Research Interests
Curriculum and Instruction
Organizational culture, Planning and implementing educational change, Qualitative Research Methodology and "Practice Theories", Technology Integration
Education
- Ph.D.: Curriculum & Instruction, (1995), University of Illinois - Champaign, IL
Dissertation/Thesis Title:Living Reading: The Mutual Construction of Spirituality and Reading - MS: Education: Reading , (1984), Bank Street College of Education - New York, NY
- BA: Major: Japanese Language / Minor: Writing for Children, (1982), Antioch University - Yellow Springs, OH
Biosketch
Judith Davidson is Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. She is one of the proud co-founders of the Research and Evaluation in Education Ph.D. program. A qualitative research methodologist, she is active within the Graduate School of Education and across the campus in supporting the robust use of qualitative research methods by faculty, staff, and students; extending knowledge of qualitative research nationally and internationally; and helping to move the cutting edge of methodological theory forward into new areas.
Since 2009, Davidson has also held an appointment as Research Associate at the Center for Women and Work at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where she works with faculty and staff colleagues on studies that extend our understanding of gender and its implications in today’s world.
Davidson’s experiences with educational reform began as a student at John Adams High School in Portland, Oregon described in the educational classic--Tinkering Toward Utopia. Her interest in culture and its study was then honed in Japan where she studied Japanese language and literature and worked as an English teacher in the early 1970’s. She received her B.A. in Japanese Language and Literature with a minor in Writing for Children from Antioch University’s Seattle Campus in 1982.
She was the first graduate of the Reading Program of Bank Street College of Education in New York City, a leading institution in the progressive education movement. Her work in New York City included a year teaching second grade at the Bank Street Children’s School and leadership of the St. Agnes Branch of the New York Public Library’s Centers for Reading and Writing, an adult literacy program.
Her literacy experiences brought her to the Center for Early Adolescence at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill where she headed the Project on Adolescent Literacy (1986-1991). An author of books and articles on literacy issues and the young adolescent, she travelled nationally visiting adolescent literacy programs and speaking to educators, community leaders, and policy makers about the literacy needs of young teens.
She received her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in Champaign Illinois (1995), where she was able to wed her interests in education and literacy with her deep interest in qualitative research methods. Her dissertation became the subject of her later book, Living Reading: Exploring the Lives of Reading Teachers (Peter Lang Publishers, 2000).
Her post-doctoral work included a position as director of a research project at TERC, a non-profit educational research firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts, studying pioneering work to digitally network a cluster of K-12 schools on the army base in Hanau Germany (Hanau Model School Project). It was here she began to explore methodological areas that have become signature interests of her later work, including the use of visual data, digital tools for qualitative research, and the operation of complex teams in qualitative research.
Davidson arrived at University of Massachusetts Lowell in 1999, following a year as a lecturer in qualitative research methods at Boston College. Initially a member of the Leadership in Education doctoral program, she continued to gravitate toward a specialty in qualitative research methods. She was a co-founder and facilitator of the campus-wide Qualitative Research Network and, for many years, site administrator for the campus-wide NVivo license (Qualitative Data Analysis Software-QDAS). She is an international leader in the arena of digital tools in qualitative research and has written, presented, and organized international meetings on this topic. Her doctoral students have gone on to be leaders in this field. She is a co-founder of the Digital Tools Special Interest Group of the International Congress on Qualitative Inquiry. She is also known for her work in the area of arts-based qualitative research methods. Her most recent book is Sexting: Gender and Teens (Sense Publications, 2014).
Selected Awards and Honors
- Judge: NVivo Teaching Grants (2009) - QSR International
- University of Illinois College of Education Outstanding Faculty Award (2008), Teaching - University of Illinois Alumni Association
- Faculty Teaching Award: Graduate School of Education (2005), Teaching - University of Massachusetts Lowell
- Leadership in Technology Assessment (2005), Leadership - University President's Office, University of Massachusetts
- Featured article on the web page of Teachers College Record (2004) - Teachers College Record
- Outstanding Graduate Faculty (2004), Teaching - Graduate Student Association, UMass Lowell
- Profiled case example in a report to the university administration (2004), Service, Professional - Report on Web-Enhanced and Blended Learning Activities at UMass-Lowell
- Golden Apple Award (2003), Service, Community - Greater Haverhill Chamber of Commerce
- Nomination for the Faculty 2002 Teaching Award (2002), Teaching
- Graduate Travel Award (1994) - Sociolinguistics Symposium 10
- University Fellowship (1994), Scholarship/Research - Graduate College, University of Illinois
- Letitia Walsh Fellowship (1993) - College of Education, University of Illinois
- Program for the Study of Cultural Values and Ethics Fellowship (1993) - Center for Cultural Values and Ethics, University of Illinois
- University Fellowshiphip (1992), Scholarship/Research - Graduate College, University of Illinois
- A 1989 outstanding social science book of the year (1989), Scholarship/Research - Choice Magazine
Selected Publications
- Davidson, J., Paulus, T., Jackson, K. (2016). Speculating on the Future of Digital Tools for Qualitative Research. Qualitative Inquiry, 22(7) 606 - 610.
- Davidson, J. (2015). Teaching Them all to Read. Middle School Journal Middle School Journal, 20(5) 3-5.
- Davidson, J. (2014). Bruce’s Magnificent Quartet: inquiry, community, technology and literacy - implications for renewing qualitative research in the twenty-first century. elea E-Learning and Digital Media, 11(5) 475.
- Davidson, J. (2014). Sexting - Gender and Teens. Sense Publications
- Davidson, J. (2014). Youth Community Inquiry: New Media for Community and Personal Growth [Book Review] (3:3 pp. 364-368). Qualitative Research in Education
- Cisneros Puebla, C.A., Davidson, J. (2012). Qualitative Computing and Qualitative Research: Addressing the Challenges of Technology and Globalization. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 13(2) 1-11.
- Davidson, J. (2012). The journal project: Research at the boundaries between social sciences and the arts. Qualitative Inquiry, 18(1) 86-99.
- Di Gregorio, S., Davidson, J. (2009). Qualitative research design for software users.
- Davidson, J., Dottin, J., Penna, S., Robertson, S. (2009). Visual sources and the qualitative research dissertation: Ethics, evidence and the politics of academia--Moving innovation in higher education from the center to the margins. International Journal of Education and the Arts, 10(27) 1-40.
- Davidson, J., Jacobs, C. (2008). The Implications of Qualitative-Research Software for Doctoral Work Considering the Individual and Institutional Context. Qualitative Research Journal, 8(2) 73-80.
- Henne, R.B., Davidson , J. (2007). Introduction: Alan (Buddy) Peshkin (1931-2000)-Researcher, Methodologist, Teacher: A Critical Analysis of his Contributions to Qualitative Research. Qualitative Research Journal, 6(2).
- Davidson, J. (2007). Modeling Community: From Experience to Pedagogy: Peshkin's Influence on a Pedagogical Perspective to Action Research. Qualitative Research Journal, 6(2).
- Kuhn, S., Davidson , J. (2007). Thinking With Things, Teaching With Things: Enhancing Student Learning in Qualitative Research Through Reflective Use of Tools and Materials. Qualitative Research Journal., 7(no. 2) 63-75.
- Davidson , J., Luce, R.H. (2005). School-university partnership: a case study by Roger H. Luce.
- Davidson, J. (2004). 'I Am a Fieldnote': Researching and Teaching with Visual Data. Qualitative Research Journal, 4(2).
- Davidson, J. (2003). A new role in facilitating school reform: The case of the educational technologist. Teachers College Record, 105(5) 729-752.
- Davidson, J., Olson, M. (2003). School leadership in networked schools: Deciphering the impact of large technical systems on education. Int.Leadership in Education, 6(3) 261-281.
- Davidson, J. (2002). Becoming and returning: Understanding the impact of special teachers on our lives. Journal of Aesthetic Education, 117-123.
- Davidson, J. (2002). Touching eternity: The enduring outcomes of teaching. Journal of Aesthetic Education, 36(3).
- Davidson, J., McNamara, E., Grant, C.M. (2001). Electronic networks and systemic school reform: Examining the diverse roles and functions of networked technology in changing school environments. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 25(4) 441-454.
- Davidson, J. (2000). Living reading.
Selected Presentations
- Initiating Qualitative Research: Report on an Experiment with a Cluster of Powerful Tools - Autoethnography, Art-based Research, Qualitative Data Analysis Software - 5th International Conference of Qualitative Inquiry, May 2009 - University of Illinois-Champagne Urbana
Selected Contracts, Fellowships, Grants and Sponsored Research
- Letitia Walsh Fellowship (1993), Fellowship - University of Illinois College of Education
- University Fellowship (1992), Fellowship - University of Illinois Graduate College
- Building a Prevention Framework to Address Teen "Sexting" Behaviors. (2010), Contract - US Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Davidson, J. (Co-Principal) - Developing Discernment: Supporting Undergraduate Students to Make Thoughtful Academic Decisions (2009), Grant - UML Council on Teaching and Learning
Davidson, J., Donohoe, K. - Faculty Learning Community: Developing and testing multi-sensory, active, and arts based learning in higher educationation (2009), Grant - Teaching and Learning Council
Davidson, J., Kuhn, S., Kuhnzendorf, R., Kazmer, D., Ruthmann, A. - Webinars with Blended Online Technologies: Radicalizing Instruction for Qualitative Research Methodology (), Grant - Information Technology Councils Subcommittee on Academic Technology. University of Massachusetts-PresidentÍs Office.
Davidson, J. - Building Research Capacity at UMass-Lowell: An Interdisciplinary Initiative for Supporting Qualitative Research Development. (2005), Grant - University of Massachusetts Lowell Office of Academic Affairs
Davidson, J. - Building Research Capacity at UMass-Lowell: An Interdisciplinary Initiative for Supporting Qualitative Research Development (), Grant - The Office of Academic Affairs and The Council on Teaching, Learning and Research as Scholarship
Davidson, J. - Understanding the Role of Educational Institutions in Third-Tier Cities: Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Analysis of Third-Tier Cities. (2004), Grant - University of Massachusetts Lowell Committee on Industrial Theory and Assessment
Davidson, J. - Understanding the Role of Educational Institutions in Third-Tier Cities: Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Analysis of Third-Tier Cities. (), Grant - Committee for Industrial Theory and Assessment
Davidson, J. - Improving the Doctoral Training of Educational Leaders. (2001), Grant - University of Massachusetts Lowell Council on Teaching and Learning
Davidson, J. - University Scholar in the Schools (), -
Davidson, J. - Feasibility study: Developing an Electronic Qualitative Research Data Base on Regional School Change. (1999), Grant - University of Massachusetts Lowell
Davidson, J. - Feasibility study: Developing an Electronic Qualitative Research Data Base on Regional School Change (), Grant - Joseph P. Healey Endowment Grant
Davidson, J. (Principal) - Supporting the Hessen Model School Partnership (), Grant - Hessen District, DoDEA
Davidson, J. (Principal) - Developing Comprehensive Literacy Learning Supports for Young Adolescents.; Contract (1990), Contract - Lilly Endowment, Inc.
Davidson, J. - Supporting Young Adolescents' Literacy Development. (1988), Grant - Lilly Endowment, Inc.
Davidson, J. - Developing Comprehensive Literacy Learning Supports for Young Adolescents; Grant (), Grant - Lilly Endowment, Inc.
Davidson, J. - Bay Area Youth Literacy Network. (1989), Grant - San Francisco Foundation
Davidson, J. - Rural Literacy Initiative (), Grant - North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center, Inc.
Davidson, J. - Literacy Assessment of the Middle Grades. (1988), Grant - Carnegie Corporation of New York
Davidson, J. - Supporting Young Adolescents' Literacy Development (), Grant - Lilly Endowment, Inc.
Davidson, J. - Supporting the Literacy Development of Young Adolescents (), Grant - Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation
Davidson, J. - Supporting the Literacy Development of Young Adolescents (1987), Grant - Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation
Davidson, J.