Challenges of Conducting Qualitative Research in the Iranian Higher Education: Voices from ELT Faculty Members

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to explore the insights and experiences of ELT (English Language Teaching) faculty members regarding the challenges of conducting QR in the Iranian higher education context. This study is qualitative, with its data obtained from semi-structured interviews with 20 ELT faculty members to gain their standpoints regarding possible challenges faced in qualitative studies. For analyzing the collected data, the recorded interviews were transcribed and then the grounded theory approach was employed. The results showed that the main possible challenges of conducting QR from ELT faculty members' perspectives consisted of the dominance of positivism in the Iranian higher education context, paper publication, absence of QR course in postgraduate ELT syllabus, interpretation and analysis of data, dedicating a long time conducting QR, and writing proficiency. Most of the participants of the present study believed that the main reason for QR underdevelopment in academic setting is the Iranian higher education policies, and some of them stated that professors' professional tastes and personal interests determined the research trend in the Iran higher educationsystem