Education and qualitative research in Mexico: issues and insights from the field

Abstract

This co-editors’ introduction provides a context for the special issue on qualitative research in Mexico and introduces the five papers selected for publication. Papers present findings from qualitative research that explore the topics of teaching; school leadership; language education policy; and women in traditionally male, postsecondary engineering programs.

Keywords:

• Mexico
• teaching
• school leadership
• language education policy
• women in engineering

Acknowledgements

Co-editors acknowledge and thank the UTSA Mexico Center for support and for serving as an informal operational hub for the project. We also thank the following external reviewers who gave considerable time and attention to reviewing manuscripts for this issue: Iliana Alanís, Rosalind Alderman, Lucila Ek, Amy Fann, Jill Fleuriet, Maria Fránquiz, Edmund “Ted” Hamann, Bradley Levinson, Anne-Marie Nuñez, Mayra Olivares-Urueta, Laura Rendón, Nicole Reyes, Mariela Rodríguez, and Juan Sánchez. Reviewers’ institutional affiliations included IIIEPE-Nuevo Leon, Indiana University, St. Mary’s University, The University of Nebraska at Lincoln, The University of North Texas, The University of Texas at San Antonio (multiple departments), and The University of Utah.

Notes

1. We were not successful in generating manuscript submissions from Central and South America. For that reason, the title was revised to “La educación en México/Education in Mexico: Extending understanding of educational issues for the region.”

2. Co-editing the issue was a rich learning experience and we attended to it as we went. This became an opportunity to consider carefully the taken-for-granted conventions of academic manuscript writing and review that were evidently less familiar to some of the Mexican manuscript authors. We came to understand better the culturally laden aspect of writing for publication in US/Western-style journals. We captured our collective learning in a manuscript titled, “Quality assurance and publication: Unpacking peer review expectations across cultures.” This was presented at the World Educational Research Association conference in Guanajuato, Gto., Mexico, during November 2013.

3. Oliva had used this structure in a call for papers for another journal. To avoid authors investing substantial work that was far off base from expectations, the prospectus allowed us to provide feedback to improve the initial submitted manuscript. This turned out to be very important because we often did help authors avoid issues that would have been raised by reviewers and thus strengthened some initial manuscripts.