Social Statistics Commons^™

Application Of A Case Study Methodology, Winston M. Tellis

The Qualitative Report

In the preceding article (Tellis, 1997), the goals and objectives were presented and explained in detail. In this article, the methodology to accomplish those goals and objectives will be examined. The reader will become familiar with the specific techniques that are used in the current study, and supported by the literature that was reviewed in the previous article. That methodology will follow the recommendation of Yin (1994) and has four stages: Design the case study, Conduct the case study, Analyze the case study evidence, and Develop the conclusions, recommendations and implications. The article begins with an introduction, that includes some …

Organizational And Developmental Dynamics Of Project Review Teams In Technology Environment, Anthony D. Wilbon

The Qualitative Report

This paper is the result of a week long participant observation of a technical project review team within a large organization. A detailed log was maintained during the study and the results were analyzed to understand the relationship of the observations to prior research in organizational dynamics. Some of the existing literature implies that the current research on organizational development may be applicable to entities of various sizes. In some cases the observations from this research fell within the framework of the existing theories. However, alterations must be made to the current theories to apply specifically to small work groups …

Keeping Things Plumb In Qualitative Research, Ronald J. Chenail

The Qualitative Report

As qualitative research projects are conceptualized and conducted, they can grow out of alignment as researchers make choices as to their Area of Curiosity, Mission Question, Data Collected, and Data Analysis. This phenomenon of being muddled is a natural, and sometimes necessary, part of the overall process. The important part of being in a muddle is to recognize it and to work to tidy it up. In this paper, a way to keep qualitative research projects plumb is presented. A case study is also shared to show how one project was found to be out of alignment and how it …

Multi-Visual Qualitative Method: Observing Social Groups In Mass Media, George Tsourvakas

The Qualitative Report

In reviewing the bibliography upon which qualitative method is based, the author refers to ethnography, ethnomethdology, symbolic interactionism and cultural studies, and argues that a combination of the qualitative methods is actually possible. To enforce his point, he gives the example of research that was recently conducted about the National Television Channel of Greece. Moreover, through the theoretical review, he asserts that the application of all qualitative methods is a way to transfer ourselves from observation to focusing and depth interviews. He believes that such an application can be really effective while collecting data as well as while analyzing and …

European Politics Of Citizenship, Juan M. Delgado-Moreira

The Qualitative Report

During the past five years, the European Union has been trying to sponsor a coming of age of European Identity awareness across national borders. In doing so, EU administration intends to square the circle of European Union as the super nation-state of the nation states of Europe. However prompted or justified by the political or economic context, it is noteworthy to what extent the texts of European statutes and policies lack theoretical alternatives to the territorial and relatively homogeneous state. In order for it not to become a threat perceived by the population in identity terms, the apparently forthcoming idea …

Understanding Qualitative Research: A Review Of Judith Meloy's Writing The Qualitative Dissertation: Understanding By Doing, Teresa J. Bowen

The Qualitative Report

No abstract provided.

Can Sociological Research Be Qualitative, Critical And Valid?, David Wainwright

The Qualitative Report

Qualitative Research is enjoying a new found respectability in medical sociology, derived in part from an increasing willingness to submit to positivist criteria of reliability and validity. Whilst such claims to 'scientific' credibility have raised the status of the approach, this has only been achieved by driving a wedge between ethnographic methods of data-collection and their origins in the phenomenological strands of sociological thought. One consequence of this schism has been to rob qualitative research of its critical potential, transforming it from a means of challenging discursive formations into a mechanism of surveillance. This paper defines the broad contours of …

Interviewing Exercises: Lessons From Family Therapy, Ronald J. Chenail

The Qualitative Report

Interviewing has become a widely used means for data generation in qualitative research. It is also a popular approach for counselors and therapists in their qualitative research projects. A major reason qualitative research-style interviewing is a favored technique with researching clinicians is that it is so similar to the way in which counselors and therapists interact with their clients in therapy sessions. Given this closeness in form, it would make sense that some of the ways therapists are taught to interview could be adapted to help beginning qualitative researchers learn interviewing skills as well. In this paper, three sets of …

Introduction To Case Study, Winston M. Tellis

The Qualitative Report

This paper is the first of a series of three articles relating to a case study conducted at Fairfield University to assess aspects of the rapid introduction of Information Technology at the institution. This article deals with the nature of the problem faced by Fairfield University, the characteristics of the case methodology, and lays the foundation for the selection of this research technique for the current study. The paper begins with an Introduction section to familiarize the reader with the case organization. The following section on Case Methodology explores the history, and some of the applications of the technique. The …

Choice Points:Creating Clinical Qualitative Research Studies, Paul V. Maione

The Qualitative Report

Today, more psychotherapists are seeing the utility of studying their own and others' therapeutic work. With the growing popularity and acceptance of qualitative methods, the research process takes on special significance for the clinician/researcher. Using qualitative methodologies, therapists can conduct studies that are immediately relevant to their therapeutic work. In this paper, I discuss eight decisions or "choice points" clinician/researchers face when conducting clinical qualitative research studies. The choices I discuss are not all inclusive, yet they are representative of the choices most clinical qualitative projects required.

Chaos In The Clinic:Applications Of Choas Theory To A Qualitative Study Of A Veterinary Practice, Eleanor Craven Brennan

The Qualitative Report

This paper is the result of a twelve hour participant observation study of a local, private veterinary practice in southeastern Pennsylvania. Field notes and semi-structured interviews, the result of naturally occurring conversation between me and practice members, were taken over a twelve week period, one hour of site visit each week. Using a grounded theory methodology, categories of social interaction among veterinarians, veterinary technicians, clerical staff, owners and animal clients were assembled, discarded and re-assembled. The resulting categories were analyzed using the conceptual framework of chaos theory and the principles of uncertainty. It appears that the most striking feature of …

Sensemaking In Clinical Qualitative Research, Ronald J. Chenail, Paul V. Maione

The Qualitative Report

When therapists research clinical populations or situations from a qualitative research perspective, their task is different from when researchers conduct their own clinical qualitative studies. With researchers, the study at hand may be their first time "in the field." For researchers in this situation it is easier to use qualitative methods such as grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) because there is a "tabula rasa" quality to this initial foray into the "unknown" as a theory from observations is constructed anew. In the case of the therapists-as-qualitative-researchers, clinicians already have made some sort of sense of "the other" by virtue …

Welfare Reform: The Positioning Of Academic Work, Carolyn I. Steele, Cynthia Wallat

The Qualitative Report

Current welfare reform legislation raises a number of questions about how the field of human services will broaden its analytical and educational functions in a context of uncertainty about what welfare will look like in the years to come. How can information and insights about the distribution of welfare dollars and the process of leaving welfare by a heterogeneous population of clients become the basis of contrastive analysis? We describe information sources which can provide a framework for positioning academic work to use longitudinal quantitative tracking sources to lay out qualitative inquiry suggestions for collecting process data that will emerge …

Postscript One: Using "Using The Literature", Alexander Massey

The Qualitative Report

No abstract provided.

Categorizing, Coding, And Manipulating Qualitative Data Using The Wordperfect® Word Processor, John H. Carney, Joseph F. Joiner, Helen Tragou

The Qualitative Report

In this paper, we present a method of categorizing, coding, and sorting/manipulating qualitative (descriptive) data using the capabilities of a commonly-used word processor: WordPerfect®. We explain the process and its development in simple terms for the person who may be familiar with qualitative research and data, but not with computer and/or word processor manipulation of that data. Although we developed the process to suit our methods, it can easily be adapted/evolved to fit different research situations where a method of rapidly handling large amounts of descriptive data is desirable.

Postscript Two: Literature As Geodetic Survey Map, Alexander Massey, Vincent Hevern

The Qualitative Report

No abstract provided.

The Proposal In Qualitative Research, Anthony W. Heath

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of "qualitative" or "naturalistic" research varies according to the research paradigm, methods, and assumptions. Generally speaking, qualitative researchers attempt to describe and interpret some human phenomenon, often in the words of selected individuals (the informants). These researchers try to be clear about their biases, presuppositions, and interpretations so that others (the stakeholders) can decide what they think about it all. Unlike conventional, positivist research, there is no single accepted outline for a qualitative research proposal or report (Morse, 1991). The generic outline that follows is suggested as a point of departure for qualitative research proposals, and it applies …

Surviving Ethnography: Coping With Isolation, Violence, And Anger, Jennifer Harris

The Qualitative Report

This article concentrates upon the intensities of emotion experienced by a novice ethnographer. The argument is that acknowledging the emotional impact of events in the field enables the ethnographer to analyse reflexively the differences between the values of the self and those of the other. Seeing beyond the emotions generated at times of crisis can permit and facilitate an analysis of the everyday social relations between participants. Dealing with the personal impact of these emotions is an entirely different matter; very few others (supervisors, academics, peers) although well-intentioned, will appreciate the depths of these emotions and the problems that they …

Using The Literature: 3 X 4 Analogies, Alexander Massey

The Qualitative Report

No abstract provided.

The Creation Of Theory: A Recent Application Of The Grounded Theory Method, Naresh R. Pandit

The Qualitative Report

This paper outlines a particular approach to building theory that was employed in a recent doctoral research project (Pandit, 1995). Three aspects used in conjunction indicate the project's novelty: firstly, the systematic and rigorous application of the grounded theory method; secondly, the use of on-line computerised databases as a primary source of data; and, thirdly, the use of a qualitative data analysis software package to aid the process of grounded theory building.

In Search Of A Dissertation Committee:Using A Qualitative Research Approach To Study A Lived Experience, Laurie L. Hernandez

The Qualitative Report

This paper tells a personal story of one student's experience. I am a doctoral candidate and qualitative researcher in a Family Therapy program located in South Florida. In this project, I discuss how I took a qualitative research posture toward the making of an important decision in my life, and in my academic career: Choosing a dissertation committee. The paper is a narrative of how I went about using qualitative research methods and sociological introspection (Ellis, 1991) to "study" my way through the process of this unique experience.

Using The Literature: 3 X 4 Analogies, Alexander Massey

The Qualitative Report

No abstract provided.

Researching Organisational Change And Learning: A Narrative Approach, Carl Rhodes

The Qualitative Report

This paper explores a qualitative research approach to organisational change and learning based on the gathering and reporting of stories. Particular emphasis is placed on reporting research findings in the "voices" of the organisational actors involved in the research. The paper starts by identifying learning, socialisation and diversity as a context for research and goes on to examine the power relations implicit in organisational learning. A pluralistic approach to the use of storytelling in organisational analysis is discussed and a research process is described. Issues of how research findings are represented are examined as are some unresolved and potentially unresolvable …

Questionnaire For An Autobiographical Portrait Of A Practicing Therapist And Researcher, Ronald J. Chenail

The Qualitative Report

No abstract provided.

Companion Animal Populations In Massachusetts, Dorr Research Corporation

Demography and Statistics for Companion Animal Populations Collection

This report contains the findings of a marketing and opinion research study conducted for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals during October, 1996.

The research addressed a variety of issues associated with ownership of cats and dogs by Massachusetts households:

• Selected characteristics of owned cats and dogs
• Means of obtaining owned cats and dogs
• Spaying and neutering data on owned cats and dogs
• Frequency with which owned cats and dogs are outdoors
• Veterinary care of owned cats and dogs
• Degree of owner involvement with owned cats and dogs
• Opinions about overpopulation of cats and dogs

Some …

Rural Illinois In The 1990s: On The Rebound?, Kenneth M. Johnson, Norman Walzer

Sociology

Rural areas of Illinois experienced a widespread population rebound between 1990 and 1995.2 These recent population gains in Illinois are consistent with a broader rural population growth revival nationwide. Rural Illinois gain nearly 24,000 residents between 1990 and 1995, according to recently released estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau.3 The population grew in 47 of the 74 nonmetropolitan counties in Illinois during the period. Migration to rural areas accounted for most of this population gain. Most urban areas in Illinois also gained population during the first half of the 1990s. The recent population gains in rural Illinois are modest, but …

Recent Nonmetropolitan Demographic Trends In The Midwest, Kenneth M. Johnson

Sociology

This research1 examines demographic trends in nonmetropolitan areas of the United States and the Midwest2 since the 1990 census using the federal-state series of county population estimates. Review of such timely information is important because nonmetropolitan demographic trends have been extremely fluid during the past 30 years (Long and DeAre, 1988). Historically, nonmetropolitan demographic change, both in the Midwest and the US,
has been dominated by an excess of births over deaths sufficient to offset the net ...

Today's Woolgrowers : A Profile, Ian Mcfarland

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Woolgrowers have been faced with fluctuating prices, a mix of seasons and rising production costs since the demise of the Floor Price Scheme in 1991. despite these difficult times, there are still very large differences in productivity and profitability between wool growing properties in Western Australia. Ian McFarland looksat production levels on wool growing properties in Western Australia and outlines some actions to lift productivity.

Mixing Methodologies: Can Bimodal Research Be A Viable Post-Positivist Tool?, Douglas S. Nau

The Qualitative Report

No abstract provided.

Representative Research: A Qualitatively Driven Approach, Mark P. Combs

The Qualitative Report

Research methodologies represent complex sociohistorical evolutions within the social sciences ranging from reductionist to reflexive sensibilities (Tuchman, 1994). These inquiries each emphasize dissimilar variations of data analysis as found in their subsequent conclusions obtained from and during the research process. Unlike quantitative methodology with its explicit formulaic constructions, qualitative research includes a veritable cornucopia of methodologies, paradigms and methods. This paper briefly reviews those experiences encountered and processes which unfolded during a pilot project for a research class. Although Miller and Crabtree (1992) proposed a research roadmap with associated typologies within qualitative research, this paper focuses on the process of …