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Exploring Grounded Theory In Educational Research: Literature Review, Reflexivity, And Conceptual Development In Doctoral Research, Huidan Niu May 2026

Exploring Grounded Theory In Educational Research: Literature Review, Reflexivity, And Conceptual Development In Doctoral Research, Huidan Niu

The Qualitative Report

My article explores the application of grounded theory in educational research, focusing on the literature review process, reflexivity, and conceptual development. I address common misconceptions about grounded theory, especially for novice researchers, and advocate for its use as a comprehensive methodology rather than solely as a data analysis tool. Drawing on my doctoral research experience, I argue that grounded theory offers a valuable framework for fostering theoretical sensitivity and independence, making it particularly suitable for educational research. Through detailed examination, I offer novice researchers practical strategies for navigating the methodological complexities of grounded theory and for contributing conceptually robust and …


Writing As A Process Of Inquiry In Autoethnography For Meaning-Making: Reflections And Some Points For Consideration, Niroj Dahal Apr 2026

Writing As A Process Of Inquiry In Autoethnography For Meaning-Making: Reflections And Some Points For Consideration, Niroj Dahal

The Qualitative Report

This article explores writing as a process of inquiry and meaning-making in the autoethnographic tradition, offering reflections on the recursive, emergent, and dialogical/dialectical nature of writing, along with some points for consideration. Drawing on perspectives from qualitative research and narrative inquiry (Riessman, 2008), I argue that autoethnographic writing serves as a method of inquiry and/or discovery, generating ontological, epistemological, and axiological-driven cultural meaning that functions as a site of reflection, interrogation, and re-storying of lived experiences. This recursive, often messy, and reflexive act allows researchers to excavate, analyze, and interpret their lived experiences. Rather than viewing writing as a final-stage …


The Role Of Reflexivity In Collecting And Selecting Leds In A Phenomenological Study, Pilar Folgueiras, Valeria De Ormaechea, Amanda Aliende Da Matta Jan 2026

The Role Of Reflexivity In Collecting And Selecting Leds In A Phenomenological Study, Pilar Folgueiras, Valeria De Ormaechea, Amanda Aliende Da Matta

The Qualitative Report

This article addresses the methodological tension between description and interpretation in a phenomenological study on young women's political participation. The researchers explore how this tension influenced decisions about data collection and selection in applied hermeneutic phenomenology. A reflexive, meta-analytic approach is employed to examine research materials—epistemological diaries, team discussions, working documents, and researchers’ accounts—tracing how empirical material was produced and selected. Four distinct stages in the data collection process are identified and reveal how interpretative dilemmas emerged in the formulation of interview scripts, data gathering strategies, and narrative selection. The findings indicated that participants’ descriptions already contain a first level …


Towards An Embodied And Graphic Based Qualitative Sociology: Methodological Reflections On Reflexivity And Pictorial Embodiment In The Field Of Health And Illness, Alice Scavarda, Barbara Grüning Apr 2025

Towards An Embodied And Graphic Based Qualitative Sociology: Methodological Reflections On Reflexivity And Pictorial Embodiment In The Field Of Health And Illness, Alice Scavarda, Barbara Grüning

The Qualitative Report

The aim of this paper is to discuss the comicisation of qualitative sociology, i.e., the use of comics as research methods and analytical tools in sociology, drawing from case studies related to illness and neurodivergence. In the first part, we will pinpoint how comics as qualitative research methods enhance the reflexivity of sociologists themselves in the various phases of their research projects: from the definition of a case study to the choice of research and analysis techniques up to the communication of research outputs. In line with El Refaie’s (2012) concept of pictorial embodiment, we will show how producing drawn …


The Ethics Of Drawing Illness: Interdisciplinary Negotiations In A Participatory Graphic Narrative Project, Veronica Moretti, Annalisa Plava, Stefano Ratti Apr 2025

The Ethics Of Drawing Illness: Interdisciplinary Negotiations In A Participatory Graphic Narrative Project, Veronica Moretti, Annalisa Plava, Stefano Ratti

The Qualitative Report

This paper illustrates how the design of health-related comics contributes to reflecting on the methodological and ethical challenges of qualitative research. In line with Comics-Based Research (CBR), we demonstrate how creating a comic on medical topics emerges from continuous and iterative dialogue among multiple voices: patients, sociologists, artists, and physicians. On an ethical and methodological level, our study explores the creation of a comic book about pancreatic diseases with varying stages of severity and possibilities for cure and recovery. Constructing a comic in such contexts provides a new way of visualizing and understanding the illness experience. Representing traumatic memory in …


Exploring The Use Of Diary Entries For Qualitative Researchers: Mitigating Challenges When Investigating Sensitive Topics On Indian Women, Pavitra Mishra, Amit Gupta May 2024

Exploring The Use Of Diary Entries For Qualitative Researchers: Mitigating Challenges When Investigating Sensitive Topics On Indian Women, Pavitra Mishra, Amit Gupta

The Qualitative Report

This study seeks to understand the challenges encountered by qualitative researchers while investigating sensitive topics. We make a valuable contribution to the existing literature on researcher well-being and the mitigation of potential adverse incidents during data collection in studies on sensitive topics. The researchers maintained a comprehensive diary while conducting a study on the sensitive topic of work-family conflict among Indian working women. The analysis of these diary entries revealed three primary categories of challenges: (a) emotional challenges encompassing emotional sustenance, self-awareness, the element of care, building rapport, reciprocity, breaking the connection, preparing for exit, and researcher exhaustion; (b) methodological …


The Role Of Emotions In Qualitative Analysis: Researchers’ Perspectives, Hilary Lustick, Xiaoye Yang, Abeer Hakouz Apr 2024

The Role Of Emotions In Qualitative Analysis: Researchers’ Perspectives, Hilary Lustick, Xiaoye Yang, Abeer Hakouz

The Qualitative Report

Qualitative research is an inherently social and relational endeavor that relies on and engages our emotions. Yet, researchers receive little guidance on how to engage emotions without being swayed by personal biases. Lustick (2021) developed a framework called “emotion coding” for systematically engaging thoughts and emotions in qualitative data analysis by asking what a chunk of data can teach us about ourselves, our participants, and our study. In this study, we interviewed 15 researchers who had tried using the emotion coding technique, about their impressions of this technique and the role of emotion in qualitative research overall. Framed by Goffman …


My Journey In Researching Depression Among Black People: Experiences Of A Researcher In A Sensitive Study, Brightness L. Kgatla Apr 2024

My Journey In Researching Depression Among Black People: Experiences Of A Researcher In A Sensitive Study, Brightness L. Kgatla

The Qualitative Report

The interest in qualitative research on mental health within Black communities is rapidly growing. However, there are still debates on the conceptualization of depression among the Black community. This paper focuses on the researcher’s experiences as a young Black South African experiencing depression, and their reflections on interpretivist qualitative research focused on the realities of Black South African youth experiencing depression. The paper highlights the importance of reflexivity in a qualitative study and how the topics researched by a Black South African experiencing depression which is still considered a taboo within some parts of the Black community. If a researcher …


Photovoice: A Method To Interrogate Positionality And Critical Reflexivity, H. Shellae Versey Feb 2024

Photovoice: A Method To Interrogate Positionality And Critical Reflexivity, H. Shellae Versey

The Qualitative Report

Photovoice is a visual method for interrogating subjective perspectives. Rather than solely relying on investigator-developed tools, photovoice allows participants to inform research by “showing” their lived realities through photographs, resulting in a more collaborative, inclusive, and community-informed process. Though applicable to a wide range of social science research, photovoice remains relatively underutilized, especially as a tool for interrogating reflexivity. Given its power to reveal the unseen, this paper considers the potential for photovoice as a self-reflexive tool by turning the lens towards the investigator. Though typically used by the researcher to enhance transparency and navigate power differentials in community-based participatory …


On Restorative Validity: Reorienting Inquiry Toward Peace, Justice, And Healing, Giovanni P. Dazzo Feb 2024

On Restorative Validity: Reorienting Inquiry Toward Peace, Justice, And Healing, Giovanni P. Dazzo

The Qualitative Report

This work begins with a simple premise: (re)imagining a healing and restorative space for inquiry. Drawing on the work of John H. Stanfield II (2006), who first suggested the restorative functions of qualitative inquiry, this manuscript forms the basis for an axiologically-actuated conceptual model, restorative validity, which asks what it would take to (re)humanize researcher and researched alike. Beginning with the knowledge of co-researchers in our collective, the formulation of this framework was organized to understand the importance of orienting our research and ourselves toward relationships, justice, and liberation. After this review, I discuss a series of reflexive questions, rooted …


Reflection, Reflexivity, Learning And The Influence Of Formalised And Experiential Piano Training, Dorothy Li Jan 2024

Reflection, Reflexivity, Learning And The Influence Of Formalised And Experiential Piano Training, Dorothy Li

The Qualitative Report

This autoethnographic study examines how music learning is influenced by teachers and socio-cultural environments and how this influences not only our musical journeys but the way we view our lives, of the progress we have made, the goals in which we hope to achieve, and the way we perceive we will achieve them. This study explores how my musical background, understanding, learning, music-making abilities, and skills have shaped my present beliefs, attitudes and identity as a musician, educator, and researcher. Focusing on teacher pedagogy and practice, the study reveals how prevailing teacher-centred and didactic approaches to teaching impact the perspectives …


Navigating Rigor: An Autoethnographic Exploration Of Templating And Crystallization, Heather Stewart Dr, Harsh Suri, Deborah Delaney, Vishal Rana Dr Nov 2023

Navigating Rigor: An Autoethnographic Exploration Of Templating And Crystallization, Heather Stewart Dr, Harsh Suri, Deborah Delaney, Vishal Rana Dr

The Qualitative Report

In this autoethnographic exploration, we engage in a dialogic investigation to examine how templating and crystallization shape rigor in qualitative research. The use of templates in qualitative research has been widely used as a means of enhancing rigor in organizational research design yet comes with caveats especially when wanting to push boundaries. With the interplay of templates and crystallization, the researcher is encouraged to apply iterative and reflexive modes. The aim here is to inspire and invite researchers to pursue the multiplicity offered by qualitative methodologies and expand the discipline through authentic, trustworthy, and credible approaches. To explore the development …


The Case For Computational Competence And Transversal Skills: Using Digital Tools And Spaces For Qualitative Research, Elizabeth M. Pope, António Pedro Costa Oct 2023

The Case For Computational Competence And Transversal Skills: Using Digital Tools And Spaces For Qualitative Research, Elizabeth M. Pope, António Pedro Costa

The Qualitative Report

When digital tools or spaces are involved in the design and implementation of qualitative research projects, the researcher is faced with the need to develop another type of competence, computational. Digital tools and spaces are growing avenues which facilitate data collection and analysis in new ways, such as through online surveys, videoconferencing platforms, social media sites, and qualitative data analysis software (QDAS). To utilize these tools, researchers need both computational competence and transversal skills. These skills allow the researcher (or research team) to transfer their knowledge of designing and implementing qualitative research to the digital realm, assuring trustworthiness and ethical …


Knowing Me, Knowing Them: Using Penned Illustrations With Known Participants, Lewis Barrett-Rodger, Sally Goldspink, Hilary Engward Aug 2023

Knowing Me, Knowing Them: Using Penned Illustrations With Known Participants, Lewis Barrett-Rodger, Sally Goldspink, Hilary Engward

The Qualitative Report

In practice-based studies, participants are often known to the researcher as part of their professional realm. This can result in the researcher bringing preconceptions of the participants to the study, which may influence the findings. In this paper, we demonstrate how researchers can utilise reflexivity and imaginative curiosity to expose often unconsidered presuppositions about such participants using penned illustrations. We suggest that penned illustrations of known participants should be undertaken to unpack preconceptions of the known participants creatively and imaginatively. This paper provides an applied demonstration of how penned illustrations can be used in a hermeneutic phenomenological study, along with …


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 …


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.


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.


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 …


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 …


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 …


“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.


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 …


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 …


Into The Depths Of Reflexivity And Back Again—When Research Mirrors Personal Experience: A Personal Journey Into The Spaces Of Liminality, Katherine Janzen Aug 2016

Into The Depths Of Reflexivity And Back Again—When Research Mirrors Personal Experience: A Personal Journey Into The Spaces Of Liminality, Katherine Janzen

The Qualitative Report

The context of this paper surrounds my Master’s thesis which was written in 2010 related to recovering crack cocaine addicted mothers who had lost custody of their children. Every qualitative thesis has a story attached to it—an impetus for engaging in the research. When the research combines sensitive topics and the research mirrors the experience of the researcher, decisions must be made considering the research processes and methods. This paper explores the reflexive processes that were employed in the 10 months preceding taking my first thesis course. Using the preface of my reflexive journal as data, three themes arose from …


A Reflexive Eye On A Collaborative Action Research Project In School, Kitt Lyngsnes Feb 2016

A Reflexive Eye On A Collaborative Action Research Project In School, Kitt Lyngsnes

The Qualitative Report

This article presents a reflexive analysis of a collaborative action research project based on the “Nordic tradition” of action research. In this project I, in the role of researcher, worked with a team of four teachers in a Norwegian primary/lower secondary school to develop teaching practice focused on students’ learning. I have retrospectively analysed data from my research diary, meetings and interviews. The article describes how the collaboration and the relationship between the teacher team and the researcher developed, and how this process contributed to the teachers’ professional development. The results shed light on the complexity of teacher- researcher- relationships, …


Qualitative Researcher Reflexivity: A Follow-Up Study With Female Sexual Assault Survivors, Stephanie Hoover, Susan L. Morrow Sep 2015

Qualitative Researcher Reflexivity: A Follow-Up Study With Female Sexual Assault Survivors, Stephanie Hoover, Susan L. Morrow

The Qualitative Report

Motivated by researcher reflexivity, the author sought to learn from participants about the sensitive, ethical issues of the qualitative research process. The current study followed up with eight women who had previously participated in an interview-based study about sexual assault disclosure. Multiple sources of qualitative data were triangulated, including interviews, follow-up interviews, interviews from the original study, and participant checks. Phenomenological analysis yielded five themes: (a) Meaning of Participation, (b) Trust in the Researcher, (c) Connection with the Other Participants, (d) Changing Comfort, and (e) Recommendations to Increase Participants’ Comfort. Based on these results, recommendations are provided for researchers conducting …


Catching The “Tail/Tale” Of Teaching Qualitative Inquiry To Novice Researchers, Thalia M. Mulvihill, Raji Swaminatha, Lucy C. Bailey Sep 2015

Catching The “Tail/Tale” Of Teaching Qualitative Inquiry To Novice Researchers, Thalia M. Mulvihill, Raji Swaminatha, Lucy C. Bailey

The Qualitative Report

This article responds to the call for deeper examination of qualitative inquiry teaching practices by presenting representative examples from the pedagogies of three teacher-educators who have taught Qualitative Research Methods courses for the past 15 years. We focus in particular on the pedagogical complexities of teaching data analysis, which is a topic that remains under-theorized and under-represented in contemporary scholarship on qualitative methodologies. Using a critical friends framework, we analyze and synthesize our pedagogical responses to key dilemmas we have encountered in our respective contexts, all state universities, to introducing qualitative inquiry to novice researchers who often enter the analytic …


Caught In The Middle: Chat(Ting) About Black School Leaders, Demetricia L. Hodges Dec 2014

Caught In The Middle: Chat(Ting) About Black School Leaders, Demetricia L. Hodges

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of this article is to “chat” about my experience using Eurocentric theories in racial and culturally centered qualitative inquiry. The challenge I face is that I believe researchers can use Eurocentric theories to conceptualize ‘appropriate’ frameworks to conduct rigorous culturally responsible and sensitive research that contributes to existing scholarly dialogue and empirical literature on culturally sensitive designs in the field of qualitative research. In this paper I use my research experience to address the question, “How can researcher(s) conduct culturally responsible and sensitive research?” I use autoethnography and writing as a method of inquiry to (re)present the multi-layers …


Cultural Proximity And Reflexivity In Interpreting Transnational Media Texts: The Case Of Malaysians Consuming Japanese Popular Culture, Eriko Yamato Nov 2014

Cultural Proximity And Reflexivity In Interpreting Transnational Media Texts: The Case Of Malaysians Consuming Japanese Popular Culture, Eriko Yamato

The Qualitative Report

Television programs such as animation and drama series from Japan have become common transnational products in Malaysia. Since studies on Malaysians who consume Japanese popular culture are lacking even a decade after its substantial rise in popularity, this qualitative study was designed to explore the media consumption of Japanese popular culture in Malaysia. In this article I examined how Malaysians are interpreting their favorite media texts from Japan specifically revisiting the concepts of “cultural proximity” and “reflexivity” suggested in the other studies of Japanese popular culture and the audience. I conducted in-depth interviews with 12 participants who have been consuming …