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A Rigorous And Ethical Methodological Framework For Navigating Cultural Differences With Police Officers In A South African Rural Community, Masefako Andronica Gumani

The Qualitative Report

Research contexts pose different challenges during research processes, and these challenges may affect the credibility of study findings. This was especially the case when, as a researcher, I interacted with police participants from different cultural backgrounds from my own. This paper reflects on my experience as a female Sepedi‑speaking researcher conducting a Ph.D. qualitative, grounded theory study with male and female South African Police Service (SAPS) officers from the Venda and Tsonga cultural backgrounds. I used a reflexive autoethnographic research design to purposively look at myself as the subject of inquiry and analyze my reflexive journal using reflexive thematic data …

Thinking Towards The Future: Reflections On Engaging With Ai For Visual Data Presentation In Qualitative Research, Chloe Le, Anh Ngoc Quynh Phan

The Qualitative Report

This article reports our experience of exploring the use of ChatGPT to artistically present a segment of qualitative data in a visual form for one of our previous studies. We recounted our engagement with ChatGPT and reflected on our emotions and thoughts throughout the interactive process with this AI-powered tool for image generation. Our narrative analysis highlights the agency of ChatGPT as an active contributor to the creative endeavor and emphasizes our critical role as researchers in interpreting the data and in critically evaluating AI-generated images within the context of our research. The paper suggests that AI-text-to-image function can potentially …

Global Institutions In The Colonial Conquest Of Palestine, Zeeshan Uddin

Student Scholarship

Spring 2026 SOCI 232: Social Policy and Global Issues course.

Research questions:

Question 1: How has Western imperialism historically and contemporarily dominated global policy?

Question 2: How have global institutions (ie. the League of Nations, UN, ICJ, IMF, etc.) shaped and contributed to the ongoing colonialist/imperialist project in Palestine?

Advancing Sustainability In The Indonesian Oil Field Services Landscape, Firmansyah Arifin, Sudarso Kaderi Wiryono, Sylviana Maya Damayanti, Gatot Yudoko

The Qualitative Report

This study examines sustainability practices in Indonesia's drilling and oil field services (OFS) industry, addressing a critical research gap from a business and management perspective. Using a qualitative case study approach, ten in-depth interviews with industry leaders identified key performance variables and developed a sustainability model specifically designed for the OFS drilling sector. The findings highlight three core dimensions: Internal Variables (e.g., Employee Health and Safety, CSR Initiatives, ESG Performance, Cost Savings, Energy Efficiency, Carbon Footprint Reduction), External Variables (e.g., Green Financing, Stakeholder Engagement, Community Welfare), and Performance. Novel contributions include operationalizing advanced HSE technologies like cyber rigs and tailored …

The Oppression Of Transgender People Across The World, Dheeraj Swaminathan

Student Scholarship

Spring 2026 SOCI 232: Social Policy and Global Issues course.

This paper will analyze:

1. How do cultural belief systems and biases such as religion affect transgender people and a country’s perception of transgender people?
2. What historical and political context affects the oppression of transgender people as well as the betterment of transgender rights?

What Multiple Theories Can Illuminate In Qualitative Research, Sherry Marx, Rachel Billings, Taylor Dexter, Mark T. Lewis, Patrick Ocran, Douglas Weber

The Qualitative Report

Our aim in this paper is to help scholars better understand theory’s purpose in qualitative research, how it is employed in data analysis, and the strengths and limitations of the insights it can reveal. We do this by sharing our practice using multiple theories to make sense of a common data set in an advanced doctoral class focused on theory in qualitative research. For the class final project, students chose different theories to analyze one common data set: A brief historical article on the Los Angeles Zoot Suit Riots. Student-chosen theories included constructivism, actor-network theory, symbolic interactionism, critical race theory, …

Book Review – The Fierce Methodology Of Fierce, Fabulous, And Fluid: How Trans High School Students Work At Gender Nonconformity, Robyn Tomiko

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

This book review of Fierce, Fabulous, and Fluid explores the methodological fidelity with which LJ Slovin centers gender non-confirming youth during a year-long ethnographic study in a high school. The focus of this review is on the mechanism of rigorous accountability of teachers that Slovin employs in order to hold themselves and their work accountable to the youth who participated in the study.

The Risk Of Risk, Julia Sinclair-Palm, Lj Slovin

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

For decades, research centered on risk narratives as a strategy to compel safety interventions in schools. In this report, we query the left’s continued attachment to this discursive positioning of trans youth and ask: what are the implications of relying on an articulation of trans youths’ right to exist in relation to risk in order to advocate for resistance? Drawing on queer and trans theory, we argue that research about trans youth is trapped in an understanding of trans youth as victims in need of saving. We desire responses from the left that are not mired in conservative narratives, and …

Why Keep The Lgbtqia+ Acronym Together – "Wouldn't It Just Be Best To Split The Acronym?", Kim Andreassen, Bri Mckenzie, Julian Chen, Wendy Cumming-Potvin

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

Drawing on the authors' reflections after hosting a community launch event that shared outcomes from research about LGBTQIA+ inclusion in K-12 education in Western Australia, this report examines the importance of keeping the LGBTQIA+ acronym together, emphasizing its role in promoting inclusion, intersectionality, and equitable education. Global legislative actions targeting gender-diverse and queer youth, such as recent restrictive laws in the United States, threaten the fundamental right to education and undermine efforts toward achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 4 of quality education for all. Utilizing relevant education literature, researchers' reflections and introspective questions, this report stressed the interconnectedness …

From The Field: Lessons From Saskatchewan, J Wallace Skelton, Ashlee Sandiford, Alex Schmidt, Hannah Paul

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

Just before the 2023-2024 school year, Saskatchewan enacted transphobic school policy and then legislation. Four Saskatchewan educators describe the ways this legislation has impacted them, their students and their colleagues, and ways they are engaging in resistance through activism, pedagogy and research.

“No (My Parents Can’T Know I’M Trans)…For Now:" Resisting Anti-Transgender Backlash In Schools Through A Policy Experiment, Lee Airton, Mik Turje

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

This From the Field account describes an intervention we and our colleagues offered in the Canadian culture war surrounding transgender children and youth, as clinical and research experts on K-12 education policy and supports for transgender youth and their parents. In 2023, following comprehensive review by K-12 school administrators, lawyers and experts in child welfare, we released No For Now (NFN). NFN responded to the impending passage of laws which directly harm transgender youth by essentially forcing them to be outed to potentially unsupportive parents. We suggest that NFN enacts an experimental kind of policy-based resistance to these laws and …

Pride On The Prairie: Resistance As Pedagogy In Oklahoma, Madelyn D. Evans, Ashley Herndon, Sage A. Mauldin

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

With an increasing number of attacks on two-spirit, transgender, queer, and gender non-conforming (2STQGNC) students, it is critical to critique the intersecting systems of oppression that work in tandem to eradicate anyone who does not conform to ‘regimes of normalcy,’ particularly cisheteronormativity. In Oklahoma, legislative assaults are taking place to erase 2STQGNC identities and limit civil rights and civil liberties within K-12 schools. This report examines various oppressive policies, highlights student-led resistance as a pedagogical tool, discusses the reciprocal relationship between student activism and community support, and concludes with recommendations for K-12 Educators and 2STQGNC Students.

Pedagogies Of Heart/Break: Nurturing Trans Resistance Through Beloved Witnessing, Page Valentine Regan

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

This article calls for spiritual activism on behalf of trans young people. Drawing from the narratives and perspectives of a group of trans young adults of Color situated in the Southeastern United States, the author encourages pedagogies of heart/break. Such a pedagogical position requires a service-based orientation to education, rooted in beloved witnessing. Rather than affinity spaces, political action, or cerebral understanding, beloved witnessing may prove to be a more reliable condition for healing and self-actualization, especially in support of a trans of Color future in educational research, practice and places of learning.

Rural School Counselors Supporting Queer Students In The Southeastern United States, Harley Devon Locklear, Damaris Bates

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

This article aims to explore the storied experiences of school counselors who actively, overtly and covertly resist the oppression of queer students within rural schools throughout the Southeastern United States. Narrative Inquiry was the research methodology utilized to collect, interpret, and reconstruct these stories, culminating in the synthesization of six overarching themes capturing the factors contributing to and limiting the advocacy efforts of rural school counselors: View of Role, Counselor Self-Efficacy, Stakeholder Push-back, Services Offered, Advocacy Efforts, and Training and University Support. Implications for school counselors, counselor education program, and school administers are also discussed in relation to improving …

Engines For Activism: Gsa Advisors Sparking Student Activism For Lgbtq+ Equity, Elizabeth J. Meyer, Rebecca Grace Kaplan, Erin Kurtz

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

This article reports on a study on educators supporting student activism for LGBTQ+ equity in schools. The research questions we address are: What impacts do activist-educators have on the activities of the students in their GSA (Genders & Sexualities Alliance)? In what ways do activist-educators support student activism for LGBTQ+ equity? Based on in-depth interviews with seven educators in Colorado, we use grounded theory to present a conceptual model called “Engines for Activism” (EFA). We share data that explain how student and educator interactions within the space of a student club led by an educator-activist can drive advocacy and activism …

“You Can’T Ban That!”: Lgbtq+ Youth Of Color Speak Back To Book Bans In Utah, Sonny Partola, Leticia Alvarez Gutiérrez

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

This article explores how LGBTQ+ youth of color (LGBTQ+ YOC) in Utah perceive anti-LGBTQ+ book bans amid a hostile sociopolitical climate. Drawing from a critical ethnographic study at a public high school, and guided by Queer of Color Critique, we examine how censorship, heteronormativity, and White Christian nationalism shape book bans. Youth participants described such bans as mechanisms of erasure and harm that restrict access to affirming literature and reinforce marginalization, while also revealing contradictions in schools’ promotion of literacy alongside censorship. Despite these harms, participants resisted erasure—asserting visibility, belonging, and intellectual freedom. This study contributes to scholarship on censorship …

Editors’ Introduction: Loud, Proud, Rooted, And Resisting – Activism And Advocacy In Tough Times, Lee Airton, Elizabeth J. Meyer

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

After a (brief) period of time in which movements for equity and justice in K-12 schools had been winning and had seen sustained building for gender and sexual diversity (GSD) justice efforts in schools, calls for queer and trans erasure are not only back but are being instantiated in laws and policies on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border, and in other contexts around the world. These efforts, however, come far too late as students are demanding livable queer and trans lives in the schools where they are legally required to spend most of their days, supported by queer and …

Improving Identification And Referral Of Xylazine‑Associated Wounds In Homeless Healthcare, Ramon A. Gambino

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Background: Xylazine-adulterated fentanyl is linked to distinctive necrotic wounds and complex care needs in unsheltered populations. This quality improvement (QI) project implemented a brief survey and referral log at Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless (AHCH) to track suspected xylazine-associated wounds and referrals to advanced care. Methods: Final data were exported from Qualtrics, cleaned to retain finished responses, standardized categories, and de-identified. The analytic sample included 18 encounters. Results: Results showed that 55.6% (n = 10) documented suspected xylazine-associated wounds; 5.6% (n = 1) reported no suspicion; 38.9% (n = 7) were uncertain. Referrals were rarely documented overall at AHCH …

Stability Without Support: Kinship Care And The Reproduction Of Inequality In Child Protection, Kiera Fischer

Senior Seminars and Capstones

This project examines child protection outcomes in Minnesota through a structural and inequality focused lens, analyzing how poverty, housing instability, racism, and system overlap shape family involvement with Child Protective Services (CPS). This literature review draws from sociology, anthropology, social work, and child welfare research, to examine how child protection systems disproportionately surveil and penalize low-income families and families of color, often framing structural disadvantage as an individual parental failure rather than a systemic or institutional issue. I specifically consider placement outcomes following child removal, with particular attention to differences between kinship care and non-relative foster care. Kinship placements are …

Building Community Resilience In The Wabash Valley Region, Abby Chappell, Jacob Harmon, Corbyn Irwin, Aiden Askins

2026 Spring Reports (Terre Haute)

The focus of this project is investigating how to improve community resilience against disasters among citizens of the Wabash Valley from an interdisciplinary perspective. Chandra, et al. (2011) defines community resilience as “the ongoing and developing capacity of the community to account for its vulnerabilities and develop capabilities that aid that community in (1) preventing, withstanding, and mitigating the stress of a health incident; (2) recovering in a way that restores the community to a state of self-sufficiency and at least the same level of health and social functioning after a health incident; and (3) using knowledge from a past …

Structural Consequences Of Economic Crisis And Us Militarization In The Caribbean: Drug Scarcity, Crime Escalation, And Narco-Entrepreneurship In Puerto Rico, Victor M. Vazquez, Howard Campbell

Departmental Papers (S&A)

No abstract provided.

How Social Media Provides Access For Human Traffickers To Victimize Children: A Literature Review With Combative Measures., Ashton Lamb

Honors Theses

This literature review focuses on how human sex traffickers utilize social media to groom children. Social media is utilized by a great number of people around the world, including many children. While social media is intended to be fun and interactive, it does provide new access for dangerous people to reach victims. There is a very real, growing issue online that is not widely known to the public. This hidden danger is known as human trafficking. Human trafficking is defined as the involvement of any force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some labor or commercial sex act (Department of Homeland …

Caregiving For Older Adults: How The Child And Dependent Care Credit Could Help, Gabrielle Pepin, Yulya Truskinovsky

Upjohn Institute Policy and Research Briefs

No abstract provided.

Disparities In Policing Through The Lens Of Indigenous Communities In Michigan: A Research Proposal, Abigail Ruddle

Honors Theses

This study examines the historical and contemporary factors shaping relationships between Indigenous communities and law enforcement in the United States, with a specific focus on tribal nations in Michigan. Using a historical framework that includes treaty-making, forced removal, and evolving legal decisions, this research examines the use of treaties and diplomacy to initiate new socio-political structures in Native American communities. Similarly, the emergence of policing in the United States impacted the relationship between law enforcement and Indigenous communities by creating hostility and distrust. The existing literature highlights themes of police violence and the paradoxical nature of over-policing and under-policing in …

College Students, Immigration, And The News: Navigating What Is Reliable News, Alexis Pineda-Bautista

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

People treat mainstream media as a trustworthy source, but mainstream media has recently come into question. Mainstream media’s ability to quickly deliver accurate information has been called into doubt and there has been an increase in partisan reporting (Bennett and Livingston, 2018 as cited in Besalú and Pont-Sorribes, 2021; Besalú and Pont-Sorribes 2021). This research aims to demonstrate how the public views the mainstream media’s ability to deliver reliable information, why some participants are turning towards social media as a news source, and how people use their personal experience to verify the validity of media claims.

In semi-structured interviews, 13 …

The Impact Of Prior Abusive Dating Experiences And Gender On Romance Scam Victimization And Monetary Loss, Trevor Rowe

Department of Psychology

Online romance scams are a rapidly expanding cybercrime that affects millions of people each year, financially and emotionally. This study examines an underexplored question: Will individuals with a greater number of abusive partners be more vulnerable to romance scam victimizations and lose more money? Adult dating app users (N = 518) completed an online survey. After controlling for being approached for relationships, those with a greater number of past abusive partners were more likely to be victims and lost more money. In addition, men reported a higher frequency of romance scam victimizations and more money loss.

Factors That Affect African American Representation In Cybersecurity Academic Programs In The United States, Damon Walker

Dissertations

The U.S. cybersecurity workforce continues to experience a critical talent shortage alongside persistent inequities in racial representation, particularly at the faculty level within higher education. This mixed-methods dissertation examines African American representation among faculty in cybersecurity academic programs designated by the National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity (NCAE-C) and investigates the factors that influence recruitment, retention, and advancement. Grounded in a transformative research framework, the study integrates quantitative analysis of national institutional data with qualitative interviews to illuminate structural patterns and lived experiences shaping representation.

Quantitative findings revealed pronounced underrepresentation: African American faculty comprise 2.57% (130 of 5,051) of …

The Transformation Of Autonomous Faculties: From The Enlightenment Era To Present-Day, Amber Ready

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

This thesis examines the historical transformation of autonomous faculties from the Enlightenment to the present, arguing that the material and technological conditions necessary for autonomous judgment have been progressively eroded through capitalism. Beginning with Kant’s account of enlightenment as the emergence from a self‑incurred minority, this paper shows that autonomy has always depended on social and economic structures that determine who can exercise independent reasoning. Through Marx and Lukács, the analysis traces how commodity production, alienation, and reification reorganize subjectivity and render social relations increasingly opaque. Adorno’s account of recognition, self‑preservation, and the culture industry further illustrates how individuals are …

“The Left Leg Is Not Well”: Identity, Economy, And Ability In Early Modern Drama, Emma D. Whaley

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The human reality of the disabled experience often goes overlooked by scholars analyzing early modern literature. Most scholarship seems to interpret disability as metaphorical without examining the human who experiences it. In this paper, I will be examining disability in three early modern texts as literal and inquire into the realities of the disabled experience for the characters. A Larum for London, The Shoemaker’s Holiday, and The Fair Maid of the Exchange all prominently feature a disabled character—Stump, Ralph, and Cripple respectively. These characters offer a depth of personhood rarely examined in early modern literary scholarship, even in …

The Importance Of Trauma-Informed Care In The Juvenile Justice System, Kalinowski Lillian

Honors Theses

Trauma is a common experience among justice-involved youth, though its developmental and behavioral impacts are not always fully accounted for within juvenile justice systems. Trauma-informed care has emerged as a promising framework for addressing these challenges, however, limited research has examined how consistently such approaches are implemented in practice. This study explores the implementation and perceived effectiveness of trauma-informed care within the juvenile justice system by drawing on semi-structured interviews with five clinicians who have professional experience working with justice-involved youth in the Midwest. The findings indicate that trauma-informed care is not consistently implemented across institutional settings, with 80% of …