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Entangled Positionality: Researchers’ Everyday Practices Amidst Coronavirus, War, And Parenting, Vlas Nikulkin, Olga Zvonareva Mar 2024

Entangled Positionality: Researchers’ Everyday Practices Amidst Coronavirus, War, And Parenting, Vlas Nikulkin, Olga Zvonareva

The Qualitative Report

Reflecting on the researcher’s position is crucial for understanding how data are gathered, analyzed, and presented. However, researcher positionality is often reckoned through overly deterministic and rigid social statuses. This is problematic, as intertwined everyday practices of researchers’ living and doing fieldwork are diverse and messy. By reflecting on ethnographic research in Russia during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the wake of the Russo-Ukrainian war, we elaborate an alternative way to speak of and identify the researcher’s position. Using the concept of “entanglement,” we describe how researchers’ everyday practices together with large-scale events, researchers’ social statuses, personal lives, and mundane …


The Right Pathway To Becoming A Successful Qualitative Researcher: A Book Review Of Char Ullman, Kate Mangelsdorf, And Jair Muñoz’ Graduate Students Becoming Qualitative Researchers: An Ethnographic Study, Elih Sutisna Yanto Nov 2022

The Right Pathway To Becoming A Successful Qualitative Researcher: A Book Review Of Char Ullman, Kate Mangelsdorf, And Jair Muñoz’ Graduate Students Becoming Qualitative Researchers: An Ethnographic Study, Elih Sutisna Yanto

The Qualitative Report

Graduate Students Becoming Qualitative Researchers: An Ethnographic Study is a book written by Char Ullman, Kate Mangelsdorf, and their student, Jair Munoz, of the University of Texas. The book addresses questions such as, "What problems do inexperienced qualitative researchers face?" and “How can an individual become a qualitative researcher?” This book examines the academic and identity processes of disadvantaged students who become qualitative researchers. An in-depth ethnographic study was conducted by the authors to demonstrate how these elements fit into Communities of Practice. As ethnographers and researchers, students engage with and learn from communities, drawing from their prior experiences and …


A Qualitative Inquiry Into The Socio-Economic Implications Of Land Grabs Among The Nuer People In The Gambella Region Of Ethiopia, Mehari Fisseha, Godswill Makombe, Vusilizwe Thebe Oct 2022

A Qualitative Inquiry Into The Socio-Economic Implications Of Land Grabs Among The Nuer People In The Gambella Region Of Ethiopia, Mehari Fisseha, Godswill Makombe, Vusilizwe Thebe

The Qualitative Report

The paper analyses the socio-economic implications of land grabbing among the Nuer people in the Gambella region of Ethiopia. To achieve its goals, the study is underpinned by two interrelated questions. The first question is: what are the socio-economic implications of land grabs in the Gambella Region of Ethiopia? The second question reads: what are the contestations and perceptions of the Nuer peoples in terms of gains and losses from the land grabs? The study was carried out among a Nilo-Saharan group known as the Nuer which traces its roots from Sudan within the qualitative research methodology. Findings from the …


Over-Complexifying Social Reality: A Critical Exploration Of Systematicity And Rigidification In Ethnographic Practice And Writing, Anson Au Apr 2021

Over-Complexifying Social Reality: A Critical Exploration Of Systematicity And Rigidification In Ethnographic Practice And Writing, Anson Au

The Qualitative Report

Qualitative methodological development has produced canonical tendencies that over-complexify and fix a fluid and lived social world. Meanwhile, critical theory has produced critiques on methodology but without enough attention to the qualitative tradition. I bridge these gaps by using an Adornoian position to interrogate the concepts of systematicity, rigidification, complexification, and their problems in ethnographic research and qualitative methodology. I conduct an urban ethnography and autoethnography of the metropolitan blasé as a public attitude of indifference to articulate an alternative, quotidian approach to ethnography that better captures social embeddedness, meaning-creation, and how contexts should drive data collection, analysis, and method-selection.


“Listen And Let It Flow”: A Researcher And Participant Reflect On The Qualitative Research Experience, Charity Anderson, Monique Henry May 2020

“Listen And Let It Flow”: A Researcher And Participant Reflect On The Qualitative Research Experience, Charity Anderson, Monique Henry

The Qualitative Report

Ethnographic research involves prolonged and often personal interaction between the researcher and research participants. This paper is a collaboration between a social work researcher and a research participant who became acquainted through the researcher’s ethnographic fieldwork for her dissertation. Despite differing in numerous and significant ways, not the least of which are age, class, education, and race, the two women developed a quasi-friendship after the researcher exited the field–a time when many researcher-participant relationships wane or terminate entirely. The two recorded and transcribed a series of informal conversations wherein they reflected on their experiences in the research process. Of particular …


"I Don’T Even Deserve A Chance": An Ethnographic Study Of Adverse Childhood Experiences Among Male Perpetrators Of Intimate Partner Violence, Natalie Hoskins, Adrianne Kunkel Apr 2020

"I Don’T Even Deserve A Chance": An Ethnographic Study Of Adverse Childhood Experiences Among Male Perpetrators Of Intimate Partner Violence, Natalie Hoskins, Adrianne Kunkel

The Qualitative Report

Perpetrators of intimate partner violence (IPV) are more likely to have been exposed to adverse childhood experiences (ACES) than the general population (e.g., Whitfield, Anda, Dube, & Felitti, 2003). Despite this association, occurrence of ACES does not necessarily lead to the development of patterned abusive behavior (Godbout et al., 2017). To understand the link between ACES and IPV perpetration, Godbout et al. (2017) suggest that research must consider a complex array of intra- and interpersonal experiences. For this project, we used ethnographic methods, including participant observation at a local batterer intervention program (BIP) and semi-structured interviews with 15 male IPV …


A Review Of Qualitative Methods In Health Communication Research, Liza Ngenye, Gary Kreps Mar 2020

A Review Of Qualitative Methods In Health Communication Research, Liza Ngenye, Gary Kreps

The Qualitative Report

This paper examines the ways that qualitative inquiry can be especially useful for gathering relevant descriptive data that can provide a deep understanding of health communication issues and processes, as well as to provide evidence-based guidance for addressing key challenges of health care delivery and promotion. This article promotes methodological diversity in research designs and illustrates the value of employing qualitative methods such as ethnography and grounded theory in health communication research. It is also provides calls for the application of less-used, unfamiliar qualitative methods such as phenomenology. Our careful bibliographic review of health communication research studies published over the …


Contemporary Japanese Career Women: Reflections On Profession, Life, And Purpose, Anne Stefanie Aronsson Aarons Mar 2020

Contemporary Japanese Career Women: Reflections On Profession, Life, And Purpose, Anne Stefanie Aronsson Aarons

The Qualitative Report

In this article, I explore what motivates Japanese women to pursue professional careers in today’s neoliberal economy and how they reconfigure notions of selfhood while doing so. I ask why and how one fourth of Japanese women stay on a career track, often against considerable odds, while the other three fourths drop out of the workforce. Employment trends indicate that more white-collar professional women are breaking through the “glass ceiling” and more women are now filling managerial posts. These trends have been supported by the recession, which has led to the liberalization of career paths that fit with women’s tendencies …


Something For Everyone: A Review Of Qualitative Inquiry And Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches, Cecilia Tarnoki, Katheryne Puentes Dec 2019

Something For Everyone: A Review Of Qualitative Inquiry And Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches, Cecilia Tarnoki, Katheryne Puentes

The Qualitative Report

Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches (2018), by John W. Creswell and Cheryl N. Poth was written for anyone who is considering themselves to be researchers or interested in learning more about qualitative research. As students in doctoral programs studying family therapy at Nova Southeastern University, we felt that parts of the text were explicitly tailored toward the social sciences; however, the chapters are useful for anyone interested in qualitative research from many angles and aspects.


A Book Of Possibilities – Ethnographically Speaking: Autoethnography, Literature, And Aesthetics, Kelsey Railsback Dec 2019

A Book Of Possibilities – Ethnographically Speaking: Autoethnography, Literature, And Aesthetics, Kelsey Railsback

The Qualitative Report

I would say this book is successful in reference to the authors’ intention to showcase ethnographic projects that “blur the boundaries between social science and literature,” but I would also caution those researchers looking for a how-to book for their dissertation or other qualitative research project. This is a book of possibilities of what (auto)ethnographies can be—inspiring authors and fostering creativity, and I am sure a lot of readers will connect with it.


Professional Interaction In Mental Health Courts: Processing Defendants With Mental Illness, Monte D. Staton Aug 2019

Professional Interaction In Mental Health Courts: Processing Defendants With Mental Illness, Monte D. Staton

The Qualitative Report

In this paper, the author presents ethnographic research and analysis of how criminal justice and mental health professionals interact with each other and with criminal defendants with mental illness in running a mental health court (MHC) program. Ethnographic field research included observations of court programs, interviews of professionals, and gathering of textual documents, at nine MHCs in a Midwestern state. In MHC criminal defendants with mental illness participate in a program of regular court appearances, probation supervision, and mandated treatment, rather than being incarcerated in jail or prison. The author utilized the symbolic interaction perspective and examined how the professionals …


Women’S Experiences With Epilepsy Treatment In Southern India: A Focused Ethnography, Jane R. Von Gaudecker 3172782758, Ann Gill Taylor, Janice M. Buelow, Sailas Benjamin, Claire B. Draucker May 2019

Women’S Experiences With Epilepsy Treatment In Southern India: A Focused Ethnography, Jane R. Von Gaudecker 3172782758, Ann Gill Taylor, Janice M. Buelow, Sailas Benjamin, Claire B. Draucker

The Qualitative Report

Women with epilepsy in rural southern India often do not receive anti-epilepsy drugs (AEDs) or take these drugs regularly, but little is known about how they experience the epilepsy treatment they do receive. The purpose of this study was to provide an in-depth description of the treatment experiences of women in this region who had been diagnosed with epilepsy but who do not consistently take AEDs. Focused ethnography was conducted using participant observation and in-depth interviews with six women with epilepsy, eight of their family members, and two traditional healers. The women’s treatment experiences are best described as living at …


Choice Mums And Children’S Education. Does Feminism Matter? A Qualitative Study, Ana Bravo-Moreno Apr 2019

Choice Mums And Children’S Education. Does Feminism Matter? A Qualitative Study, Ana Bravo-Moreno

The Qualitative Report

The aim of this article is to analyse and compare the experiences of self-labelled feminist and non-feminist women who have consciously chosen to be single mothers. This article contributes to the literature by providing a Spanish context to the experiences of single mothers by choice. Scant research currently exists on the specific characteristics of this type of family and on the influence of gender composition. Furthermore, no research has been conducted on the comparison between feminist and non-feminist single mothers by choice and how their different perspectives may affect their children’s education. The principal argument of this paper is based …


Investigators Reflections On The Process And Experience Of A Mini-Ethnographic Case Study Research In Nigeria, Ezenwayi C. Amaechi Ph.D., Patricia I. Fusch Ph.D. Mar 2019

Investigators Reflections On The Process And Experience Of A Mini-Ethnographic Case Study Research In Nigeria, Ezenwayi C. Amaechi Ph.D., Patricia I. Fusch Ph.D.

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the investigator's reflections, both prospective and retrospective, on the process and experience of conducting a mini-ethnographic case study research in Nigeria. The research titled “Exploring barriers to women entrepreneurs in Enugu State Nigeria” was written to add to the body of knowledge on barriers facing some small-scale women entrepreneurs in the marketplaces in Nigeria. A mini-ethnographic case study design was used for this study, this methodology is a combination of ethnography and case study research that can assist a researcher to gain an in-depth understanding of a phenomenon. The data collection methods …


Putting Ethnography On The Witness Stand: Review Of Interrogating Ethnography: Why Evidence Matters, Janet K. Keeler Jan 2019

Putting Ethnography On The Witness Stand: Review Of Interrogating Ethnography: Why Evidence Matters, Janet K. Keeler

The Qualitative Report

Lawyer, historian and author Steven Lubet’s Interrogating Ethnography: Why Evidence Matters puts several well-known urban ethnographies on the figurative witness stand and finds that some don’t hold up to legal (and journalistic) scrutiny. The author encourages social science researchers to employ fact-checking techniques to increase the veracity of their work. While Lubet praises social science researchers for their altruistic missions and painstaking data collection in the field he finds follow-up research often lacking. He recognizes that ethnographers do not want to be the adversaries of marginalized subjects but believes that more rigorous vetting of data is crucial to the survival …


Social Context: A Review Of Autobiography Of A Disease, Sean N. Halpin Dec 2018

Social Context: A Review Of Autobiography Of A Disease, Sean N. Halpin

The Qualitative Report

Autobiography of Disease by Patrick Anderson thoroughly examines the author’s life threatening experience with Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) osteomyelitis. Through notes kept by the author and caregiver/mother Anderson tells an evocative ethnography as told from the perspective of MRSA itself. This complex weaving of narratives highlights how multiple social and environmental considerations interact to impact Anderson's experience with illness. This book may be of interest to anyone seeking to learn more about the social context of illness.


Un-Naming Collaboration: An Unexpected Catalyst For Understanding Participation In Critical Ethnography, Allison Anders, Joshua Diem Oct 2018

Un-Naming Collaboration: An Unexpected Catalyst For Understanding Participation In Critical Ethnography, Allison Anders, Joshua Diem

The Qualitative Report

In this article, we trace interactions with participants in two different research projects. Although the research settings were different, we focus on what the projects had in common: a commitment to collaboration, methodological training from the same faculty, and our respective decisions to turn away from labeling our work collaborative deep into each project’s development. In a narrative as chronicle, we represent ways each project unfolded and then why each of us abandoned claims of collaboration. Specifically, we share the critical positions we staked early in our research designs and the communication with participants that taught us to un-name what …


Researching The Mechanisms Of Gossip In Organizations: From Fly On The Wall To Fly In The Soup, Dominique J. Darmon Jul 2018

Researching The Mechanisms Of Gossip In Organizations: From Fly On The Wall To Fly In The Soup, Dominique J. Darmon

The Qualitative Report

In this paper, I explored how to research a sensitive topic such as gossip in organizations and used a narrative approach to illustrate the methodological and ethical issues that come up when considering a variety of research methods. I first attempted to conduct an ethnographic research on a project group from a Dutch university undergoing a major change. At the very beginning of the project, as a participant observer, I struggled to remain an outsider, or a “fly on the wall.” But as issues of power came into play and access became increasingly problematic, I moved towards the role of …


Inside And Outside Perspectives: A Review Of Invisible Asians: Korean American Adoptees, Asian American Experiences And Racial Exceptionalism, Jinsu Byun Jul 2018

Inside And Outside Perspectives: A Review Of Invisible Asians: Korean American Adoptees, Asian American Experiences And Racial Exceptionalism, Jinsu Byun

The Qualitative Report

The following is a review of the book Invisible Asians: Korean American Adoptees, Asian American Experiences and Racial Exceptionalism, written by Kim Park Nelson. In the book, the author used ethnography and collected oral histories, and critical race theory and a post-colonial approach were employed as theoretical frameworks. In particular, as not only an insider (an adoptee) but an outsider (a researcher), she maintained a well-balanced view in describing vivid lived experiences of Korean adoptees and diverse sociocultural environments that impacted them. This book would be a great guide for novice qualitative researchers who want to be ethnographers and …


A Day In The Life Of Evil, Matthew Boedy Jun 2018

A Day In The Life Of Evil, Matthew Boedy

The Qualitative Report

Evil is a well-traveled word. It is a word that finds itself in many a discussion about many a subject. And it is not just an American trend; it is used in English-language countries in various ways, some mirroring its use in the States. And because evil is such a broadly used word, its rhetorical power can best be seen in part by its rhetorical scope. This is why this ethnographic study aims to analyze the uses of evil on the English language internet over the course of a day. The day chosen was October 24, 2016, situating the analysis …


Among Wolves, Ethnography And The Immersive Study Of Power — Book Review Of A Play, Ameya Sawadkar May 2018

Among Wolves, Ethnography And The Immersive Study Of Power — Book Review Of A Play, Ameya Sawadkar

The Qualitative Report

Timothy Pachirat’s (2018) Among Wolves: Ethnography and the Immersive Study of Power is an atypical book about doing and thinking about ethnography, presented in play format. I reviewed the book as a doctoral student and novice qualitative researcher as a part of a process to explore a developing interest in ethnography. The book’s conversational format intertwined with perspective from acclaimed contemporary ethnographers’ work helps both the novice ethnographer with a worldview of what doing ethnography entails and the seasoned ethnographer in thinking about reflexivity. The academic rigor and extensive coverage of issues about power, subjectivity and fieldwork, makes it an …


A 3-Level Model Of Insider Ethnography, Andreas Giazitzoglu, Geoff Payne May 2018

A 3-Level Model Of Insider Ethnography, Andreas Giazitzoglu, Geoff Payne

The Qualitative Report

This article discusses ethnographic insiderness. After juxtaposing insider and outsider ethnography, we suggest insider-ethnography requires a more nuanced and complete discussion for it to be better understood, theoretically and practically. Accordingly, we propose a model of insider-ethnography that suggests three relative levels of ethnographic insiderness exist. We use examples from extant ethnography to substantiate our model theoretically and empirically. Our analysis occurs at a time when calls for a more reflexive understanding of ethnography exist, but reflexive analysis of insider ethnography is sparse.


The What, Where, How And Why: A Review Of Being Ethnographic: A Guide To The Theory And Practice Of Ethnography, Jetlexis Carlos Apr 2018

The What, Where, How And Why: A Review Of Being Ethnographic: A Guide To The Theory And Practice Of Ethnography, Jetlexis Carlos

The Qualitative Report

In Being Ethnographic: A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Ethnography, Raymond Madden presents ethnography in a way that is easily understood by describing real life experiences from both his own work and others working in the field. This book is a great resource to guide those who wish to conduct ethnographic research or need a learning tool to understand the underlying nature of ethnographic research. Madden links the way ethnographic research is done to how ethnographic research is thought about. It is a great introduction to the “what,” “where,” “how,” and “why” of practicing of ethnography.


Being And Naughtiness: An Account Of Being An Ethnographic-Insider Studying White, Working Class Gym-Users, Andreas Giazitzoglu Mar 2018

Being And Naughtiness: An Account Of Being An Ethnographic-Insider Studying White, Working Class Gym-Users, Andreas Giazitzoglu

The Qualitative Report

In this work, I reflexively outline my experiences of researching white, working class British male gym-users as an ethnographer. During my research process, I adhered to the definition of a level three ethnographic insider, articulated by Giazitzoglu and Payne (2018, forthcoming). Two broad questions guide this article. First, how did I managed to create a third-level insider position in the field, especially through my own embodiment and gym practices? Second, what can others learn from my experiences; particularly in relation to the practicalities of research ethics, data analysis and the emotional consequences of leaving a research-field where one has belonged?


Breaking The “Fourth Wall” In Qualitative Research: Participant-Led Digital Data Construction, Nettie Boivin, Anna Cohenmiller Mar 2018

Breaking The “Fourth Wall” In Qualitative Research: Participant-Led Digital Data Construction, Nettie Boivin, Anna Cohenmiller

The Qualitative Report

This article reconstructs the typical researcher-participant focus - where the participants are doing for us - instead we followed the participants’ lead in the construction of research. Using a qualitative literacy event case study as an example, we describe how participants unexpectedly co-constructed knowledge through a participant-led digital data collection. In this theoretical article, we provide an explanation of the original study, which used observations, semi-structured interviews, and home visits as a collective qualitative case study on parental participation in social literacy practices. The original investigation led to the important shift that occurred in participant-researcher roles. In this article, using …


Contemporary Methodological Approaches To Qualitative Research: A Review Of The Oxford Handbook Of Qualitative Methods, Dian Jordan Mar 2018

Contemporary Methodological Approaches To Qualitative Research: A Review Of The Oxford Handbook Of Qualitative Methods, Dian Jordan

The Qualitative Report

Researchers can discover the dynamism of new methods of qualitative inquiry and discover new applications for the established methods. The Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Methods (2014), edited by Patricia Leavy examines topics ranging from the politics of knowledge to researcher prejudice and bias extant in qualitative research. History, ethics, philosophy, and theoretical approaches of qualitative research are presented in a cogent manner. Topics include grounded theory, feminist research, indigenous methodologies, narrative inquiry, ethnography, case studies, oral history, content analysis, Internet research, photography and arts-based research, community-based research, qualitative disaster research, and mixed-methods. Chapters are devoted to skill-building techniques for …


A Book Review Journey Through Doing Ethnography, Katie L. Laux Feb 2018

A Book Review Journey Through Doing Ethnography, Katie L. Laux

The Qualitative Report

Giampietro Gobo and Andrea Molle describe their book, Doing Ethnography, as a recipe for cooking ethnography. In this book review, I will take you on a journey through this culinary delight. I provide an overview of the points of interest, a short description of what can be found at each location, and the benefits of the various stops on the tours. Overall, this book is an appropriate choice for novice researchers or anyone who is interested in the practice of ethnography.


Expanding Qualitative Researchers’ Worlds: A Review Of David Silverman’S Qualitative Research, Izhar Oplatka Oct 2017

Expanding Qualitative Researchers’ Worlds: A Review Of David Silverman’S Qualitative Research, Izhar Oplatka

The Qualitative Report

A collection of 26 chapters dealing with a host of topics in qualitative research (QR) under the scholarly authority of David Silverman, a putative scholar in the field of QR is to focus of my book review. While reading the book chapters I realized how colorful QR had become in recent years and how many methodologies exist today for those of us who are eager to move their research program a step further. Personally, as a qualitative researcher who has used mostly semi-structure interviews in his researches, the book challenged me to think of employing other methodologies because the world …


The Song (Does Not) Remain The Same: Re-Envisioning Portraiture Methodology In Educational Research, Spirit D. Brooks Aug 2017

The Song (Does Not) Remain The Same: Re-Envisioning Portraiture Methodology In Educational Research, Spirit D. Brooks

The Qualitative Report

This conceptual paper explores how portraiture methodology re-envisioned was used in an educational research project with white teachers. What qualifies as authentic voice and an appraisal of how portraiture and auto-ethnography hold up against the critique of voice-centered research made by Lather (2009), Mazzei and Jackson (2012a) and English (2000) are discussed in the context of the author’s personal narrative journey to the use of portraiture methodology. Next, the trail blazing methodological contribution portraiture makes by allowing an expansion of creative research methods in education is discussed.


Employing Polyethnography To Navigate Researcher Positionality On Weight Bias, Nancy Arthur, Darren E. Lund, Shelly Russell-Mayhew, Sarah Nutter, Emily Williams, Monica Sesma Vazquez, Anusha Kassan May 2017

Employing Polyethnography To Navigate Researcher Positionality On Weight Bias, Nancy Arthur, Darren E. Lund, Shelly Russell-Mayhew, Sarah Nutter, Emily Williams, Monica Sesma Vazquez, Anusha Kassan

The Qualitative Report

Researchers often focus on the content of their research interests but, depending on the research approach, may pay less attention to the process of locating themselves in relation to the research topic. This paper outlines the dialogue between an interdisciplinary team of researchers who were at the initial stages of forming a research agenda related to weight bias and social justice. Using a polyethnographic approach to guide our discussion, we sought to explore the diverse and common life experiences that influenced our professional interests for pursuing research on weight bias. As a dialogic method, polyethnography is ideally suited for the …