Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies Commons^™

Member Checking: Can Benefits Be Gained Similar To Group Therapy?, Melissa Harper, Patricia Cole

The Qualitative Report

Member checking continues to be an important quality control process in qualitative research as during the course of conducting a study, participants receive the opportunity to review their statements for accuracy and, in so doing; they may acquire a therapeutic benefit. The authors of this article suggest that this benefit is similar to some of the components of group therapy, especially in normalizing the phenomenon being experienced. Even if the participants never meet, they can feel a sense of relief that their feelings are validated and that they are not alone.

A Critical Review Of The Mandatory Reporting Protocol, Elayne M. Tanner

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Mandatory reporting, although originally enacted to serve the single purpose of protecting vulnerable children from abuse, has been considered for ever expanding purposes. As a policy stance, mandatory reporting is frequently considered to support those socially sanctioned behavioural standards developed to regulate social institutions such as marriage, child rearing, aging and work. Although always embracing an inherent element of protection, a careful balance must be negotiated because mandatory reporting obligations also risk compromising the very rights that are the cornerstones of the social work profession, those of autonomy, confidentiality and self-determination. This research explored the mandatory reporting protocol specifically questioning …

An Exemplar For Teaching And Learning Qualitative Research, Anthony J. Onwuegbuzie, Nancy L. Leech, John R. Slate, Marcella Stark, Bipin Sharma, Rebecca Frels, Kristin Harris, Julie P. Combs

The Qualitative Report

In this article, we outline a course wherein the instructors teach students how to conduct rigorous qualitative research. We discuss the four major distinct, but overlapping, phases of the course: conceptual/theoretical, technical, applied, and emergent scholar. Students write several qualitative reports, called qualitative notebooks, which involve data that they collect (via three different types of interviews), analyze (using nine qualitative analysis techniques via qualitative software), and interpret. Each notebook is edited by the instructors to help them improve the quality of subsequent notebook reports. Finally, we advocate asking students who have previously taken this course to team-teach future courses. We …

A Qualitative Inquiry In The Evaluation Of A Pedagogical Course From The Prospective Teachers’ Points Of View, Banu Yucel Toy, Ahmet Ok

The Qualitative Report

Qualitative inquiry has gained importance in the evaluation of educational settings because it provides in-depth information, shedding light on context, situations, or processes. In this study, a qualitative inquiry was undertaken in order to evaluate a pedagogical course from the prospective teachers’ points of view. In this case study, data were collected through focus group interviews with three groups of prospective teachers. The lack of putting theories into practice, the lack of relating the topics to teaching life, the lack of attention and participation, and the lack of a variety of materials appeared to be the most essential problems. In …

Conversing Life: An Autoethnographic Construction, Christopher N. Hoelson, Rod Burton

The Qualitative Report

This autoethnography is a constructed account of a co-exploration into the nature and effects of a longitudinal dyadic conversation process from a relational constructionist perspective. The conversations, between me as participant autoethnographer and a co-participant, aimed at maximising personal learning for both. Through co-created contexts of mutual engagement and respectful presence, we were able to focus our learning on the spontaneous process and content of the conversations. The qualitative data were sampled purposively from diary entries summarizing the conversations which spanned a period of five years. The data were analysed into themes and together, with selected illustrative examples of significant …

Residential Grief Camps: An Initial Phenomenological Study Of Staff Perspectives, Tiffany B. Brown, Thomas G. Kimball

The Qualitative Report

Research has focused primarily on the impact of death on family functioning and the stages and tasks of grief, though little attention has been given to grief camps or the experiences of those who work there. This study explored the experiences of staff at a four-day overnight children’s grief camp. Eight participants reported their experience of camp in two major categories: connection to others and independence in grief and five themes. Camp provides the opportunity for campers to connect to others while finding their own path to healing. Clinical implications and future research directions are also discussed.

Using Realist Synthesis To Develop An Evidence Base From An Identified Data Set On Enablers And Barriers For Alcohol And Drug Program Implementation, Barbara Hunter, Lynda Berends, Sarah Maclean

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of this paper is to show how “realist synthesis” methodology (Pawson, 2002) was adapted to review a large sample of community based projects addressing alcohol and drug use problems. Our study drew on a highly varied sample of 127 projects receiving funding from a national non-government organisation in Australia between 2002 and 2008. Open and pattern coding led to the identification of 10 barrier and nine enabler mechanisms influencing project implementation across the sample. Eight case studies (four demonstrating successful implementation; four demonstrating less than successful implementation) were used for depth exploration of these mechanisms. High level theories …

Grandparental Death: Through The Lens Of An Asian Child, Wing-Fu Lai

The Qualitative Report

Bereavement has been extensively studied over the years, yet scholarly work depicting, with the first-person perspective, the experience of childhood bereavement is severely lacking. The research question I set out to answer here is: What is it like as an Asian child to experience bereavement following grandparental death? As such, self-introspection was exercised, and this, together with the diaries and free writings generated at the time of my grandma’s death, was used as the basis for autoethnographic reflections. It is hoped that my story presented here can offer a psychological portrayal of an Asian child enduring grandparental death, and illuminate …

A Case Study Of The Identity Development Of An Adolescent Male With Emotional Disturbance And 48, Xyyy Karyotype In An Institutional Setting, John L. Rausch

The Qualitative Report

The goal of this study was to utilize a phenomenological case study design to investigate the individual and social identity development of an adolescent male who had been placed in a high-security group home setting. The participant had been identified with emotional disturbance (ED), and 48, XYYY karyotype. The participant described his social and emotional development as being impacted by his environment, his level of personal control, and his view of the future.

Administrator Insights And Reflections: Technology Integration In Schools, Bryan Berrett, Jennifer Murphy, Jamie Sullivan

The Qualitative Report

There are numerous technology tools that educators utilize to support student learning. Often, technology is mandated from the top down with school administrators’ responsible for overseeing the implementation. Innovative technological approaches to learning often meet resistance within schools. The pervasive culture in education is counteractive to technology integration, which may be useful to pedagogy and in the long run may help students deal with the ever growing level of technology present in today’s society. Characteristics are identified at two out of four schools as a way of assessing the progress of technology integration and locating individuals who will help move …

Group Supervision Attitudes: Supervisory Practices Fostering Resistance To Adoption Of Evidence-Based Practices, Charles T. Brooks, David A. Patterson, Patrick M. Mckiernan

The Qualitative Report

The focus of this study was to qualitatively evaluate worker’s attitudes about clinical supervision. It is believed that poor attitudes toward clinical supervision can create barriers during supervision sessions. Fifty-one participants within a social services organization completed an open-ended questionnaire regarding their clinical supervision experiences. Results suggest four key areas which appear to be strong factors in workers’ experiences and attitudes regarding group supervision: a. facilitator’s skill level; b. creativity; c. utilization of technology; and d. applicability. For organizations interested in overcoming potential barriers to adopting best practices, effectively addressing workers’ negative attitudes toward group supervision would be a worthy …

Conducting Qualitative Data Analysis: Reading Line-By-Line, But Analyzing By Meaningful Qualitative Units, Ronald J. Chenail

The Qualitative Report

In the first of a series of “how-to” essays on conducting qualitative data analysis, Ron Chenail points out the challenges of determining units to analyze qualitatively when dealing with text. He acknowledges that although we may read a document word-by-word or line-by-line, we need to adjust our focus when processing the text for purposes of conducting qualitative data analysis so we concentrate on meaningful, undivided entities or wholes as our units of analysis.

Mixed-Methods Research Methodologies, Steven R. Terrell

The Qualitative Report

Mixed-Method studies have emerged from the paradigm wars between qualitative and quantitative research approaches to become a widely used mode of inquiry. Depending on choices made across four dimensions, mixed-methods can provide an investigator with many design choices which involve a range of sequential and concurrent strategies. Defining features of these designs are reported along with quality control methods, and ethical concerns. Useful resources and exemplary study references are shared.

Practical Wisdom: A Review Of Foundations Of Ethical Practice, Research, And Teaching In Psychology And Counseling, Fatima A. Cotton

The Qualitative Report

In Karen Strohm Kitchener and Sharon K. Anderson’s Foundations of Ethical Practice, Research, and Teaching in Psychology and Counseling (2011) they use the term practical wisdom or prudence as a way to make right decisions in real life situation. The authors lay the foundation for conceptually dealing with ethical problems for psychologists, counselors, students, and trainees. The book is in two parts. In the first six chapters, the authors focus on the foundations of ethical reasoning. The next part focuses on the ethical issues psychologists and counselors are confronted with in their roles.

Manufacturing Change, Una Ruddock

The Qualitative Report

This is a highly accessible presentation of organisational research, which demonstrates how ethnography can elicit a holistic understanding of across section of employees and thereby reveal a workplace culture. It suggests that change efforts fail if culture is ignored and offers a detailed account of how critical incidents translate into tools for change. The data analysis reveals the weakness in working relationships and how blame functions to prevent change. The Ideal Plant project emerges, which validates transformation tools to create cooperative workplace interactions and collaborative problem solving. The past and future, metaphorically represented as two different places, are connected by …

Conducting Qualitative Data Analysis: Qualitative Data Analysis As A Metaphoric Process, Ronald J. Chenail

The Qualitative Report

In the second of a series of “how-to” essays on conducting qualitative data analysis, Ron Chenail argues the process can best be understood as a metaphoric process. From this orientation he suggests researchers follow Kenneth Burke’s notion of metaphor and see qualitative data analysis as the analyst systematically considering the “this-ness” of the data from the “that-ness” of the qualitative abstraction drawn about the data. To make this metaphoric pronouncement a convincing case to judges as to the veracity of the juxtaposition of the code to that which is coded, the analyst must employ a recursive process by showing the …

Qualitative Inquiry Into Church-Based Assets For Hiv/Aids Prevention And Control: A Forum Focus Group Discussion Approach, Godwin N. Aja, Naomi N. Modeste, Susanne B. Montgomery

The Qualitative Report

Assets church members believed they needed to engage in effective HIV/AIDS prevention and control activities. We used the three-step forum focus group discussion (FFGD) methodology to elicit responses from 32 church leaders and lay members, representing five denominations in Aba, Nigeria. Concrete resources, health expertise, finances, institutional support, capacity building, and spiritual support connected to the collective interest of members were indicated as useful for church members to engage in HIV/AIDS prevention and control activities. Adequate planning and delivery of cost-effective, appropriate and sustainable health promotion programs require an understanding of perceived church-based assets.

Extralegal Punishment Factors: A Study Of Forgiveness, Hardship, Good-Deeds, Apology, Remorse, And Other Such Discretionary Factors In Assessing Criminal Punishment, Paul H. Robinson, Sean Jackowitz, Daniel M. Bartels

All Faculty Scholarship

The criminal law's formal criteria for assessing punishment are typically contained in criminal codes, the rules of which fix an offender's liability and the grade of the offense. A look at how the punishment decision-making process actually works, however, suggests that courts and other decisionmakers frequently go beyond the formal legal factors and take account of what might be called "extralegal punishment factors" (XPFs).

XPFs, the subject of this Article, include matters as diverse as an offender's apology, remorse, history of good or bad deeds, public acknowledgment of guilt, special talents, old age, extralegal suffering from the offense, as well …

Less Is More? 20 Years Of Changing Minimum Income Protection For Old Europe’S Elderly, Tim Goedemé

Tim Goedemé

Over the past two decades, pension reforms have been at the top of the agenda of social policy makers in Europe. In many countries, these reforms have resulted in less generous public pensions. At the same time, minimum income protection for the elderly has received attention from policy makers, but much less so from social policy researchers. Therefore, in this paper, I explore how benefit levels of non-contributory minimum income schemes for the elderly have evolved between 1990 and 2009 in 13 ‘old’ EU member states. Building on two new cross-national and cross-temporary comparable datasets on minimum income protection in …

Too Old For Technology? How The Elderly Of Lisbon Use And Perceive Ict, Barbara Barbosa Neves

Barbara Barbosa Neves

The elderly have traditionally been an excluded group in the deployment of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Even though their use of ICT is increasing, there is still a significant age-based digital divide. To empower elderly people’s usage of ICT we need to look at their patterns of usage and perceptions. To understand how Lisbon’s elderly people (65 and above) use and perceive mobile phones, computers, and the Internet, we surveyed a random stratified sample of 500 individuals over 64 years of age, living in Lisbon. Of those surveyed, 72% owned a mobile phone, 13% used computers, and 10% used …

Geen Grenzen Aan De Groei: De Belgische Syndicalisatiegraad In De Jaren 2000, Kurt Vandaele, Jean Faniel

Kurt Vandaele

Aan het begin van de eenentwintigste eeuw daalt de syndicalisatiegraad in heel Europa. Héél Europa? Nee, een klein landje blijft (moedig) weerstand bieden aan deze trend. Het aantal vakbondsleden blijft toenemen in België. Dit geldt voor de drie representatieve vakbondsorganisaties. En, sterker nog, het ledental houdt minstens gelijke tred met de stijging van de ‘afhankelijke’ beroepsbevolking. De syndicalisatiegraad loopt dan ook verder op. Deze bijdrage analyseert de ledencijfers tussen 2001 en 2010 in detail.

A Role For Policymakers In Improving The Status Of Black Male Students In U.S. Higher Education, Shaun R. Harper, Frank Harris Iii

Frank Harris III

No abstract provided.

Powerful Questions - Police Tactical Psychology Bulletin, Rodger E. Broome Phd

Rodger E. Broome

Powerful questions are those questions that lead the person asked to reflect. What this means is that by asking powerful questions, an officer can lead a witness or suspect to mine their own mind to seek answers. There are tactical ways in which this concept can be used.

Between “Metaphysics Of The Stone Age” And The “Brave New World”: H.L.A. Hart On The Law’S Assumptions About Human Nature, Péter Cserne

Péter Cserne

This paper analyses H.L.A. Hart’s views on the epistemic character of the law’s assumptions about human behaviour, as articulated in Causation in the Law and Punishment and Responsibility. Hart suggests that the assumptions behind legal doctrines typically combine common sense factual beliefs, moral intuitions, and philosophical theories of earlier ages with sound moral principles, and empirical knowledge. An important task of legal theory is to provide a ‘rational and critical foundation’ for these doctrines. This does not only imply conceptual clarification in light of an epistemic ideal of objectivity but also involves legal theorists in ‘enlightenment’ about empirical facts, ‘demystification’ …

Trust And Estate Planning: The Emergence Of A Profession And Its Contribution To Socioeconomic Inequality, Elisabeth Brooke Harrington

Brooke Harrington

This article offers a new perspective on the connection between socioeconomic inequality and occupations by examining the impact of trust and estate planners on global wealth stratification. While many studies treat the professions as mirrors of inequalities in their environments, this article looks at the ways professionals participate in the creation of stratification regimes. Trust and estate planners do this by sheltering their clients’ assets from taxation, thereby preserving private wealth for future generations. Using tools such as trusts, offshore banks, and shell corporations, these professionals keep a significant portion of the world’s private wealth beyond the reach of the …