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

Conducting A Focus Group, Barbara Packer-Muti

The Qualitative Report

Conducting focus groups seems to be a process that is practically intuitive. However, this key practice in qualitative research requires that a novice facilitator must do his or her homework. This article describes the process by which I became more cognizant of the tools necessary to be successful in planning and running focus groups. The article provides information about books and articles that were useful in providing practical information. It also details the use of the "learning-by-doing" journey embarked upon at my institution, whereby we conducted 56 town hall meetings over a four month time period using a focus group …

Using Message Boards To Conduct Online Focus Groups, David Deggs, Kenda Grover, Kit Kacirek

The Qualitative Report

Geographic dispersion of research subjects can make traditional face-to-face focus groups difficult if not impractical to conduct. Online focus groups have many advantages such as enabling researchers to save costs, allowing for more efficient collection of data, and allowing researchers to accommodate research subjects' schedules. However, online focus groups require greater skill on the part of the researcher and research subjects alike. This manuscript chronicles the process that we recently used to conduct an online focus group using a message board system with graduate students enrolled in an online degree program. We explain the processes that were followed in conducting …

Peter L. Berger's Early Conception Of Agency: Exposition And Evaluation., James Greene

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Peter L. Berger's conception of agency in his earliest writings (c.1954-1960) is logically and empirically inadequate. At the root of this inadequacy is an idealism that prevents him from providing a compelling account of actual empirical agency. Chapter 1 asserts that Berger's earlier works warrant analysis. Chapter 2 discusses Berger's earliest influences, particularly Max Weber and The Swedish Lund School of motif research. Chapter 3 identifies a unique commitment to Christian Humanism at the base of Berger's conception of agency. Chapter 4 clarifies how Berger's Christian humanism interacts with his Weberian, and Parsonian-inspired functional analysis of the American religious establishment. …

Art Therapists’ Strategies For Improving Adolescent Self-Esteem: A Qualitative Study, Jennifer Lauren Barnette

EVMS School of Health Professions Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to interview art therapists who work with an adolescent population in a variety of settings, to acquire an in depth understanding of what various therapeutic approaches and art-making strategies they utilized to improve adolescents’ self-esteem. Six art therapists were interviewed. The interviews, which were transcribed, generated information about the art therapists’ theoretical orientation, how they addressed self-esteem with their clients, and what processes and materials they find to be most effective for improving such a goal. Themes were extracted from the interviews in order to acquire a further understanding of work with adolescents as …

An Art-Based Self-Study Of Immersion In Amish Culture: Implications For Art Therapists, Alison R. Hunt

EVMS School of Health Professions Theses & Dissertations

Literature reveals that cross cultural experiences can be beneficial to therapists in terms of personal growth and cultural competency (Finlay, 2005). This heuristic study employed Moustakas’ (1990) six stages of initial engagement, immersion, incubation, illumination, explication, and creative synthesis to examine the impact of immersion in Amish culture on my sense of myself as an art therapist. Data collection included keeping a visual journal and making art during the immersion stage. The data was evaluated using qualitative techniques of categorizing, interpreting, and integrating (Ansdell & Pavlicevic, 2001). Themes which emerged from the artwork were reported in a narrative format and …

Art Therapy And Anorexia: A Heuristic Self-Study From Treatment To Career, Katie Kiskinis

EVMS School of Health Professions Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this self-study was to explore the personal experience had during treatment for anorexia nervosa that included an art therapy component and what impact this has had on subsequent recovery, current healthy functioning, and the career decision to become an art therapist.

The total duration of the study was 13 weeks. Thirty-minute reflection sessions supplemented with writing were scheduled for the first four days of the study, during which there was a submersion in artwork made during treatment (Treatment Artwork) for anorexia nervosa and any related memories. On the fourth day, eight themes were identified to be the …

An African-American Breast Cancer Survivor’S Journey With The Use Of Visual Journaling, Kristen Spellman

EVMS School of Health Professions Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative case study guided one female breast cancer survivor through a 6-week art therapy visual journaling experience. The art therapist taught the participant about the purpose of visual journaling and the potential benefits, as well as the basic methods used to journal. Qualitative data consisted of the visual journal entry (containing both images and writing) that she made in each session and entries made between sessions. Through content analysis, the following themes emerged from the data: breast cancer treatment, anger, family, body image, and depression. The sessions appeared to be beneficial to the participant, and she was enthusiastic and …

The Ground They Walk On: Photography And Narrative Inquiry, Diane Ketelle

The Qualitative Report

In this project, the author explores a novel variation on an established social science research method, photo-elicitation. The author photographed eight school principals during a two-year period and asked the principals to respond to the photographs by writing narratives below each. The author uses photography, reflections, and her own memories to construct descriptive narrative snapshots of the eight principals. Further, the author argues that this approach underscores how photographs are both technically and socially constructed and through the use of photo-elicitation new ways of understanding self and others in relation can be explored.

Collage Life Story Elicitation Technique: A Representational Technique For Scaffolding Autobiographical Memories, Gertina J. Van Schalkwyk

The Qualitative Report

A basic premise in narrative therapy and inquiry is that life story telling is a mechanism by which experiences are rendered meaningful within some form of structure. However, narrative inquiry has to take cognisance of difficulties ensuing from discursive practices for different populations when eliciting their life stories. In this article I explicate a unique method, the Collage Life story Elicitation Technique (CLET), geared towards scaffolding life story remembering. Based on the theoretical underpinnings of social constructionism (Gergen, 2000), symbolic interactionism (Berg, 2009) and performative strategies in social science research the CLET provides a mode of expression and narrative performance …

Creative Possibilities And Responsibilities: A Review Of Maria J. Mayan's Essentials Of Qualitative Inquiry, Jacquelyn Browne

The Qualitative Report

In her book, Essentials of Qualitative Inquiry (2009), Maria J. Mayan has provided a highly readable text. Using examples, tables, charts, plus exercises at the end of each chapter, a student new to the field, or an instructor looking for a useful text will find a good companion in this book. In addition to her thorough teaching, Maria Mayan uses humor, humility, and transparency to convey her deep moral and philosophical commitment to scientific rigor, as well as a deep sensitivity to honoring the stories researchers strive to tell about the human condition.

A Qualitative Research On Portfolio Keeping In English As A Foreign Language Writing, Selami Aydin

The Qualitative Report

Little attention has been paid to the problems about portfolio keeping in English as a foreign language (EFL) writing, while the existing literature mostly focuses on the effects of portfolios on writing skills of learners, rather than those of teachers or pre-service teachers. This study aims to investigate the problems encountered and contributions of portfolios to the language skills of EFL pre-service teachers. The sample group consists of 39 pre-service teachers; a background questionnaire, interviews, a survey, and essays were used for data collection. The results indicate that portfolios significantly contribute to the writing skills, and that there exist potential …

Innovative Data Collection Strategies In Qualitative Research, Anthony J. Onwuegbuzie, Nancy L. Leech, Kathleen M.T. Collins

The Qualitative Report

This article provides an innovative meta-framework comprising strategies designed to guide qualitative data collection in the 21st century. We present a meta-framework comprising strategies for collecting data from interviews, focus groups, observations, and documents/material culture. We present a template for collecting nonverbal data during interviews and discuss the concept of debriefing the interviewer. We identify types of data that can be collected in focus groups in addition to the actual statements made by the participants and provide templates for categorizing these data. Also, we outline the role that social networking websites can play in focus group interviews. Further, we provide …

From "Clueless" To "Completed": A Review Of The Essential Guide To Doing Your Research Project, Angela Yehl

The Qualitative Report

O'Leary (2010) has written her book for the student; however, she delves beyond the "how to" of most introductory research texts. The author works to ground students in the theoretical and foundational aspects of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research, in addition to providing "real world" advice and common scenarios often encountered in the field. From determining an appropriate sample size to navigating political processes in evaluative research, O'Leary stays grounded in the practical, often re-emphasizing the importance of "doability" in planning and conducting any type of research.

A Meta-Summary Of Qualitative Findings About Professional Services For Survivors Of Sexual Violence, Donna S. Martsolf, Claire B. Draucker, Christina B. Cook, Ratchneewan Ross, Andrea Warner Stidham, Prudencia Mweemba

The Qualitative Report

Sexual violence occurs at alarming rates in children and adults. Survivors experience myriad negative health outcomes and legal problems, which place them in need of professional services. A meta-summary was conducted of 31 published qualitative studies on adults' responses to sexual violence, with a focus on survivors' use of professional services. Combined samples included 46 men, 984 women, and six couples who had experienced sexual violence at any point in their lives. Findings indicated that qualities of professional service providers and outcomes of professional services were perceived either positively or negatively (rather than neutrally) by survivors, regardless of the provider's …

Protecting My Interests: Hrm And Target's Coping With Workplace Bullying, Premilla D'Cruz, Ernesto Noronha

The Qualitative Report

Based on a study rooted in van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenology, conducted with agents working in international facing call centers in Mumbai and Bangalore, India, this paper describes targets' coping with workplace bullying. Data were gathered through conversational interviews and were subject to sententious and selective thematic analyses. The core theme of "protecting my interests" displayed two prominent features: the presence of stages and the critical role of HRM in influencing multiple facets of the experience. Major themes, organized around these defining characteristics, include experiencing confusion, engaging organizational options, moving inwards and exiting the organization. The findings break new ground in …

Teaching Experiences Of African American Educators In The Rural South, Ellene Polidore, Stacey L. Edmonson, John R. Slate

The Qualitative Report

A scarcity of research exists regarding the voices of African American teachers who taught in the rural South. In this study, we report the life experiences, perceptions, thoughts, and feelings of three female African American educators as they pertain to their experiences teaching before, during, and after desegregation. Three female African American educators who taught before, during, and after desegregation in the same school district in the rural South were interviewed extensively. Data analysis revealed themes that mirrored those themes found in resiliency research. By examining these resilience themes within the context of this study, a model of adult resilience …

Legislative Decision Making On Education Issues: A Qualitative Study, Kathy Canfield-Davis, Sachin Jain

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of this descriptive, single case study was to provide knowledge and insight about state education policy-making, specifically, the process by which education-related bills pass through a legislature. This study was also designed to identify factors of influence shaping legislative decision-making as perceived by lawmakers and observers of the legislative process. Sources of evidence included interviews, direct observation, archival records, public records documentation, and tape recordings of committee meetings and Senate floor sessions. Results show that a bill's fate is subject to many planned and unplanned sequential steps, and to a collection of diverse personalities that drive the legislative …

Using Wordle As A Supplementary Research Tool, Carmel Mcnaught, Paul Lam

The Qualitative Report

A word cloud is a special visualization of text in which the more frequently used words are effectively highlighted by occupying more prominence in the representation. We have used Wordle to produce word-cloud analyses of the spoken and written responses of informants in two research projects. The product demonstrates a fast and visually rich way to enable researchers to have some basic understanding of the data at hand. Word clouds can be a useful tool for preliminary analysis and for validation of previous findings. However, Wordle is an adjunct tool and we do not recommend that this method be used …

Attributes Of Spirituality Described By Survivors Of Sexual Violence, Gregory P. Knapik, Donna S. Martsolf, Claire B. Draucker, Karen D. Strickland

The Qualitative Report

This study focuses on what aspects of attributes of spirituality as defined by Martsolf and Mickley (1998) are most salient for female and male survivors of sexual violence. Content analysis of secondary narrative data, provided by 50 participants in a study of women's and men's responses to sexual violence, was coded to the five attributes of spirituality as defined by Martsolf and Mickley. The attribute aspects of connecting with others in spiritual ways and with God/higher power were particularly significant. The attribute of transcendence was found less important, and the attributes of value, becoming, and meaning were not found important. …

A Hockey Night In Canada: An Imagined Conversation Between Theorists, Curtis Fogel

The Qualitative Report

In this paper, various methodological issues surrounding the sociological study of sport are explored. Through an imagined dialogue between two graduate students at a hockey game, this work brings together three divergent approaches to social enquiry: Positivist Grounded Theory, Constructivist Grounded Theory, and Actor-Network Theory. This paper challenges conventional writing on method in two ways: (a) assembling three divergent approaches within a single work, and (b) employing a scripted narrative as a means of exploring methodological issues. Through this innovative approach, many of the overlaps and tensions between these theories/methods are captured. In so doing, numerous methodological questions about the …