International Journal of Qualitative Methods: ARCHIVE
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Letters to Those who Dare Feel: Using Reflective Letter-Writing to explore the Emotionality of Research
No full textUsing reflective letter-writing as a method of generating data, a group of four researchers embarked on a collaborative autoethnographic inquiry into the emotional dimensions of researching social aspects of HIV & AIDS. In this article, we use the medium of a narrative dialogue to re-present and re-examine our reflective letter-writing method. The dialogue draws attention to key features of reflective letter-writing as a collaborative autoethnographic research method and, in so doing, highlights and explores the nature and potential significance of this method, as well as some challenges of using such a method. Our discussion points to the value of a collaborative process of reflective letter-writing as a way for researchers to access and portray emotional aspects of their research experience, to deepen their engagement with these emotional dimensions, and to gain insight into their own and others’ lived research experiences
Ethics in Qualitative research: A View of the Participants’ and Researchers’ World from a Critical Standpoint
No full textAbstract
This paper illustrates how certain ethical challenges in qualitative research necessitate sustained attention of two interconnected worlds: the world of the researcher and the world of the participant. A critical view of some of the ethical challenges in the participants’ and researchers’ world reveals that how we examine both these worlds’ effects how we design our research. In addition, it reflects the need for researchers to develop an ethical research vocabulary at the inception of their research life through multiple modes. The modes may include dialogue in the spoken and written and visual to affect their aims to adhere to the principles of respect, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice in a way that is mutually beneficial to the participant and the researcher. Further, the deliberations in this paper reveal that a critical conscious research ethics are embedded in the unfolding research ethics process involving the participants and the researchers, and both the participant and researcher add equal weight to the transparency of the ethical process and add value to building methodological and ethical rigor to the research.
Key words: critical social theory, critical consciousness, ethics, researcher, participant, qualitative researc
Multiple Paths to Just Ends: Using Narrative Interviews and Timelines to Explore Health Equity and Homelessness
No full textSpecial Issues Submission: Equity
Underlying the daily lives of people with experiences of homelessness and mental illness is a complex interplay of individual and structural factors that perpetuate cycles of inequity. The introduction of novel methodological combinations within qualitative research has the potential to advance knowledge regarding the experience of health equity by such individuals and to clarify the relationship between these experiences and broader structural inequities. To explore the lived experience of inequity, we present a thematic analysis of narrative interviews in conjunction with timelines from 31 adults experiencing homelessness and mental illness. Use of these methods together enabled a novel and expanded appreciation for the varied ways in which differential access to the social determinants of health influences the trajectories and experiences of inequity for people who are homeless and mentally ill. The further utility of these methods for better understanding the experience of inequity is explored and implications for research, policy and practice are discussed
Task-Diaries: A Valuable Qualitative Tool for Occupational Health Research on Teacher Workloads
No full textThis article discusses the usefulness of a qualitative tool called a “task-diary,” in combination with individual in-depth interviews, for occupational health research on teacher workloads. I describe my use of task-diaries to examine primary and elementary teachers’ workloads in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, discuss the most useful aspects of task-diaries for this research, and suggest further applications of this tool in the workload research field
Culturally Responsive Focus Groups: Reframing the Research Experience to Focus on Participants
No full textFocus groups are a frequently employed and valued method of data collection in the Social Sciences. This article specifically addresses maximizing the benefits of focus groups through the framework of culturally responsive research practice. Discussion of authors’ research projects which utilized focus groups are presented in order to illuminate the advantages of using culturally responsive focus groups (CRFGs) in data collection. Three types of focus groups are discussed: traditional focus groups, CRFGs, and naturally occurring CRFGs. Focus groups are a powerful qualitative research method which, especially when designed to be culturally responsive, facilitate collection of rich and authentic data. Culturally responsive research practice will enhance work with a wide range of populations but is particularly important when facilitating groups with persons who have been traditionally marginalized. Methodological and ethical concerns of CRFGs are discussed
Divining for Water: Considerations for Methodology
No full textThe authors explore the steps between conceptualizing a qualitative study based on Charmaz’s definition of grounded theory and carrying it out in the field. We reflect on how the reality of the vulnerable population to be studied (individuals living with a condition that involves neurological decline) required us to shift our original conceptualization, not only of the research question but of the recruitment and interview process as well. Other factors such as organizational gatekeeping, clinical procedures, university regulations as well as recruitment strategies are discussed. The authors reflect on the study of persons who are living with chronic conditions and end-of-life realities for whom research is not considered a priority. We discuss the sequential steps that had been envisioned for the study and the real -world conditions that required revisions to conduct the study. Recommendations emerge that will assist students and researchers alike when studying a similar vulnerable population
\u27Is that what I said?\u27 Interview Transcript Approval by Participants: An Aspect of Ethics in Qualitative Research
No full textThis article deals with insights gained from data analysis of feedback comments on transcripts sent to interviewees. It contributes to understanding of research studies that include transcripts, specifically on the contribution of participants’ review of transcripts on the quality of those transcripts, and thus on the quality of research. The transfer of the transcripts to the interviewees was intended to validate the transcripts, to preserve research ethics, and to empower the interviewees by allowing them control of what was written. Interviewee responses related to the ratification of content, the authenticity of that which was said during the interview, corrections of language, additional clarifications, power interactions and changes in the balance of power between the interviewer and interviewees, feelings of embarrassment and threat, research ethics, and reflective responses. The experience of sending the transcripts to the interviewees raised research and ethical issues that require added caution and consideration when sending transcripts to interviewees
Seen But Seldom Heard: Creative Participatory Methods in a Study of Youth and Risk
No full textThis paper presents a discussion of the methodologies used in a small scale ‘popular education’ project involving young people in creative activities. The goal of the project is to explore their experiences and feelings about risk and safety and their ‘connectedness’ to their local community. A number of different methods are discussed as ways of empowering marginalised young people, including the use of visual methods, and new media in the form of blogs and Twitter Scripts, within an overarching participatory methodology. Arts-based and multimedia activities are powerful tools to enable young people to collectively question the nature of their historical and social situation and have the potential to raise sensitive issues, therefore, encouraging wider debate, producing new understandings, and facilitating social change. Building on insights gained in earlier research, which suggested that young people felt that they were not listened to or had enough influence in their neighbourhoods, this paper discusses the use of multimedia and creative means to develop a more accessible and effective arena in which young people can learn new skills to enable them to tell their story. In keeping with Bourdieu’s General Theoretical Framework, consideration is given to the ways in which such participatory and arts-based approaches can demonstrate value for the social and cultural capital of young people