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

Asking Questions In The Qualitative Research Context, Francislê Neri De Souza, Dayse Cristine Dantas De Souza Brito Neri, António Pedro Costa

The Qualitative Report

Research is based on a constant questioning process. All researchers should ask questions in every research phase, what is read, the research design definition, data analysed and the way they are discussed and how their conclusions are drawn. It is generally accepted that to start scientific research, irrespectively of the area of expertise, the starting point is the drafting of one or more research questions, ordinarily known as a research problem. However, for many, starting with a research programme, the idea of formulating one is always a challenge. Some do not know where to start and question whether the question …

Application Of Constructivist Grounded Theory In Nursing Research, Maria Da Graça O. Crossetti, Marta G. Goes, Crhis Netto De Brum

The Qualitative Report

Grounded Theory is a qualitative research method for collecting and analysing data and results into a substantive theory that is a theoretical interpretation of a delimited problem in a specific area of knowledge. In nursing, it allows to understand the process of social interaction and how the nursing team works in everyday situations. In this study we propose, based on the theoretical framework of Kathy Charmaz, to present the procedures for the application of the constructivist Grounded Theory in nursing research. Among these are the collection and analysis of concurrent data, constant comparison at all levels of analysis, initial, focused …

Methods Of Teaching Centered On Learning And Formative Assessment In Higher Education, Susana Emília Vaz Oliveira Sá, Maria Palmira Carlos Alves, António Pedro Costa

The Qualitative Report

We analyse the importance of meaningful learning and the use of a formative assessment strategy, promoted by peer learning methods centred on the students, in a curricular unit (CU) pertaining to a degree in Exact Sciences, in a Higher Education Institution. Five students from the CU were questioned, through a focus group; the teacher was interviewed. Data of 12 hours of lessons was analysed and categorised using webQDA. We conclude that emphasising the students’ engagement in teaching, learning, and evaluation, has the power to drive the methodological teaching options to incline towards active methods that involve students in activities that …

Introduction: Qualitative Analysis: Quantifying Quality And Qualifying Quantity, António Moreira, António Pedro Costa

The Qualitative Report

As part of a partnership between The Qualitative Report (TQR) and Comissão Organizadora/Comité Organizador do CIAIQ2015 e do 6ºSIMEDUC (http://www.ciaiq.org), António Moreira and António Pedro Costa had edited a selection of papers from the conference to create a special issue for TQR.

Gathering Information Based On Focus Groups: Consumer’S Involvement In The Use Of Vending Machines, Telma Santos Fernandes, Ângela Silva, Raquel Reis, Celina Leão

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of the present study is to describe the use of two focus groups to identify and refine a set of questionnaire items. They were also used to provide descriptions of lived experiences and to realize the importance, or not, of the use of Vending Machines in the university context. Vending Machines consumer students from different areas of knowledge participated on a voluntary basis (economics and management areas define the fist group, and engineering and marketing the second group). Based on the data collection and analysis it was possible to identify the attributes of vending machines that are important …

Performing A Thematic Analysis: An Exploratory Study About Managers’ Perceptions On Gender Equality, Carlos Costa, Zélia Breda, Isabel Pinho, Fiona Bakas, Marília Durão

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of this paper is to present results from an exploratory study that aims to investigate why gender role alterations in leadership positions is slow. The tourism managers’ perceptions of gender equality, within the workplace, were obtained resorting to focus groups. We chose thematic analysis to identify themes and patterns. This thematic analysis enables a methodological systematization of data. Data were coded using webQDA, a computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software that speeds up the team process of analysis. The systematization of information helped overcome the difficulties to synthesize the various interpretations; thus it was possible to generate more ideas …

Fostering Transformative Learning In An Online Esl Professional Development Program For K-12 Teachers, Karin Sprow Forte, David Blouin

The Qualitative Report

This qualitative study examines evidence of transformative learning surrounding sociocultural issues in the K-12 classroom of in-service teachers, while participating in an online English as a Second Language (ESL) professional development program. Using inductive data analysis, precursors and catalysts to transformative learning were identified to understand the ways in which 24 purposefully sampled participants experienced learning. Areas explored included ways in which the candidates participated in critical reflection of their own perspectives, ways in which this process affected their meaning making of their experiences, potential for action in changing their practice as ESL educators, and transformative learning features present throughout …

The Components Of Attentiveness In Oncology Care, Klaartje Klaver, Andries Baart

The Qualitative Report

This article presents the first findings of a qualitative empirical study of caregivers' attentiveness in hospital oncology care. It takes a care ethical perspective, in which attentiveness is considered an indispensable element of good care. The data are derived from participant observation at the oncology department of a general hospital in the Netherlands. The analysis shows a descriptive exploratory model of attentiveness, which comprises a coherent set of the clusters perception (A), object finding (B), and space for attentiveness (C). The methodological output of this article is an important one: the presented descriptive model of attentiveness promotes further research into …

The Erasmus Teaching Staff Mobility: The Perspectives And Experiences Of Turkish Elt Academics, Enisa Mede, Filiz Tuzun

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of this study is to investigate the perspectives and experiences of the Turkish ELT academics about joining ERASMUS Teaching Staff Mobility Program. Under the light of former studies and literature, this study attempts to investigate the preferences of the ELT academics for participating in the ERASMUS Teaching Staff Mobility, to examine the contribution of the enrollment in this program to their professional development and home institution, and finally, to learn about the problems they faced during the mobility period(s). Purposive sample method was used to select seventeen Turkish ELT academics to participate in this study. The data were …

Walking On Eggshells: The Lived Experience Of Partners Of Veterans With Ptsd, Tiffany A. Beks

The Qualitative Report

This phenomenological study examined the descriptions of lived experience among female partners of veteran men with combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) via internet discussion forums. Personal, self-initiated written accounts of 30 partners were analyzed with respect to meaning, challenges, coping responses, and role in veterans’ healing and rehabilitation. Following data analysis, five descriptive themes emerged: all-consuming effect of the illness, walking on eggshells, ambiguous loss, alone, and facing PTSD as a unit. The central meaning of these themes describes the widespread priority of the veterans’ illness, and the resulting isolation, grief, and apprehension experienced by intimate partners as they assume …

Naked And Afraid: Or, Giving Graduate Students The Clothes And Confidence For Data-Analysis Success, Amanda J. Swygart-Hobaugh M.L.S., Ph.D.

Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students

Abstract:

While masters- and doctoral-level graduate students in the social sciences are likely to have past undergraduate experience in doing secondary research such as literature reviews, they often have minimal to no experience in collecting and/or analyzing data (be it quantitative or qualitative in nature), a requisite for their completing theses or dissertations. Likewise, they are likely to be crunched for time and money resources that prohibits ambitious collections of new data, and thus they need guidance in finding existing data and accessible research software/tools for their original analyses. This presentation will give an overview of the specialized services I, …

Navigating Cape Town: A Poetic Cartography, Sam Lin-Sommer

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Cape Town has long been the site of conflicts over urban space. This study explored the potentials of a place-based poetry workshop as a tool for critically engaging with the urban environment. With the assistance of a well-established local poet, the researcher facilitated a poetry workshop that brought three young and emerging poets to contested public spaces including District Six, Company Gardens, and Church Square. After the workshop, poets submitted their writing to the researcher, who compiled and narrated a poem that showcased the voices of these poets while drawing attention to salient ideas evoked by the poets’ work. The …

Package Blaunet, Chen Wang, Michael Genkin, George Berry, Liyuan Chen, Matthew Brashears

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

[Wang Cheng and Michael Genkin contributed equally to this work and their names are randomly ordered]

An integrated set of tools to calculate and analyze Blau statuses quantifying social distance between individuals belonging to organizations. Blaunet works by considering individuals placed in an abstract social space, defined by various user-provided variables. Organizations recruit from an area (or “niche”) in social space. Blaunet analyzes where organizations recruit from, the positions users occupy in this competitive environment, and substantial features of the connections between individuals.

The Impact Of Cultural Values On Chinese Students In American Higher Education:, Min Wang

The Qualitative Report

Chinese students who pursue their higher education in America benefit from the high quality of education in this country, which includes a richness and diversity of subjects, facility of research resources, and high academic standards. At the same time, they are under pressure, which results from culture shock and includes fear of failing, the language barrier, lack of class participation, homesickness, and isolation from their host culture, resulting in mental problems such as depression, frustration, and students dropping out. This study reveals the negative influence of Chinese cultural values on these students in American higher education by making use of …

A Qualitative Research On Foreign Language Teaching Anxiety, Selami Aydin

The Qualitative Report

While research mainly focuses on identification of anxiety, its causes and effects on the learning process and the ways to allay anxiety among foreign language learners, foreign language teaching anxiety has remained a research area that has not attracted much attention. Therefore, in the context of teaching anxiety among pre-service teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL), the current study aims to investigate the sources of foreign language teaching anxiety (FLTA). The sample group in the study consisted of 60 pre-service teachers. A background questionnaire, interviews, reflections and essay papers were used to collect qualitative data. The results indicated …

The Practice Of Survey Research Theory And Applications: A Review, Jeff Nelson

The Qualitative Report

The Practice of Survey Research: Theory and Applications is a practical text written for the beginning researcher at either the graduate or undergraduate level. This text not only includes the foundation of key concepts and theories of survey research, but is also a practical framework for the researcher. It bridges the gap between the survey tool and quantitative analysis.

A Historical Analysis Of Southeast Asian Refugee Communities: Post-War Acculturation And Education In The U.S., Stacy M. Kula, Susan J. Paik

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

This analysis considers the circumstances of Southeast Asian refugee immigration following the Vietnam War as well as the political and social environment in the US upon their arrival, in order to examine the historical factors that link to their subsequent educational trends. Receptive government policies enabled these communities to survive; however, with the exception of first-wave Vietnamese refugees, their limited job skills, English language knowledge, and education upon arrival were exacerbated by overall prejudiced societal reception and the lack of an existing co-ethnic community to buffer their entry into US society. All groups have generally experienced low academic achievement except …

Diving Into Autoethnographic Narrative Inquiry: Uncovering Hidden Tensions Below The Surface, Brooke B. Eisenbach

The Qualitative Report

As a graduate student, I was awakened to the world of autoethnographic narrative inquiry. It was a world I was eager to traverse as I completed my doctoral coursework, and engaged in my final dissertation research. Yet, I was unaware of my naiveté at inviting others to share in my lived experience. As I engaged in an autoethnographic narrative inquiry of my first year as an online teacher, I found myself entangled in a world of hidden tensions I never expected to uncover. In this article, I share the personal tensions that surfaced as I entered into the world of …

The Pribram – Bohm Hypothesis, Shelli R. Joye

CONSCIOUSNESS: Ideas and Research for the Twenty-First Century

A holoflux theory of consciousness as modulated energy is hypothesized and shown to support both local and non-local properties. This thesis emerges from an integral evaluation of evidence drawn from: (1) the holonomic mind/brain theories of Karl Pribram, (2) the ontological interpretation of quantum theory by David Bohm. Applying an integral methodology to superimpose and correlate seemingly disparate concepts from among these sources and others, a composite-theory emerges, a “holoflux” theory of consciousness, after the term favored by Karl Pribram to describe David Bohm’s “holomovement” between an explicate order andan implicate order. This Pribram–Bohm composite holoflux theory is shown to …

Presence And The Paradox Of Love, Joanne Burtch

CONSCIOUSNESS: Ideas and Research for the Twenty-First Century

Spiritual experiences often seem unrelated to the intellectual orientation of science. However, some discussion of the laboratory study of spiritual practice does attempt to include the mystery and the human experience in its dialogue. An exploration of the paradox of love demonstrates how it might be possible to find a relationship between the scientific understanding of spirituality and the profundity of spiritual experience.