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Something For Everyone: A Review Of Qualitative Inquiry And Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches, Cecilia Tarnoki, Katheryne Puentes

The Qualitative Report

Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches (2018), by John W. Creswell and Cheryl N. Poth was written for anyone who is considering themselves to be researchers or interested in learning more about qualitative research. As students in doctoral programs studying family therapy at Nova Southeastern University, we felt that parts of the text were explicitly tailored toward the social sciences; however, the chapters are useful for anyone interested in qualitative research from many angles and aspects.

A Book Of Possibilities – Ethnographically Speaking: Autoethnography, Literature, And Aesthetics, Kelsey Railsback

The Qualitative Report

I would say this book is successful in reference to the authors’ intention to showcase ethnographic projects that “blur the boundaries between social science and literature,” but I would also caution those researchers looking for a how-to book for their dissertation or other qualitative research project. This is a book of possibilities of what (auto)ethnographies can be—inspiring authors and fostering creativity, and I am sure a lot of readers will connect with it.

A Culture Of Aggression: School Culture And The Normalization Of Aggression In Two Elementary Schools, Brent D. Harger

Sociology Faculty Publications

Since the late 1990s, increased public and academic attention has been focused on topics related to bullying and peer aggression in schools, yet these behaviors have proven difficult for schools to address. Using data from an ethnographic study of two rural elementary schools in the Midwestern United States, I make both methodological and theoretical contributions to the literature on this topic. Methodologically, I show that examining ‘minor’ aggressive behaviors in schools reveals the way that more serious issues are also normalized. Theoretically, I show that students and adults actively construct shared understandings in these schools regarding the normalization of aggression, …

Ethnography Made Easy, Mary Gatta, Alia R. Tyner-Mullings, Ryan Coughlan

Open Educational Resources

This is an Open Educational Resource for the teaching of an Ethnography class. It was specifically designed for Ethnographies of Work taught at Stella and Charles Guttman Community College.

This currently represents a draft. We are working on ensuring that references and attributions are correct and that images, case studies and examples are representative. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please email us: alia.tyner-mullings@guttman.cuny.edu

Professional Interaction In Mental Health Courts: Processing Defendants With Mental Illness, Monte D. Staton

The Qualitative Report

In this paper, the author presents ethnographic research and analysis of how criminal justice and mental health professionals interact with each other and with criminal defendants with mental illness in running a mental health court (MHC) program. Ethnographic field research included observations of court programs, interviews of professionals, and gathering of textual documents, at nine MHCs in a Midwestern state. In MHC criminal defendants with mental illness participate in a program of regular court appearances, probation supervision, and mandated treatment, rather than being incarcerated in jail or prison. The author utilized the symbolic interaction perspective and examined how the professionals …

The Public Library As Resistive Space In The Neoliberal City, Sofya Aptekar

Publications and Research

With reduced hours, decaying infrastructure, and precariously positioned staff, local public libraries provide much needed services in cities devastated by inequality and slashed safety nets. In this article, I draw on ethnographic research of a small public library in a diverse, mostly working class neighborhood in Queens, New York. I show that in addition to providing an alternative to the capitalist market by distributing resources according to people’s needs, the library serves as a moral underground space, where middle class people bend rules to help struggling city residents. Although the library occasionally replicates hegemonic ideologies about immigrant assimilation, it provides …

Creating A Hip In The Library: A High-Impact Practice Case Study, Susan E. Montgomery

Faculty Publications

High-impact practices, HIPs, have been adopted on college campuses to enhance student learning. The academic library provides services and space contributing to learning at its institution. Librarians conduct space research to learn how the library building can better serve its users. Library space assessment is one way for librarians to engage with faculty and students to create a HIP in the library. This article is a case study of a collaboration between a librarian and a sociology professor to design an observational study. It demonstrates how librarians can contribute to HIPs at their institution by involving students in meaningful research.

Supernatural Pilgrims: A Journey To A New Apostolic Reformation Congregation In The Ozarks, Samuel Wayne Gingerich

MSU Graduate Theses

Birthed out of the revival events of the 1990s, the New Apostolic Reformation is known for its charismatic leaders and provocative theology. As an emerging third wave Pentecostal movement, the New Apostolic Reformation is redefining the edifices of American Pentecostalism. While academics and journalists are currently focused on exposing the influence of some of its leaders such as C. Peter Wagner, Bill Johnson, Randy Clark, and Heidi Baker, there is little scholarship regarding the congregations and communities of believers who find themselves a part of this dynamic movement. This thesis takes a step towards understanding the larger story of the …

Women’S Experiences With Epilepsy Treatment In Southern India: A Focused Ethnography, Jane R. Von Gaudecker 3172782758, Ann Gill Taylor, Janice M. Buelow, Sailas Benjamin, Claire B. Draucker

The Qualitative Report

Women with epilepsy in rural southern India often do not receive anti-epilepsy drugs (AEDs) or take these drugs regularly, but little is known about how they experience the epilepsy treatment they do receive. The purpose of this study was to provide an in-depth description of the treatment experiences of women in this region who had been diagnosed with epilepsy but who do not consistently take AEDs. Focused ethnography was conducted using participant observation and in-depth interviews with six women with epilepsy, eight of their family members, and two traditional healers. The women’s treatment experiences are best described as living at …

God, I Hope This Part Of My Life Is Over: A Focused Ethnography Of A Correctional Youth Facility’S Therapeutic Climate, Eric Meyer

Theses & Dissertations

Although all prisons have the same goal of isolating offenders from society, the precise strategies used vary from one jurisdiction to the next. Some prisons use means of punishment to gain inmate compliance. Other prisons concentrate their limited resources on rehabilitation. Contained within the following pages are details of a focused ethnography that was completed in a state correctional youth facility that housed males between the ages of 15 and 21 years, all of whom were convicted of violent crimes. This study had the objective of exploring the climate of therapy in this correctional youth facility where rehabilitative programs were …

Kumain Na Tayo! Exploring The Role Of Food In Communicating Tradition And Instilling Familial Values, Aaron Negrillo

Student Research

As a core part of Asian values, family plays a huge role in developing the individual’s identity. Family strongly contributes to the passing down of traditions and values. The expression of cultural values can be observed through many surface-level interactions such as food and meal rituals. This auto-ethnography explores the link between food and culture, specifically how it serves as a vehicle of communication that passes down traditions and values. The underlying core values of hospitality, respect, and sacrifice stand emerged from the thematic analysis conducted. Overall, food can be understood as a tangible expression of love: creating something for …

Choice Mums And Children’S Education. Does Feminism Matter? A Qualitative Study, Ana Bravo-Moreno

The Qualitative Report

The aim of this article is to analyse and compare the experiences of self-labelled feminist and non-feminist women who have consciously chosen to be single mothers. This article contributes to the literature by providing a Spanish context to the experiences of single mothers by choice. Scant research currently exists on the specific characteristics of this type of family and on the influence of gender composition. Furthermore, no research has been conducted on the comparison between feminist and non-feminist single mothers by choice and how their different perspectives may affect their children’s education. The principal argument of this paper is based …

Studying The Gang Through Critical Ethnography, David C. Brotherton

Publications and Research

Added to the paucity of critical lenses through which the gang has been viewed criminologically is the increasing influence of the US criminal justice system on the global gang discourse. Such a lens has increased in importance as many nation states have followed the example of US repressive gang policies in thinking about crime and deviance, essentially mirroring its adoption of neo-liberalism in thinking about the political economy. In such an approach it is assumed that a coercive social control system is required to discipline and warehouse those “problem populations” excluded by the concentration of wealth and power. Across the …

Investigators Reflections On The Process And Experience Of A Mini-Ethnographic Case Study Research In Nigeria, Ezenwayi C. Amaechi Ph.D., Patricia I. Fusch Ph.D.

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the investigator's reflections, both prospective and retrospective, on the process and experience of conducting a mini-ethnographic case study research in Nigeria. The research titled “Exploring barriers to women entrepreneurs in Enugu State Nigeria” was written to add to the body of knowledge on barriers facing some small-scale women entrepreneurs in the marketplaces in Nigeria. A mini-ethnographic case study design was used for this study, this methodology is a combination of ethnography and case study research that can assist a researcher to gain an in-depth understanding of a phenomenon. The data collection methods …

The Unbearable Lightness Of The Cosmopolitan Canopy: Accomplishment Of Diversity At An Urban Farmers Market, Sofya Aptekar

Publications and Research

This article provides a critique of work on urban public space that touts its potential as a haven from racial and class conflicts and inequalities. I argue that social structures and hierarchies embedded in the capitalist system and the state’s social control over the racialized poor are not suspended even in places that appear governed by civility and tolerance, such as those under Anderson’s “cosmopolitan canopy”. Durable inequality, residential segregation, nativism, and racism inevitably shape what happens in diverse public spaces. Using an ethnographic study of an urban farmers’ market in New York City, I show that appearances of everyday …

Identity Shifts Among Cis- And Trans- Females Who Sell Sex On The Streets Of New York City, Amalia S. Paladino

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Deviant Identity Shift (DIS) Model that is introduced in this dissertation provides a framework for making sense of how sex workers come to understand their own place in the world, including the experiences of violence that often accompany their lives, and it shifts our attention away from static models that focus on unidimensional or even multidimensional factors that impact the lives of sex workers, to a far more dynamic view of the evolution of their distinctive forms of cultural identity. A series of themes emerge from the life histories of 18 cis- and 15- trans women between the ages …

Narcocultura As Cultural Capital For Latinx Youth Identity Work: An Online Ethnography, Emiliano Villarreal

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Why would young Latinxs want to be, talk, look, and act like narcos? This work analyzes the ways in which narcocultura has become an important source of cultural capital for many Latinxs. Narcocultura is the assemblage of music, video, television, and other forms of cultural production that feature figures of transnational narcotrafficking as central protagonists of their narratives. Based on a yearlong online ethnography, I examine the ways in which Latinx Facebook users appropriate and recontextualize narcocultura in their identity work through the lenses of LatCrit theory, critical discourse analysis, and personal lived experiences, which provided the departing point for …