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

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 …

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.

An Experimental Test Of The Effects Of Survey Sponsorship On Internet And Mail Survey Response, Michelle L. Edwards, Don A. Dillman, Jolene D. Smyth

Bureau of Sociological Research: Faculty Publications

Survey researchers have typically assumed that university sponsorship consistently increases response rates and reduces nonresponse error across different populations, but they have not tested the effects of utilizing different university sponsors to collect data from the same population. In addition, scholars have not examined how these effects differ for mixed-mode (web and mail) or mail-only data collection. To explore these questions, we conducted an experiment in spring 2012 with an address-based sample of residents from two states (Washington and Nebraska), using two university sponsors (Washington State University and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln) and two modes (a sequential “web-push” design versus …

Assessing The Mechanisms Of Misreporting To Filter Questions In Surveys, Stephanie Eckman, Frauke Kreuter, Antje Kirchner, Annette Jäckle, Roger Tourangeau, Stanley Presser

Survey Research and Methodology Program: Faculty Publications

To avoid asking respondents questions that do not apply to them, surveys often use filter questions that determine routing into follow-up items. Filter questions can be asked in an interleafed format, in which follow-up questions are asked immediately after each relevant filter, or in a grouped format, in which follow-up questions are asked only after multiple filters have been administered. Most previous investigations of filter questions have found that the grouped format collects more affirmative answers than the interleafed format. This result has been taken to mean that respondents in the interleafed format learn to shorten the questionnaire by answering …

Innovations In Research With Medically Fragile Populations: Using Bulletin Board Focus Groups, Karen Cook, Susan Jack, Hal Siden, Lehana Thabane, Gina Browne

The Qualitative Report

A new group of medically fragile young adults are graduating from pediatric palliative care programs with limited expectations to live beyond early adulthood, and no comparable adult services to support their complex needs. Accessing this population is difficult because of the complexity of their conditions, the extensive personal and equipment supports that limit feasibility for travel, and divergent communication abilities. Therefore, we undertook a descriptive case study using an asynchronous modification of an online focus group, a bulletin board focus group (BBFG). The greatest strengths of the BBFG are the appeal of this methodology for young adults and the multi …

Potency, Hubris And Susceptibility: The Disease Mongering Critique Of Pharmaceutical Marketing, Evan Doran, Clare Hogue

The Qualitative Report

The phrase “disease mongering” has become a prominent feature of the wider critique of pharmaceutical marketing. Disease mongering refers to drug companies’ involvement in informing the lay public and health professionals about the illnesses targeted by their products. Typically, drug promotion is claimed to intentionally distort perceptions of the seriousness or treatability of disease or condition to sell drugs. The main concern is that drug promotion results in excessive drug demand. “Disease mongering” is clearly aimed at drug companies, however, the phrase reaches further and extends to us all with its often implicit critical commentary on contemporary social life. In …

Using Forums And Message Boards To Recruit Study Participants In Qualitative Research, Peter Weslowski

The Qualitative Report

The following observations have emerged from the author’s research experience involving the recruitment of focus group participants for a qualitative study on job search behaviors using technology. It is argued that Internet forums and message boards provide researchers with a robust approach to recruiting participants for qualitative study purposes. Advantages and characteristics of online communities are outlined to inform future practices based on the experience of engaging job-seekers who frequent a career advice board on the Internet. Challenges and limitations inherent to this methodology are also explored with techniques offered for maximizing the effectiveness of future recruitment. Use of Internet …

Exurban Residents’ Perceptions Of Naturally Returning Predators: Connecticut Case Study, Margaret E. Sackrider, Susan G. Clark, Isaac M. Ortega

Yale Day of Data

As a result of reforestation, growth of exurban areas and wildlife adaptation, it is believed that the public is currently encountering more human-wildlife conflicts than ever before. The key to balancing wildlife conservation and human development is understanding the dynamic relationship between humans and carnivores. Specifically, gaining insight into the complexity of this relationship will aide in the creation of more effective conservation policy and outreach.

Reforestation throughout Connecticut has supported a tremendous population growth of pray species and subsequently the growth of predator populations including coyotes, Canis latrans, and black bears, Ursus americanus. According to some biologists, …

Fundamental Assumptions In Narrative Analysis: Mapping The Field, Dominique Robert, Shaul Shenhav

The Qualitative Report

The richness of narrative analysis resides in its unruly openness, but points of reference are needed to tame the variety in the field. This article suggests that researchers should grapple with two fundamental questions when conducting narrative analysis. The first pertains to the status attributed to narrative: it is defined as the very fabric of human existence or as one representational device among others? Emphasizing one answer over the other means mobilizing different theories of representation and therefore, suggesting different articulations between "narrative" and "reality." The second question refers to the perspective developed on narrative: Is it defined mostly as …

Qualitative Inquiry As A Method To Extract Personal Narratives: Approach To Research Into Organizational Climate Change Mitigation, Jeff Birchall

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that qualitative inquiry is highly effective at facilitating the extraction of personal narratives of senior managers in the New Zealand (NZ) public sector. Specifically, in this article I lay out the method used to develop theme-based narratives from semi-structured interviews with senior managers responsible for the delivery of the Communities for Climate Protection and the Carbon Neutral Public Service programs in NZ. In doing so, I demonstrate why qualitative inquiry is the ideal methodological approach for this kind of research program. Further, in demonstrating the research approach, this article may provide policy …

Reflexivity: Interviewing Women And Men Formerly Addicted To Drugs And/Or Alcohol, Judith Grant

The Qualitative Report

This article considers how one researcher used reflexivity in two research projects. Qualitative research often involves a consideration of sensitive topics, one which may include research with individuals formerly addicted to drugs and/or alcohol. However, there is little in the literature that focuses directly on such experiences for researchers in this field; that is, a consideration of how a researcher might use reflectivity while interviewing those formerly addicted to substances. Exploring the following themes, I highlight how I reflected on the experiences that my participants (25 women and 25 men) revealed about their stories of their addiction and recovery processes: …

From Learning Comes Meaning: Informal Comentorship And The Second-Career Academic In Education, Joe Barrett, Hilary Brown

The Qualitative Report

Informal mentoring relationships develop out of mutual identification and the fulfillment of career needs. As new faculty, we struggled to balance and decipher all the various facets inherent in the research, service, and teaching responsibilities in our new roles. This paper chronicles an informal comentorship collaboration we struck up to support our efforts as second-career academics in the field of education, seeking to navigate our way through institutional resocialization at a mid-sized Canadian university. Using a collaborative autoethnographic approach, we collected data comprising handwritten notes, tape-recorded coversations, e-mail reflections, and metareflections crafted after scheduled meetings over the course of a …

Autoethnography As A Transformative Research Method, Dwayne Custer

The Qualitative Report

Autoethnography is a qualitative, transformative research method because it changes time, requires vulnerability, fosters empathy, embodies creativity and innovation, eliminates boundaries, honors subjectivity, and provides therapeutic benefits. This article discusses these seven lenses using select passages from “Jesus Christ and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups: A Narrative on Homosexual Identity, Spirituality, and Human Development” (an unpublished manuscript) written in 2013.

What They Left Behind: A Case Study Of Teachers' Experiences With School Improvement At Evergreen Elementary School, Amy Orange

The Qualitative Report

With the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act, an unprecedented amount of pressure has been placed upon schools to increase student achievement. During the 2009-2010 school year, Evergreen Elementary School was in Year Four of school improvement for failing to make Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) in both reading and math. Drawing on observational and interview data from upper elementary school teachers, this paper will explore how striving to make AYP impacted teachers including increased workloads and stress, and how these factors led to teachers leaving the school, with a focus on a single teacher’s experiences.

Advancing Grounded Theory: Using Theoretical Frameworks Within Grounded Theory Studies, Donald Mitchell Jr.

The Qualitative Report

The founding fathers of grounded theory (GT) claimed it is an inductive methodological approach. Yet, some scholars argue that purely inductive GTs are not possible given researchers’ involvement in data collection and analysis. Subsequently, a constructivist GT approach was introduced. Still, full-length methodological articles that include rationales or detailed explanations for using constructivist GT approaches are limited in peer-reviewed journals. The purpose of this article is to highlight the ways in which the author used a constructivist GT approach in his dissertation. Within the article, the author provides concrete examples and a rationale for the ways in which he used …

Bullying In Graduate School: Its Nature And Effects, Rachel H. Gentry, Bernard E. Whitley Jr.

The Qualitative Report

Does bullying exist in graduate school? If so, what does it look like? Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 graduate students from various departments at a medium-sized, Midwestern U.S. university. Grounded Theory methodology (Glaser, 1978) was utilized to gain insight into the terms and behaviors students used to define bullying in the graduate school context. Through constant comparative analysis (Stern, 1980), categories emerged that provided an understanding of the different perspectives inherent in a bully system, and the meanings attached to bullying behaviors. These findings can provide administrators and counselors with the information necessary to conduct preventative training to help …

Collective Voices: Engagement Of Hartford Community Residents Through Participatory Action Research, Kenneth M. Williamson, Karen Brown

The Qualitative Report

The article details a Participatory Action Research (PAR) Project that partnered Latino and African and Caribbean American residents with research educators from the Institute for Community Research in Hartford, CT. PAR has been used to engage marginalized people in the process of knowledge production and take action to change the oppressive structures affecting them. Project participants worked together to design research projects on economic opportunities and trainings for Spanish speaking residents, the social, environmental and physical conditions of neighborhoods, and the educational outcomes for Hartford schoolchildren; together they conducted research, analyzed and disseminated the results, and planned and implemented action …

Out-Of-Home Placements Falling Among Younger Juveniles, Jeffrey A. Butts

Publications and Research

According to juvenile court data, the number of formally handled juvenile cases, as well as out-of-home placements for juveniles, dropped between 1996 and 2011. The rate of decline was much lower for 17-year-old juveniles than those 16 and under. This databit looks at the rate of out-of-home placements for juveniles between 1985 to 2011.

My Story: An Authoethnographical Account Of Being A Phd Candidate, Rod Pitcher

The Qualitative Report

This paper is an autoethnographical account of my PhD candidature. It shows how the work affected my development as a researcher and also as a person. As I near the end I realise that the process of doing a PhD has changed me beyond recognition. I am no longer the naive undergraduate student of the recent past. I have developed beyond that. I discuss some of the important influences on me during my candidature and how they changed me and my way of thinking about myself and my work.