Distance Education Perspectives and Practices of Educators in an Allied Medical Program: A Grounded Theory Approach within the Phenomenological Tradition

Abstract

Framing the study within the Phenomenological Tradition, it asked the questions why do educators engage in distance education. To discover the meaning and purpose of distance education to educators in the allied medical field the study looked into the perspectives of the educators and their practices in Distance Education.

The phenomenological tradition with the methodology of the grounded theory approach was applied in this study to gather data, analyze and understand the accounts of six teachers in an allied medical program at a private university. The phenomenological tradition in research can obtain authentic data by providing open ended questions and flexibility that may allow the participants to narrate salient events and experiences significant to distance education. By applying the strength of the traditional qualitative research approach to a methodical approach in data analysis, theory is built thru the analysis of relationships thru the components revealed within a phenomenon (Brower 1995, in Jeong, 2009).