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Rigor And Reliability Of Qualitative Research Conducted In Various Languages: Fundamentals And Their Application, Shweta Jain Verma Dr., Puja Gulati, Vishav Kumar Dhiman, Jeyaraj Durai Pandian Mar 2023

Rigor And Reliability Of Qualitative Research Conducted In Various Languages: Fundamentals And Their Application, Shweta Jain Verma Dr., Puja Gulati, Vishav Kumar Dhiman, Jeyaraj Durai Pandian

The Qualitative Report

Lack of a common language between researcher and participants, especially when participants speak different languages, complicates and makes the qualitative research process more difficult. Since language is the vehicle through which meaning is eventually communicated to the reader, interpretation and translation are essential to qualitative research. The researcher must adopt the principal tenets of cross language research to extrapolate the knowledge to all the spheres for a methodologically reliable and valid framework that is culturally sensitive in this situation. The purpose of the article is to acquaint qualitative researchers, including physician-researchers, with the fundamentals of qualitative study being carried out …


On The Outside Looking In: Difficulties In Obtaining The Opinions Of Muslim Religious Leaders’ Views On Domestic Violence Experienced By Married Muslim Women, Muhammed Suleman Dr Jan 2023

On The Outside Looking In: Difficulties In Obtaining The Opinions Of Muslim Religious Leaders’ Views On Domestic Violence Experienced By Married Muslim Women, Muhammed Suleman Dr

The Qualitative Report

In this paper I discuss the difficulties I faced in getting access to respondents in a qualitative study on the opinions of Muslim religious leaders on domestic violence experienced by Muslim married women. This in turn highlighted the need for me to reflect carefully on my own assumptions about my insider status and take into account how prospective participants identify me as a researcher. For the study on which I am reflecting, I chose an interpretive research paradigm which falls under the umbrella of qualitative research. This research paradigm was necessary as it places emphasis on context and nuanced meanings …


Hiv-Seropositive Patients’ Experiences With Social Workers: A South African Hiv+ Social Worker’S Reflective Log, Delarise Maud Mulqueeny Dec 2022

Hiv-Seropositive Patients’ Experiences With Social Workers: A South African Hiv+ Social Worker’S Reflective Log, Delarise Maud Mulqueeny

The Qualitative Report

Social workers play a pivotal role in HIV-seropositive patients’ treatment and care within South African public antiretroviral treatment (ART) programs. This article is a reflective log of an HIV-seropositive social worker’s observations and reflections on her positionality during a study on HIV-seropositive patients’ experiences of the public ART program in eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The primary investigator (PI) utilized various tools and techniques including reflexive bracketing, participatory action research and a reflexive diary to navigate a sensitive study. This was while being cognizant of the fluidity of her insider/outsider positionality. The disclosure of the PI’s HIV-seropositive status culminated in all …


Crossing The Gender Chasm For Productive Field Engagement, Raghunandan Reddy Dec 2022

Crossing The Gender Chasm For Productive Field Engagement, Raghunandan Reddy

The Qualitative Report

The paper aims to demonstrate that while researcher’s background could be a factor in gaining access to research participants and to the organization, other elements like trustworthiness, reflexivity, and engaged participant listening help in overcoming gender barriers in interviewing the research participants. This paper is a reflexive account of field experience as a part of doctoral research aimed at establishing that not only could gender barriers to access to research participants be overcome, but also that a gender-outsider positionality offers insights into women’s workplace experiences that are shaped through the discourses and practices of managerialism. The field experience highlighted the …


Negotiating The Insider/Outsider Researcher Position Within Qualitative Disability Studies Research, Elizabeth C. Mohler Ms, Debbie Rudman Jun 2022

Negotiating The Insider/Outsider Researcher Position Within Qualitative Disability Studies Research, Elizabeth C. Mohler Ms, Debbie Rudman

The Qualitative Report

The subjectivity of qualitative researchers can be a contribution to qualitative research which at the same time requires commitment to on-going critical reflexivity regarding one’s positionality. More specifically, we address how to navigate the possibility that researcher subjectivity can culminate in role-confusion when the researcher is highly familiar with the research setting or research participants, when positioned as an “insider.” We do this by adopting a critical paradigm approach that investigates the efficacy of “unlearning” as a strategy for challenging one’s assumptions as a researcher, particularly those assumptions that challenge the co-construction of knowledge that extends from research presuppositions. Drawing …


Soundtracking: Method(Ological) Development Via Intuitive Feminist Inquiry, Maria P. Rybicki-Newman, Earle Reybold Apr 2022

Soundtracking: Method(Ological) Development Via Intuitive Feminist Inquiry, Maria P. Rybicki-Newman, Earle Reybold

The Qualitative Report

How does one be different, methodologically, and/or socially without being ignored, invalidated, or even erased? This is a conundrum for qualitative researchers who are with tasked with valuing difference within socio-political education systems fixed on ideas of truth, rightness, and validity. To explore these tensions, we provide an authentic and transparent illustration of how intuition, an often-invalidated way of knowing, instigated the development of a novel method(ology), soundtracking. Proceeding from an embodied, engaged feminist perspective, we re-conceptualized reflexive praxis as critical, compassionate, and actionable. We explored method(ological) development via layered reflexivity: self, epistemological witness, and social contexts. Through our inquiry …


Studying South African Black Gay Men’S Experiences: A First-Time Researcher’S Experience Of Reflexivity In A Qualitative Feminist Study, Tshepo B. Maake Dec 2021

Studying South African Black Gay Men’S Experiences: A First-Time Researcher’S Experience Of Reflexivity In A Qualitative Feminist Study, Tshepo B. Maake

The Qualitative Report

Qualitative research on gay experiences in South African society is slowly gaining momentum. However, it is accompanied by serious ethical implications and positionality dilemmas that should be considered in carrying out such research. Black gay researchers’ discussions of reflexivity in research that focuses on gay identities and realities in South Africa remain minimal. This paper focuses on a first-time gay male researcher’s experience of being reflexive in a qualitative feminist study on the realities of Black gay men in mining workplaces. It highlights the importance of reflexivity and how it is enacted by a gay researcher who studies a gay …


Qualitative Insider Research In A Government Institution: Reflections On A Study Of Policy Capacity, Bobby Cameron Nov 2021

Qualitative Insider Research In A Government Institution: Reflections On A Study Of Policy Capacity, Bobby Cameron

The Qualitative Report

Embarking on a qualitative Ph.D. research project in public administration is often daunting for novice researchers. For those students who consider adopting an emic or insider approach for their research, the ethical, methodological, and analytical challenges that lay ahead may seem insurmountable at times. In this article, I reflect on my experience as a Ph.D. student completing qualitative research with my colleagues to study policy capacity in a provincial government in Canada. I review how I constructed an ethical framework by integrating policy from Research Ethics Boards and government. Throughout the article, I deal primarily with ethical considerations and the …


Informing Without Conforming: Applying Two Frameworks To Enrich Autoethnography, Annmarie Dull Nov 2021

Informing Without Conforming: Applying Two Frameworks To Enrich Autoethnography, Annmarie Dull

The Qualitative Report

This article explores my experiences using two frameworks to guide the design, implementation and reporting of an autoethnography. I used Hughes, Pennington, and Makris’ (2012) framework for translating autoethnography to the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Standards for reporting empirical research to inform the structure, design, and process for the autoethnography, and Milner’s (2007) framework for researchers to examine seen, unseen, and unforeseen dangers to guide my reflection, support reflexivity, and examine the development of a dynamic positionality. In this article, I illustrate how using these frameworks enhanced the rigor and reflexivity of my autoethnographic research.


Navigating Methodological Concerns At The Data Collection Stage: Lessons From A Qualitative Indian-Irish Adoption Study, Sahana Mitra Dr., Valerie O'Brien Dr. Aug 2021

Navigating Methodological Concerns At The Data Collection Stage: Lessons From A Qualitative Indian-Irish Adoption Study, Sahana Mitra Dr., Valerie O'Brien Dr.

The Qualitative Report

This paper was written to describe the experiences of the researchers in designing cross-cultural research on the culturally sensitive topic of adoptive parenthood, a field in which there is a dearth of literature. Taking the experience and examples from an Indian-Irish study on domestic adoptive parenthood, the paper details the steps as to how the researchers used their own relationship with adoption, and the different cultural contexts to which they belonged, as a starting point in designing and implementing this research. The discussion utilizes a conceptual framework involving insider-outsider positioning, reflexivity and five philosophical assumptions (ontology, epistemology, methodology, axiology, and …


Conducting Field Work With Microfinance Programs’ Participants In A Non-Western Setting: A Reflexive Account, Mohammad Shahjahan Chowdhury Jul 2021

Conducting Field Work With Microfinance Programs’ Participants In A Non-Western Setting: A Reflexive Account, Mohammad Shahjahan Chowdhury

The Qualitative Report

While volumes of procedural guidelines are available on how to conduct fieldwork, in practice a researcher encounters various challenges and dilemmas in the field. This paper presents a holistic view of the puzzles this researcher encountered in gaining access, negotiating positionality, application of the pre-determined methodology, and ensuring ethics during his fieldwork with microfinance program participants in a non-Western setting. This paper contributes to the fieldwork literature by enhancing a researcher’s understanding of the unanticipated challenges.


Reflexivity Through A Yoga Class Experience: Preparing For My Health Promotion Without Borders Excursion To Mongolia, Shelby L. Deibert, Stephen D. Ritchie, Bruce Oddson, Ginette Michel, Emily J. Tetzlaff May 2021

Reflexivity Through A Yoga Class Experience: Preparing For My Health Promotion Without Borders Excursion To Mongolia, Shelby L. Deibert, Stephen D. Ritchie, Bruce Oddson, Ginette Michel, Emily J. Tetzlaff

The Qualitative Report

In this paper, I (S. L. Deibert) share my story of discovering the relationship between reflexivity, autoethnography, and yoga through a meaningful experience. Yoga has been an important influence on my physical and mental well-being for over a decade, but I did not consider its implications in my academic life until I was asked to write a reflexive assignment for a course. The task was exploring who I am in connection to my master’s thesis project; the challenge was finding a starting point for my reflexive journey of self-discovery. Frustrated by the latter, I turned to yoga for refuge; instead …


External Disruptions To Qualitative Data Collection: Addressing Risks Relating To Brexit And Researcher-Participant Rapport, Shukru Esmene, Nick Kirsop-Taylor Mar 2021

External Disruptions To Qualitative Data Collection: Addressing Risks Relating To Brexit And Researcher-Participant Rapport, Shukru Esmene, Nick Kirsop-Taylor

The Qualitative Report

In this paper we present the importance of detailing the contextual conditions of a qualitative study to highlight any potential participant-researcher tensions. We emphasize the importance of understanding context in rich detail to expose societal complexities while maintaining positive participant-research rapport. Through two cases, this paper considers that bracketing, reflexivity, and transparency can be applied to form appropriate strategies to deal with external disruptions to qualitative fieldwork. The cases draw on Brexit’s impact on two studies conducted in the United Kingdom. In so doing, we argue that time, relevance, and the individuals involved can coalesce to express varied influences on …


Negotiating With Gatekeepers: Reflexivity In Exploring Turkish Men’S Engagement In Domestic Violence Perpetrator Interventions In The Uk, Zeynep Turhan Phd, Claudia Bernard Phd Aug 2020

Negotiating With Gatekeepers: Reflexivity In Exploring Turkish Men’S Engagement In Domestic Violence Perpetrator Interventions In The Uk, Zeynep Turhan Phd, Claudia Bernard Phd

The Qualitative Report

This article explores methodological and ethical challenges and complexities in negotiating access with gatekeepers in research that examines Turkish perpetrators’ engagement in domestic violence interventions in the UK. This research presents the examples and conceptual information about the process of working with gatekeepers based on the sensitive research topic. This paper draws on the first author’s own experiences and the emotional impact of undertaking such sensitive research where community leaders held patriarchal beliefs. It also argues that there are challenges in building trust and rapport with gatekeepers which are related to gender power relations; stigmatisation in the community; ideologies around …


“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 …


Confronting Shifting Identities: Reflections On Subjectivity In Transnational Research, Jiyoung Kang Apr 2020

Confronting Shifting Identities: Reflections On Subjectivity In Transnational Research, Jiyoung Kang

The Qualitative Report

As researchers’ identities impact the research process, researchers need to take a reflexive stance toward their positionality in the research. The issue of positionality is especially important for research focusing on multicultural issues, which necessarily involves dynamic power relations among different racial/ethnic groups. Drawing from reflections on my research focusing on South Korean adolescents’ understandings of migrants, this paper illustrates when and how I confronted my positionality. My positionality as a racial/ethnic minority in the United States affected the process of selecting the research topic and the theoretical framework as well as analyzing interview data while my positionality as an …


A Research Tapestry: Stories Woven Into Stories, Laura Colket Mar 2020

A Research Tapestry: Stories Woven Into Stories, Laura Colket

The Qualitative Report

This autoethnography highlights the subjective nature of narrative research and illustrates the ways in which both micro and macro forces impact the research process. Through this article, I present a research tapestry in which the experiences, perspectives and stories of the participants weave together with my own experiences, perspectives and stories. I draw from my dissertation research, a narrative inquiry focused on the experiences of Haitian educational leaders working to create systemic change after the 2010 earthquake.


Contemplating Reflexivity As A Practice Of Authenticity In Autoethnographic Research, Adam Wiesner Mar 2020

Contemplating Reflexivity As A Practice Of Authenticity In Autoethnographic Research, Adam Wiesner

The Qualitative Report

This personal narrative shares a perspective of a non-binary trans qualitative writer who engages in the reflexive practice of evolutionary astrology. The author focuses on vulnerable, healing and therapeutic aspects of autoethnographic writing, and his quest for being authentic while dealing with difficult emotions related to his “misfit feeling” when crossing the boundary lines within Slovak academia.


Life Is Like A Box Of Derwents - An Autoethnography Colouring In The Life Of Child Sexual Abuse, Karen D. Barley Ms Feb 2020

Life Is Like A Box Of Derwents - An Autoethnography Colouring In The Life Of Child Sexual Abuse, Karen D. Barley Ms

The Qualitative Report

This autoethnographic study contains vignettes from my life of unrelated but interconnected experiences of sexual abuse which profoundly impacted my life through moments of epiphanous transformation. I am using my voice as the researcher and researched to write authentically and evocatively as a way of truth telling about a difficult subject. This autoethnography invites you to walk in the shoes of myself as the storyteller and for that reason the vignettes are deliberately provocative and expose aspects of my life that have previously been hidden. The vignettes weave together stories that have had a profound impact on me which eventually …


Finding A Good Book To Live In: A Reflective Autoethnography On Childhood Sexual Abuse, Literature And The Epiphany, Karen D. Barley Ms Feb 2020

Finding A Good Book To Live In: A Reflective Autoethnography On Childhood Sexual Abuse, Literature And The Epiphany, Karen D. Barley Ms

The Qualitative Report

The topic of Childhood Sexual Abuse (CSA) remains a prevalent issue globally and despite the best efforts of welfare organisations, it would seem that as a society we are no closer to a resolution. CSA is a topic that is discussed in vague terms, but the real impact of CSA on the child is rarely divulged, except behind closed doors. This autoethnographic study traces the life and experiences of CSA of the author and how she used literature and writing as a coping mechanism. Using this powerful methodological tool, the author has been able to expose the implications of the …


Using Emphasis-Purposeful Sampling-Phenomenon Of Interest–Context (Eppic) Framework To Reflect On Two Qualitative Research Designs And Questions: A Reflective Process, Michael E. Kalu Oct 2019

Using Emphasis-Purposeful Sampling-Phenomenon Of Interest–Context (Eppic) Framework To Reflect On Two Qualitative Research Designs And Questions: A Reflective Process, Michael E. Kalu

The Qualitative Report

A satisfactory research question often signifies the beginning point for many researchers. While this can be true for quantitative studies because of pre-defined research questions, qualitative research questions undergo series of revisions through a reflective process. This reflective process provides the framework for the subjectivity associated with qualitative inquiry. The continuous iterative reflective process is an essential component for developing qualitative research questions that correspond with the various qualitative study designs. Although qualitative inquiry is term exclusively subjective, there is a need to use a framework in developing qualitative research questions. The Emphasis- Purposeful sampling- Phenomenon of interest – Context …


Examining Researcher Identity Development Within The Context Of A Course On Par: A Layered Narrative Approach, Meagan Call-Cummings, Melissa Hauber-Özer, Giovanni Dazzo Sep 2019

Examining Researcher Identity Development Within The Context Of A Course On Par: A Layered Narrative Approach, Meagan Call-Cummings, Melissa Hauber-Özer, Giovanni Dazzo

The Qualitative Report

In this paper we explore the ways in which a group of doctoral students grapples with the epistemology of participatory action research (PAR) in relation to their own personal and professional identities and research agendas while taking a course on PAR. As a professor of research methodology and two doctoral students, we examine the entangled and often hidden processes of teaching and learning PAR in order to identify experiences or events that seem to prompt or deepen novice scholars’ understanding and foster confidence in their ability to enact the methodology themselves. Through analysis of participants’ course journals as a type …


“Listen To Your Gut”: A Reflexive Approach To Data Analysis, Nicole Brown Apr 2019

“Listen To Your Gut”: A Reflexive Approach To Data Analysis, Nicole Brown

The Qualitative Report

Over the last two decades qualitative research has seen significant shifts towards the narrative, reflexive and creative. And yet, analytical frameworks do not seem to have stayed abreast of these developments. Using research into the construction of identity under the influence of fibromyalgia as an example, this paper seeks to exemplify a reflexive approach to data analysis that accounts for the researcher’s positionality as well as the increasingly untraditional, unconventional data stemming from creative data collection methods. The paper provides insight into data analysis and reflexivity and offers two practical examples of reflexive data analysis—an illustrated poem and an installation. …


Charting Our Course: A Review Of Stephen Andrew’S Searching For An Autoethnographic Ethic, Janie Copple Mar 2019

Charting Our Course: A Review Of Stephen Andrew’S Searching For An Autoethnographic Ethic, Janie Copple

The Qualitative Report

This review critiques Stephen Andrew’s proposed method for applying ethical guidelines to autoethnographic research. Andrew argues that although extant autoethnographic literature attends to a variety of ethical considerations (i.e., relational ethics, reflexivity in research, tools for ethical writing), explicit analytical guidelines are lacking. Using excerpts from personal autoethnographies, Andrew illustrates his conception for an autoethnographic ethic leaving readers with practical tools and resonant narratives.


Nine Rules Of Engagement: Reflections On Reflexivity, Thomas Owren Feb 2019

Nine Rules Of Engagement: Reflections On Reflexivity, Thomas Owren

The Qualitative Report

Wishing to be reflexive, to critically examine our assumptions, is easy. Doing it is less so. For researchers doing a study in their own professional field, it represents a particular challenge. In this essay, I explore this challenge using my own study as exemplar. I am researching workplace inclusion of workers with intellectual disability. As a professional, I have worked with and for people with intellectual disability for many years. The knowledge I bring to my inquiry – about the inabilities, vulnerabilities and needs ascribed to persons labelled thus – is deeply entrenched in common culture, as well as in …


One-Sentence, One-Word: An Innovative Data Collection Method To Enhance Exploration Of The Lived Experiences, Shannon L. Sibbald, Dylan Brennan, Aleksandra Zecevic Dec 2018

One-Sentence, One-Word: An Innovative Data Collection Method To Enhance Exploration Of The Lived Experiences, Shannon L. Sibbald, Dylan Brennan, Aleksandra Zecevic

The Qualitative Report

Experienced-based methods are growing in popularity and are increasingly being utilized in a variety of research programs and investigations. They enable researchers and participants to co-design research strategies and outcomes and subsequently propose solutions to potential problems in the partnership. By applying an experience-based methods lens, we sought to augment traditional qualitative interviewing methodologies by using a novel method we named “one-sentence, one-word” (1S1W). To apply our 1S1W method, we used a phenomenological study that examined the relationship between the risk of falling and the desire of master athletes to engage in competitive sports. Participants reflected and recorded their subjective …


Reflecting On The Book Of Alvesson And Skoldberg’ Reflexive Methodology: New Insights And Its Importance In Qualitative Studies, Jude L. Tayaben Oct 2018

Reflecting On The Book Of Alvesson And Skoldberg’ Reflexive Methodology: New Insights And Its Importance In Qualitative Studies, Jude L. Tayaben

The Qualitative Report

In this book review, I explicate the importance of reflexive methodology in any qualitative studies. Bearing the standards, process and expected outcomes in applying the levels and principles in your study. I was able to grasp the significant methods of doing this whatever the philosophical underpinnings in once qualitative journey. The authors introduced four elements in reflexive research in details: systematic and techniques in research procedures; clarification of the primacy of interpretation; awareness of the political- ideological character of research; reflection in relation to the problem of representation and authority. In so doing this method will surely lead us on …


Treating Resistance As Data In Qualitative Interviews, Dimitra Kizlari, Kalliopi Fouseki Aug 2018

Treating Resistance As Data In Qualitative Interviews, Dimitra Kizlari, Kalliopi Fouseki

The Qualitative Report

Scientific interviews provide a useful resource for qualitative researchers studying people’s perceptions on contemporary phenomena. This article contributes to the large body of literature on qualitative interviews by investigating a rather common but under-reported pattern in interviews, that of resistance. Resistance is a form of power that the participant maintains and can exercise at any moment. The phenomenon knows various expressions from a refusal on the side of the participant to sign the consent form to question dodging or embellished accounts. Two case studies are used to underpin the basic argument that resistance in interviews may be a valuable finding …


On Being A Teacher-Ethnographer: Nestling The Ethical And Logistical Dilemmas Among The Joys Of Insiderness, Miriam Hamilton Sep 2017

On Being A Teacher-Ethnographer: Nestling The Ethical And Logistical Dilemmas Among The Joys Of Insiderness, Miriam Hamilton

The Qualitative Report

This paper relates to an ethnographic study of a group of eighteen-year-old girls, in their final school year, in a secondary school in Ireland. The ethnography explored social class and gender discourses that presented in the girls’ various relationships in the school and in broader peer culture. This paper outlines the methodological phenomena I experienced as the ethnographic researcher and a teacher in the school. In this paper, I explore my insider positionality as a teacher-ethnographer from perspectives such as: access, ethics, power and relationships, within the specific context of this girls’ Catholic school in Ireland. The paper makes a …


Reflexivity In Qualitative Research: A Journey Of Learning, Erlinda C. Palaganas, Marian C. Sanchez, Ma. Visitacion P. Molintas, Ruel D. Caricativo Feb 2017

Reflexivity In Qualitative Research: A Journey Of Learning, Erlinda C. Palaganas, Marian C. Sanchez, Ma. Visitacion P. Molintas, Ruel D. Caricativo

The Qualitative Report

Conducting research, more so, fieldwork, changes every researcher in many ways. This paper shares the various reflexivities – the journeys of learning – that we underwent as field researchers. Here, we share the changes brought about to ourselves, as a result of the research process, and how these changes have affected the research process. It highlights the journey of discovering how we, as researchers, shaped and how we were shaped by the research process and outputs. All these efforts were done in our attempts to discover and understand various social phenomena and issues such as poverty, development, gender, migration, and …