Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Interrelated Processes Toward Quality Of Life In Survivors Of Childhood Cancer: A Grounded Theory, Miranda Tsonis, Janette Mcdougall, Angela Mandich, Jennifer Irwin

The Qualitative Report

Past research has not adequately addressed the quality of life (QOL) of survivors of childhood cancer. The purpose of this study was to understand how QOL is experienced for individuals who have survived childhood cancer. Specific research questions included: (a) How do childhood cancer survivors define the concept of QOL and (b) What processes do childhood cancer survivors go through regarding their QOL? Researchers used grounded theory to analyze in-depth interviews conducted with eight survivors. Survivors use a process of specific action strategies and intervening conditions to manage impacts and effects, resulting in life enjoyment, or good QOL. The identification …

A Key Challenge In Global Hrm: Adding New Insights To Existing Expatriate Spouse Adjustment Models, Ritu Gupta, Pratyush Banerjee, Jighyasu Gaur

The Qualitative Report

This study is an attempt to strengthen the existing knowledge about factors affecting the adjustment process of the trailing expatriate spouse and the subsequent impact of any maladjustment or expatriate failure. We conducted a qualitative enquiry using grounded theory methodology with 26 Indian spouses who had to deal with their partner’s expatriate assignment relocation. The open and axial coding techniques and the process of theoretical sampling are discussed at length. Our investigation reveals the recurrence of several factors earlier studied in previous models such as cultural novelty, family and peer support, the organization’s support and the spouse’s personality. Additionally, we …

Foundations Of Unlimited, Anna Azulai

The Qualitative Report

Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches (3rd ed.) is an informative, engaging and user-friendly book by J. W. Creswell (2012) that is focused on practical application of qualitative research methods in social inquiry. The author provided a useful comparison of the five types of qualitative inquiry (narrative, phenomenology, ethnography, grounded theory, and case study) and discussed foundational and methodological aspects of the five traditional approaches. Creswell also effectively demonstrated how the type of the approach of qualitative inquiry shaped the design or procedures of a study. This book could be particularly useful to novice researchers and graduate …

Qualitative Study Of Psychosocial Needs For Individuals With Lung Cancer, Kevin R. Criswell

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Lung cancer affects many people in the United States, accounting for 14.5% of cancer cases in 2010. Additionally, it is responsible for more cancer-related deaths than any other cancer type. Those living with lung cancer also experience a higher prevalence of psychological distress and mood problems relative to most other cancer types. Despite the high physical and mental health burden borne by those living with lung cancer, psychosocial research on lung cancer generally lags far behind comparable studies in other cancer populations. Evidence from the few interventions developed specifically for lung cancer patients demonstrate an underutilization of those services, which …

Inside The Black Box: Revealing The Process In Applying A Grounded Theory Analysis, Peter Rich

The Qualitative Report

Qualitative research methods have long set an example of rich description, in which data and researchers’ hermeneutics work together to inform readers of findings in specific contexts. Among published works, insight into the analytical process is most often represented in the form of methodological propositions or research results. This paper presents a third type of qualitative report, one in which the researcher’s process of coding, finding themes, and arriving at findings is the focus. Grounded theory analysis methods were applied to the interpretation of a single interview. The resulting document provides a narrative of the process one researcher followed when …

Examining The Potential Of Combining The Methods Of Grounded Theory And Narrative Inquiry: A Comparative Analysis, Shalini Lal, Melinda Suto, Michael Ungar

The Qualitative Report

Increasingly, qualitative researchers are combining methods, processes, and principles from two or more methodologies over the course of a research study. Critics charge that researchers adopting combined approaches place too little attention on the historical, epistemological, and theoretical aspects of the research design. Rather than discounting eclecticism in qualitative research, we prefer to place it on a continuum of integration whereby at the ideal end of the spectrum, the researcher demonstrates thorough knowledge of the approaches being drawn from and a thoughtful consideration of the rationale for combining methods. However, there is limited reflection in the literature on the combination …

Prepared For Natural Disaster? How Children And Families Understand And Make Sense Of Natural Disaster Preparedness, Tatjana Magdalena Hocke

Doctoral Dissertations

Natural disaster risks have increased in the last decades with hurricanes causing billions of dollars in material damages and untold human suffering and death. To reduce natural disaster impact, public relations scholars and practitioners have called for increased pre-crisis preparation. Families with children are one group severely impacted by natural disaster crisis. With only approximately one-third of families in the United States having taken disaster preparedness steps, practitioners and researchers seek new understanding and approaches to increasing family disaster preparedness. However, the research on organizational and societal preparedness remains scarce. Furthermore, public relations scholarship has neglected to target families with …

A Temporal Model Of Mindful Interactions Around New Service Conception, Joe Rubleske

School of Information Studies - Dissertations

The organizational ability to innovate is widely acknowledged as crucial to sustained success. For libraries and other service providers, innovation entails the continuous development of new services that propose value to customers. This new service development process can be understood as comprising a "front end," in which new service ideas are conceived and developed, and a "back end," in which selected ideas are implemented. Our understanding of the former - that is, of new service conception in libraries - is particularly underdeveloped.

To build a conceptual foundation for research in this area I used qualitative data collection techniques and constant-comparison …

Understanding Worker Motivation In The Australian Film Industry, M. L. Jones, George K. Kriflik, M. Zanko

Michael Zanko

The Australian Film Industry operates in an environment which is uniquely challenging. Workers in the industry continuously face hardships which outweigh the benefits. This research seeks to understand how workers overcome the hardships and apparently consistently invest inequitable proportions of labour and skills to maximise their performance. Whether people will work hard or not bears strongly on their level of motivation. Motivation in the Australian Film Industry is determined by three sets of identified factors. These are modifiers which stem from the producer’s influence and internal and external drivers which arise from the individual. Using Grounded Theory this research will …

Grounded Theory: A Theoretical And Practical Application In The Australian Film Industry, M. L. Jones, George K. Kriflik, M. Zanko

Michael Zanko

Among the various methods of qualitative analysis, Grounded Theory provides researchers with a unique tool for theoretical development. Most conventional forms of qualitative analysis require the researcher to preselect a path of investigation in a method which is primarily deductive, where investigation and theoretical aggregation are a product of discovery, and data are informed by this discovery. Grounded Theory works in a manner which is contrary to this conventional path by being inductive. Using Grounded Theory, a researcher is afforded the luxury of maintaining an open mind and allowing the data to inform the discovery of theory. In this way …

Worker Commitment In The Australian Film Industry, M. L. Jones, George K. Kriflik, M. Zanko

Michael Zanko

Worker commitment in the Australian Film Industry is examined in this paper. Workers express a perceived inequity with regard to the inputs versus their outcomes. However, their continued engagement and persistent hard work in the industry would indicate a state of equity. Adams’ Equity Theory has been used in this research as a tool to help uncover the various factors which work to implicitly return equity to film workers. The commitment factors that have emerged through the research are discussed, and are considered in light of the factors which have surfaced through a preliminary literature review.

Standing In The Gap: A Study Of College-Bound Latinas' Resilience In Completing High School Within An At-Risk Environment, Shane York

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to look at the life experience factors that led to high school graduation through the eyes of resilient Latinas between the ages of 18 and 25. A grounded theory approach was used in combination with Paulo Freire's praxis and a resiliency conceptual framework to derive constructs directly from the data itself. Participants were selected through a purposive, snowball method until saturation was met. Extensive qualitative interviews were employed to gather the data used to derive theory. All data were coded and reviewed in light of the three research questions. Validity and trustworthiness were established …

Investigating Esl Graduate Students’ Intercultural Experiences Of Academic English Writing: A First Person Narration Of A Streamlined Qualitative Study Process, Lianhong Gao

The Qualitative Report

This report is a first person narration of the entire process of a qualitative study exploring the impact of ESL students’ native cultural and rhetorical conventions, as well as classroom cultures on their academic English writing in American universities. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. A coding system was constructed to analyze transcriptions of the interviews. The study found that there were impacts of L1 culture on the students’ academic English writing, but their effects were minor. The main factors associated with ESL students’ English writing were their familiarity with the disciplinary contents and general composing skills. Implications for culturally …

Worker Commitment In The Australian Film Industry, M. L. Jones, George K. Kriflik, M. Zanko

Michael L Jones

Worker commitment in the Australian Film Industry is examined in this paper. Workers express a perceived inequity with regard to the inputs versus their outcomes. However, their continued engagement and persistent hard work in the industry would indicate a state of equity. Adams’ Equity Theory has been used in this research as a tool to help uncover the various factors which work to implicitly return equity to film workers. The commitment factors that have emerged through the research are discussed, and are considered in light of the factors which have surfaced through a preliminary literature review.