Digital Commons Network^™

The Aesthetic Society And Its Gatekeepers, Aaron Francis Ward

Japanese Society and Culture

The current study draws on Saito’s (2007) application to western context of the Japanese practice of appreciating the aesthetic and ethical aspects of everyday objects, examined through the complexity of aesthetic evaluation. Bourdieu’s (1984a) moderating variable cultural capital is used to advance an understanding of perceptual and linguistic complexity in daily aesthetic consumption. By engaging participants in a quasi-experiment of multi-sensory trials of everyday products (lemon squeezers), an examination was made of how language use reveals embodied knowledge of daily consumption practice. As the participants’ volumes of cultural capital increased, there was a greater tendency to categorize the stimuli according …

“Before Alone Or (Well) Accompanied”? The Use Of Projective Marketing Techniques, Alyce C. Campos, Thaísa B. P. Do Nascimento, Frederico H. De Oliveira, Luiz Henrique De B. Vilas Boas, Daniel C. De Rezende

The Qualitative Report

Projective techniques, widely used in marketing research, encourage interviewees to talk about other people so that researchers can discover deep feelings and circumvent psychological prejudices. The present study analyzes empirical publications that involve the use of projective techniques in marketing. For this, two specific objectives were defined: to analyze if the publications are using only projective techniques or are being combined with other techniques and to identify which types of projective techniques are being used. The results were divided into bibliographic analysis and semantic analysis. In the first one, the evolution of the publications per year and the periodicals that …

Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting In Nigeria: Is The Practice Declining? A Descriptive Analysis Of Successive Demographic And Health Surveys And Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (2003–2017), Ngianga-Bakwin Kandala, Glory Atilola, Chibuzor Christopher Nnanatu, Emmanuel Ogundimu, Lubanzadio Mavatikua, Paul Komba, Zhuzhi Moore, Dennis Matanda

Reproductive Health

This report gives insight into the scale and scope of the practice of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) among women aged 15–49 years and girls younger than 15 years in Nigeria. It also presents evidence on where FGM/C occurs and highlights the dynamics of change as well as the context surrounding the practice. The report explores in detail the practice of FGM/C from all available sources of nationally representative survey data from 2003 to 2017 and the most relevant contextual information on key factors associated over time with FGM/C. The ultimate objective of the report is to generate evidence to inform …

Netnography: Origins, Foundations, Evolution And Axiological And Methodological Developments And Trends, Greiciele M. Morais, Valdeci F. Santos, Carlos A. Gonçalves

The Qualitative Report

Netnography originated in ethnography and evolved following the advances in data transmission technology. The netnographic method is distinguished by its axiological orientation residing in recognition of online social experiences. The main method for data collection adopted by the netnographer is participant observation. One premise that must be observed is the necessary estrangement, which means that the researcher must be a layman as regards the object of study. In the field of administration, netnography emphasized the area of marketing and consumer behavior. The goal is to understand the consumer culture of online communities. One of its main challenges consists of how …

Application Of Rigour And Credibility In Qualitative Document Analysis: Lessons Learnt From A Case Study, Leanne M. Wood, Bernadette Sebar, Nerina Vecchio

The Qualitative Report

This paper probes functions and processes of qualitative document analysis (QDA), a method widely used in case study research. It firstly demonstrates the application of a QDA framework to inform a case study of women entrepreneurs in rural Australia; and provides insights into the lessons learnt, including strengths and limitations of QDA. Secondly, the paper provides guidelines for novice researchers seeking to use thematic analysis in a QDA process, arguing for rigour in naming assumptions and explicitness about the procedures employed. The paper contributes to discussion in the literature that positions QDA not only as a convenient tool, but as …

Children’S Voices About ‘Return’ Migration From The United States To Mexico: The 0.5 Generation, Víctor Zúñiga, Edmund T. Hamann

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Since 2004, our research has focused precisely in those minors who ‘returned’ from the United States to Mexico. Our interest has been to know the social, geographical, educational, and symbolic trajectories of those migrant children and adolescents who are part of the contemporary move of returnees. Based on the children’s narratives (all collected before US November 2016 federal election), we now have a multifaceted response to the question: How and why are young Mexican migrants returning from the United States to Mexico? Some of these returnees were born in Mexico and arrived to the United States when they were young. …

Socio-Psychological Impacts Of Hydraulic Fracturing On Community Health And Well-Being, Mehmet Soyer, Kylen Kaminski, Sebahattin Ziyanak

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

At the core of the hydraulic fracturing (fracking) debate is the level of perceived risk involved with extractive industries, such as the release of toxic and carcinogenic chemicals, increased population growth, and truck traffic. However, industry supporters of fracking acclaim the benefits of oil and gas drilling, such as energy independence and economic gains. In this study, we examine the perceived impacts of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on community health and well-being based on interviews with anti-fracking activists in Denton, Texas who were active in the “anti-fracking” community organization, Frack Free Denton (FFD). Emergent from the interviews, we discuss the socio-psychological …

Tracing Change In Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting Through Social Networks: An Intersectional Analysis Of The Influence Of Gender, Generation, Status, And Structural Inequality, Amadou Moreau, Bettina Shell-Duncan

Reproductive Health

Policies and programs designed to eliminate female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) in Senegal have been implemented over several decades, but the practice has been surprisingly tenacious. Strategies for accelerating abandonment have been informed by theories of change, and social norms theory, in particular, has become a prominent framework for understanding behavior change dynamics. FGM/C is held in place by interdependent normative expectations: what one family chooses to do is linked to expectations of others and reinforced through social sanctions. Hence, a key strategy for promoting behavior change rests on coordinating change in norms and behavior among people who interact with one …

Transitioning: An Ethnographical Study Of Mid-20th Century Transgender Americans, Samuel Mccracken

Augsburg Honors Review

This essay explores a number of historical and anecdotal resources in an attempt to construct an ethnography around transgender individuals of the American 1950s and 60s. Situating my study in the context of a rising national interest in the quasi-scientific field of sexology as well as the nuclear family-centered sociopolitical climate of the post-WWII United States, my analysis seeks to understand the varying lived experiences of transgender Americans and conjecture about the quality of their lives. Because the focus of my study concerns a group living before the use of the term "transgender" to describe gender identity and, indeed, before …

Qualitative Studies And Textual Document Research In The United States: Conducting Research In National Archives, Theresa A. Ulrich Edd

The Qualitative Report

Qualitative research typically involves gathering evidence through surveys, interviews, and observations. At some point, qualitative researchers may consider including primary source textual documents in their studies. Depending on the study focus, textual document collection may require a visit to a United States national archive. Although preliminary investigations may provide a sense of what to expect during archival research, there is no resource that details the navigation of the U.S. national archive experience. This article will supply the reader with background knowledge related to decisions in choosing textual documents as study evidence, navigating a national archive, and employing the strategy of …

Power, Proximity, And Physiology: Does Income Inequality And Racial Composition Amplify The Impacts Of Air Pollution On Life Expectancy In The United States?, Andrew K. Jorgenson, Terrence D. Hill, Brett Clark, Ryan P. Thombs, Peter Ore, Kelly S. Balistreri, Jennifer E. Givens

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

This study advances research at the intersection of environmental degradation, social stratification, and population health in the United States. Expanding the theoretical principles of power, proximity, and physiology, we hypothesize that the harmful effect of fine particulate matter on life expectancy is greater in states with higher levels of income inequality and larger black populations. To test our hypothesis, we use two-way fixed effects regression analysis to estimate the effect of a three-way interaction between fine particulate matter, income share of the top ten percent, and the percent of the population that is black on state-level average life expectancy for …

Making Space For Mothering: Collaboration As Feminist Practice, Julie Searcy, Angela N. Castañeda

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Our collaborative practice spans nearly a decade working together on data collection, writing, presentations, and publications as we’ve explored the intimate care that doulas provide to women in labor. In this essay, we use intimate labor as both a practice and a theoretical frame to think of collaboration as a feminist project that recognizes the expertise gathered from mothering and makes space for it in academia. Eileen Boris and Rhacel Salazar Parreñas (2010, 7) define intimate labor as “work that involves embodied and affective interactions in the service of social reproduction,” and suggest that it requires “bodily or emotional closeness, …

Impoverished Neighbourhoods & After-School Programs, Syed Bukhari

Social Justice and Community Engagement Major Research Papers

This paper examines the quality of Ontario’s after-school program as implemented by Rapport by using Tuason et al.’s (2009) criteria. The goal of this study is to answer the following questions: How the three core areas of the program are implemented and what activities are offered in the three core areas? How staff members and participant perceive the program and how the program impacts the lives of the participants? After-school programs have become an essential part of impoverished communities over the past three decades. The need of quality after-school programs in disadvantaged neighbourhoods has never been higher. Children residing in …

Methodological Dilemma In Microfinance Research: Applicability Of A Qualitative Case Study Design, Shahjahan Chowdhury, Faisal Ahmmed, Md. Ismail Hossain

The Qualitative Report

This paper sheds light on the methodological dilemma in microfinance research and examines the feasibility of conducting a qualitative case study. Microfinance research is dominated by quantitative impact studies. However, the issues of process and implementation are critical to make an impact. The paper argues that a qualitative case study method can be used as a supplement or an alternative to quantitative methodology, because it is context-specific and naturally enquires research problem. The in-depth and in-detail inquiry make the findings more robust, and readers can understand the meaning holistically by reading stories and quotes. The case study can be used …

Community, Natural Resources, And Sustainability: Overview Of An Interdisciplinary And International Literature, Hua Qin, Martha Bass, Jessica Ulrich-Schad, David Matarrita-Casante, Christine Sanders, Barituka Bekee

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

The Special Issue Community, Natural Resources, and Sustainability seeks to engage in an interdisciplinary and international dialogue on the interrelationships of society, natural resources, and sustainability at the community level. In addition to introducing the twelve research articles published in this collection, we provide an overview of the existing literature on community and natural resource management, mainly through a review of previous reviews and a bibliometric analysis. While this literature is dominated by studies on various aspects of community-based natural resource management, the present Special Issue showcases multiple thematic areas of research that collectively contribute to a more complete understanding …

Child Helpers: A Multidisciplinary Perspective, David F. Lancy

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

This essay was greatly inspired by a 15" film titled Tiny Katerina, which shows glimpses of Katerina from two- to four-and-a-half years of age. She lives with her parents and older brother in Northwestern Siberia in the taiga. The Khanty-speaking people live by foraging (berries, for example), fishing and herding reindeer; they are semi-nomadic. In their camp and the vicinity, there is no evidence of electricity or any other public service. These people are very much “off the grid.” From the first, as a wobbly toddler, Katerina is shown being helpful. She carries (and drops and picks up) firewood …

The Afterlives Of Government Documents: Information Labor, Archival Power, And The Visibility Of U.S. Human Rights Violations In The “War On Terror”, Rachel Daniell

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is about access to information.

It examines the different ways that access to U.S. government records related to the “War on Terror” is generated through the intersection of law, bureaucratic policy and procedure norms, and the everyday work of archivists and transparency advocates. I argue that, both through their labor pushing for access to government records via complex records searches, Freedom of Information Act requests, and legal action, and also through their labor layering those records with new forms of metadata in public digital circulation platforms, these individuals, in the context of their organizations, generate new forms of …

Postgraduate Students' Expectations Of Their Lecturers, Şenol Orakcı

The Qualitative Report

The main purpose of this study, which was realized in the qualitative research design, is to determine postgraduate student expectations of their lecturers. The study group is composed of master and doctoral students from different universities enrolled in Educational Sciences Institute that “seeks to prepare candidates as highly qualified education professionals capable of functioning in the current and dynamic field of education.” A case study design was employed in this study. The data of the study were collected by a semi-structured interview form consisting of five open-ended questions. “Content analysis method” was used in the analysis phase of data. Five …

"The Power Of Personal Experiences": Post-Publication Experiences Of Researchers Using Autobiographical Data, Rachelle Harder, Jennifer J. Nicol, Stephanie L. Martin

The Qualitative Report

Although much has been written about the challenging writing process associated with autobiographical research, little is known about the post-publications consequences of using personal experience as a primary source of data. This psychology honour’s project used an online survey to investigate the question: What are researchers’ experiences and perspectives after publishing research that used autobiographical materials as the primary source of data? The participants were 13 individuals who had published at least two autobiographical peer-reviewed articles and the method was qualitative description using content analysis. Primarily positive findings were identified (e.g., career advancement, professional and personal validation, perceived strengthened relationships …

Modelling And Mapping Of State Disparities Associated With Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting Prevalence Among Girls Aged 0–14 Years In Nigeria: Evidence From Dhs And Mics 2003–2017, Ngianga-Bakwin Kandala, Paul Komba, Chibuzor Christopher Nnanatu, Glory Atilola, Lubanzadio Mavatikua, Zhuzhi Moore, Dennis Matanda

Reproductive Health

The practice of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) has been positioned as a gender and global development issue that national and international organizations must address for girls and women to thrive in good health and enjoy their fundamental rights. Consequently, many efforts have been made to promote the abandonment of the practice. Despite evidence of a decline in FGM/C, there are significant variations in its prevalence in many sub-Saharan African countries, where the practice persists due to the combined effects of factors among individuals as well as communities. This working paper presents findings from a study that analyzed existing data using …

2020 Mlk Keynote Address: Michelle Alexander Presentation, Center For Social Equity & Inclusion, Michelle Alexander, Rosanne Somerson, Matthew Shenoda

Martin Luther King, Jr. Series

2020 MLK Series Keynote Michelle Alexander brings audiences profoundly necessary and meaningful insights on the practice of mass incarceration that plagues the US justice system, as well as eye-opening conversation on how we can end racial caste in America. Lecture Wednesday, January 22, 2020 at 5:30pm, RISD Auditorium, 17 Canal Walk, Providence, RI.

In her acclaimed bestseller The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Alexander peels back the curtain on systemic racism in the US prison system in a work that the New York Review of Books describes as "striking in the intelligence of her …

We Need A Loud And Fractious Poor, Jeff Maskovsky, Frances Fox Piven

Publications and Research

This article explores the political consequences of four decades of consistent humiliation of the poor by the most authoritative voices in the land, and offers insights into ways that new movements are creating spaces for poor people’s political voices to surface and become relevant again. Our specific concern is the challenge that the current humiliation regime poses to those who seek to revive radical, disruptive and fractious anti-poverty activism and politics. By humiliation regime, we mean a form of political violence that maltreats those classified popularly and politically as “the poor” by treating them as undeserving of citizenship, rights, public …

How To Be Unfaithful To Eurocentrism: A Spanglish Decolonial Critique To Knowledge Gentrification, Captivity And Storycide In Qualitative Research, Marcela Polanco, Nathan D. Hanson, Camila Hernandez, Tirzah Le Feber, Sonia Medina, Stephanie Old Bucher, Eva I. Rivera, Ione Rodriguez, Elizabeth Vela, Brandi Velasco, Jackolyn Le Feber

The Qualitative Report

From a position of academic activism, we critique the longstanding dominance del production of knowledge that solely implicates fidelity to Eurocentric methodological technologies en qualitative research. Influenced by an Andean decolonial perspective, en Spanglish we problematize métodos of analysis as the dominant research practice, whereby las stories o relatos result en su appropriation, captivity and gentrification, first by researchers’ authorship and later by the publishing industry copyrights. We highlight the racializing and capitalist colonial/modern Eurocentric agenda del current market of knowledge production that displaces to la periphery all knowledge o relatos that do not subscribe to Euro-US American methodological parameters …

Avoiding Over-Diagnosis: Exploring The Role Of Gender In Changes Over Time In Statistics Anxiety And Attitudes, Kelly Rhea Macarthur

Numeracy

The importance of quantitative literacy for creating and maintaining a democratic and just society is unequivocal, but undergraduate students often do not acquire these important skills. One barrier to teaching quantitative literacy skills is students’ anxiety. The empirical evidence of the extent of the problem, however, does not seem to match anecdotal accounts of instructors who may be “diagnosing” statistics anxiety as universal among students and across different sources of anxiety. The purpose of this study is to identify the specific aspects of statistics anxiety that present barriers to student success by employing the Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale (STARS) to …

Show Me, Don’T Tell Me: A Picturesque View Of Perceptions Of Police, Nancy Marion, Jason Twede

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

A positive relationship between law enforcement and the public is critical for the effective operation of the agency and continued safety of the community. The public’s perception of law enforcement officers is one indication of the nature of that relationship. Past research on perception of the police has used questionnaires to untangle how the public views officers. This research uses an alternative method to measure the public’s perceptions of the police by asking respondents to draw a picture of a police officer. By analyzing the drawings, it can be seen what characteristics people identify with law enforcement. This study analyzed …

Topics In Sociology Soc 200, Karen Morse

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

The Adaptive Functions Of Morality, Michael R. Apostol

Copley Library Undergraduate Research Awards

Morality is the principles that distinguish right from wrong. Humans maintain a moral self-image: the views, judgements, and actions that reflect a sense of right or wrong (Jordan, Leliveld, & Tenbrunsel, 2015). In order to study the impact of moral attitudes on behavior we must understand why certain moral beliefs persist, the function of morality, and why errors in moral judgement occur. With an evolutionary framework, studying the adaptive significance of morality may provide answers to these questions. Researchers have studied morality in nonhuman animals, the development of moral principles, cultural factors that influence ethical frameworks, how morality functions, and …

Chapter 10, Life In Town In Intimacy And Community In A Changing World: Sikaiana Life 1980-1993, William Donner

Sikaiana Ethnography

A description of emigration to towns, mainly Honiara, among the Sikaiana people of the Solomon Islands from 1980 to 1993. The migrants maintained and developed many ways to express their solidarity and community.

A related website can be found here,

Entire Ethnography, Intimacy And Community In A Changing World: Sikaiana Life 1980-1993, William Donner

Sikaiana Ethnography

This is the entire ethnography of Sikaiana. Separate chapters are also listed at this location.

A related website is www.sikaianaarchives.com

Women Mps From Northern Ireland: Challenges And Contributions, 1953–2020., Yvonne Galligan

Articles

This article investigates women’s representation as Northern Ireland (NI) MPs in the House of Commons since 1953. The central argument of the study is that the political and cultural positions dominant at the formation of NI in the early 20th century reverberate through the generations and continue to inform women’s political under-representation today. The article provides an historical context for women’s political and public participation from the 1950s, highlighting the gendered political culture in which this engagement took place. It examines the additional freezing effect of the ethno-national conflict on women’s civic and political involvement from the 1970s–1990s. In terms …