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

Extralegal Factors Important To Judges' Decisions In Child Abuse Custody Cases, Marilyn Jeanette Nolan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Extralegal Factors Important to Judges' Decisions in Child Abuse Custody Cases

by

Marilyn J. Nolan

MS, Pittsburg (Kansas) State University, 1986

BS, Missouri Southern State University, 1982

Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

Human Services

Walden University

May 2015

Research has shown juvenile court judges are skeptical of mental health testimony; however there is a lack of research regarding what types of testimony by what kinds of experts are valued by judges. Using the theory of legal pragmatism, the purpose of this study was to assess how 83 Oklahoma District Court …

Exploring Protégé Perceptions Of Success And Failure In Formal, Jeffrey Wayne Strickland

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Since the 1993 inception of the mentoring program in the U.S. Navy, little evidence has been collected on its effectiveness, primarily because of difficulties with instrumentation and conceptualization in conducting such assessments. The purpose of this correlational study was to identify external factors affecting military protégés' satisfaction with their mentoring experience. The conceptual framework of this study was based on Kram's mentor model theory, which includes career and psychosocial support functions. A 5-item Likert survey instrument was designed to measure the dependent variables of satisfaction with career mentoring and satisfaction with personal mentoring against 10 independent variables: dyad compatibility, mentor …

Shared Trauma: A Phenomenological Investigation Of African American Teachers, Juanita Lynne White

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the wake of increasing community disasters such as hurricanes, neighborhood violence, and terrorist attacks, schools are usually deemed places where youth can find safety and stability. Research about community trauma related to the role of teachers and schools has predominantly focused on younger populations, concerned about disturbances in their developmental processes. School teachers' responsibilities related to these community disasters have also increased and now include supporting their traumatized students. However, there has been limited attention on the direct effect of community traumas on the teachers who work and live in affected districts. The construct of shared trauma describes this …

Critical Champions Or Careless Condemners? Exploring News Media Constructions In Cases Of Wrongful Conviction, Katherine Rozad

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Countless incidences occur throughout the world each and every day. However, only a few of these occurrences are deemed newsworthy by the media. One area of information quite often categorized as “newsworthy” is that surrounding crime. Within crime-related news coverage are occasionally cases of wrongful conviction – miscarriages of justice in which the innocent are labeled “guilty” and wrongly punished. Despite decades of research in both the areas of crime and media, as well as wrongful conviction studies, no research to date has examined the way that cases of wrongful conviction are constructed in the media from the beginnings of …

At The Intersection Of Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals, The Migration Trust Network And Labor, Mario Javier Chavez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study unpacks the intersection of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the Migration Trust Network and Labor. I use 9 in-depth qualitative interviews to address how such policies are affecting the labor acquisition and labor outcomes of DACA recipients. The Migrant trust network remained important for DACA recipients, although in a more indirect and macro-level way than described in Flores-Yeffal (2013). In particular, DACA recipients relied on the collective efficacy embedded within the community to facilitate their job search. Additional, migrant trust networks function differently according to the DACA recipients' level of education, but to fully benefit from the advantages …

One Size Does Not Fit All: Looking Beyond Homeless Housing-First And Housing-Ready Approaches To Enhanced Models Of The U.S.-Mexico Border And New York City, Jacqueline Loweree

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study explored two "enhanced" service and housing models for homeless persons in the U.S.-Mexico border and in New York City. From data collected in both regions, this study examined the relationship between homeless recidivism and the provision of services. The results suggest that services alone have minimal impact in reducing homeless recividism. This study also reviews the relationship between homelessness and poverty. To evaluate this interconnection, a socio-historical analysis was presented reviewing the application of poverty theories from the last two centuries, to policy-driven approaches with aims to treat indigence, poverty, inequality and more contemporary homeless issues. Using the …

Keep Your Head Up: Building Life Skills In Youth For Social Reintegration And Success, Olga Lizbeth Ochoa

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

There are multiple factors that contribute to a juvenile's future incarceration when facing difficult environmental circumstances: adjudication (it is like an adult criminal conviction, but generally does not subject the youth to the same direct consequences), community characteristics, the age a young person is discharged, criminal history, and gender. This research is important because it applies social science research in community-based settings to address a social concern, moves beyond theoretical research while contributing to a new orientation of an applied project, and provides a model of university-community partnerships for finding innovative strategies to address issues of social concern for local …

Tracing The History Of Grounded Theory Methodology: From Formation To Fragmentation, Méabh Kenny, Robert Fourie

The Qualitative Report

There are very few articles, which track the history of Grounded Theory (GT) methodology from its tentative conception to its present divisions. This journal article addresses the dearth by tracing the history of GT methodology from its conception in the 1960’s, discussing the context of its composition, character, and contribution. Subsequently, the article follows the maturation of GT which is characterised by a series of contentious and, at times, antagonistic academic debates. The crux of these debates centres on disputes over core tenets of GT and have resulted in three dominant and divergent configurations of the GT methodology: Classic, Straussian, …

Authenticity In Constructivist Inquiry: Assessing An Elusive Construct, Patrick Shannon, Elyse Hambacher

The Qualitative Report

Methodological rigor in constructivist inquiry is established through an assessment of trustworthiness and authenticity. Trustworthiness parallels the positivistic concepts of internal and external validity, focusing on an assessment of the inquiry process. Authenticity, however, is unique to constructivist inquiry and has no parallel in the positivistic paradigm. Authenticity involves an assessment of the meaningfulness and usefulness of interactive inquiry processes and social change that results from these processes. However, the techniques for ascertaining authenticity are in the early stages of development. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to describe a process for assessing authenticity in a constructivist inquiry. A …

Constructing Grammar Instruction In The Omani Elt System: A Critical Literacy Perspective, Ali Al-Issa

The Qualitative Report

Debate in the literature has been ongoing about whether to teach English language grammar explicitly, implicitly or integrate both approaches to achieve optimal learning. This research paper, hence, discusses this issue from an ideological perspective with a particular reference to the Omani English language teaching (ELT) education system. The paper triangulates data from various semi-structured interviews made with different agents involved in the Omani ELT education system, the pertinent literature, The Philosophy and Guidelines for the Omani English Language School Curriculum, which I will herewith refer to as the National English Language Policy/Plan (NELP), other policy texts and the English …

The Institutional Review Board (Irb) And Faculty: Does The Irb Challenge Faculty Professionalism In The Social Sciences?, Glenda Droogsma Musoba, Stacy A. Jacob, Leslie J. Robinson

The Qualitative Report

Institutional Review Boards (IRB) were instituted to protect the rights of research participants and due to past (and at times egregious) practices committed in the name of research. We question whether the IRB is currently overstepping its bounds into the domain of the researcher. We illustrate possible ways in which the IRB subtlety and not so subtlety challenge faculty professionalism and limit faculty research independence, highlighting some instances in which qualitative research topics bump up against boards that mistrust or misunderstand the nature of qualitative research. Using case study vignettes from five universities, our concerns focused on mission creep and …

Analyzing Flying Chameleons: Using Autoethnography To Explore Change In The Female Educator, Leslie Pourreau

The Qualitative Report

What is a chameleon in the world of education? What defines her professionally, personally, and why? In this autoethnography, I explore the chameleon metaphor for meanings and implications in my personal and professional identity as a female educator by seeking answers to questions stemming from Mitchell and Weber (2005): Just who do I think I am? Just who do I think I am? Just who do I think I am? Just who do I think I am? I analyzed my own autobiographical journals using the four-part Listening Guide (Gilligan, Spencer, Weinberg, & Bertsch, 2003) coupled with theme-based family coding to …

Connecting The Dots: A Review Of Traversing The Uncharted Arena Of Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software: Mapping Out Qda Miner 4.1 As A First-Time User, Andrea Cuva

The Qualitative Report

A review of QDA Miner 4.1, a mixed method computer assisted data analysis software (CAQDAS), was conducted to determine how accommodating (if at all) the software was for beginning researchers and/or individuals less proficient with computers. Rather than maintaining the more traditional focus on the technical functionality of QDA Miner, this review was structured around the needs and interests of a beginning researcher. Although QDA Miner offers a variety of helpful resources, questions regarding how to structure initial project to ensure findings yield methodological accuracy remain.

The Influence Of Confucianism On Identity Formation Of A Multi-Skilled Migrant: An Autoethnography, Annabella Fung

The Qualitative Report

In this autoethnographical study, I examine how my identities were influenced by Confucianism. Two main Confucian concepts were examined: “selfperfection,” and “filial piety and submissiveness.” As a migrant who left Macau for Australia at fifteen, I have been immersed in diverse cultural climates, experienced gender bias, identity crisis and racial discrimination. I consider all experiences as essential steps of my evolution with ethnographic, interpretative, phenomenological and narrative understandings. This paper introduces the term “seasonal fluctuations” as a way to describe the changing meanings of my lived experiences that were interrogated by my three distinctive personalities: The Writer, The Interpreter and …

What's Wrong With Me?: An Autoethnographic Investigation Of The Co-Cultural Communicative Practices Of Living With Tourette Syndrome During Adolescence, Mark Congdon Jr.

The Qualitative Report

Using an Autoethnographic methodology, this essay explores how I was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome. My experience illustrates a dynamic and difficult process of understanding and negotiating assimilation, using a variety of communication strategies related to self-perception, perceptions of others, and interactions with others. Using Co-Cultural theory (CCT) as a theoretical framework, three themes emerged from my experience: (1) nonassertive assimilation: negotiating with relationships of authority, (2) aggressive assimilation: negotiating relationships with peers, and (3) nonassertive separation: the convergence of negotiating relationships of authority and with peers. It is my hope that my story expands the awareness and conversation among and …

Connecting The Dots: A Review Of Norman K. Denzin's Interpretive Autoethnography, Victoria Landu

The Qualitative Report

The interpretive autoethnography by Denzin (2014) described the interpretive autoethnography as a biographical study of life experiences and performance of a person. Using examplars, the author tried to connect the dots between lives, performance, the epiphany and its’ interpretation. It also explained strategies to conducting interpretive autoethnography. The book defined several genealogies of terms which helped to broaden the understanding of the explanation of process and performance in autoethnography. The book presented some of the pitfalls to avoid when conducting interpretive autoethnography. Defining several genealogies of terms, the book explained process and performance in autoethnographic study.

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 …

"Go For Broke And Speak Your Mind!" Building A Community Of Practice With Bilingual Pre-Service Teachers, Hyesun Cho

The Qualitative Report

Despite the popularity of communities of practice (CoP) in education, there is a paucity of research on teacher preparation programs that are deliberately created to build and sustain CoP to help bilingual pre-service teachers’ learning. This qualitative study describes how a community of practice was purposefully developed in a teacher preparation program for bilingual undergraduates in Hawaii. Using multiple forms of qualitative data, such as classroom transcripts, interviews, online discussion posts, and reflection journals, I illustrate how a cohort of pre-service teachers and their instructor created a facilitative and reflective classroom community of practice. Using narrative inquiry and thematic analysis, …

Disabilities Disabilities: A "Two-Way Mirror", Kathy A. Thomas

The Qualitative Report

There is nothing more intriguing than well-reported documented stories of real life experiences and genuine autoethnographic dialogue. When writers communicate and relate stories about the self and their experiences and include others who share a personal story, there is an amazing connection, unique intensive and extensive understanding and interpretation, and a cultural and social exchange in an authoethnographic representation of self and the respective culture of study. A dialogue generated among the authors as educators as they shared stories inside and outside the disabilities culture was the performance and autoethnographic delivery in Phil Smith’s book, Both Sides of the Table: …

Absent Voices: Intersectionality And First-Generation College Students With Disabilities, Tenisha L. Tevis, Jacalyn M. Griffen

Benerd College Faculty Articles

College students with disabilities stand at a crossroads when transitioning from high school to college, and yet, are often absent from discussions regarding underserved populations in higher education. This absence is particularly notable in scholarship employing the lens of intersectionality. To address this gap, this qualitative case study employs a strengths-based lens to examine how typically marginalized college students used the strengths of their socially constructed identities as a dynamic force to find keys to academic success.