoughtful about your use of key words as we rely on these to identify the most knowledgeable reviewers for your work. Please also note that ‘working group roundtables’ and ‘structured poster sessions’ count as symposia (even though they are named to suggest otherwise), and thus compete against numerous other proposed sessions for a small number of slots. Both paper and session submissions must not identify the author(s) in any way.

Please share this call for proposals with all who may be interested. The number of proposals and the size of our active membership determine the number of sessions allocated to each SIG. Please consider our SIG as a place to share your work and renew your SIG membership when you submit your proposals. Encourage students and colleagues to join our SIG, too. All information about the annual meeting can be found at http://www.aera.net. 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

In service,

Alexandra Panos & Renuka de Silva

QR SIG Program Co-Chairs

Jun 19, 2020

Dear Qualitative Research SIG members,

In honor and recognition of Juneteenth, commemorating the ending of slavery in 1865, but with acknowledgement of the slavery that still exists today, we join AERA President, Shaun Harper, in his call to examine and disrupt our own complicity in systemic racism in the research we conduct and the systems in which we operate. It is imperative that this includes direct action in our work as a SIG, drawing upon our collective expertise and capacity. Qualitative researchers are in many ways uniquely positioned to take account of and make meaningful change against racist and oppressive systems of power—through our theories, our methodologies, and the contexts in which we conduct our work. Read more.