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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Qualitative Music, Laura E. Beer May 2013

Qualitative Music, Laura E. Beer

The Qualitative Report

Qualitative research has provided a home for innovative approaches to collecting, analyzing, and representing data (Hesse - Biber & Leavy, 2006; Janesick, 2011; Ketelle, 2010). Reflexive journaling, photography and photo elicitation, poetry, video representations, dramatic enactments, visual presentations, and play - writing are but a few of the creative techniques embraced by qualitative researchers in search of ways to help their audiences move beyond reading and into experiencing the data (Collier, 2001; Deacon, 2006). These formats have opened doors to re - inventions of traditional thick, rich descriptions and provided living, intentional metaphors through which a reader can filter data …


Whose Story Is It? An Autoethnography Concerning Narrative Identity, Alec J. Grant, Laetitia Zeeman Sep 2012

Whose Story Is It? An Autoethnography Concerning Narrative Identity, Alec J. Grant, Laetitia Zeeman

The Qualitative Report

This paper is divided into three parts, each separated by centrally spaced asterisks. The first part, co-written on the basis of the standpoint interests of both authors, outlines the historical, philosophical, theoretical and methodological contexts for the use of autoethnographic short stories in the social and human sciences. The functions and representational practices of this genre are reviewed and discussed, and the main criticisms leveled by its detractors responded to. This sets the scene for the second part of the paper, an autoethnographic short story. Effectively a story of stories, it was constructed directly from the first author’s memories of …


The Unfolding Of Methodological Identity: An Autobiographical Study Using Humor, Competing Voices, And Twists, James A. Bernauer Aug 2012

The Unfolding Of Methodological Identity: An Autobiographical Study Using Humor, Competing Voices, And Twists, James A. Bernauer

The Qualitative Report

This article explores my journey from quantitative to qualitative researcher, including the effects this journey has had on my identity as well as on those whom I previously referred to as “subjects”. “Identity” is examined from both an historical as well as from a self-dialogical, autobiographical perspective. Eleven “twists” that mark turning points and detours describe this journey, and this paper employs “voices” that offer contextual background and contradictory advice on the road towards methodological identity. These twists describe experiences as both teacher and student and readers are invited to join in this retrospective reflection in order to experience insights …


Interviewing The Interpretive Researcher: An Impressionist Tale, Rebecca K. Frels, Anthony J. Onwuegbuzie Jul 2012

Interviewing The Interpretive Researcher: An Impressionist Tale, Rebecca K. Frels, Anthony J. Onwuegbuzie

The Qualitative Report

In this manuscript, we describe the use of debriefing interviews for interviewing the interpretive researcher. Further, we demonstrate the value of using debriefing questions as part of a qualitative research study, specifically, one doctoral student’s dissertation study. We describe the reflexivity process of the student in her study and the debriefing data that were coded via qualitative coding techniques. Thus, we provide an exemplar of the debriefing process and the findings that emerged as a result. We believe that our exemplar of interviewing the interpretive researcher provides evidence of an effective strategy for addressing the crises of representation and legitimation …


Reflexive Thinking Practices Of Bordered Helping Professionals: A Review Of Zingaro’S Speaking Out, Laura Bisaillon Apr 2012

Reflexive Thinking Practices Of Bordered Helping Professionals: A Review Of Zingaro’S Speaking Out, Laura Bisaillon

The Qualitative Report

Results from an interview based social science investigation into the organization of how the critical thinking and decision-making practices of thirteen experienced helping professionals are shaped are explicated. The skills and techniques these people use in their day-to-day support of people who have, like themselves, experienced oppression, inequity, and violence, is examined. The complex choices and consequences stemming from mobilizing one’s narrative as a resource in the support of others, and the price people pay to disclose the truth about themselves in this context, is carefully and compassionately explored. We learn how this group of helping professionals find sand employ …


Being A Korean Studying Koreans In An American School: Reflections On Culture, Power, And Ideology, Minjung Lim Feb 2012

Being A Korean Studying Koreans In An American School: Reflections On Culture, Power, And Ideology, Minjung Lim

The Qualitative Report

Recent debates on situated knowledge highlight the issue of the researcher’s position in the research process, challenging the traditional assumption of the insider/outsider dichotomy. Drawing on my fieldwork among Korean immigrant parents in an American school, I describe my shifting positions in negotiation and scrutinize the ways my reflexivity intersects with culture, power relations, and political ideologies in the research process. This self-analysis highlights partial and situated knowledge claims, questioning the author’s value-neutral, authoritative voice in texts. I argue that the researcher should critically reflect on her location in the field and articulate how this position influences the research.


Online Dynamic Asynchronous Audit Strategy For Reflexivity In The Qualitative Paradigm, Frank Labanca Jul 2011

Online Dynamic Asynchronous Audit Strategy For Reflexivity In The Qualitative Paradigm, Frank Labanca

The Qualitative Report

The trustworthiness of a qualitative study can be increased by maintaining high credibility and objectivity. Of utmost importance to these factors is the reflexivity of the researcher. Standard journaling techniques are frequently used to maintain an audit trail and document tentative interpretations of a study. One of the major limitations to paper-based reflexivity is the lack of regular audit feedback. Online blogging tools can facilitate reflexivity and subsequent auditing with ease. Blogs are potentially cost-free, and only a rudimentary understanding of a web browser and word processing program are necessary for effective use. Moreover, blogs provide a simple, contiguous interface …


The Challenges Of Reflexivity, Sarah Flogen May 2011

The Challenges Of Reflexivity, Sarah Flogen

The Qualitative Report

Perils, Pitfalls & Reflexivity aims to stimulate solutions to qualitative challenges that researchers encounter in countries with less research infrastructure and experience, and to expose to critical gaze the methodological and ethical assumptions that may be taken for granted in countries where there are more formal research processes. I read this book as a novice qualitative researcher with an active interest in reflexivity who lives in Canada, intrigued to learn from others' fieldwork, keen to encounter another point of view of ethics.


Reflexivity And The Sociology Of Science And Technology: The Invention Of "Eryc" The Antibiotic, Fran Collyer Mar 2011

Reflexivity And The Sociology Of Science And Technology: The Invention Of "Eryc" The Antibiotic, Fran Collyer

The Qualitative Report

Until recently, the social-technical process of invention has fallen between sociological investigation of the genesis of a new idea (an ideational phenomenon) and the production of a new technology (a material phenomenon). The advent of post-modernism and post-structuralism offered new avenues for theorising invention, accounting for, on the one hand, its material nature, and, on the other, its ideational nature, through the notion of socio-technical ensembles: phenomena constructed through the co-producing, mutually constitutive action of actants (both human and otherwise). This paper argues that despite its potential, theorising within the sociology of science and technology is hampered by insufficient attention …


A Reflexive Pragmatist Reading Of Alvesson's Interpreting Interviews, Brian T. Gearity Mar 2011

A Reflexive Pragmatist Reading Of Alvesson's Interpreting Interviews, Brian T. Gearity

The Qualitative Report

Remember those interviews you collected for that qualitative research study? How did you address issues of interviewee power, impression management and rationality? Was it "trustworthy"? Really? In Interpreting Interviews, Mats Alvesson summarizes the current state of thought on interviews as a tool for qualitative data collection and challenges this framework as simplistic and failing to account for its complexities as a social act. Alvesson argues for a critical consciousness and pragmatic approach to interviews. This review blurs genres from autoethnography and more traditional approaches while taking Alvesson's approach, reflexive pragmatism, to its logical consequences. As a whole, Interpreting Interviews is …


The Role Of Emotions In Fieldwork: A Self-Study Of Family Research In A Corrections Setting, Joyce A. Arditti, Karen S. Joest, Jennifer Lamber-Shute, Latanya Walker Nov 2010

The Role Of Emotions In Fieldwork: A Self-Study Of Family Research In A Corrections Setting, Joyce A. Arditti, Karen S. Joest, Jennifer Lamber-Shute, Latanya Walker

The Qualitative Report

In this study, we document a reflexive process via bracketing techniques and the development of a conceptual map in order to better understand how emotions that arise in the field can inform research design, implementation, and results. We conducted a content analysis of field notes written by a team of researchers who administered an interview to caregivers bringing children to visit an incarcerated family member at a local jail. Our self-examination revealed themes around the team's discomfort connected to the institutional jail setting and intense emotions regarding the life situations of study participants, their treatment by jail staff, and our …


Practicing Reflexivity In The Study Of Italian Migrants In London, Francesca Romana Seganti Jul 2010

Practicing Reflexivity In The Study Of Italian Migrants In London, Francesca Romana Seganti

The Qualitative Report

This article discusses the centrality of reflexivity in qualitative research through examples from my study on the role new media play in the lives of Italians in London. My hypothesis was that Italians were "in transit" in London and they were using new media to build "temporary" communities. I conducted in-depth interviews with members of the Italianialondra.com online community. I found they settled in London and the online community, instead of supporting "nomadic" identities, was used for re-territorialization. Through reflexivity I was able to determine the reasons for a partially wrong hypothesis. I also identified biases that clouded my interpretations …


Theoretical Considerations In Qualitative Interviewing, Robin Cooper Jul 2010

Theoretical Considerations In Qualitative Interviewing, Robin Cooper

The Qualitative Report

You might expect a book on interviewing in qualitative research to focus solely on the procedures of conducting interviews; however, in Reflective Interviewing: A Guide to Theory & Practice, Kathryn Roulston (2010) offers this perspective and much more. In particular, her new book addresses ways in which the researcher's theoretical perspective can inform not only the interview but also each stage of the research process. This thoughtful, well-written text also includes at the end of each chapter helpful suggestions of further reading and activities that relate to the chapter's topic.


(Re)Constructing Reflexivity: A Relational Constructionist Approach, Diane Marie Hosking, Bettine Pluut Jan 2010

(Re)Constructing Reflexivity: A Relational Constructionist Approach, Diane Marie Hosking, Bettine Pluut

The Qualitative Report

This article distinguishes three discourses of reflexivity in relation to human inquiry. One of these arises from a post-modern, relational constructionist perspective which radically re-conceptualizes reflexivity: (a) as a local and co-constructed process oriented towards the question (b) how are we 'going on' together, and therefore paying attention to (c) the realities and relations we are co-creating during the research process and so (d) is concerned with local pragmatic and ethical issues (Gergen & Hosking, 2006; McNamee, 1994) rather than with the quality of truth claims. Regular reflexive dialogues as part of, and directed at, the research process can heighten …


A Process Of Becoming: In Favour Of A Reflexive Narrative Approach, Ellyn Lyle Jun 2009

A Process Of Becoming: In Favour Of A Reflexive Narrative Approach, Ellyn Lyle

The Qualitative Report

As both researcher and practitioner, or in service educator, I often resist situating myself within one discrete tradition. For this reason, I turn to narrative as an approach to understanding. I believe employing narrative allows me to draw from a cross-section of scholarly work including reflexive inquiry, critical analysis, and autoethnography. Often qualified as a method or a tool of inquiry, the narrative approach is rarely examined for its epistemological underpinnings. Thus, A Process of Becoming refers to both the promotion of a methodological approach to knowing in social science and to the medium through which practitioners can become better …


On Becoming A Qualitative Researcher: The Value Of Reflexivity, Diane Watt Mar 2007

On Becoming A Qualitative Researcher: The Value Of Reflexivity, Diane Watt

The Qualitative Report

Learning how to conduct qualitative research may seem daunting for those new to the task, especially given the paradigm ’s emphasis on complexity and emergent design. Although there are guidelines in the literature, each project is unique and ultimately the individual researcher must determine how best to proceed . Reflexivity is thus considered essential, potentially facilitating understanding of both the phenomenon under study and the research process itself . Drawing upon the contents of a reflective journal, the author provides an inside view of a first project, making connections between theory and practice. This personal narrative highlights the value of …


“The Times They Are A Changing” 1 : Undertaking Qualitative Research In Ambiguous, Conflictual, And Changing Contexts, Lea Kacen, Julia Chaitin Jun 2006

“The Times They Are A Changing” 1 : Undertaking Qualitative Research In Ambiguous, Conflictual, And Changing Contexts, Lea Kacen, Julia Chaitin

The Qualitative Report

This article explores qualitative research issues that arise when researchers engage in study within their own ambiguous, unstable, conflictual, and rapidly changing society. We explore the topics of the relationship between the researcher and the context, the difficulty in choosing relevant research quest ions under such conditions, and the relevance of generalizing or transferring findings from such contexts to other sites and populations. We present two research cases from the Israeli context: one that demonstrates an external conflict (between Israelis and Palestinians) and one that demonstrates an internal conflict (between Israelis and Israelis), analyzing them according to these three main …


Doing Gender In Research: Reflection On Experience In Field, Larisa V. Kosygina Mar 2005

Doing Gender In Research: Reflection On Experience In Field, Larisa V. Kosygina

The Qualitative Report

The article shows how doing gender (mutual gender categorization of interacting people and construction of their behavior according to this categorization) can influence research method and research hypothesis. Communication between respondent and researcher during semi-structural interview is in focus.


Motherhood, Migration And Methodology: Giving Voice To The Other, Ruth Desouza Sep 2004

Motherhood, Migration And Methodology: Giving Voice To The Other, Ruth Desouza

The Qualitative Report

This paper discusses the need for multi-cultural methodologies that develop knowledge about the maternity experience of migrant women and that are attuned to women’s maternity-related requirements under multi-cultural conditions. Little is known about the transition to parenthood for mothers in a new country, particularly when the country is New Zealand. This paper will challenge the positivist hegemony of previously completed research on migrant women by reflecting on my own experience as a researcher grounded in a broadly-based, pluralistic set of critical epistemologies that allowed me to uncover the issues and contexts that impacted on the experience of migrant women. It …


Autoethnographic Verse: Nickys Boy: A Life In Two Worlds, Ronald J. Ricci Dec 2003

Autoethnographic Verse: Nickys Boy: A Life In Two Worlds, Ronald J. Ricci

The Qualitative Report

This autoethnographic verse is about my childhood experience of two distinct and ethnically representative family cultures. Poetry and qualitative research share in their goals of providing meaning, density, aestheticism, and reflexivity They are also evocative I selected verse as a means to express my experience, and to invite the readers reflections on this experience for themselves and others.


Power Games Between The Researcher And The Participant In The Social Inquiry, Ana Bravo-Moreno Dec 2003

Power Games Between The Researcher And The Participant In The Social Inquiry, Ana Bravo-Moreno

The Qualitative Report

This article will deal with the different power relationships that are in play during the interview process in ethnographic research. It explores how interviewees are agents in the creation of their own positions during the interview process and how they shift positions in interaction with the researcher and with the questions posed to them.


False Starts, Suspicious Interviewees And Nearly Impossible Tasks: Some Reflections On The Difficulty Of Conducting Field Research Abroad, Larry D. Hubbell Jun 2003

False Starts, Suspicious Interviewees And Nearly Impossible Tasks: Some Reflections On The Difficulty Of Conducting Field Research Abroad, Larry D. Hubbell

The Qualitative Report

In this article, I discuss some of the problems I have encountered in conducting field research abroad, specifically in England, South Africa, Russia and China - a broad variety of societies ranging from free to not free societies. I discuss the problems I encountered and how I overcame some of them and was stymied by others. I have had problems gaining access to interviewees; establishing rapport with interviewees from different societies; and have had my motives questioned. Nevertheless, my research has been rewarding and has resulted in a number of serendipitous discoveries.