International Journal of Qualitative Methods: ARCHIVE
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Insider Insights - Learning to Think Qualitatively: Experiences of Graduate Students Conducting Qualitative Health Research
No full textIn this paper the authors discuss their experiences as graduate students using qualitative approaches to conduct health research. They explore how their engagement with qualitative research has related to feelings of humility, the desire to honor research participants’ stories, challenges of pacing and other practical considerations, experiences of isolation and uncertainty, struggles with method and methodology, and moments of elation and discovery. They offer practical suggestions for students who are beginning similar academic endeavors. Supervisors might also find this paper of interest as they mentor and guide graduate students who are using qualitative methods
Using Phenomenology to Study How Junior and Senior High School Students in Japan Perceive Their Volunteer Efforts
No full textThe purpose of this paper is to describe the methods used in a phenomenological study aimed at understanding students’ perceptions of volunteer experiences from the viewpoint of their existential meanings. In Japan, as volunteer activities have just been recently introduced to youth education, it is necessary to verify the effect of the activity on the students. The authors present phenomenological reduction, which is a fundamental concept in phenomenology, as a health care research method to elucidate the essence of people’s lived experiences. The 22 statements presented from volunteer students’ group discussion after their practices were redescribed by phenomenological reduction, a method of valid interpretation based on their embodiment and desire. The phenomenological approach allows us to understand the essence of students’ perceptions in terms of their purpose in life, which suggests that educators could inspire the students to realize existential growth by participating in volunteer activities through practical communications with others
Framing Experience: Concept Maps, Mind Maps, and Data Collection in Qualitative Research
No full textTraditionally, qualitative data collection has focused on observation, interviews, and document or artifact review. Building on earlier work on concept mapping in the social sciences, the authors describe its use in an exploratory pilot study on the perceptions of four Canadians who worked abroad on a criminal justice reform project. Drawing on this study, the authors argue that traditional definitions of concept mapping should be expanded to include more flexible approaches to the collection of graphic representations of experience. In this way, user-generated maps can assist participants to better frame their experience and can help qualitative researchers in the design and development of additional data collection strategies. Whether one calls these data collection tools concept maps or mind maps, for a generation of visually oriented social science researchers they offer a graphic and participant-centric means to ground data within theory
Acting Up: Theater of the Oppressed as Critical Ethnography
No full textIn this paper the author reports on the use of Theater of the Oppressed in a long-term critical ethnography. Building on the work of performative ethnographers, she reviews the literature on the uses of drama in qualitative research and explores the traditional research lines that are blurred in the process. More important, she details the experiences collecting and analyzing data using Theater of the Oppressed. In other published accounts of performative ethnography, data collection is emphasized and data analysis is not usually discussed, in part, because the line between data collection and analysis is blurred in the use of theater as inquiry. The author not only examines that blurring but suggests a method of analysis that others might find useful. The study focused on the integration of English language learners in a Midwestern U.S. high school. The author used Theater of the Oppressed with teachers to explore their role in the bullying activities of students. The analysis reveals changes in awareness witnessed through the drama
Reconsidering Evaluation Criteria for Scientific Adequacy in Health Care Research: An Integrative Framework of Quantitative and Qualitative Criteria
No full textIt is important to reconsider evaluation criteria regarding scientific adequacy in health care research. In this article the authors review the four pairs of quantitative/qualitative paradigms. They discuss the use of evaluation criteria based on a pragmatic perspective after examining the epistemological issues behind the criteria. Validity/credibility is concerned with research framework, whereas reliability/dependability refers to the range of stability in observations, objectivity/ confirmability reflects influences between observers and subjects, and generalizability/transferability has epistemological differences in the way findings are applied. Qualitative studies should not always choose qualitative paradigms, and vice versa. If stability can be assumed to some extent in a qualitative study, it is better to use a quantitative paradigm. Regardless of whether it is quantitative or qualitative research, it is important to recognize the four epistemological axes
Transcription: Imperatives for Qualitative Research
No full textTranscription is a practice central to qualitative research, yet the literature that addresses transcription presents it as taken for granted in qualitative studies. In this article the author provides a review of three decades of literature on transcription between 1979 and 2009. The review establishes core understandings and issues that have informed the transcription literature, including the ways it is said that transcription is overlooked in qualitative research. Discussion of the literature raises the need for more empirical studies that examine transcription in qualitative research, and suggests specific questions that qualitative researchers might address in relation to transcription and its reporting
Ricoeur’s Theory of Interpretation: An Instrument for Data Interpretation in Hermeneutic Phenomenology
No full textHeidegger’s hermeneutic phenomenology, although providing an appropriate philosophical foundation for research in the social sciences that seeks to investigate the meaning of lived experience, does not provide clarity of process, making it difficult to assign the degree of rigor to the work demanded in an era dominated by the positivist paradigm. Ricoeur (1981) further developed both Heidegger’s and Gadamer’s ideas, in the areas of method and interpretation of hermeneutic phenomenological research, in a direction that has addressed this difficulty. In this article the authors outline Ricoeur’s theory, including three levels of data analysis, describe its application to the interpretation of data, and discuss two apparent contradictions in his theory. Ricoeur’s theory of interpretation, as a tool for the interpretation of data in studies whose philosophical underpinning is hermeneutic phenomenology, deserves consideration by human sciences researchers who seek to provide a rigorous foundation for their work
Using PAR or “Abusing Its Good Name”?: The Challenges and Surprises of Photovoice and Film in a Study of Chronic Illness
No full textWithout dispute, kidney dialysis treatment has been successful in saving lives. As a result of this intervention, increasing numbers of people are now facing the many physical, social, and emotional challenges of living with ESRD (end stage renal disease). Compromised vision, mobility, dexterity, and overall health have presented important methodological challenges to the authors’ participatory action research (PAR) study of ESRD patients’ quality of life. This article proceeds broadly in three steps: (a) an explanation of the authors’ interest in PAR and the challenges that ESRD poses for PAR, (b) a description of how they adapted two visual techniques (photovoice and documentary film making) to address those challenges, and (c) a discussion of how they have and have not overcome the challenges of working with PAR
The Use of Videoconferencing as a Medium for the Qualitative Interview
No full textQualitative data collection, especially conducting in-person interviews, presents challenges for researchers whose participants are geographically dispersed. Often alternative means of interviewing using communication technology are necessary. This was true for this focused ethnographic research exploring the experiences of participants who were connected to a particular cultural group by virtue of their similar experience but who were not located in the same geographical area. The purpose of this paper is to present the experience of using videoconferencing technology to collect experiential data from undergraduate nursing students and preceptors who were dispersed over a 640,000 square kilometer area in western and northern Canada during a rural hospital-based preceptorship. Recommendations for using videoconferencing as a medium for conducting in-depth qualitative interviews include using a high-bandwidth connection such as SuperNet or Web conferencing, and evaluating whether the type of information sought is likely to be shared in other than in-person face-to-face situations