Digital Commons Network^™

Preparing A Qualitative Research-Based Dissertation: Lessons Learned, Glenn A. Bowen

The Qualitative Report

In this article, a newly minted Ph.D. shares seven lessons learned during the process of preparing a dissertation based on qualitative research methods. While most of the lessons may be applicable to any kind of research, the writer focuses on the special challenges of employing a qualitative methodology. The lessons are: (1) Read, read, read; (2) Consult the experts; (3) Adhere to university regulations; (4) Pay attention to rigor and trustworthiness; (5) Give details of the methodology; (6) Don't be afraid to include numerical data; and (7) Prepare to publish.

The Knight Volume 16: Orientation Issue, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

Through The Lens Of Postmodernism: Uniqueness Of The Anorectic Families, Zenobia C.Y. Chan, Joyce L.C. Ma

The Qualitative Report

This paper challenges the monolithic assumption of the anorectic families in Hong Kong by blindly adopting the western theoretical framework of family therapy. It is problematic that family therapy lacks indigenous culture-specific knowledge and ignores the voices of these multi-categories of families. It is inappropriate to conceptualize these families as being similar and to stereotype them as experiencing particular difficulties. In order to bridge the homogeneity and address the multiplicity of these families, the paper examines both the ideologies of postmodernism and the process of confession that can enrich the understanding of anorectic families and advance family practice. The paper …

Human Nature And Research Paradigms: Theory Meets Physical Therapy Practice, Margaret M. Plack

The Qualitative Report

Human nature is a very complex phenomenon. In physical therapy this complexity is enhanced by the need to understand the intersection between the art and science of human behavior and patient care. A paradigm is a set of basic beliefs that represent a worldview, defines the nature of the world and the individuals place in it, and helps to determine criteria used to select and define research inquiry. A paradigm guides scientific inquiry, not only in the manner in which an investigation is performed, but also in how the investigator defines truth and reality and how the investigator comes to …

Research As Improvisation: Dancing Among Perspectives, Glenda-Mae Greene, Shirley Freed

The Qualitative Report

This article captures the way research methods were intertwined with core identities to understand the success development of Caribbean-Canadian women. It highlights the importance of researchers experimenting with a blend of perspectives to fit their problem as well as their identity. Viewing the research process through the eyes of the researcher and her dissertation chair, issues of validity and collaboration emerge. Ultimately both authors listen to family voices as they dance among research perspectives.

An Evening Of Grounded Theory: Teaching Process Through Demonstration And Simulation, Frances Huels

The Qualitative Report

Grounded theory can be effectively introduced in a survey course through a combination of lecture/demonstration and simulation. The class session presented here illustrates a way to introduce graduate students to the process of grounded theory and gain hands-on experience through simulation. The lesson utilizes concepts that the students are familiar with, allowing them to focus on the research process, and encourages internalization of concepts through immediate application.

Using Hermeneutics As A Qualitative Research Approach In Professional Practice, Margo Paterson, Joy Higgs

The Qualitative Report

This paper is targeted primarily at doctoral students and others considering hermeneutics as a research strategy. Research using hermeneutics was carried out with occupational therapy educators and clinicians in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the UK. A total of 53 participants engaged in focus groups and individual interviews over a one-year. The paper explores hermeneutics as a credible, rigorous and creative strategy to address aspects of professional practice that similarly need to be flexible, adaptable to particular needs, and justifiable in the contexts of evidence-based as well as client-centred practice. The hermeneutic study produced A Model of Professional Practice Judgment …

Development Of An Underwater Infrared Camera To Detect Manatees, Edward O. Keith

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

In calendar year 2004, watercraft related mortality was the second leading cause of death of the Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris) accounting for 25% of total known manatee deaths. In an attempt to reduce this significant cause of manatee mortality, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute has instituted two rounds of Manatee Avoidance Technology grants. Herein I report the results of an evaluation of the ability of underwater infrared video cameras to detect captive manatees and other non-living targets. If such cameras could detect manatees at sufficient distances, they could be mounted in the bows of watercraft …

The Knight Volume 15: Issue 27, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

Medical Education Digest, Vol. 7 No. 3 (May/June 2005), Nova Southeastern University

Medical Education Digest

No abstract provided.

The Future Of Integration, Personalization, And Eportfolio Technologies , Susan Lacour

Innovate: Journal of Online Education

No abstract provided.

Coral Recruitment Patterns In The Florida Keys, Alison L. Moulding

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

This study examines scleractinian zooxanthellate coral recruitment patterns in the Florida Keys to determine if differences in density or community composition exist between regions. From July to September 2002, nine patch reefs, three in each of the upper, middle and lower Keys, were surveyed for coral recruits (colonies <5 cm in diameter) using randomly placed quadrats and transects. Coral recruits were enumerated, measured, and identified to genus. Fourteen genera of corals were observed across all sites and ranged from five to 13 per site. Densities ranged from 6.29 ± 1.92 (mean ± SE) to 39.08 ± 4.53 recruits m-2, and there were significant site and regional differences in recruit densities. The density of recruits in the upper Keys was significantly lower than in the middle and lower Keys. In addition, the upper Keys were less diverse and had a different recruit size-frequency distribution. The majority of recruits were non-massive scleractinian species that contribute relatively little to overall reef-building processes, a finding that is similar to previous studies. Fewer recruits of massive species were found in the upper Keys compared to the middle and lower Keys. The recruitment patterns of the reefs in the upper Keys could potentially hinder their ability to recover from stress and disturbances.

Boardroom And Bedroom: Consulting With Organizations And Family Systems, James Hibel, Neil Katz

Peace and Conflict Studies

Neil Katz is a loyal St. Louis Cardinals fan and a career organizational consultant. Jim Hibel is a loyal Florida Marlins fan and a career family therapist. Nova Southeastern University brought their professional disciplines under the same roof at the Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences and the Cardinals and Marlins now share the same Spring Training Facility. Over the past several years, Neil and Jim have met regularly for Cardinal and Marlins spring training games, shared their mutual love of the game, and found ways to appreciate their different teams. In between innings, and rain delays they often talked …

The Knight Volume 15: Issue 26, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

The Knight Volume 15: Issue 25, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

The Knight Volume 15: Issue 25, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

The Library, Stephen Deck

Undergraduate Student Symposium

A short story about a librarian who breaks his glasses on his way to work, and the day he spends without them. The focus is primarily on the visual aspects of being without glasses, the world as it appears to the myopic. Freed somewhat from a reliance on normal sight, the protagonist discovers a new clarity and freedom.

The World Is Spoiled With Oil, Michael Bergbauer

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Alternative energy sources such as hydrogen and solar power are not feasible fuels for the automotive industry, or any industry. Despite their plausibility as energy sources, they have too many glaring drawbacks—such as cost effectiveness and compatibility—to act as primary fuel sources. As our nonrenewable oil supplies run low, many people believe that alternative fuels will serve as suitable replacements for oil. This article informs people about the serious flaws of alternative fuels—hydrogen and solar power—and the threat of oil depletion.

“The Glamorous Humanitarian” Ad The First-Lady Of Camelot Princess Diana And Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis: Larger Than Life, Female Media Icons, Alaina Siminovsky

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Four journalism greats who were up and coming during the lives of the two 20^th century great female media icons came to speak about how capturing them in print and on film captivated the world’s literate population. The evening was spent in regards to the definition of the icon that these women were and how they achieved iconographic status and the media role in that achievement. The panel furnished their knowledge of the inner workings of the media and their experiences with these women as a base for female use of the media.

Seppuku, Stephen Deck

Undergraduate Student Symposium

A poem of self immolation and redemption. It is set in an extended metaphor of the Japanese samurai's ritual suicide, undertaken when no other option would allow the samurai's honor to survive. The poem attempts to capture the idea of discarding, violently, old identities when they are no longer viable, and the need for recreating a functional self afterwards.

Passing On The Left, Alaina Siminovsky

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Small, everyday activities often reflect on subconscious thoughts. The world we live in grows more fast-paced by the day. There are not enough hours daily for all of the things that one wishes to do to be finished so people rush. People rush through work; they rush through life. Why? Because everyone wants to achieve and be the best. This is explored through the simple action of driving and being held up by a slow car in the left lane. The constant desire to pass people on the road is reflexive of our daily lives where we often seek to …

Nova Southeastern University’S Women’S Basketball, Danielle Garcia

Undergraduate Student Symposium

A newspaper article covering the performance of NSU's Women's Basketball team at their home tournament. Pictures included mirror the article as it explains the team's two performances and the selected All-Tournament team which included NSU's own Stacey Gaeth. The article allows the reader to envision the two games played by the Knights with play action and supportive statistics.

I Love Lucy, Rafia Chodhry

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Cloning is a very controversial issue in our society today. This journalistic piece of writing is the author’s opinion about the possibility of cloning her dog Lucy. The author first describes her love for Lucy and later discusses that because she loves her so much she might actually clone her.

Governance By The Hope Of Love, Alaina Siminovsky

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Castiglione’s The Courtier was the decorum book of its time. Everyone was trying to achieve the perfect courtier status so Castiglione used a series of conversations at the court of Urbino to tackle the issue. Through the course of the novel, many people speak of attainable characteristics that the courtier should have. They speak of skills at arms, reputation, breeding and courtier’s dealings with others. Only one person’s speech breaks the mold. Pietro Bembo speaks not of characteristics but of love, neoplatonic love. It can be questioned as to whether this atypical characterization is a necessity in the novel, and …

Holy Cheese-Us!, Rafia Chodhry

Undergraduate Student Symposium

This journalistic piece of writing is the author’s opinion about Diana Duyser who sold her holy grilled cheese sandwich for $28,000. The author describes her disbelief about the price that the sandwich was sold for and contradicts the fact that there is actually a Virgin Mary inscribed on the sandwich.

The author also mentions how religion is a sacred thing and profiting from the sale of an ambiguous figure in a sandwich is wrong.

Emilia, Marlon Villalobos

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Fear was indeed the rule he used to measure people’s worth, strength, and chances of success, a determining factor on judging whether people were below him or at his same level, but never above him since he did not believe people to exist above others. So he went through life thinking that no one nor anything could impose such a feeling on him; Marlon, however, would be unpleasantly surprised on the morning of November 29, 1987 when his friend Luciano and him were to attend a meeting in one of the small villages of the western region of the parish …

Day After The Storm, Vien Tran

Undergraduate Student Symposium

“Day After the Storm” is an essay celebrating the wonders of life. The day after a storm hits his town, the author travels on a journey through a devastated park to visit a young oak tree he helps plant there. His anxiety and imagination personify the elements of nature such as rushing wind, quiet water or fallen branches as wishing him defeat in finding his tree in a good state of being. To his own amazement, the young oak tree survives the hardship of nature. In this experience, the author gains appreciation for the victory of life, as humble as …

Black Brother, Angela Cuyugan

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Black brother, love me so tenderly.

         Feel you running thru my veins, pooling with joy.

I’m at natural state when I’m with you.

          Incomparable to those brighter shades of the rainbow.

Black brother, deep as the ocean runs, strong as a lion, swift like the cheetah, graceful as crane, witty like that of the feline, loyal to woman as her heart will allow, and beautifully structured in every way God’s blessed you.

An Opinion On Small Children And Gender Roles, Alisha Van Hoose

Undergraduate Student Symposium

In this article, examples of small children (i.e. between the ages of 4 and 6) who express a “men are in charge of women” attitude that goes beyond the usual playground “boys are better than girls” sort of competition are presented. Examining this, possible sources for the development of such attitudes are brought up, and the conclusion is reached that without the likelihood of prominent gender roles being observed in adults in preschools and playgroups, such attitudes are most likely learned at home. Families are cautioned to examine the expressions of decision-making and other facets of their relationships which may …

A Siren Of The Sea Clutching My Pearls, Marie Cuneo

Undergraduate Student Symposium

What is this thing inside me . . . aching breaking rejuvenating

again and again Incessant nagging at the mind

and wrenching of the heart my strand of pearls slapping against the skin

What is this thing inside me . . .

aching

breaking

rejuvenating

       again and again

Incessant nagging at the mind

and wrenching of the heart

my strand of pearls slapping against the skin