이 연구논문은 대표적인 질적 연구로서 문화기술지 연구(ethnographic study), 사례연구(case study)와 실행연구(action research)의 차이점과 유사점을 분석하고자 한다. 질적 연구의 유형으로 현상학 연구(phenomenological study), 문화기술지 연구, 근거 이론연구(grounded theory), 사례연구, 실행연구 등이 구분되어 있다. 질적 연구접근은 인간사회의 복잡한 양상을 객관화, 계량화하려는 기존 연구방법론의 문제점과 한계를 비판하면서 실제적 맥락 안에서 인간사회, 인간성의 다양한 양상을 설명, 이해하고자 하는 현대 교육연구의 흐름을 반영한다. 이러한 맥락에서 질적 연구는 인식의 주체로부터 독립적으로 존재하는 과학적 진리를 추구하는 실증주의, 경험주의 철학의 가정에 기초한 양적 연구의 문제점을 지적하면서 상호주관적 가치를 지향하는 다원적 진리를 추구하게 된다.
The purpose of this study is to analyze and examine the possibility and the uses of three different kinds of qualitative research, ethnographic study, case study, and action research in art education. Since the 1990s, the qualitative approaches to educational research has called attention by virtue of their advantages to describe and understand the complexity and dynamics of humans and human societies within authentic contexts of learning and schooling. Notwithstanding aforementioned advantages of the qualitative approaches, researchers in the field of art education have struggled to sort out the differences and similarities for the uses of different qualitative approaches. This study explores the applicability of three qualitative research methods, such as ethnographic study, action research, and case study among others. The findings of this study include: ① ethnographic study is designed to delineate the value systems and believes underlying particular cultural practices and it is to suggest alternative perspectives on preexisting educational practices: ② action research is geared toward the improvement of educational practices and further the empowerment of educators along with their students as active learners and researchers: ③ case study is aimed to describe and understand “a bounded system - a case” undergoing changes over time. Employing a pragmaticist view point, case study incorporates almost every possible research methods for the pursuit of the rich description of a case or cases and the interpretation of results of a case study is completed by readers, not by researchers.