Social Statistics Commons^™

Opinion: Too Many Veterans With Children Are Still Homeless, Christopher R. Fee, Joshua L. Stewart

English Faculty Publications

Don’t ignore homeless veterans.

As we pause this Veterans Day to reflect on those who have sacrificed in the service of our country, let us not neglect to address the plight of those who have returned to a civilian life with far less promise than they have every right to expect. [excerpt]

Water And Sanitation In Mumbai's Slums: Education Through Inquiry Based Learning In Social Work, Ronald Yesudhas, Patil Lalit, Antony Josy, Shenoy Impana

The Qualitative Report

Water and sanitation are the most important services necessary for life and dignity of citizens. But slum dwellers are excluded from these services, resulting in environmental degradation, marginalization and poor health. Through inquiry based learning, the first author has attempted to give his students an first hand and innovative learning experience by helping them to explore water and sanitation issues in the Ambujwadi slum of Mumbai (India) on their own. The paper highlights the pedagogical approach and by the way of illustrations helps the reader to understand its usefulness in teaching students of social work.

An Exploration Of Collective Meaning-Making Among Migrant Workers, Patturaja Selvaraj

The Qualitative Report

I engaged with workers in India who have migrated from rural districts in the southern state of Karnataka to work in the mess of an academic institute located in a western state of India. These workers faced significant challenges and vulnerabilities due to being part of the unorganised sector. The primary question for my inquiry was to understand how migrant workers negotiated these vulnerabilities and whether they could succeed in processes of informal collectivisation based on shared bonds of language and ethnicity. I interviewed six migrant workers to understand their experiences and difficulties they face. I analysed the data by …

Out Of Our Comfort Zones: Reflections About Teaching Qualitative Research At A Distance, Cheyl A. Hunter, Debora Hinderliter Ortloff, Rachelle Winkle-Wagner

The Qualitative Report

How does an increase in distance technology alter the teaching of qualitative research? This article uses a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (McKinney, 2007) framework in which each author collected data in the form of personal narrative essays about teaching qualitative research from a distance, course products, teaching evaluations, and student comments. Individually we created a narrative reflection on the teaching and learning of qualitative methodology; particularly comparing our individual experiences with both distance and in-person teaching formats. Through these reflective essays, we provide ideas about our teaching of qualitative research via distance technology as a conceptual conversation about the …

A Sensitive Question: Asking About Race In A Research Interview, Laura O'Hare

The Qualitative Report

Conversations are significant, but often overlooked cultural sites where attitudes, beliefs, and values about race are both reified and challenged. As such, these sites deserve increased scholarly attention (Allen, 2007). We employed Brown and Levinson’s Politeness Theory as a framework to examine the discursive strategies used by 11 interviewers in a research context as they asked 115 patient participants (taking part in a larger study of patients at a community-based family medicine residency clinic) to identify their race, as well as to identify the discursive strategies used by patient participants who answered this question. Our analysis revealed that in their …

Mothers Of Sons With Substance Use Disorders: A Grounded Theory Approach Revealing Maternal Expectations And Three Stages Of Change, Judith A. Nelson, Richard C. Henriksen, Roseanne S. Keathley

The Qualitative Report

Addiction problems in a family present challenges in coping with the addicted family member's behaviors are often described in terms of the psychopathology of the interactions of the family members. The present article describes a qualitative study of the lived experiences of mothers whose male children have struggled or currently are struggling with chemical dependence. Our overall aim in the study was to explore critical stages or events in the experiences of these mothers relevant to their chemically dependent sons. As such, our research question was: What are the lived experiences of mothers of substance abusing sons who are either …

Critical Approach To Reflexivity In Grounded Theory, Stephen J. Gentles, Susan M. Jack, David B. Nicholas, K. Ann Mckibbon

The Qualitative Report

A problem with the popular desire to legitimate one’s research through the inclusion of reflexivity is its increasingly uncritical adoption and practice, with most researchers failing to define their understandings, specific positions, and approaches. Considering the relative recentness with which reflexivity has been explicitly described in the context of grounded theory, guidance for incorporating it within this research approach is currently in the early stages. In this article, we illustrate a three-stage approach used in a grounded theory study of how parents of children with autism navigate intervention. Within this approach, different understandings of reflexivity are first explored and mapped, …

Converting Capital: The Experiences Of Latinas/Os In Graduate Health Care Programs, Maristela C. Zell

The Qualitative Report

This qualitative study combines critical race theory, cultural capital theory, and counter-storytelling to examine the experiences of Latina/o in graduate health care programs. Community cultural wealth provided the framework to investigate the mechanisms by which students converted their sociocultural assets into the kinds of social, cultural, and educational capital needed to succeed in a graduate program and pursue their career goals. A qualitative content analysis was employed to interpret participants’ conversion experiences. The forms of community cultural wealth described by Yosso – aspirational, linguistic, familial, navigational, social, and resistant – intersected and interacted with one another. Aspirational and linguistic forms …

Expert Opinion? A Micro-Analysis Of Eating Disorder Talk On Dr. Phil, Andrea Lamarre, Olga Sutherland

The Qualitative Report

In this study, we explored how eating and identities of individuals diagnosed with eating disorders are constructed on a popular television talk show, Dr. Phil. Informed by conversation analytic and discursive psychological research traditions, we show how Dr. Phil, jointly with guests, constitutes guests as mentally ill and accountable for their illness. Specifically, we highlight Dr. Phil’s unilateral pursuit of a solution to the “puzzle” of the eating disorder, including its origins and meanings, as he enlists the guests’ endorsement of his versions of their situations and experiences. We examine broader implications of such a framing for societal understandings of …

Autoethnography In Practice: A Book Review Of British Contemporary Ethnography, Jessica Nina Lester, Zulfkar Ozdogan

The Qualitative Report

In this article, we consider and offer a review of the edited volume, Contemporary British Autoethnography (2013). Within this volume, the editors, Short, Turner, and Grant, bring together 15 autoethnographic representations, which address issues of subjectivity, voice, writing, knowing, and being. Each contributor offers insights located within a particular field(s), while simultaneously sharing perspectives related to the qualitative community more generally. In this paper, we provide a brief summary of each chapter and also offer several questions generated after engaging with this volume. We invite others to participate in considering how this volume may be applied to their own research …

Great Expectations: The Mismatched Selves Of A Beginning Teacher, Michael Dicicco, Laura Sabella, Robert Jordan, Kate Boney, Pat Jones

The Qualitative Report

As university supervisors we were alerted to heightened emotional responses (i.e., crying, not eating, not sleeping), expressed by paid-interns in an accelerated Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) cohort of STEM practitioners. While research has shown teachers prepared in alternative programs tend to have greater difficulties (Darling-Hammond, 1990), few studies have examined alternatively prepared teachers’ beliefs and expectations about teaching and learning (Tigchlaar, Brouwer, & Vermut, 2010; Good et al., 2006). This inquiry describes one paid-intern’s teaching expectations during her first year of teaching. In this phenomenological case study, part of a larger cross-case study, we collected data from interviews, …

Expanding The Possibilities Of Qualitative Inquiry: A Review Of Critical Autoethnograpy: Intersecting Cultural Identities In Everyday Life, Tasha R. Rennels

The Qualitative Report

Critical Autoethnography: Intersecting Cultural Identities in Everyday Life is a groundbreaking collection in which Boylorn and Orbe expand the possibilities of qualitative inquiry by including 13 page-turning chapters that merge autoethnography with critical theory to situate lived experiences within larger systems of power. Throughout this review, I provide a brief overview of the collection, describe the strengths in terms of writing and organization, as well as critique the pragmatic potential. I conclude by describing how and why this collection is a valuable resource for those who practice qualitative methodology for the sake of social change.

Breaking The Silence Of Mainstream Teachers' Attitude Towards Inclusive Education In The Bahamas: High School Teachers' Perceptions, Janelle Cambridge-Johnson, Yvonne Hunter-Johnson, Norissa G. L. Newton

The Qualitative Report

There has been a paradigm shift globally regarding the adoption of inclusive education policies and procedures. However, teachers still have varying views, anxieties, and preconceive misconceptions about the successful implementation of inclusive education practices in the general education classroom. This study utilized a qualitative approach to provide an informative exploration of teachers’ attitudes toward inclusive education and its implementation, possible factors that influence teachers' attitude, and recommendations for promoting best practices in inclusive education. Data was collected utilizing semi-structured interviews from eight teachers throughout the New Providence District in the Bahamas. The results of the study revealed that teachers generally …

Tie Formation And Cohesiveness In A Loosely Organized Group: Knitting Together, Doris A. Palmer, Atsuko Kawakami

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of this paper is to explore the elements of tie formation and group cohesiveness in a loosely organized group with no clearly stated goal, commitment, or purpose. We employed participant observation and personal interviews to discover factors related to group cohesiveness. With inductive approach based on our thick description of the study sites, such as meeting space and group conversations, we found the nature of relationships within these groups is affected by how each group was started and organized. Having an expressive leader may increase group cohesiveness in a loosely organized group, especially when the leader has a …

Music, Musicians And Barroom Aggression, James C. Roberts, Kimberly Mattern

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between live bands and the music they play and aggression in barrooms catering to young, college-aged patrons. Twenty musicians representing 14 different cover bands playing in licensed drinking establishments throughout Northeast Pennsylvania were interviewed about their influence on the behaviors of bar patrons. Content analysis of completed interviews revealed several important findings. Most notably, each of the musicians interviewed in this study reported being able to control and manipulate patron behavior, not just through the music they play, but also through their stage presence, their physical appearance and attire, and …

Enhancing The Experience: A Multiple Case Study Of Students' Experiences Using Arts-Based Techniques In Learning Qualitative Research, Sheryl L. Chatfield, Robin Cooper, Elizabeth Holden, Kelly Macias

The Qualitative Report

This paper represents the third in a series of reports published in TQR in which authors explore students’ experiences learning to conduct qualitative research. Prior researchers have suggested that emotional and experiential elements of the learning experience are key for students learning to conduct qualitative research; the use of arts-based approaches may help address these priorities. We gave students in a conflict analysis and resolution degree program opportunities to conduct qualitative research using either an arts-based or traditional approach to analysis. We identified several ways that arts enhanced the learning experience for students, and discuss considerations for instructors or others …

Using Survey Methodology To Improve Surveys Related To Science And Engineering, Jolene Smyth

Discipline-Based Education Research Group Speaker Series

Dr. Smyth will describe her work with the National Science Foundation’s National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) on the Survey of Earned Doctorates, Survey of Microbusiness Innovation Science and Technology, National Survey of College Graduates, National Survey of Recent College Graduates, and Survey of Doctorate Recipients. She will also present results of research examining the impact of survey mode preference on nonresponse and measurement, a topic of great interest to NCSES as they look for ways to maximize response and data quality for their surveys.

Qualitative Case Study Guidelines, Saša Baškarada

The Qualitative Report

Although widely used, the qualitative case study method is not well understood. Due to conflicting epistemological presuppositions and the complexity inherent in qualitative case-based studies, scientific rigor can be difficult to demonstrate, and any resulting findings can be difficult tojustify. For that reason, this paper discusses methodological problems associated with qualitative case-based research and offers guidelines for overcoming them. Due to its nearly universal acceptance, Yin’s six-stage case study process is adopted and elaborated on. Moreover, additional principles from the wider methodological literature are integrated and explained. Finally, some modifications to the dependencies between the six case study stages are …

Ethical Dilemmas Of Emerging Latina Researchers: Studying Schools Serving Latina Communities, P. Zitlali Morales, Lilia D. Monzo

The Qualitative Report

This article explores some of the ethical dilemmas we have encountered as emerging Latina researchers in dual language school contexts. Informed by Chicana Feminist Theory, we attempt to analyze power in more nuanced ways, shifting the analysis of ethics away from traditional notions of power based only within the researcher rather than the participants. While we do not offer solutions to these dilemmas, we raise questions that we hope will spur thoughtful reflection and move the field of educational research into more equitable and ethical research practices across contexts.

A Qualitative Analysis Of Students' Perceptions Of Pursuing Pharmacy As A Potential Vocation, Michael W. Firmin, Valerie Bouchard, Jordan Flexman, Douglas C. Anderson Jr.

The Qualitative Report

We present the findings from a phenomenological, qualitative research study that explored the personal constructs of an inaugural class, entering a newly-established direct-entry, preferred admission, pre-pharmacy program at a private, selective, Midwestern university with an enrollment of 3000. The focus of the study was to appraise students' perceptions regarding their rationale for pursuing a future career in pharmacy. The sample consisted of 36 students (26 females, 10 males). Data was collected via in-depth interviews of each student who had enrolled in the first year of the program. Overall, students demonstrated their belief that they would be a good fit for …