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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

A Preliminary Qualitative Evaluation Of The Virginia Gold Quality Improvement Program, Gerald A. Craver, Amy K. Burkett Oct 2012

A Preliminary Qualitative Evaluation Of The Virginia Gold Quality Improvement Program, Gerald A. Craver, Amy K. Burkett

The Qualitative Report

Certified nursing assistants (CNAs) perform an important role in the long-term care system because they provide the majority of paid care to nursing facility residents. Unfortunately, annual CNA turnover often exceeds 100 percent nationally. Many factors account for this, including stressful working conditions, low pay, and limited benefits. The end result of high turnover is compromised continuity of care for residents, which often leads to poor quality and substandard care. In an effort to improve quality of care and staffing, the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services in 2009 implemented a pilot program, known as the Virginia Gold Quality Improvement …


A Phenomenological Study: The Experience Of Live Supervision During A Pre-Practicum Counseling Techniques Course, Rebecca L. Koltz, Stephen S. Feit Oct 2012

A Phenomenological Study: The Experience Of Live Supervision During A Pre-Practicum Counseling Techniques Course, Rebecca L. Koltz, Stephen S. Feit

The Qualitative Report

The experiences of live supervision for three, master’s level, pre-practicum counseling students were explored using a phenomenological methodology. Using semi-structured interviews, this study resulted in a thick description of the experience of live supervision capturing participants’ thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Data revealed that live supervision during pre-practicum is a multifaceted experience comprised of numerous roles that not only contribute to counselor skill development, but counselor identity development. Participants’ stories reflected the benefit and impact that live supervision provides in the educational context.


Practicing The Four Seasons Of Ethnography Methodology While Searching For Identity In Mexico, Margaret Jane Pitts Oct 2012

Practicing The Four Seasons Of Ethnography Methodology While Searching For Identity In Mexico, Margaret Jane Pitts

The Qualitative Report

This narrative is an account of my field experiences and challenges practicing González’s (2000) Four Seasons of Ethnography methodology in Mexico City. I describe the complexities and tensions inherent in managing two scientific paradigms: Western scientific logic vs. a more organic ontology. The experiential knowledge produced in this text is useful to ethnographers who face questions of identity and ethics in the field. To evoke a sense of experience, I represent the ethnography for the reader in the way it unfolded for me—sometimes painful, other times insightful, oftentimes both. This dual text exposes my struggles as emergent ethnographer grappling with …


Foundations Of Unlimited, Anna Azulai Sep 2012

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 …


Critical Ethnography: A Useful Methodology In Conducting Health Research In Different Resource Settings, Dunsi Oladele, Solina Richter, Alexander Clark, Lory Laing Sep 2012

Critical Ethnography: A Useful Methodology In Conducting Health Research In Different Resource Settings, Dunsi Oladele, Solina Richter, Alexander Clark, Lory Laing

The Qualitative Report

Over the years, many policies have been implemented across nations to prevent, reduce and tighten enforcement on smoking and tobacco use. However, despite all of the major initiatives, smoking related deaths and diseases still remain high and present a major challenge for many nations of the world. In this paper we argue that conducting a critical ethnography study in different settings, as this research sets out to do (in Nigeria) is a first step to understanding the tobacco control policies that will work effectively in different resource settings. As the act of smoking becomes global, it is beneficial to study …


Nahuatl As A Classical, Foreign, And Additional Language: A Phenomenological Study, Dustin De Felice Sep 2012

Nahuatl As A Classical, Foreign, And Additional Language: A Phenomenological Study, Dustin De Felice

The Qualitative Report

In this study, participants learning an endangered language variety shared their experiences, thoughts, and feelings about the often complex and diverse language-learning process. I used phenomenological interviews in order to learn more about these English or Spanish language speakers’ journey with the Nahuatl language. From first encounter to their current state in their journey, participants described their challenges with gaining access to the language through courses, materials and institutions, their language observations and their sustaining motivations. In addition to those descriptions, my analysis showed many participants shared two underlying motivations for studying this language: (a) using the Nahuatl language for …


Qualitative Research As A Hero’S Journey: Six Archetypes To Draw On, Vanessa M. Villate Sep 2012

Qualitative Research As A Hero’S Journey: Six Archetypes To Draw On, Vanessa M. Villate

The Qualitative Report

Is the research process similar to a hero’s journey? Just as a hero draws on different archetypes during the journey, a researcher moves through phases and must draw upon different strengths. In this article, the six archetypes that Pearson (1998) links to the hero’s journey are described. Then, each phase of a qualitative research study is described, followed by reflection on which of Pearson’s six archetypes were active. Discussion focuses on how other archetypes could have been helpful in each phase, as well as how other researchers could use this process of archetypal reflectivity to make their work more authentic …


Caregiving: A Qualitative Concept Analysis, Melinda Hermanns, Beth Mastel-Smith Sep 2012

Caregiving: A Qualitative Concept Analysis, Melinda Hermanns, Beth Mastel-Smith

The Qualitative Report

A common definition of caregiving does not exist. In an attempt to define the concept of caregiving, the authors used a hybrid qualitative model of concept development to analyze caregiving. The model consists of three phases: (a) theoretical, (b) fieldwork, and (c) analytical. The theoretical phase involves conducting an interdisciplinary literature search, examining existing definitions, and developing a working definition of caregiving. In the fieldwork phase, six participants were interviewed using a structured interview guide. Qualitative data analysis led to the development of two overarching themes: Holistic Care and Someone in Need of Help. Responses from participants were compared to …


Recursive Frame Analysis: A Practitioner’S Tool For Mapping Therapeutic Conversation, Hillary Keeney, Bradford Keeney, Ronald Chenail Sep 2012

Recursive Frame Analysis: A Practitioner’S Tool For Mapping Therapeutic Conversation, Hillary Keeney, Bradford Keeney, Ronald Chenail

The Qualitative Report

Recursive frame analysis (RFA), both a practical therapeutic tool and an advanced qualitative research method that maps the structure of therapeutic conversation, is introduced with a clinical case vignette. We present and illustrate a means of mapping metaphorical themes that contextualize the performance taking place in the room, recursively enacted to produce a lineal progression from an opening act to a closing act. RFA is offered to therapists, supervisors, teachers, and researchers as an exit from impoverished ways of framing both the choices we have in how to work with clients as well as the ways in which pedagogy is …


“A Play Is Not A Journal Article:” A Review Of Johnny Saldaña’S Ethnotheatre: Research From Page To Stage, C. Amelia Davis Sep 2012

“A Play Is Not A Journal Article:” A Review Of Johnny Saldaña’S Ethnotheatre: Research From Page To Stage, C. Amelia Davis

The Qualitative Report

Johnny Saldaña’s (2011) book, Ethnotheatre: Research from Page to Stage, does exactly what it sets out to do: It is a hands-on guide that walks researchers across disciplines step-by-step through interpreting and representing data in an ethnodramatic format. It really is “research from page to stage.” For those with little theatre experience, Saldaña provides excellent suggestions for additional readings and comparisons of different types of plays. There is much merit in this book as a text for a qualitative research class or special interest class. The exercises provided are great way for students and researchers to be more reflective as …


A Review Of Rufus Stone: The Promise Of Arts-Based Research, Patricia Leavy Sep 2012

A Review Of Rufus Stone: The Promise Of Arts-Based Research, Patricia Leavy

The Qualitative Report

In this essay I review the research-informed short film Rufus Stone. Rufus Stone is the result of a 3-year funded research project led by Kip Jones. The film tells the story of a young man in rural England who, while developing an attraction to another young man, is viciously outed by small-minded village people. He flees to London and returns home 50 years later and is forced confront the people from his past and larger issues of identity and time. This essay considers Rufus Stone as both a film and as a work of arts-based research. I suggest Rufus Stone …


Experiencias De Hombres Puertorriqueños Ante El Estigma Relacionado Con El Vih/Sida (Puerto Rican Men’S Experiences With Hiv/Aids Stigma), Elba Betancourt-Diaz, Ana C. Vasques-Guzzi, Nelson Varas-Diaz Sep 2012

Experiencias De Hombres Puertorriqueños Ante El Estigma Relacionado Con El Vih/Sida (Puerto Rican Men’S Experiences With Hiv/Aids Stigma), Elba Betancourt-Diaz, Ana C. Vasques-Guzzi, Nelson Varas-Diaz

The Qualitative Report

Los discursos sobre las masculinidades pueden tener implicaciones adversas sobre la salud de los hombres aumentando su vulnerabilidad a ciertas enfermedades, reduciendo su expectativa de vida y disminuyendo su disposición para solicitar servicios de salud. Estos discursos sociales permean el proceso de estigmatización hacia el VIH/SIDA, afectándolos de manera particular. El objetivo de este estudio fue explorar la intersección entre discursos sobre las masculinidades y la estigmatización del VIH/SIDA en hombres puertorriqueños. El diseño del estudio fue uno de corte exploratorio, para el cual se realizaron entrevistas cualitativas y semiestructuradas a 16 hombres puertorriqueños con VIH. Los resultados del análisis …


Corporate Social Responsibility: Case Study Of Community Expectations And The Administrative Systems, Niger Delta, David Ogula Sep 2012

Corporate Social Responsibility: Case Study Of Community Expectations And The Administrative Systems, Niger Delta, David Ogula

The Qualitative Report

Poor community-company relations in the Niger Delta have drawn attention to the practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the region. Since the 1960s, transnational oil corporations operating in the Niger Delta have adopted various CSR strategies, yet community-company relations remain adversarial. This article examines community expectations of CSR and the influence of the traditional, political, and administrative systems on community expectations of CSR in the Niger Delta region. An overview of CSR, oil industry CSR practices in the Niger Delta, and the methodology used is presented. The findings show that community expectations were framed through the lens of underdevelopment …


Life Lived Well: A Description Of Wellness Across The Lifespan Of A Senior Woman, Whitney L. Jarnagin, Marianne Woodside Sep 2012

Life Lived Well: A Description Of Wellness Across The Lifespan Of A Senior Woman, Whitney L. Jarnagin, Marianne Woodside

The Qualitative Report

The concept of wellness provides a positive view of life development that can support psychological support and counseling. There is little in the literature about wellness and seniors, especially women. This study describes one senior woman’s wellness across the life span by addressing two research questions: (a) What are the experiences of one woman’s wellness across the life span as analyzed through the lens of the Indivisible Self (Myers & Sweeney, 2004, 2005) model of wellness; and (b) What experiences does one woman describe related to the model’s second order factors: the Creative Self; the Coping Self; the Social Self; …


A Duoethnography On Duoethnography: More Than A Book Review, Amanda O. Latz, Jennifer L. Murray Sep 2012

A Duoethnography On Duoethnography: More Than A Book Review, Amanda O. Latz, Jennifer L. Murray

The Qualitative Report

Within this duoethnographic book review, we sought to carry out and compose our co-authored review of Norris, Sawyer, and Lund’s (2012) edited text by using the method put forward within its pages. What follows is a duoethnographic book review. Through the processes of jointly reading, note taking, conversing, sharing, and negotiating, we have created a dialogic, multi-vocal, and candid review of this compendium. Throughout our now-public dialogue, readers will gain an understanding of both the book and the method on which it is focused. Completing this review in the fashion we did, we hope, provides readers with the needed information …


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 …


Exploring The Links Between Qualitative Inquiry And Global Crises: Some Answers And More Questions, Izhar Oplatka Aug 2012

Exploring The Links Between Qualitative Inquiry And Global Crises: Some Answers And More Questions, Izhar Oplatka

The Qualitative Report

Reading an edited book such as Denzin and Giardina’s 2011 Qualitative Inquiry and Global Crisis that comprises different chapters and authorship patterns may be challenging and evocative, let alone a book that focus on qualitative inquiry in an era of globalization, racism, privatization, and social injustice. To make the journey of reviewing this new book enjoyable, I posed a meaningful guiding question to me: what could a book that links between qualitative inquiry and global crisis contribute to our theoretical and practical knowledge about the qualitative paradigm? The answer is not yes or no but rather manifold; some papers shed …


Home-School Relationships: A Qualitative Study With Diverse Families, Betty Cardona, Sachin Jain, Kathy Canfield-Davis Aug 2012

Home-School Relationships: A Qualitative Study With Diverse Families, Betty Cardona, Sachin Jain, Kathy Canfield-Davis

The Qualitative Report

This qualitative case study explored how families from diverse cultural backgrounds understood family involvement in the context of early childhood care and educational settings. Participants in the study included nine members from six families who had children enrolled in three early childhood care and education programs. The primary method of data collection included in-depth interviews with the parents of these children. A second data source was obtained through non-participant observations in each of the three programs. Findings revealed that the way families understand parent involvement is strongly influenced by issues of ethnicity, social class, level of education, and language.


Listening To Their Voices: Middle Schoolers’ Perspectives Of Life In Middle School, Mary Anne Steinberg, Erica D. Mccray Aug 2012

Listening To Their Voices: Middle Schoolers’ Perspectives Of Life In Middle School, Mary Anne Steinberg, Erica D. Mccray

The Qualitative Report

This article examines middle schoolers’ perspectives on their lives in middle school. Fifteen middle school students from three middle schools in the Southeast region of the United States participated in a basic qualitative study using focus groups at their schools where they were asked the central question, “If you could change one thing at your middle school, what would it be?” Findings show that students’ desire caring teachers, students want active classrooms, and students’ technology use impacts attitudes towards learning. Implications are that middle-school learning can increase relevance by teachers demonstrating care for students as individuals; structuring opportunities for students …


Apple-Polishers, Ass-Kissers And Suck-Ups: Towards A Sociology Of Ingratiation, Daniel D. Martin, Janelle L. Wilson Aug 2012

Apple-Polishers, Ass-Kissers And Suck-Ups: Towards A Sociology Of Ingratiation, Daniel D. Martin, Janelle L. Wilson

The Qualitative Report

In this paper we use one form of communicative action, “brownnosing”, as a social lens for understanding power relations in both formal, organizational contexts and interpersonal relationships. We investigate this phenomenon by assessing processes of ingratiation at school and work settings. We do so using data collected from over one hundred student respondents to ascertain the meanings, uses, and outcomes of brownnosing. The study finds that members of the “millennial generation” develop skills in both the act of brownnosing and the detection of this form of communication as they participate in a variety of contexts, including family, school, work, and …


“The Road Not Taken” – Israeli Teachers’ Reactions To Top-Down Educational Reform, Roxana G. Reichman, Shlomit Artzi Aug 2012

“The Road Not Taken” – Israeli Teachers’ Reactions To Top-Down Educational Reform, Roxana G. Reichman, Shlomit Artzi

The Qualitative Report

The authors have investigated teachers’ reactions towards an imposed reform initiated by the Israeli Ministry of Education in collaboration with one of two teachers’ unions based on the messages and letters sent by high school teachers to an internet forum during a teachers’ strike which took place between October and December of 2007. This study is the result of collaborative work between a teacher educator and a veteran teacher studying towards her Master of Education degree in Learning and Instruction. The research question was: What were the teachers’ attitudes regarding the “New Horizon” reform as conveyed on an internet forum …


Women And Wasta: The Use Of Focus Groups For Understanding Social Capital And Middle Eastern Women, Deborah C. Bailey Aug 2012

Women And Wasta: The Use Of Focus Groups For Understanding Social Capital And Middle Eastern Women, Deborah C. Bailey

The Qualitative Report

Social capital is the use of informal networking to secure access to resources and opportunities. Often identified as an asset for offsetting deficiencies in societies, research on the phenomena is limited. This paper describes a qualitative study using focus groups with young adult Emeriti women representing three social-economic groups who were interviewed by the author in order to explore the topic of social capital, specifically a form of social capital defined by the Arabic term “wasta”. The women discussed their experiences of how wasta persists regardless of social and religious laws forbidding its practice and how they might use it …


The Journal Project And The I In Qualitative Research: Three Theoretical Lenses On Subjectivity And Self, Judith Davidson Aug 2012

The Journal Project And The I In Qualitative Research: Three Theoretical Lenses On Subjectivity And Self, Judith Davidson

The Qualitative Report

From the beginnings of qualitative research in the late 19th century to today, researchers have struggled to make sense of the notion of self or subjectivity; in other words, the I in the research. We ask ourselves: Who is the researcher? How is their notion of self present during research? How is research a site for contested notions of self? Who is the I in qualitative research?


Ouch! Recruitment Of Overweight And Obese Adolescent Boys For Qualitative Research, Zachary Morrison, David Gregory, Steven Thibodeau, Jennifer Copeland Aug 2012

Ouch! Recruitment Of Overweight And Obese Adolescent Boys For Qualitative Research, Zachary Morrison, David Gregory, Steven Thibodeau, Jennifer Copeland

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of this study is to examine the complexities of recruiting overweight and obese adolescent boys for qualitative research, discuss specific recruitment considerations for this population, and offer guidance to researchers interested in recruiting overweight adolescent boys. Three overweight adolescent boys and six community professionals participated in this study. Data collection methods included fieldwork observations (60 hours) and person-centered interviews (N=9). Emergent themes revealed that establishing trust, understanding the sensitivities of discussing obesity, and considering adolescent boys’ fears of sharing personal information may have enhanced recruitment success. Researchers should consider the importance of building relationships with professionals who can …


Finding A Way Out Of The Ethnographic Paradigm Jungle, Subhadip Roy, Pratyush Banerjee Jul 2012

Finding A Way Out Of The Ethnographic Paradigm Jungle, Subhadip Roy, Pratyush Banerjee

The Qualitative Report

In this paper, an attempt has been made to develop a hybrid ethnographic paradigm, taking the best points from the different approaches of ethnographic research. The pioneering proponents of ethnography differed in their conceptualization of the method, resulting in the development of three distinct schools of thought-holistic, semiotic and behavioristic. These three ethnographic paradigms have their respective benefits and shortcomings. Following any one of these approaches may lead to only partial comprehension of the phenomenon by the ethnographer. This study wished to address this issue by developing a best practice approach, which will have the virtues of all the three …


A Grounded Theory Of Connectivity And Persistence In A Limited Residency Doctoral Program, Steven R. Terrell, Martha M. Snyder, Laurie P. Dringus, Elizabeth Maddrey Jul 2012

A Grounded Theory Of Connectivity And Persistence In A Limited Residency Doctoral Program, Steven R. Terrell, Martha M. Snyder, Laurie P. Dringus, Elizabeth Maddrey

The Qualitative Report

Limited-residency and online doctoral programs have an attrition rate significantly higher than traditional programs. This grounded-theory study focused on issues pertaining to communication between students, their peers and faculty and how interpersonal communication may affect persistence. Data were collected from 17 students actively working on their dissertation in a limited-residency educational technology program. The resultant theory indicated that students felt communication between themselves and peers is possible but not common. Students also indicated that dissertation supervisors are readily accessible but longer than expected response times may contribute to a lack of student success. The results suggest the development and effective …


From “Bitch” To “Mentor”: A Doctoral Student’S Story Of Self-Change And Mentoring, Brian T. Gearity, Norma Mertz Jul 2012

From “Bitch” To “Mentor”: A Doctoral Student’S Story Of Self-Change And Mentoring, Brian T. Gearity, Norma Mertz

The Qualitative Report

For several reasons, the process of writing and completing the doctoral dissertation has been identified as the most frequent road block for many promising scholars. The goal of this study is to help improve doctoral student dissertation completion by focusing on the crucial, central concerns of effective student writing, faculty mentoring, and the student-advisor relationship. Using an experimental, evocative autoethnographic approach, the following study shows the struggles and successes of a doctoral student managing himself, the university, “life”, and most importantly, his doctoral dissertation chair. The findings weave together strategies from storytelling (e.g., plot, characters, and scene) with the personal …


When Language Lies: Truth, Silence, And Codes Of Deception, Tammy C. Cline Jul 2012

When Language Lies: Truth, Silence, And Codes Of Deception, Tammy C. Cline

The Qualitative Report

What does an autoethnography look like? How do you conduct reliable qualitative research when you are both the researcher and the researched? Where do you find truth as an adult when you discover your life as a child was full of secrets? In his book "A Need to Know: The Clandestine History of a CIA Family”, author H. J. Goodall (2006), tells the story of his personal journey investigating his own life growing up with a father who was a counter-intelligence offer in the cold-war era. While this narrative is an engaging and readable account, it is also a work …


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 …