Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Writing Truth As Fiction: Administrators Think About Their Work Through A Different Lens, Diane Ketelle

The Qualitative Report

This article argues that school administrators can learn about themselves through fictionalizing their real world experience. Examples of this writing form are offered in the text to illustrate the form and possible function of this type of work. The author presents this alternate writing form as a reflective tool that can assist professionals in learning about themselves and as a result resituate themselves in the world of leadership.

Vietnamese Women And Domestic Violence: A Qualitative Examination, Tuyen D. Nguyen

The Qualitative Report

This grounded theory qualitative study investigated the major influencing factors in the United States that empowered six Vietnamese women who had been in abusive relationships to take actions, to make changes in their intimate relationships, unlike many of their abused counterparts in their homeland. Interviews of two focus group sessions, field-notes, and documentary evidence were used to obtain the results for this research study. Five major dominant influencing factors in the U.S. have helped these women to stand up to their abusers: 1) financial condition, 2) dominant U.S. cultures intolerance of domestic violence, 3) education, 4) support from other individuals, …

"Ask Me No Secrets, I'Ll Tell You No Lies:" What Happens When A Respondent's Story Makes No Sense, Sarah Flicker

The Qualitative Report

In health research, we depend heavily on the goodwill of study participants. However, the whole social contract of health research is based on the premise that everyone comes to the research table with honorable intentions. What course should we take if we doubt the authenticity of our participants accounts? Through the use of an illustrative case study, this paper will explore three different ways of thinking about (and handling) implausible narratives.

Motherhood, Migration And Methodology: Giving Voice To The Other, Ruth Desouza

The Qualitative Report

This paper discusses the need for multi-cultural methodologies that develop knowledge about the maternity experience of migrant women and that are attuned to women’s maternity-related requirements under multi-cultural conditions. Little is known about the transition to parenthood for mothers in a new country, particularly when the country is New Zealand. This paper will challenge the positivist hegemony of previously completed research on migrant women by reflecting on my own experience as a researcher grounded in a broadly-based, pluralistic set of critical epistemologies that allowed me to uncover the issues and contexts that impacted on the experience of migrant women. It …

Postmodern Influence In Family Therapy Research: Reflections Of Graduate Students, Katherine M. Hertlin, Jennifer Lambert-Shute, Kristen Benson

The Qualitative Report

Postmodernism has influenced family therapy in significant ways, from clinical work to family therapy research. Little has been written, however, on how to conduct postmodern research in a manner reflecting marriage and family therapy inquiries. The present study seeks to investigate doctoral students understanding of postmodern family therapy research. Using collaborative language theory and collaborative inquiry, students participated in a dialogue to answer several questions: a) what is postmodernism, b) what is postmodern research, c) what does postmodern research look like, and d) what does this mean for the field of marriage and family therapy. Students indicated that postmodern research …

Children's Experience Of Loneliness At School And Its Relation To Bullying And The Quality Of Teacher Interventions, George Berguno, Penny Leroux, Katayoun Mcainsh, Sabera Shaikh

The Qualitative Report

Forty-two children aged between 8 and 10 years were interviewed about their experience of loneliness at primary school. The children were further asked to describe their experiences of being bullied, as well as to comment on their perception of the consequences of particular teacher interventions. It was found that a majority of children (80%) had periods of being lonely at school and that these experiences were associated with boredom, inactivity, a tendency to withdraw into fantasy, and a passive attitude towards social interactions. Moreover, children who invested in very few friendships were more vulnerable to becoming isolated. Similarly, a majority …

Developmental Considerations In University-School Collaborative Research, Barbara L. Carlozzi, Alfed F. Carlozzi, Steven R. Harrist

The Qualitative Report

Some common complications that arise in collaborative research between school and university researchers, as well as some conditions for successful collaboration are described in this report. Difficulties possibly attributable to developmental levels of the researchers are discussed utilizing Kegans (1982) theory of constructive developmentalism. A collaborative, qualitative study of needs for independence and inclusion in two fifth grade classrooms is described to illustrate the importance of attending to issues of differing perspectives and experiences that may be related to development. The authors suggest that researchers carefully consider issues of role, status, and contextual differences, as well as the developmental maturity …

Higher Education As An Immigration Path For Chinese Students And Scholars, Bangchen Pang, Nicholas Appleton

The Qualitative Report

The purposes of this study were to identify and describe the factors that influenced the choices made by mainland Chinese students and scholars to come to the United States, to identify and describe the factors that influenced their settlement in the United States, and to identify and describe the role that higher education played in this process. An explanatory multiple case study design was used as the basic strategy for the study. In-depth, open-ended interviews were conducted to describe, from the participants perspective, the factors that influenced their successful immigration to the United States. The participants were a convenience sample …

The Feminist Biographical Method In Psychological Research, Natalee Popadiuk

The Qualitative Report

The feminist biographical method is an in-depth interpretive methodology that is useful for research in the field of psychology. I believe that this qualitative method is an excellent tool for analyzing individual narratives of participants lives in relation to the larger cultural matrix of the society in which they live. Although an oral interview is often the primary strategy employed for data collection in this methodology, other sources of information such as personal journals, official documents, and cultural texts are also exciting additions to the research. The strengths of the feminist biographical method include the depth, context, and meaning found …

Tidings, Volume 6, Number 3 - Summer 2004, Nova Southeastern University Libraries

Tidings: A publication of Nova Southeastern University Libraries

No abstract provided.

Nova Southeastern University Libraries Annual Report 2003-2004, Nova Southeastern University

Brochures, Pamphlets, and Reports of the NSU Alvin Sherman Library

No abstract provided.

An Interpretive Investigation Into Motivations For Outgroup Activism, Catherine Borshuk

The Qualitative Report

A qualitative study was conducted to explore the motivations of individuals, who advocate politically for members of social outgroups. Long interviews with social activists focused on self-ascribed motivations for activism, relationship with the outgroup, and the costs and benefits associated with being an outgroup activist. A thematic analysis revealed that feelings of social responsibility were shared by the activists, who were interviewed. Further, some activists attributed their behavior to their personal relationships, while others believed they had a psychological predisposition to engage in social justice. Experiences of personal marginality were also highlighted as a key contributor to social justice efforts. …

Push-Pull Factors Of Undocumented Migration From Bangladesh To West Bengal: A Perception Study, Pranati Datta

The Qualitative Report

Movement is an integral part of human existence. While talking about transborder migration from Bangladesh to India, we are, however, aware that this is a controversial subject. The partition of Bengal in 1947 was the cruelest partition in the history of the world and caused forced illegal migration from erstwhile East Pakistan. It is estimated that there are about 15 million Bangladeshi nationals living in India illegally. West Bengal has a border running 2,216 km along Bangladesh. The present study highlights push-pull factors of illegal Bangladeshi migration based on perceptions of respondents obtained from a qualitative survey done on the …

The Multiple Roles Of Low Income, Minority Women In The Family And Community: A Qualitative Investigation, Avery E. Goldstein, Wendy Reiboldt

The Qualitative Report

This longitudinal, ethnographic research study was incepted to investigate service use among families living in poor urban communities. Themes that emerged during data collection focus on the variety of roles played by women, in the home, and in the neighborhood. We identified numerous strengths exhibited by women, that is, roles that help families adapt and survive. Over a two-year period, we spent time with families, in their homes, and in their communities. Not only did the women fulfill multiple roles in the family, but they performed care taking functions within the community as well. A more complete understanding of family …

The Implications Of Sex Tourism On Mens Social, Psychological, And Physical Health, Kimberly Bender, Rich Furman

The Qualitative Report

This article explores sex tourism and possible concerns for the male sex tourist through a content analysis of sex tourism web sites. This qualitative, exploratory study describes the manner in which sex tour web sites attract and maintain male customers. Findings related to men’s psychosocial health are placed within an international context. Recommendations are made that pertain to international social welfare.

Sipping Coffee With A Serial Killer: On Conducting Life History Interviews With A Criminal Genius, J.C. Olsen

The Qualitative Report

As part of my Ph.D. research on criminal genius, I conducted 44 semi-structured interviews. One of the 44 subjects, in particular, stood out. This noteworthy individual claimed that he had killed 15 people. His story was particularly interesting because unlike most social research involving serial killers he claimed that he had never been arrested or convicted for his homicides. Compelled by his account, I met with this subject on five additional occasions, and gradually compiled his criminal life history. Ethical and legal considerations limited inquiry into several dimensions of this subjects life history, but over time, an interesting and richly …

Understanding The Role Of Language/Culture In Group Work Through Qualitative Interviewing, Gavin Melles

The Qualitative Report

The second language student experience of group work at university is not often transparent in survey evaluations, although the multicultural nature of the student population in Australasia would suggest that culture and language should be on the research agenda. Culture and language, notwithstanding, is used in the higher education literature to position the Asian learner as different and problematic, although such cultural models and stereotypes have been the subject of some criticism in recent years. Through semi-structured qualitative interviewing in focus group interviews with nineteen South East Asian students, I explore the ways students account for their experiences of group …

Visual Evidence In Qualitative Research: The Role Of Videorecording, Sorrel Penn-Edwards

The Qualitative Report

Videorecording allows the researcher to record and replay the pictures and sound of an event. As such, it can be a valuable research tool. Nevertheless, it is not just a simple measuring instrument. As a qualitative research data gathering tool, video recordings should be authenticated. Researchers should indicate clearly the role of this tool in their work and discuss the factors that may have an influence on the way it is used or on the data analyzed. The substance of these factors is shown in inventoried form. This paper discusses these and advises how researchers may address the validity of …

Some Epistemological Issues In The Conduct Of Social And Behavioural Studies In The Faculty Of Education Of Nigeria Universities, Chinedu Onochie Okeke, Theophilus A. Ume

The Qualitative Report

A predominantly positivistic quantitative research tradition is uncovered through a survey of selected Nigerian universities with particular reference to the faculty of education. This predominance of what appears to be a one sided research enterprise and the neglect of the qualitative approaches is born out of the self-evident lack of history of research methods as well as the epistemological undertones underpinning research conduct. Important issues resulting from this lack of knowledge of the historical antecedents surrounding the adoption of the various methods are highlighted in this article. While concluding that the revelations here are not idle ones, this paper noted …

Provisions Of Trustworthiness In Critical Narrative Research: Bridging Intersubjectivity And Fidelity, Glenda Moss

The Qualitative Report

This paper is a reflective-reflexive examination of provisions of trustworthiness in critical narrative research. The author presents her understanding of provisions of trustworthiness as a science and as an art, and blurs these boundaries as she acknowledges their tension in practice. She weaves between theory and her experience in two studies first the study of the Texas-Spain Visiting Teachers Program and secondly the study of Amish culture and education where the author felt a deep sense of responsibility that she maintain trustworthiness. This paper examines the provisions of trustworthiness as evidence of research accountability and shared responsibility and brings to …

Qualitative Research On Mediated Dialogism Among Educators And Pupils, Thomas Hansson

The Qualitative Report

The relevance of qualitative research to virtual practices rests on subject knowledge and practical know-how on operations for exchange, growth, learning, and dialogue. Highlighting the discursive perspective, this paper covers theory on emerging didactics for online learning. In doing so, the contents show how computer-mediated learning incorporates a dialogical orientation. There is an empirical account of experiences of applying the theory in a comprehensive Nordic network with an aspect of computer-mediated theory focused on Ba, a construct illustrating how educators and pupils keep their higher mental operations creative in the process of critiquing and applying knowledge in English as a …

Editor’S Reflections: Academic Indigenization, Honggang Yang

Peace and Conflict Studies

Excerpt

The movement for academic indigenization has been growing swiftly in the social science fields over recent decades. From a historical, sociological perspective, for example, Lee (2000) recognizes that Western social sciences were implanted in East Asian countries like many other developing societies where there were abundant cultural traditions and indigenous frameworks of understanding human interrelations. As early as the 19th Century, several Chinese intellectuals had called for “Eastern Way and Western Technology” or “Chinese Body and Western Utility” in their search for solutions to “saving the nation” from feudal corruptions and imperialist invaders. These thinkers and reformers were trying …

Network Thinking In Peace And Conflict Studies, Alvin W. Wolfe

Peace and Conflict Studies

Developments in mathematics and social theory and in techniques of communication and computation have brought network analysis to a state where it can be practically applied over a broad spectrum. Surprisingly, this mode of analysis has not been adopted by practitioners and scholars of peace and conflict studies to the extent that it ought to be. Examples of types of analysis that could have important applications are given, using network concepts such centrality, structural equivalence, and regular equivalence.

Volume 11, Number 1 (Spring 2004), Peace And Conflict Studies

Peace and Conflict Studies

No abstract provided.

Back Matter, Peace And Conflict Studies

Peace and Conflict Studies

No abstract provided.

Toward The Civil Society: Finding Harmony Between Havel’S Vision And Learning-Organization Theory, Patsy Palmer

Peace and Conflict Studies

This theoretical paper derives inspiration from former Czech President Vaclav Havel and lessons from “learning organizations” to guide government executives in helping develop shared meaning among constituents, interest groups and public employees. Such shared meaning is seen as a framework for policy decisions and implementation. American civil society, like learning organizations, is understood as broadly interdependent and continuously changing, with conflict both latent and overt. Leadership is defined in contrast to management and administration; government leadership is compared and contrasted with learningorganization leadership. Strengths, weaknesses and political costs of various approaches are considered. It is argued that successful publicsector leaders …

Some Guidelines For Conceptualizing Success In Conflict Resolution Evaluation, Marc Howard Ross

Peace and Conflict Studies

The immediate job of project evaluation is to decide what worked and what didn’t. However, the more challenging task is making sense of why success or failure occurred and in so doing to propose appropriate future action. Effective evaluation of conflict resolution initiatives is complicated since interventions involve multiple goals and cross-level connections where indirect effects are often not seen in the short-run. This paper argues that there is no single best instrument or method for evaluating the extent to which conflict resolution practice has been successful. However, this does not mean that evaluation should be ignored. Instead projects need …

Metaphors For One Another: Racism In The United States And Sectarianism In Northern Ireland, John Alderdice, Michael A. Cowan

Peace and Conflict Studies

This article explores the possibility that an analysis of racism in the United States and sectarianism in Northern Ireland inspired by literary, psychotherapeutic, religious and philosophical conceptions of metaphor might yield new insight into the two situations by attending carefully to similarities and differences between them. Following brief summaries of the current state of racism in the U.S. and sectarianism in Northern Ireland, the article offers two perspectives from the field of psychotherapy that seem particularly germane to both situations. Then we turn to the political philosophy of Hannah Arendt for a reflection on the unpredictability and irreversibility of human …

Front Matter, Peace And Conflict Studies

Peace and Conflict Studies

No abstract provided.

Transforming Conflict: A Group Relations Perspective, Tracy Wallach

Peace and Conflict Studies

This article offers a group relations perspective of conflict and conflict transformation and explores how conflict manifests on the individual, interpersonal, group, and inter-group levels. Conflict and aggression are defined as normal aspects of the human condition. Current theories and practices in the field of conflict transformation tend to be more rationally based. The author uses concepts from psychoanalytic theory, such as defense mechanisms; and concepts from open systems theory, such as task, role, boundaries, and authority, to argue that in order to transform conflict, it is essential to understand the non-rational and often unconscious emotional elements that operate in …