Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies Commons^™

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.

What Are The Issues Confronting Infertile Women? A Qualitative And Quantitative Approach, Katja Hämmerli, Hansjörg Znoj, Thomas Berger

The Qualitative Report

Infertility is a stressful experience, yet little is known about the specific issues confronting infertile women. In the present study, researchers sought to identify themes important to infertile women and examine possible associations with mental health levels. Using qualitative content analysis, researchers analyzed the email messages of 57 infertile women participating in a German-language Internet-based treatment for infertility. The themes most important to infertile women were emotions surrounding their wish for a child, coping with this unfulfilled wish, and medical aspects. Clinically anxious women reported substantially and significantly more negative and positive emotions than non-anxious women did (Mann-Whitney U(1)=178; p=0.034). …

A Composite Counterstorytelling: Memoirs Of African American Military Students In Hawaii Public Schools, Kimetta R. Hairston

The Qualitative Report

There are social, educational and behavioral problems for African American students in Hawaii public schools. Utilizing Critical Race Theory as a lens for analysis, the perceptions and experiences of these students regarding race, ethnic identity, military lineage, and self-definition are addressed. A composite counterstory of the researcher's and 115 African American students' experiences and reflections is portrayed through two siblings' memoirs. The impact of the counterstory challenges readers to see similar themes, perceptions, and experiences of being Black, military- affiliated, and a student in Hawaii in a story format as all events are integrated into two experiences, one male and …

A Pilot Study Of Nurses' Experience Of Giving Spiritual Care, Belinda Deal

The Qualitative Report

Using spiritual and religious resources gives patients and families strength to cope during a crisis, but nurses often do not offer spiritual care (Kloosterhouse & Ames, 2002). The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore nurses" lived experience of giving spiritual care. A descriptive phenomenological approach was used to interview 4 nurses. Data were analyzed using Colaizzi's (1978) phenomenological method. Five themes were identified: spiritual care is patient-centered, spiritual care is an important part of nursing, spiritual care can be simple to give, spiritual care is not expected but is welcomed by patients, and spiritual care is given by …

From Qualitative Dissertation To Quality Articles: Seven Lessons Learned, Glenn A. Bowen

The Qualitative Report

New scholars frequently face an immense challenge in writing papers for publication. Qualitative research novices, in particular, experience frustration in getting peer-reviewed papers published in top-tier journals. This article is a primer on converting a dissertation based on qualitative research into a journal article. It summarizes seven lessons, learned over a five-year period, about getting published. The lessons focus attention on manuscript content and style, the publication process, and working relationships.

Experienced Secondary Teachers' Perceptions Of Engagement And Effectiveness: A Guide To Professional Development, Denise Meister

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of this research is to describe a qualitative research study of experienced high school educators who have remained motivated and highly engaged in their teaching. Ten high school teachers who have been called "the best" by their administrators and fellow teachers were interviewed to ascertain common traits that can serve as a framework for providing professional development to assist teachers in the work force, as well as bring their voice to the National Reform Movement. The following themes emerged: teachers are ambivalent to administrative leadership as an important influence in their work; colleagues are their support network; and …

Making Meaning Together: An Exploratory Study Of Therapeutic Conversation Between Helping Professionals And Homeless Shelter Residents, Christine A. Walsh, Gayle E. Rutherford, Kristina N. (Ahosaari) Sarafincian, Sabine E. R. Sellmer

The Qualitative Report

This exploratory study examined the nature of therapeutic conversation between helping professionals and homeless persons as an intervention to optimize health. Meaningful conversation occurred in relationships where there was a sense of connection and the presence of rapport. Emergent facilitators of therapeutic conversation included respectful engagement, casual nature of conversation, alternative settings for therapeutic conversation, effective listening, and establishing trust. Barriers included prejudging homeless persons, fear of punishment and authority, and academic and professional intimidation. Central to the study findings was the acknowledgement of the client's personhood. Acknowledgement of personhood is a critical element in engagement between homeless persons and …

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 …

Using Qualitative Research To Identify And Address The Unique Needs Of Caregivers Of Persons With Alzheimer's Disease, Breanda K. Wheeler

The Qualitative Report

This paper reviews articles describing qualitative research that explores the unique needs of caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease. Qualitative research methodologies used in these studies include hermeneutic phenomenology, descriptive studies with focus groups, and individual interviews. Researchers identified needs and concerns unique to caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's disease including the need for knowledge about the disease, care recipient and caregiver issues, resource needs, and coping post-nursing home placement. Suggestions for addressing the needs were given by study participants. Implications for nurses and other professionals working with caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's disease were addressed. The importance of qualitative …

A Winning Combination For Business Researchers: A Review Of Qualitative Methods In Business Research, Jane Whitney Gibson

The Qualitative Report

Qualitative Methods in Business Research by Paivi Eriksson and Anne Kovalainen is a comprehensive, current, and compelling text discussing both qualitative research in general and nine specific approaches in particular. These include: case studies, ethnography, grounded theory, focus group research, action research, narrative research, discursive research, critical research and feminist research. The reviewer identifies the considerable strengths of this book, which include its attention to the writing process that differentiates qualitative from quantitative research, and recommends the book as a solid resource for both students and practitioners.

Situating Narrative Construction Within Social Dynamics And Context To Create Complex Meaning: A Review Of The Book Analyzing Narrative Reality, Becky De Oliveira

The Qualitative Report

Analyzing Narrative Reality (Gubrium & Holstein, 2009) examines how stories are constructed for different purposes in a variety of social situations and aims to provide a framework for analysis "oriented both to the internal and especially to the external organization of stories" (p. 2). The authors are keen to create an understanding of how stories emerge and why they are constructed, confident that these factors are vital to creating good stories-"continuously unfolding accounts, whose extensions move in many directions" (p. 228) and that go beyond the boundaries of text. The book covers narrative reality, narrative work, narrative environments and narrative …

Conducting A Focus Group, Barbara Packer-Muti

The Qualitative Report

Conducting focus groups seems to be a process that is practically intuitive. However, this key practice in qualitative research requires that a novice facilitator must do his or her homework. This article describes the process by which I became more cognizant of the tools necessary to be successful in planning and running focus groups. The article provides information about books and articles that were useful in providing practical information. It also details the use of the "learning-by-doing" journey embarked upon at my institution, whereby we conducted 56 town hall meetings over a four month time period using a focus group …

Forest Governance In India: Collective Rights And Claims In The Forest Rights Act, Prakash Kashwan

Prakash Kashwan

The note is intended as an intervention within an ongoing policy debate around questions of forest governance in India. The need to keep this note short has forced the author to assume readers’ familiarity with these debates. Given this, some readers may be interested in the reports on Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006 available at http://www.forestrights.nic.in/ and

http://www.forestrightsact.com/

Research support from the International Foundation for Science, Stockholm, and the Ford Foundation, New Delhi is gratefully acknowledged. The author is thankful to Rajesh Ramakrishnan, Shankar Gopalakrishnan, Suneel

Padale, Ajit Menon, Daniel Taghioff, and Forrest Fleischman for comments and suggestions on earlier …

Terrorism In Pakistan: Incident Patterns, Terrorists’ Characteristics, And The Impact Of Terrorist Arrests On Terrorism, Syed Ejaz Hussain

Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations

This dissertation, in a 3-paper format, uses three data sets to study three aspects of terrorism in Pakistan. In the first paper, using data from the GTD, I describe empirically the temporal and spatial patterns of terrorism incidents in Pakistan from 1974 to 2007. In addition, I also describe the patterns in target types, weapon types and terrorist types and the patterns prior to and following the U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Analysis methods include the univariate time series, descriptive statistics and the GIS. The study offers new insights on the measurement of terrorism, the cyclical nature of terrorism, …

Peter L. Berger's Early Conception Of Agency: Exposition And Evaluation., James Greene

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Peter L. Berger's conception of agency in his earliest writings (c.1954-1960) is logically and empirically inadequate. At the root of this inadequacy is an idealism that prevents him from providing a compelling account of actual empirical agency. Chapter 1 asserts that Berger's earlier works warrant analysis. Chapter 2 discusses Berger's earliest influences, particularly Max Weber and The Swedish Lund School of motif research. Chapter 3 identifies a unique commitment to Christian Humanism at the base of Berger's conception of agency. Chapter 4 clarifies how Berger's Christian humanism interacts with his Weberian, and Parsonian-inspired functional analysis of the American religious establishment. …

Liberalism And The Limits Of Inclusion: Race And Immigration Law In The Americas, 1850-2000, David Cook-Martín, David Fitzgerald

David Cook-Martín

The relationship between classical political liberalism and racism poses distinct puzzles for different schools of scholarship. On the one hand, conventional accounts maintain that racism has been an aberration in politically liberal regimes. In the field of international migration, prominent analysts have argued that politically liberal regimes are inherently incompatible with legal discrimination based on race. Yet an examination of immigration and nationality laws throughout the Americas from 1850 to 2000 suggests that racial discrimination has been more common in liberal than in illiberal countries of immigration. These empirical findings puzzle scholars who assume (1) the progressive extension of rights …

A Qualitative Research On Portfolio Keeping In English As A Foreign Language Writing, Selami Aydin

The Qualitative Report

Little attention has been paid to the problems about portfolio keeping in English as a foreign language (EFL) writing, while the existing literature mostly focuses on the effects of portfolios on writing skills of learners, rather than those of teachers or pre-service teachers. This study aims to investigate the problems encountered and contributions of portfolios to the language skills of EFL pre-service teachers. The sample group consists of 39 pre-service teachers; a background questionnaire, interviews, a survey, and essays were used for data collection. The results indicate that portfolios significantly contribute to the writing skills, and that there exist potential …

Protecting My Interests: Hrm And Target's Coping With Workplace Bullying, Premilla D'Cruz, Ernesto Noronha

The Qualitative Report

Based on a study rooted in van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenology, conducted with agents working in international facing call centers in Mumbai and Bangalore, India, this paper describes targets' coping with workplace bullying. Data were gathered through conversational interviews and were subject to sententious and selective thematic analyses. The core theme of "protecting my interests" displayed two prominent features: the presence of stages and the critical role of HRM in influencing multiple facets of the experience. Major themes, organized around these defining characteristics, include experiencing confusion, engaging organizational options, moving inwards and exiting the organization. The findings break new ground in …

The Ground They Walk On: Photography And Narrative Inquiry, Diane Ketelle

The Qualitative Report

In this project, the author explores a novel variation on an established social science research method, photo-elicitation. The author photographed eight school principals during a two-year period and asked the principals to respond to the photographs by writing narratives below each. The author uses photography, reflections, and her own memories to construct descriptive narrative snapshots of the eight principals. Further, the author argues that this approach underscores how photographs are both technically and socially constructed and through the use of photo-elicitation new ways of understanding self and others in relation can be explored.

Teaching Experiences Of African American Educators In The Rural South, Ellene Polidore, Stacey L. Edmonson, John R. Slate

The Qualitative Report

A scarcity of research exists regarding the voices of African American teachers who taught in the rural South. In this study, we report the life experiences, perceptions, thoughts, and feelings of three female African American educators as they pertain to their experiences teaching before, during, and after desegregation. Three female African American educators who taught before, during, and after desegregation in the same school district in the rural South were interviewed extensively. Data analysis revealed themes that mirrored those themes found in resiliency research. By examining these resilience themes within the context of this study, a model of adult resilience …