Final Project Sketch:

A Narrative Analysis of the Black Male Experience at the University of Washington

Dennis Coy Denman

University of Washington

EDLPS 558: Qualitative Methods

Professor Ana Elfers

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Introduction
The purpose of the study is to capture the narratives of undergraduate black male students
as they experience higher education, specifically at the University of Washington (UW),
Washington States flagship institution. I believe my qualitative approach to this study is one that
offers narrative analysis, which is, situated a constructivist/interpretivist tradition. Qualitative
research teaches us that, accessing the perspectives of several members of the same social group
about some phenomena can begin to say something about the cultural patterns of thought and
action for that group (Glesne, 2010). Since I am trying to gain others perspective on how black
males experience higher education, their highlights, rewards, pitfalls, and challenges, I want to
know how these black male students make meaning of their collegiate experiences.

Study Context
Intellectually, what I hope to learn from this study is to see how black male make sense of
the college environment around them. I do not believe one experience, is the same for all
students. I want to gain perspectives on how black males view themselves, how they think
classmates, faculty, and staff perceive them. I would like to learn about the similarities in
experiences, where they feel institutions can support them and what advice would they give to
first year black males on how to be successful in college.
My research problem that is that recent literature does not provide counternarratives for
black males in higher education. While an anti-deficit framework model encourages a paradigm
shift in the way we think and talk about black male experiences, it does not go into specific detail
about how black males make positive meanings from their collegiate experiences. I am interested

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in knowing how current black male undergraduates experience higher education and what could
be done to further support retention and promote black male success.

Background Literature
For the purposes of this study I choose to focus on the work and scholarship of Dr. Shaun
Harper, a leading scholar-practitioner on issues of affecting black male success in higher
education. In his 2012 report, Black Male Student Success in Higher Education: A Report from
the National Black Male College Achievement Study, he conducts interviews with 219
undergraduate black males at 42 college and universities from 20 states, representing six
different institutional types in his national study. Of the six major findings, half of them related
to gaining access to college and the other half spoke to retention, the area I am particularly
interested in. He uses an anti-deficit framework approach to his work: theframeworkinverts
questionsthatarecommonlyaskedabouteducationaldisadvantage,underrepresentation,
insufficientpreparation,academicunderperformance,disengagement,andBlackmalestudent
attrition(Harper,2012).Byinvertingthesequestionsregardingblackmaleexperiences,weare
abletoheremorepositiveandsuccessfulstoriesofblackmalesinhighereducation.Theanti
deficitframeworkencouragesresearchers,administrators,facultyandstafftoseekoutthe
narrativesofblackmaleswhoaresuccessfulinhighereducation.Wecanbegintounderstand
howstudentstakeadvantageoftheeducationalopportunitiesincollege,arestudentsengagein
thecampuscommunity,andbecomeacademicallysuccessfuldespitedominatenarrativesofthat
blackmalesdonotsucceed.
In Harpers & Davis 2012 article, They (Dont) Care about Education: A
counternarrative on black male students responses to inequitable schooling, authors discuss the

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negative portrayal of black male students in K-12 school systems, particularly during the high
school years and graduation rates. The study surveys ten undergraduate black males from select
universities regarding their motivation to pursue higher education despite the negative messages
regarding their ability to succeed, to convey a dominant message in academic and public
discourse pertaining to Black male students: they dont care about education (Harper & Davis,
2012). Their findings show that Black males do care about their education, as they understand
the conditions of inequitable school systems; they see higher education as an equalizer aspiring
to obtain doctorate degrees in the future. A key aspect of this study was the methodological
approach and theoretical framework as a means to exploring the narratives with critical race
lenses, which sets the foundation for my research study that follows.
My theoretical framework follows that of critical race counter narrative popularized by
critical race theorists Solrzano & Yosso: They define this as a method of telling the stories of
people who are often overlooked in the literature, and as a means by which to examine, critique,
and counter majoritarian stories (or master narratives) composed about people of color (Harper
& Davis 2012). In an attempt to tell these student narratives it was difficult finding literature for
narrative methodology around black male narratives. A counternarrative, in essences gives a
voice to the voiceless. As literature shows, the success stories of black male students often go
overlooked because the dominant discourse around black males is often negative. Not only will
this study give me insight into the college experience of black males, but also give students who
do not normally have a platform to share their stories of triumph and success.

Research Questions

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Given the purpose for my research and the review of literature around Black Males in Higher
Education, I want to focus my questions around black male meaning making, engagement and
institutional support at the University of Washington. My central research questions would be:
1) How are black male students making sense of their collegiate experience?
2) What are black male students engaged in while in college?
3) What programs or services can further support black male retention and graduation from
college?

Type of Qualitative Approach

A narrative approach allows me explore cultural patterns and themes that speak to how
black males define success for themselves, how they feel they fit in at the university and how can
the black male experience can be improved. Since these students independently construct their
own ideas about what it means to be at the University of Washington, conducting one-on-one
interviews with black male students will be extremely helpful to gather narrative data. Narrative
analysis seem the most appropriate form of qualitative research because this type of qualitative
research is the use of stories as data and more specifically, first-person accounts of experience
told in story form having a beginning, middle, and end (Merriam, 2009). I am drawn to this
more type of qualitative approach because I am interested in hearing other black male student
experiences that are unique and different from my own experiences in higher education. I am
interested in helping craft student stories that inspire change and encourage students to keep
achieving their goals despite negative messages about black male students.

Research Setting/Social Context

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At the University of Washington, African American students make up 3.5% of the UW
student body, which equates to about 991 students (UW Enrollment, 2013). With an estimated
60/40 split between genders, the number of black women is approximately 595 and the number
black men are approximately 396. The University of Washington is in the process of developing
a Black Male Initiative that caters to the needs and interests of black males as a means to help
increase support services and help increase graduation rates. Before the development of such an
initiative, I believe it is important to understand the black male experience at the UW to better
understand how black males see themselves at the university, what aids in their success, the
challenges they say they face and how the university can better support them.

Sampling Strategies
I would use purposeful sampling in conducting this qualitative study. Sampling this way
seems most appropriate because it is based on the assumption that the investigator wants to
discover, understand, and gain insight and therefore must select a sample from which the most
can be learned (Merriam, 2009). This is true for me, as I want to learn more about way black
males experience higher education specifically at the University of Washington. I recognize that
not all black male experiences are one in the same.
It would be convenient to survey students I work with who are a part of a student group,
Men Promoting Change. I know a few student members pretty well, but there are also black
males not involved with the student group that I would want to interview as well. Instead of
sampling out of convenience, I would employ a maximum variation sampling strategy. This
strategy allows, Any common patterns that emerge from great variation are of particular interest
and value in capturing the core experiences and central, shared dimensions of a setting or

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phenomenon (Patton, 2002). I am looking for pattern and themes that come from common and
individualized experiences of black males. These patterns will show that the black male
community may be small, but very robust with in-group diversity and information rich
experiences that can speak positively about their experience and also highlight barriers to success
and college graduation.
My goal would be to capture twelve narrative experiences. Twelve seems like a large
enough sample size that is representative of the community of diverse black males on-campus. In
selecting the twelve, I would have selection criteria in mind for the type of students I would like
to profile. I primarily want to capture the narratives of black male students who have attended
the university for at least one year. Students with sophomore, junior or senior class standing
would be ideal. I am interested in students involved in cultural student groups and organizations
like the Black Student Union, African Student Association, or other cultural organizations on
campus. I would be even more interested in interviewing black male students not involved in
cultural groups on campus as well. I would also like to interview students from multiple
disciplinary backgrounds. I am particularly interested in students in the STEM fields, social
sciences, humanities and business majors. Of course, other social identities, such as ethnicity,
family SES, sexual orientation, residency status, student-athlete status, all play an important role
in identifying a sample, highlighting the variance/diversity among the members of the
community but the class standing, level or involvement, representation from all academic
programs would be my top three criterion for this sample.
First year freshmen and first year transfer students would not be considered for this
research study since the goal is to understand the experience of black male students with the
hope of informing first year students to be prepared for whats to come. I understand on-campus

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student involvement impacts student retention and I am curious to know how students make
meaning of their involvement or non-involvement, particularly in cultural groups. Cultural and
identity based groups are supposed to help students feel more like they are apart of a community,
but often times black males are not active in theses groups. Taking into consideration of
academic programs is important because I want to understand how students chose their major or
at least the route they took to get into their major. It is uncommon for me to hear about how
black males students choose their major and what they hope to accomplish after graduation. With
so much attention, programs, and services focused on minorities in STEM, I do not hear about
other academic experiences of students as much.

Data Collection Techniques

My primary method for collecting data would be one-on-one in person interviewing.
Merriam says, Interviewing is necessary when we cannot observe behavior, feelings or how
people interpret the world around them (Merriam, 2009). Interviewing and recording black male
students is the best way for capturing student experiences and their stories to inform research. I
would conduct interviews in a small private office on-campus. I would make sure the space is
warm and welcoming and most importantly a safe space for students to express themselves
freely. I would make myself available to meet and interview students based upon the
interviewees schedule and availability. Being cognizant of the UW quarter system, I would shoot
for setting up interviews around the beginning of the quarter or in the first three weeks.
Undergraduate students typically do not have major assignments or exams until the fourth or
fifth week of school. Any times after the fifth week, might make setting up for interviews that
quarter challenging. These semi-structured interviews would allow for all of the questions are

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more flexibly worded or the interview is a mix of more and less structured questions (Merriam,
2009). With regards to how long the interviews last, I would aim for a 90-minute interview with
s student participants in order to try and capture as much information and over multiple sittings. I
would love to meet with interviewees at least twice during the school year: one during the fall
quarter and spring quarters. I could potentially get solid narratives on their student experience as
they transition through the school year.
I would ask questions relating back to my research questions regarding how students
make sense of the UW collegiate experiences, what are students involved in on-campus, and
campus support programs that aids in their success. Id be interested in knowing some of the
reasons students chose to attend college and in particular, the UW? Id be interested in learning
about the classroom interactions and experiences. Also interested in learning more about their
support systems outside of academic support programs. I believe this questions all get at the
heart of my research problem and goal of giving black males a space to share their stories and
make meaning of their college experience. Most of my questions would include questions around
student experience and behavior, opinions and values, feelings, knowledge, sensory and
background/demographic questions the six types of good questions to ask (Patton, 2002)
I would be interested in know if how their answers to questions or experiences change
between the first and second interviews with participants. I would assume a students mentality
during the fall quarter is much different from his thoughts and experiences about college during
the spring quarter. Like many students, fall quarter is an exciting time to start the year off strong
academically, a time for making new friends, getting involved in new groups or organizations.
Springtime brings about a change in student attitudes and the weather may have to do something
with that. During spring some students are determined to finish the year strong, or at least better

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than the previous quarter. Students are looking forward to upcoming celebrations with graduation
and outdoors festivals on the horizon. Student may be trying to figure out plans for next year and
possibly be interested in taking on leadership roles for the upcoming year. They are a lot more
opportunities to engage with other students in the spring. All these factors can contribute to a
black male students experience and be an area where students make the most meaning of their
experience while on-campus.
My initial goal would be to capture twelve narrative experiences after the sample size and
participants are selected. This interview process would equate to 24 student interviews over the
course of a ten-month school year. I would also take into account that more that twelve students
need to be identified and interviewed just in case some student experiences do not result in the
expected outcomes of the study or if students no longer want to be apart of the study.
With regards to recording and transcribing, I would audio record all of my interviews
with a digital recorder and take note during the interviews. Digital recordings would allow me to
download recordings to my computer and use reliable transcription software to transcribe the
interviews soon after the interviews take place. I would also save my files and copies of field
notes on my computer as well as a back up copy to a flash drive or cloud drop box system just in
case something should happen to my computer or I would lose all my files.
Briefly, I could also employ other data collection strategies like observations and use of
documents in this study. Through observations, I would observe black male interactions within
student group meetings. Accounting for the number of black males in attendance and observe the
ways that interact or contribute to the meeting on at events on campus. From observing these
events I could, raise questions from interviews; supports or challenges interview data; pattern
analysis, or generates hunches or hypothesis (Glesne, 2010). The challenge would be

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identifying participants and finding what student group meetings they attend. I may not have
access to attend certain student group meetings, for example if a participant was involved in a
Fraternity. Those meetings are usually closed meeting spaces. Also my role as an observer would
be complicated and might make the participant uncomfortable.
Lastly, the use of an open ended survey or reflection could beneficial for the study as a
means for capturing data during the in between time between the fall and spring interviews.
These reflections can capture a students concluding thoughts on the quarter or sharing new
experiences since the interviews via a writing prompt for participants to follow. Glesne mentions
this open-ended survey technique in an example where participants were asked to submit a
paragraph, essays, picture, photographs, collages, or other creative form that best express their
feelings about friendships (Glesne, 2010). I thought this was an interesting way to incorporate
documents into the data collection and analysis. It also allowed participants to be as creative as
they want to be share something meaningful about their experiences. Documents such as this
are like observations in that documents gives us a snap shot into what the author thinks is
important (Merriam, 2009). An open-ended survey technique was used in data collection for a
similar counter narrative study on Black Males asking participants about what problems would
they work to solve if they had a Ph.D. (Harper & Davis, 2012)?

Data Analysis
In beginning to make sense of the data collected from the various forms of data collection
methods previously mentioned, I would need to conduct a narrative data analysis. Because of the
nature of the research study is asking black male students to make sense of their collegiate
experiences, and reflect on how they experience higher education, much of the data analysis is

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more than dissecting theses stories into themes and patterns, the analysis process is often
concerned with both the story itself and the telling of the story (Glesne, 2010). A narrative
analysis pays just much attention to how the story is told as well as looking for themes and
patterns to construct categories. Narrative analysis also allows for focusing on the linguistic and
rhetoric forms of the participants, the narrative analysts looks at how the story teller links
experiences and circumstances together to make meaning (Glesne, 2010). My focus is on the
students stories and to what extent they share their experiences and how they share themselves
with me as a researcher.
I would begin coding, the process of making notations next to bits of data that strike you
as interesting, potentially, relevant, or important to your study (Merriam, 2009), by reviewing
the interview transcripts, field notes, and documents looking for relevant themes to help answer
my interview questions. A few things I would be looking for are key experiences that shape or
inform the black male experience like orientation, Dawg days, or move-in day. Ill take note of
where students extra curricular activities or off-campus involvement. I would also code for
helpful support programs they frequent the most. The challenge with coding can be trying to
capture recurring patterns across all black male student interviews. But again, maximum
variation sampling should be able to resolve or at least minimize this issue. After establishing a
rudimentary coding scheme, with all transcriptions, I would begin the process of trying to find
relationships between themes and categorize them (Glesne, 2010) such as common experiences
in the classroom or challenges with accessing resources or positive experiences being on campus.
To manage all this data, codes, and themes I want to create a codebook. According to Glesne, in
marking sections and giving name them a name, you make judgments about which items are
related and therefore being under the same major code (Glesne, 2010). The data analysis

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process allows the researcher to get involved in with that data and make meaning behind the
meanings of others, particularly in the case of narrative analysis.

Data/Quality Limitations
This research design attempts to tell the stories and experiences of black male students at
the University of Washington. These narratives attempt to understand how students make sense
of their collegiate experience and gain insight to their personal successes and challenges as
students at the university. Through narrative analysis, I attempt to find patterns and trends that
speak to the black male experience and offer insight to increase student engagement, retention
and graduation rates from the university. Additionally, through the telling of counter narratives,
stories from a marginalized community, students have the opportunity to share about their
successful and positive experiences in college versus dominant narratives where black males are
portrayed negatively.
I am personally very invested in my role as a research and can very much empathize with
this demographic of students and participants in this study. Recognizing my own personal bias
and positionality as a Black male researcher. I would employ strategies to minimize errors and
bias in my study. By using more than one method for data collection, using interviews,
observational approaches, and documents like open-ended surveys, helps in triangulating the
data. Triangulation is also refers to incorporation of multiple kinds of data sources, multiple
investigators, and multiple theoretical perspectives (Glesne, 2010). Involving others colleagues
to peer review my work such as field notes, coding, and theme allows to me take into
consideration of other researchers perspectives, especially those not strongly tied to the research

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design or demographic being studied. Use multiple theoretical perspectives is helpful and
necessary to view this same issue from the lenses of other theoretical framework or orientation.
With regards to the participants in the study, since the sample is one of maximum
variation, that captures more that one student perspectives and does not allow for generalize a
single story to be the same story for all black male students. Additionally, regularly sharing my
interpretations with research respondents is form of member checking (Glesne, 2010) to ensure
my interpretations of their stories and experiences are accurate. Member checking also ensures
credibility/validity on my part as a researcher that the narratives are true and authentic as
possible.
Acknowledging the limitations in research and data collection/analysis also enhances the
trustworthiness of my research design. Explaining difficult circumstances, challenges to
obtaining participants, data, or other issues with conducting the study is important for
understanding the conditions in which the study is conducted and also addresses issues and gaps
within the research process.
An additional limitation in doing reviewing Dr. Harpers work is that an article and
research does exist regarding the narrative experiences the undergraduate of black male students
in Harpers 2009 article, Niggers No More: A critical race coutnernarrative of black male
student achievement at predominately white colleges and universities,

Implications
In conclusion, I would hope my research design would inform others of the positive and
successful experiences of black males in higher education and specifically at the University of
Washington. My research questions focus on how black male students make sense of their

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college experiences, what are they engaged in and what support programs and services aid in
their retention and graduation from college. I feel my narrative qualitative approach attempted to
solve a large research problem that might have already been solved. I ambitiously tried to take on
a lot of issues within the study and may need to narrow my focus a bit more. I might have gotten
caught up too caught up in the work of Dr. Shaun Harper and this might have skewed my point
of view in the development of this research design. Despite, this I would the critical elements of
qualitative research are present within this proposal and that great deal of thought, time and
intentionality was put into the research design. I a curious more than ever to produce an effective
research design in the future and produce my own research someday that will be beneficial to
researchers and practices looking to enhance the experience of black male students in higher
education.

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References
.
Glesne, C. (2010). Becoming a qualitative researcher: An introduction (4th ed.). Boston, Mass.:
Allyn and Bacon.
Harper, S. R., & Davis III, C. H. (2012). They (Don't) Care about Education: A Counternarrative
on Black Male Students' Responses to Inequitable Schooling.Educational Foundations, 26, 103120.
Harper, S. R. (2012). Black male student success in higher education: A report from the National
Black Male College Achievement Study. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, Center for
the Study of Race and Equity in Education.
Harper, S. R. (2009). Niggers no more: A critical race counternarrative on Black male student
achievement at predominantly white colleges and universities.International Journal of
Qualitative Studies in Education, 22(6), 697-712.
Patton, M., (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks,
Calif.: Sage Publications.
Merriam, S., (2009). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.
UW Enrollment (Fall 2013) DemographicsState of Washington Population vs. UW Seattle
Undergraduate Enrollment http://www.washington.edu/omad/files/2011/11/Demographics-Stateof-Washington-Population-vs-UW-Seattle-Undergraduate-Enrollment.pdf

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Appendix
Interview Protocol Questions
1. What are some of the reasons you chose to attend the University of Washington?
2. What is it like to attend the University of Washington? Do you generally have positive or
negative experiences while on-campus? How do you feel your race effects your
experience at the UW?
3. Describe your classroom experiences? How do you feel classmates and faculty members
perceive you?
4. Can you tell me about the academic support programs you know about? How did you
learn about them? Have you or do you take advantage of these academic support
programs or services? (Follow up: why or why not?)
5. What do you do outside of class? Are you involved in on-campus student life such as
student organizations, greek life, sports, or student government?
6. Do you work? Follow-up: On or off campus? What are some of the reasons why you
work on or off campus?
7. How are you doing academically? Do you feel like you are successful? What do you
believe has contributed to your academic success thus far at the UW?
8. What have you found challenging since starting at the UW?
9. What are some highlights of your experience as a student at the UW?