As qualitative research has become a more familiar form of inquiry in gifted education, judging its quality and value remains obscure and problematic to the field. This article analyzes and critiques published studies for the purpose of understanding the state of qualitative research in gifted education. Data for this study are from the major American gifted education journals. Publications between 1985 and 2003 are surveyed, electronically and manually, to form the pool of 124 qualitative studies. Each study is summarized, analyzed, categorized, and evaluated based on the attributes of qualitative research. Of the original pool, 40 are consistent with the qualitative paradigm; others are judged as qualitative lite or examples of quantitative research. Exemplars of quality studies are presented as referents for readers to further their understanding and investigation of the quality and value of qualitative research.
Bear, M. F., Connors, B. W., & Paradiso, M. A. (2001). Neuroscience: Exploring the brain (2nd ed.). Baltimore: Lippincott, Williams, & Wilkins.
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Borland, J. H., Schnur, R., & Wright, L. (2000). Economically disadvantaged students in a school for the academically gifted: A postpositivist inquiry into individual and family adjustment. Gifted Child Quarterly, 44(1), 13-32.
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Coleman, L. J. (1991). The invisible world of professional practical knowledge of a teacher of the gifted. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 14(2), 151-165.
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Coleman, L. J. (1992). The cognitive map of a master teacher conducting discussions with gifted students. Exceptionality, 3, 1-16.
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Coleman, L. J. (1994). “Being a teacher”: Emotions and optimal experience while teaching gifted children. Gifted Child Quarterly, 38(3), 146-152.
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Coleman, L. J. (2001). A “rag quilt”: Social relationships among students in a special high school. Gifted Child Quarterly, 45(3), 164-173.
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Cooper, E. E. (2000). Spatial-temporal intelligence: Original thinking processes of gifted inventors. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 24(2), 170-193.
Diezmann, C. M., & Watters, J. J. (2001). The collaboration of mathematically gifted students. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 25(1), 7-31.
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Freeman, C. (1999). The crystallizing experience: A study in musical precocity. Gifted Child Quarterly, 43(2), 75-84.
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Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. New York: Aldine De Gruyter.
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Hébert, T. P. (1998a). DeShea's dream deferred: A case study of a talented urban artist. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 22(1), 56-79.
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Hébert, T. P. (1998b). Gifted Black males in an urban high school: Factors that influence achievement and underachievement. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 21(4), 385-414.
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Hébert, T. P. (2000). Defining belief in self: Intelligent young men in an urban high school. Gifted Child Quarterly, 44(2), 91-111.
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Hébert, T. P. (2001). “If I had a new notebook, I know things would change”: Bright underachieving young men in urban classrooms. Gifted Child Quarterly, 45(3), 174-193.
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Hertzog, N. B. (1997). Open-ended activities and their role in maintaining challenge. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 21(1), 54-81.
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Hettinger, H. R., & Knapp, N. F. (2001). Potential, performance, and paradox: A case study of J. P., a verbally gifted, struggling reader. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 24(3), 248-289.
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Kitano, M. K. (1997). Gifted Asian American women. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 21(1), 3-37.
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Kitano, M. K. (1998a). Gifted African American women. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 21(3), 254-287.
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Kitano, M. K. (1998b). Gifted Latina women. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 21(2), 131-159.
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Kitano, M. K., & Perkins, C. O. (2000). Gifted European American women. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 23(3), 287-313.
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Moon, S. M. (1995). The effects of an enrichment program on the families of participants: A multiple-case study. Gifted Child Quarterly, 39(4), 198-208.
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Morrissey, A. (2001). Beyond the image: The giftedness of Jimi Hendrix. Roeper Review, 24(1), 5-11.
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Popkevitz, T. (1984). Paradigm and ideology in educational research: The social functions of the intellectual. London: Falmer.
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Shavelson, R. J., & Towne, L. (Eds.). (2002). Scientific research in education. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
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Tucker, B., & Hafenstein, N. L. (1997). Psychological intensities of young children. Gifted Child Quarterly, 41(3), 66-75.
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Zentall, S. S., Moon, S. M., Hall, A., & Grskovic, J. A. (2001). Learning and motivational characteristics of boys with AD/HD and/or giftedness. Exceptional Children, 67(4), 499-519.
